Akhiọn (smoking pipe), also referred to as Ukoko, were used by both men and women in Benin Kingdom to smoke tobacco. The bowl into which tobacco is filled can be made of either terracotta, wood or metal, and had a long wooden stem. Tobacco was introduced into Benin by the Portuguese.

), ‘We called it the pipe of peace and long life. The smoking pipe is prepared and given to guests as a mark of love and civility’.

Akhiọn/Ukoko

Smoking Pipe

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The British Museum’s archives are held in various locations across the institution. The items listed here aim to give an overview of the main locations where relevant archival and photographic material relating to objects from the Kingdom of Benin is housed. Key areas relevant for cultural objects from the Kingdom of Benin are: Corporate Archives; Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas archives; Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory archives; and the Anthropology Library and Research Centre.

Website

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas 

Online Catalogue

Library & Archive

British Museum

Internal Data (eng)

Wikidata Link

More info

Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London

Museum

Donor

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juju 

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dwarf

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aboriginal

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tribe

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non-western

western-art

western museum

tribal

hofzwerg

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British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

expedition

exotic

negro

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Black Africa

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primitive

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medicine man

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