Sungbo’s Eredo is one of the largest man-made monuments in Africa, consisting of a giant system of ditches and embankments that surrounds the entire ljebu Kingdom in the rain forests of south-western Nigeria.
The ljebu Kingdom emerged around the 15th or 16th century AD in southern Yorubaland and was centred on the capital at Ijebu Ode. The kingdom was inhabited by the ethnic Yoruba that still live-in parts of western Africa, mainly in the countries of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.
The builders of Sungbo’s Eredo excavated 3.5 million cubic metres of earth to create a 165 km long ditch with steep vertical walls that run a length longer than Hadrian’s Wall in England (117.5 km), and a raised inner embankment that encircles an area larger than Greater London.