West Africa sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland, but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The Benin Empire was a pre-colonial empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire
Kingdom of Kongo the region’s art was produced for social and political leaders such as the Kongo king." The central Bantu groups which comprised most of the Kongo kingdom passed on status through matrilineal succession. Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo: "Kongo dya Ntotila" or "Wene wa Kongo;" Portuguese: "Reino do Kongo") was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo as well as the southernmost part of Gabon. At its greatest extent it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west