These African sites existed long before France’s Notre Dame Cathedral

Benin Wall (9th century) – Nigeria

Constructed over a period of 600 years, the Great Walls of Benin was located at the southern border of the defunct Benin Kingdom, which was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in West Africa. The walls, which are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, are a combination of strong materials like ramparts and moats, which predated the use of modern earth-moving equipment and technology, and were used for defensive purposes. The Great Walls of Benin was estimated to extend for about 16,000 km in length; both the exterior and interior walls. It occupied a land mass of 6,500 km2, which is about 37 % of the present land mass of Edo State. Construction work on the wall began around 800 AD and ended mid-1400.