Dahomey

The Kingdom of Dahomey was referred to by many different names and has been written in a variety of ways, including Danxome, Danhome, and Fon. The name Fon relates to the dominant ethnic and language group, the Fon people, of the royal families of the kingdom and is how the kingdom first became known to Europeans. The names Dahomey, Danxome, and Danhome share an origin story, which historian Edna Bay says may be a false etymology. The story goes that Dakodonu, considered the second king in modern kings lists, was granted permission by the Gedevi chiefs, the local rulers, to settle in the Abomey Plateau. Dakodonu requested additional land from a prominent chief named Dan (or Da) to which the chief responded sarcastically, "Should I open up my belly and build you a house in it?" For this insult, Dakodonu killed Dan and began the construction of his palace on the spot. The name of the kingdom was derived from the incident: Dan meaning "chief", xo meaning "belly", and me meaning "inside of", in the Fon language. ==History==

The Kingdom of Dahomey was established around 1600 as an offshoot of the royal dynasty of the Kingdom of Allada. The foundational king for Dahomey is often considered to be Houegbadja (c. 1645–1685), who built the Royal Palaces of Abomey and began raiding and taking over towns outside of the Abomey Plateau. Kings Source: '', 1793 Rule of Agaja (1708–1740) King Agaja, Houegbadja's grandson, came to the throne in 1708 and began significant expansion of the Kingdom of Dahomey. This expansion was made possible by the superior military force of King Agaja's Dahomey. In contrast to surrounding regions, Dahomey employed a professional standing army numbering around ten thousand. What the Dahomey lacked in numbers, they made up for in discipline and superior arms. In 1724, Agaja conquered Allada, the origin for the royal family according to oral tradition, and in 1727 he conquered Whydah. This increased size of the kingdom, particularly along the Atlantic coast, and increased power made Dahomey into a regional power. The result was near constant warfare with the main regional state, the Oyo Empire, from 1728 until 1740. The warfare with the Oyo empire resulted in Dahomey assuming a tributary status to the Oyo empire. First, he needed to gain political independence by removing the tributary yoke that the Yoruba empire of Oyo had over the Dahomey since 1748. Secondly, he needed to revitalize the Dahomey economy. In 1904, the area became part of a French colony, French Dahomey. In 1958, French Dahomey became the self-governing colony called the Republic of Dahomey and gained full independence in 1960. It was renamed in 1975 the People's Republic of Benin and in 1991 the Republic of Benin. Modernity Today, the kingdom continues to exist as a constituent monarchy located within Benin. Its rulers no longer hold any official powers under Benin's constitution, but they retain some political and economic influence. Modern kings participate in important Vodun religious festivals and other traditional ceremonies. ==Politics==

Early writings often presented the kingdom as an absolute monarchy led by a despotic king. These depictions were often deployed as arguments by different sides in the slave trade debates, mainly in the United Kingdom, and as such were probably exaggerations. The primary political divisions revolved around villages with chiefs and administrative posts appointed by the king and acting as his representatives to adjudicate disputes in the village. The migana combination of mi (our) and gan (chief)was a primary consul for the king, a key judicial figure, and served as the head executioner. The mehu was similarly a key administrative officer who managed the palaces and the affairs of the royal family, economic matters, and the areas to the south of Allada (making the position key to contact with Europeans). ==Foreign relations==

The relations between Dahomey and other countries were complex and heavily impacted by the transatlantic slave trade. Brazil In 1750, the Kingdom of Dahomey sent a diplomatic mission to Salvador, Portuguese colony of Brazil in order to strengthen diplomatic relations with this Portuguese colony following an incident which led to the expulsion of Portuguese-Brazilian diplomatic authorities in 1743. Other Dahomey missions were sent to Portuguese colony of Brazil from 1795 to 1805 with the purpose of strengthening relations with Portuguese colonial authorities and slave buyers residing in Brazilian territory, ensuring that they maintained an interest in purchasing enslaved people supplied by Dahomey rather than rival kingdoms. It is also recorded that in 1823, the Kingdom of Dahomey formally recognized Brazil's independence, making it one of the first political entities in the world to do so. The Atlantic slave trade between Brazil and Dahomey remained intense even under pressure from the United Kingdom for its abolition. Francisco Félix de Sousa, a former enslaved person and later a major slave trader in the Dahomey region, became a politically influential figure in that kingdom after the ascent of Guezo to the Dahomean throne. He was granted the honorary title of Chachá, vice-king of Ajudá, and a monopoly on the exportation of slaves. France , surrendered his person to Alfred-Amédée Dodds In 1861, the kingdom of Porto-Novo, one of Dahomey's tributaries, was bombarded by the Royal Navy. Porto-Novo asked for protection from France and became a French protectorate as a result in 1863. This status was rejected by King Behanzin, who still declared Porto-Novo to be a tributary of Dahomey. Another issue of contention was the status of Cotonou, a port the French believed was under their control because of a treaty signed by Dahomey's representative in Whydah. Dahomey ignored all French claims there as well and continued to collect customs from the port. These territorial disputes escalated into the First Franco-Dahomean War in 1890, resulting in French victory. Dahomey was forced to sign a treaty surrendering Porto-Novo and Cotonou to the French. It later returned to raiding the area and disregarded French complaints, triggering the Second Franco-Dahomean War in 1892. The kingdom was defeated in 1894, it was annexed into the French colonial empire as French Dahomey, and King Behanzin was exiled to Algeria. Portugal The Portuguese fort at Ouidah was destroyed by the army of Dahomey in 1743 during its conquest of the city, so King Tegbesu desired to renew relations with Portugal. Dahomey sent at least five embassies to Portugal and Brazil during the years of 1750, 1795, 1805, 1811 and 1818, with the goal of negotiating the terms of the Atlantic slave trade. These missions created an official correspondence between the kings of Dahomey and the kings of Portugal, and gifts were exchanged between them. The Portuguese Crown paid for the expenses travel and accommodation expenses of Dahomey's ambassadors, who traveled between Lisbon and Salvador, Bahia. The embassies of 1805 and 1811 brought letters from King Adandozan, who had imprisoned Portuguese subjects in the Dahomean capital of Abomey and requested for Portugal to trade exclusively at Ouidah. Portugal promised to answer to his demands if he released the prisoners. The British sent diplomatic missions to Dahomey in an effort to convince King Ghezo to abolish human sacrifice and slave trading. Ghezo did not immediately concede to British demands but attempted to maintain friendly relations with Britain by encouraging the growth of new trade in palm oil instead. In 1851, the Royal Navy imposed a naval blockade against Dahomey, forcing Ghezo to sign a treaty in 1852 that immediately abolished the export of slaves. This was broken when slave trading resumed in 1857 and 1858. Historian Martin Meredith quotes Ghezo telling the British: During a diplomatic mission to Dahomey in 1849, Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy received an enslaved girl (later named Sarah Forbes Bonetta) from King Ghezo as a "gift", who would later become a goddaughter to Queen Victoria. United States During the American Revolution, the rebelling United Colonies prohibited the international slave trade for a variety of economic, political, and moral reasons depending on the colony. Following the end of the revolution, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson signed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1807, which federally outlawed the international slave trade, though domestic slavery itself would persist until the American Civil War. Thus, the United States never established any formal diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Dahomey. The last known slave ship that sailed to the United States secretly and illegally imported 110 slaves from Dahomey, purchased long after the abolition of the slave trade. The story was mentioned in the newspaper The Tarboro Southerner on July 14, 1860. Five days earlier, a schooner called Clotilda, captained by William Foster, arrived in the bay of Mobile, Alabama carrying the last known shipment of slaves to the U.S. In 1858, an American man named Timothy Meaher made a wager with acquaintances that despite the law banning the slave trade, he could safely bring a load of slaves from Africa. He built the Clotilda slave ship and sent William Foster to captain it and retrieve enslaved Africans. Captain William Foster arrived in Ouidah, a coastal port of Dahomey, and retrieved 110 slaves. Describing how he came in possession of the slaves, he wrote in his journal in 1860, Zora Neale Hurston wrote about her interviews with Oluale Kossola, who was thought to be the last survivor of the Clotilda, in her book Barracoon. Later, it was found that Matilda McCrear was the last living survivor of that atrocity. A notable descendant of a slave from this ship is Ahmir Khalib Thompson, an American music artist known as Questlove. Mr. Thompson's story is depicted in the PBS Television show Finding Your Roots [Season 4, Episode 9]. Yoruba The Oyo Empire engaged in frequent conflicts with the Kingdom of Dahomey and Dahomey became a tributary of the Oyo from 1732 until 1823. The city-state of Porto-Novo, under the protection of Oyo, and Dahomey had a long-standing rivalry largely over control of the slave trade along the coast. The rise of Abeokuta in the 1840s created another power rivaling Dahomey, largely by creating a safe haven for people from the slave trade. Notable Yoruba people who were captured by Dahomey in slave raids following the collapse of the Oyo Empire include Sarah Forbes Bonetta (Aina), Cudjoe Lewis (Oluale Kossola), Matilda McCrear (Abake), Redoshi, and Seriki Williams Abass (Ifaremilekun Fagbemi). ==Military==

The military of the Kingdom of Dahomey was divided into two units: the right and the left. The right was controlled by the migan and the left was controlled by the mehu. At least by the time of Agaja, the kingdom had developed a standing army that remained encamped wherever the king was. Soldiers in the army were recruited as young as seven or eight years old, initially serving as shield carriers for regular soldiers. After years of apprenticeship and military experience, they were allowed to join the army as regular soldiers. To further incentivize the soldiers, each soldier received bonuses paid in cowry shells for each enemy they killed or captured in battle. This combination of lifelong military experience and monetary incentives resulted in a cohesive, well-disciplined military. The army consisted of 15,000 personnel which was divided into right, left, center and reserve; and in each of these was further divided into companies and platoons. When going into battle, the king would take a secondary position to the field commander with the reason given that if any spirit were to punish the commander for decisions it should not be the king. From the 18th century, the state could obtain naval support from Ardra where they had created a subordinate dynasty after conquering the state in the early 18th century. Dahomey enlisted the services of Ardra's navy against the Epe in 1778 and Badagry in 1783. Amazons The Dahomean state became widely known for its corps of female soldiers. Their origins are debated; they may have formed from a palace guard or from (female hunting teams). They were organized around 1729 to fill out the army and make it look larger in battle, armed only with banners. The women reportedly behaved so courageously they became a permanent corps. In the beginning, the soldiers were criminals pressed into service rather than death. Eventually, the corps was respected enough that King Ghezo ordered every family to send him their daughters, with the fittest being chosen as soldiers. European accounts clarified that seven distinct movements were required to load a Dane gun which took an Amazon 30 seconds in comparison to the 50 seconds it took a Dahomean male soldier to load. During a campaign against Whydah that year, Dahomey was able to force Whydah to fortify itself at an island called Foudou-Cong. Dahomey cut trees which were planted in the water to serve as a causeway and bridge the army's access to the fortified Whydah island. The causeway also obstructed the movement of a 700 canoe force belonging to Whydah. As a result, the Whydah army had to survive on the boats for months sustaining its forces with fish diet. According to Thornton, Dahomey used this strategy of siege causeways again in 1776 against another opponent state where it built 3 bridges to connect the island housing the opponent forces. Coastal belligerents opposing Dahomey allied with European forts against the state. Dahomey was able to capture Dutch and Portuguese forts in the 18th century through the use of ladders and sappers. Thornton writes that in 1737, Dahomey used scale ladders against the Dutch fort in Keta simultaneously as its sappers built a tunnel under the fort's bastion causing it to collapse when its defenders fired an artillery round within the bastion. A similar tactic was employed against a Portuguese fort with 30 mounted guns at Whydah in 1743 as its bastions collapsed enabling the Dahomey infantry to enter the fort. Another tactic for attacking coastal forts was the burning of nearby villages during a land breeze in order for the wind to carry the flames toward the fort. This tactic was first revealed by a British commander at Whydah in 1728, who countered it by burning the nearby villages during a sea breeze to prevent the Dahomeyan army from burning the villages during a land breeze. In the mid 18th century, Abomey was surrounded by a ditch accessible by bridges whiles in 1772 the royal residence was surrounded with a mud brick wall 20 feet high, "with blockhouses on each wall." Dahomey also built underground chambers in Abomey which served varying functions including that of providing military installations for the army. These souterrains have been dated to the late 17th century. Wheeled vehicles are recorded to have been implemented in Dahomeyan warfare. In an operation against Abeokuta in 1864, Dahomey fielded three guns mounted on locally made carriages of which historian Robin Law adds that these weapons did not play an effective role in the battle. Some references exist about the possible production of guns and gunpowder in Dahomey. In 1880, king Béhanzin informed a French mission that firearms were manufactured in the state. Amid the war with France in 1892, a French expeditionary force discovered tools and resources such as cartridge cases, signal rockets and electric batteries which are necessary for making cartridges and repairing firearms. ==Economy==

The economic structure of the kingdom was highly intertwined with the political and religious systems and these developed together significantly. The main currency was cowrie shells. Domestic The domestic economy largely focused on agriculture and crafts for local consumption. Until the development of palm oil, very little agricultural or craft goods were traded outside of the kingdom. Markets served a key role in the kingdom and were organized around a rotating cycle of four days with a different market each day (the market type for the day was religiously sanctioned). Several wealthy citizens stored their cowrie wealth in a building called akueho (cowrie huts) located in the compounds of their houses. Such cowrie huts were designed to protect the cowries from fire and theft. Iroko argues that this was a form of banking in Dahomey because the owners of such akueho houses regularly kept the deposits of others in the storehouse which they used as a form of loans to 3rd parties. Guyer and Stiansen on the other hand, are skeptical of Iroko's theory. Taxation Herskovits recounts a complex tax system in the kingdom, in which officials who represented the king, the , gathered data from each village regarding their harvest. Then the king set a tax based upon the level of production and village population. In addition, the king's own land and production were taxed. Taxes were imposed on craft workers including blacksmiths, weavers and wood cutters for example. Kangaroo courts could be held at any place such as the market or on roads, presided over by officials recognized by the central government. Such courts could extract some form of tax from the litigants before judging the case. Other war captives who were not intended to be sold to Europeans remained in Dahomey as slaves. There, they worked on royal plantations that supplied food for the army and royal court. There was a history of large-scale human sacrifice using slaves. ==Religion==

The Kingdom of Dahomey shared many religious rituals with surrounding populations. It also developed unique ceremonies, beliefs, and religious stories. These included royal ancestor worship and West African Vodun. Royal ancestor worship Early kings established clear worship of royal ancestors and centralized their ceremonies in the Annual Customs of Dahomey. The spirits of the kings had an exalted position in the land of the dead and it was necessary to get their permission for many activities on earth. The number is also often reported to be 4,000. Cosmology Dahomey had a unique form of West African Vodun that linked together preexisting animist traditions with vodun practices. Oral history recounted that Hwanjile, a wife of Agaja and mother of Tegbessou, brought Vodun to the kingdom and ensured its spread. The primary deity is the combined Mawu-Lisa (Mawu having female characteristics and Lisa having male characteristics) and it is claimed that this god took over the world that was created by their mother Nana-Buluku. Mawu-Lisa governs the sky and is the highest pantheon of gods, but other gods exist in the earth and in thunder. Religious practice organized different priesthoods and shrines for each different god and each different pantheon (sky, earth or thunder). Women made up a significant amount of the priest class and the chief priest was always a descendant of Dakodonou. ==Arts==

The arts in Dahomey were unique and distinct from the artistic traditions elsewhere in Africa. The arts were substantially supported by the king and his family, had non-religious traditions, assembled multiple different materials, and borrowed widely from other peoples in the region. Common art forms included wood and ivory carving, metalwork (including silver, iron and brass, appliqué cloth, and clay bas-reliefs). Kings were often depicted in large zoomorphic forms with each king resembling a particular animal in multiple representations. Much of the artwork revolved around the royalty. Each of the palaces at the Royal Palaces of Abomey contained elaborate bas-reliefs (noundidė in Fon) providing a record of the king's accomplishments. Each king had his own palace within the palace complex and within the outer walls of their personal palace was a series of clay reliefs designed specific to that king. These were not solely designed for royalty and chiefs, temples, and other important buildings had similar reliefs. The reliefs would present Dahomey kings often in military battles against the Oyo or Mahi tribes to the north of Dahomey with their opponents depicted in various negative depictions (the king of Oyo is depicted in one as a baboon eating a cob of corn). Historical themes dominated representation and characters were basically designed and often assembled on top of each other or in close proximity creating an ensemble effect. Also unusual, by being so early and clearly provenanced, is a carved wooden tray (not dissimilar to much more recent examples) in Ulm, Germany, which was brought to Europe before 1659, when it was described in a printed catalogue. Wheeled carriages were used in Dahomey after their introduction into the region of modern Benin in the late 17th century. Some carriages were manufactured indigenously while most were obtained as gifts from European allies. The carriages were often used for ceremonial purposes and were drawn mostly by men due to the small number of horses in the state. Carriages in Dahomey came in varying sizes and shapes. Some were modelled after ships, elephants and horses. Burton noted that the road between Abomey and the town of Cana, which was about six to seven miles long, was regularly kept weeded for the convenience of the royal carriages. ==In popular culture==

, 1903 The Kingdom of Dahomey has been depicted in a number of different works of fiction or creative nonfiction. Literature and theatre • In the novel Robur the Conqueror (1886) by Jules Verne, the crew and passengers of the Albatross travel to Dahomey, where they interrupt an act of human sacrifice. • In Dahomey (1903) was a successful Broadway musical, the first full-length Broadway musical written entirely by African Americans, in the early 20th century. • Novelist Paul Hazoumé's first novel Doguicimi (1938) was based on decades of research into the oral traditions of the Kingdom of Dahomey during the reign of King Ghezo. • The anthropologist Judith Gleason wrote a novel, Agõtĩme: Her Legend (1970), centered on one of the wives of a king of Dahomey in the late 18th century, who offends her husband who sells her to slavery in Brazil; she makes a bargain with a vodu (deity), putting her son on the throne of Dahomey and bringing her home. • Another novel tracing the background of a slave, this time in the United States, was The Dahomean, or The Man from Dahomey (1971), by the African-American novelist Frank Yerby; its hero is an aristocratic warrior. • In the third of George McDonald Fraser's Flashman novels, Flash for Freedom! (1971), Flashman dabbles in the slave trade and visits Dahomey. • The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980) by Bruce Chatwin is the story of a Brazilian who, hoping to make his fortune from slave trading, sails to Dahomey in 1812, befriending its unbalanced king and coming to a bad end. • The main character of one of the two parallel stories in Will Do Magic for Small Change (2016) by Andrea Hairston is Kehinde, a Yoruba woman forced into the Dahomean army; she struggles with divided loyalty, and after the fall of Behanzin, joins a French entertainment troupe who intend to exhibit her as an Amazon at the Chicago World's Fair. • The Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other (2019) by Bernardine Evaristo features a character named Amma who writes and directs a play titled The Last Amazon of Dahomey. • Behanzin's resistance to the French attempt to end slave trading and human sacrifice has been central to a number of works. Jean Pliya's first play Kondo le requin (1967), winner of the Grand Prize for African History Literature, tells the story of Behanzin's struggle to maintain the old order. Maryse Condé's novel The Last of the African Kings (1992) similarly focuses on Behanzin's resistance and his exile to the Caribbean. The novel Thread of Gold Beads (2012) by Nike Campbell centers on a daughter of Behanzin; through her eyes, the end of his reign is observed. • Zora Neale Hurston's book Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", posthumously published May 2018. Video games Dahomey has been depicted in some historical war strategy video games. • The Dahomey Amazons appear in the historical strategy video game Empire: Total War (2009), developed by Creative Assembly. • In the grand strategy video games Europa Universalis IV (2013) and Victoria 3 (2022), both developed by Paradox Interactive, Dahomey appears as one of many historical nations that players can play as or interact with. ==See also==