History of the Kingdom of Dahomey
Prior to the centralization of the kingdom of Dahomey, the evidence suggests that the Abromey plateau was settled by a number of small tribes, commonly known as the Gedevi.
[1] To the east of the Abromey plateau, the Oyo Empire (in present-day Nigeria) was at the peak of its power and exercised some hegemony over the tribes in the area.
Most scholars believe many of these stories were created or exaggerated in the 18th century to promote the legitimacy of the Dahomey royal regimes at the time and thus may be based only loosely on actual events.
Dakodonu killed Dan on the spot and ordered that his new palace be built on the site and derived the kingdom's name from the incident (this may be a false etymology[4]): Dan=chief, xo=Belly, me=Inside of.
He moved much of his army with a significant portion in the back composed of women dressed like male warriors (this is possibly the beginning of the Dahomey Amazons).
The Whydah royal family had assumed that the Dahomey army had been weakened in the war with Oyo and, upon seeing such a large force, fled from the city.
[5] By the end of Agaja's reign, the Kingdom of Dahomey occupied significant area, particularly the crucial coastal slave trade cities.
At the same time, Agaja created much of the administrative apparatus of the kingdom and instituted the key ceremony of the Annual Customs, or Xwetanu in Fon.
Following the death of Agaja in 1740, the empire was defined by significant political struggle (although limited largely to within the palace walls) and deepening engagement with the slave trade.
[3] Tegbessou moved the capital city back to Abomey but had to deal with a number of different factions in the powerful members of the kingdom and in keeping conquered territories loyal.
[2] Crucial in Ghezo's rise to power was the financial and military assistance of Francisco Félix de Sousa, a prominent Brazilian slave trader located in Whydah.
[7] Dahomey's control of key coastal cities continued and made the area a crucial location in the European scramble for Africa.
The hostility hit a high point when Béhanzin began conducting slave raids in French protectorates along the coast, namely Grand-Popo, in 1891.
Dodds named Agoli-agbo the new king of Dahomey, largely because he was seen as the most malleable of the alternatives, and exiled Béhanzin to French possessions in the Caribbean.
[10] Agoli-Agbo remained exiled from 1900 until 1910 when the French administration decided to allow him to return to the area because of his key role in Fon ancestor worship and ceremonies.
[12] Kojo Tovalou Houénou (1887–1936), who claimed to be a prince of Dahomey but had lived most of his life in France, became a major critic of the French colonial empire and founded the Ligue Universelle pour la Défense de la Race Noire to push for recognition of Africans as full citizens of the French state.
William Snelgrave and Archibald Dalzel wrote key histories and memoirs of Dahomey presenting the case for the slave trade to save the population from human sacrifice.
Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel used the funeral ceremonies after the death of the King of Dahomey in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837).
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.
Bruce Chatwin's historical novel The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980) is largely based around Francisco Félix de Sousa, the slave trader who helped bring King Ghezo to power.
Ben Okri's novel The Famished Road (1991), which won the Man Booker Prize, tells the story of a person caught in the slave trade through Dahomey.
Jean Pliya's first play Kondo le requin (1967), winner of the Grand Prize for Black African History Literature, tells the story of Béhanzin's resistance.
