The name Whydah is an anglicised form of Xwéda (pronounced Xʷi-dah), from the Xweda Gbe language and people of Benin.

When the great chief (called ‘king’ by Europeans) could not supply the traders with sufficient slaves, he would supplement them with his own wives.

[citation needed] Three elements of common life were the subjects of devotion: some lofty trees, the sea, and a type of snake.

[4] In comparison, other estimates range upward from twenty thousand, although contemporary interpretation is generally that these armies were of "overwhelming size".

In that year, Whydah fortified two islands off the coast with mounted artillery on vulnerable crossing places.

On one occasion in 1774, Dahomey countered Whydah's fortification tactic through the construction of a causeway to access the island.

Such practices illustrate the high level of dependence European traders had on native African powers in the beginning of the 18th century, and also the close relationship that emerged between the two entities.

This association is further reiterated by the fact that Dutch, British, French, and Portuguese trading company compounds all bordered the walls of Haffon’s royal palace in the city of Savi.

These compounds served as important centers of diplomatic and commercial exchange between European companies and the Kingdom of Whydah.

Made up of mud walls, the forts provided tolerable protection for the Europeans but were not strong enough to withstand a legitimate attack from the natives.

This relationship would take a drastic turn with the decline of royal authority and increase of internal power struggles throughout the 18th and 19th centuries that gave way to French colonization of the region in 1872.