A Very Short History of Dahomey V: The Fall of Dahomey

 

Gezo had tried to appease the British by moving away from the slave trade. However, he had soon reinstituted Dahomey’s man-selling traditions, among other things. This was done to restore Dahomey’s economy, but international events, as well as happenings among customer nations, set slavery well on the path to extinction. Dahomey’s failure to adapt would lead to its decline and justify its conquest by an even greater imperial power.

Chapter V: The Fall of Dahomey

Glele represented as a lion (Wikimedia)

Attempt at Resurgence

The resurgent slave trade out of Ouidah proved short-lived. With the United States sundered by civil war over the issues pertaining to slavery, Britain found a more amenable anti-slavery party in the Republican-led Union. A new treaty prevented slavers from using the United States flag as protection. As it happens the last slave ship to sell in America, the Clotilda, came out of Ouidah. It arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in 1860. At the same time the Spanish colony of Cuba was pressured to stop purchasing human lives. Despite these closing markets, Dahomey still found many places abroad to sell its human goods.

On the positive side, Dahomey revitalized their trade in agricultural exports. Though not as profitable as slaves or palm oil, agricultural goods did compensate for lower sales of these two economic staples. With the palm oil trade recovering in the mid-1860s, buyers from anti-slavery nations, foremost Britain, were drawn to Dahomey’s ports. European business firms competed with ex-slaving Brazilians and Portuguese for control of the agricultural trade. The firms had the advantage of secure financial backing.

A Very Short History of Dahomey IV: Challenges to the Slave Trade

 

The earlier half of King Gezo’s reign had seen Dahomey throw off Oyo rule and become the primary military and slaving power in its corner of Africa. But just as Dahomey rose, so did Britain’s anti-slavery crusade alongside local resistance to the slave raids. Gezo would struggle to hold on to tradition in the face of new challenges.

"Procession of the Wealth of the King's Wealth." Gezo is the referenced King.

Chapter IV: Challenges to the Slave Trade

Gezo and the British

In 1839 the British once more threatened the existence of the slave trade. Lord Palmerston, one of the most prominent and influential politicians of 19^th Century Britain, was able to pass the Equipment Act. The Equipment Act allowed the British Navy to seize Portuguese slave ships even if they were unloaded (previously they could only take them if human cargo was presently onboard). This greatly reduced illegal slave trading. The British proved to be persistent enforcers, to the point that they began to violate Ouidah’s neutrally declared waters. Dahomeans watched as merchant ships were dragged away from their shore, along with any wealth they could have made.

Britain’s seamen did more than seize ships. They actually assaulted some African ports. While this targeted one of the most morally wretched institutions in human history, it was undeniably a gross violation of other nations’ sovereignty. The local Africans were not the only ones to suffer from Britain’s anti-slavery war. Ouidah’s Francisco de Souza, as a Trans-Atlantic slave baron, lost his monopoly. There are some claims that Gezo actually had a hand in reducing his influence in Dahomey, either out of a need to reorganize the slave trade in light of recent events or out of jealousy over the Portuguese’s wealth. Though his business took a hit, De Souza remained in Dahomey until his death in 1849.

A Very Short History of Dahomey III: Dahomey Under King Gezo

The last post covered the bulk of the Tegbesu Dynasty. This dynasty ended after several failures to become the top slaving power in “armpit” of Africa, as well as various unpopular measures by the kings. This section will look at the earlier part of King Gezo’s reign, the start of a new line of rulers, and also cover some general aspects of Dahomey’s culture and practices which in many cases extended back into the 16^th and 17^th Century.

A Frederick E Forbes illustration of Gezo from Dahomey and
the Dahomans. A servant holds a royal umbrella over him.

Chapter Three: Dahomey Under King Gezo

Lifting the Oyo Yoke

Gezo was determined to start his reign and new dynasty by ridding Dahomey of Oyo superiority. The time was right, as Oyo was suffering from internal divisions, primarily between the king and the council of elders. Also the Islamic states to the north of Oyo had gone on the warpath, with the Fulani Jihads the most threatening to the empire. When the Oyo came for their first tribute from him, he offered “a tiny piece of cloth – enough for one man’s underpants and just two bags of cowries. He sent the collectors back saying that any more gifts “would be disproportionate to Dahomey’s wealth.” Oyo sent another team to collect proper tribute. Gezo had them beheaded, starting a war.

In 1820 Gezo declared the independence of Dahomey. Oyo sent an army to deal with its vassal. However this was hardly an actual invasion from the Oyo army, as the Fulani jihad commanded Oyo’s primary attention. It was made up of other vassal Yoruba groups and Mahi allies who knew that an independent and strengthened Dahomey would be a threat. The Dahomeans defeated them and captured their commander, Ajanaku. Gezo had him executed.

A Very Short History of Dahomey II: The Tegbesu Dynasty

In the last part we looked at the origins of the Kingdom of Dahomey, and how it settled into its role as a regional slave-trading power. Here we cover the 18th Century, when the slave trade went largely unquestioned by Europe and provided Dahomey with a wide range of customers. However, it was not as profitable as the African rulers may have hoped.

An 18th Century army procession, led by (possibly) a king with a feathered hat. Note all of the umbrellas. Umbrellas were a status symbol in Dahomey and could be quite colorful in their design.

Chapter II: The Tegbesu Dynasty

Tegbesu

Unlike his father, Tegbesu was very accommodating to European traders. He helped them maintain their forts and trading posts. In one incident 1743 he had a Portuguese fort blown up to display his power over the port of Igelefe. The Portuguese was harboring a Hueda leader. The Hueda were still trying to regain control of Ouidah and throw off their dependent status to Dahomey. Often suspecting the Europeans of siding with their enemy, the Dahomeans would sometimes launch attacks on European forts. On July 21, 1743, they targeted the Portuguese fort. At some point the fort’s powder magazine detonated and the Dahomeans were able to enter and kill many of its inhabitants in their search for the Hueda leader. After this the Europeans never backed the Hueda in their power plays, though the former rulers of Ouidah would make further attempts into the 1770s with backing from Little Popo (in present day Togo).

A Very Short History of Dahomey I: Origins

Map of West Africa by Hermann Moll (George A. Smathers Library, University of Florida)

In September of 2022, the Woman King came to theatres. The movie was surrounded by controversy. The marketing glorified Dahomey’s all-female warrior unit, the Agojie, as black freedom fighters battling white domination. Naturally those who saw the trailer looked into the background of the Agojie and were shocked to learn that they served a kingdom that much of its wealth from selling other Africans to Europeans, not to mention using slave labor to run its internal economy. The movie is not quite as bad as suspected, but still rewrites parts of history to enable a good guys (or in this case good girls) versus bad guys narrative.

My own curiosity piqued, I’ve read several books and many articles on the Kingdom of Dahomey. I do not specialize in African history, but I hope this will be a good short history of a West African kingdom. I do not have access to all the primary source accounts of Dahomey, but secondary sources reference and quote them at length. I.A. Akinjogbin’ Dahomey and it’s Neighbours is a detailed summary of the Tegbesu Dynasty, which ruled from 1708 to 1818. I will thus be using it frequently in my first two parts. Robin Law’s Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving ‘Port’ covers the primary port and point of contact with Europeans. Ouidah saw a million slaves pass from Africa over the Atlantic to American colonies and Law does a great job covering every aspect of the slave trade and relations with Europeans. Melville Herskovits' Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom is not a narrative history but a summary of Dahomean social, cultural, and religious practices. Basil Davidson’s The African Past and Dov Ronen’s Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity offer more simplified summaries of Dahomey history. Finally there is Stanley Alpern’s Amazons of Black Sparta, the only full-length study of the all-female Agojie warriors. It goes into further detail on women in Precolonial Dahomey and various military operations.

 

Chapter I: Origins

The Founding

Dahomey occupied what is now the southern third of Benin (on the West Coast of Africa south of Nigeria). It was made up of the Fon People and centered on the Abomey Plateau. They originated the Aja, a subset of a greater Yoruba culture that dominated the armpit of Africa. They became Fon when they mingled with the other residents of late Medieval Benin. In the 17^th Century, the peoples that lived in what is now southern Benin mostly resided within city-state kingdoms. At its inception Dahomey existed alongside Allada, Jakin, Ouidah, and Popo (all of which would one day be absorbed into Dahomey via conquest). Each of these kingdoms had a main town where the king resided, and a few or more other major towns alongside various villages. Each king had under him a group of chiefs, who like him practiced hereditary succession. Familial and biological bonds were considered the most important building blocks of Aja culture and the basis for citizenship. The emphasis on kinship groups meant that the kings had no actual centralized government or army. It was the kinship groups that guided the course of these little kingdoms.

Movie Review: The Woman King (2022)

The Woman King is a curious movie. I was entertained and absorbed for much of it, but as someone who’s fairly knowledgeable on the subject it covers, the West African kingdom of Dahomey, I found some aspects odd, perhaps a little troubling. First of all I will say that the marketing for this movie was bad. The trailer shows black women talking about fighting for freedom while girl power songs play in the background. When the main character Nanisca (Viola Davis) talks about fighting the enemy and for freedom there are shots of white colonists. This gives the impression that the Dahomey fought European slavers. When potential viewers conducted a little research and learned that the Dahomey were in fact massive slavers, seizing entire towns to sell on the coast, they felt lied to. They thought the movie was going to completely change history depict the Dahomey as heroic anti-slavery fighters. It did not help that Viola Davis tried to shame audiences by implying that anybody who did not see her movie was against black women. As it turns out these concerns can be both dismissed and verified. Let’s get into it.

The movie focuses on the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit. Black female fighters certainly checks boxes that are currently in vogue in Hollywood, but there is a firm historical basis. In the actual history they originated as a royal bodyguard, but thanks to a shortage of fighting men King Ghezo (portrayed by John Boyega in this movie) expanded it into a frontline unit. The Woman King thankfully remembers that the Europeans, the Portuguese in particular, were the Dahomey’s customer’s rather than enemies. In fact the film portrays the Oyo, a powerful Yoruba Empire, as the main antagonists. The Oyo had forced Dahomey into a tributary status, receiving annual gifts in exchange for no further invasions. This movie takes place in 1823, when Dahomey threw off Oyo domination.