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.