The Dahomey Empire. The Aja are thought to have moved from Tado (Togo) to southern present-day Benin in the twelfth or thirteenth century and built the town of Allada. According to oral legend, a throne conflict between three brothers in 1625 prompted more departures. Kokpon took control of Allada, Te-Agbanlin founded the seaside town of Ajatche, which Portuguese traders renamed Porto-Novo, and Do-Aklin migrated inland and established the town of Abomey.
The Aja subsequently merged with the locals to become the Fon ethnic group. Do-grandson Aklin’s Wegbaja (r. c.1645-1685) and his successor Akaba (r.1685-1708) had made Abomey the capital of a strong state, the Dahomey Empire, by the end of the seventeenth century. Unlike the surrounding traditional kingdoms, the kingdom was an absolute monarchy. Its ruler inherited heavenly abilities.
It was important to his position to respect prior rulers and unambiguously proclaim the omnipotence of the royal dynasty. As a result, the national day of celebration, the Annual Customs, comprised multiple human sacrifices to instill dread in his followers and establish a communication channel with ancestors.
During Annual Customs, rulers gathered the whole people, presented sacrifices, performed Vodun rites, distributed gifts, reviewed the past year, and planned future activities. “Messengers,” who had previously been sentenced to death, were sent to the council of past monarchs in the otherworld to speak with them.
Answers to the messengers’ queries were obtained through divination or possession. At the height of Dahomey’s dominance, the king’s palace, as well as his throne, were adorned with human skulls, and human sacrifices were common. The king was the ruler of a tightly stratified society. He bestowed and revoked chieftaincy at pleasure. Commoners who were powerless to oppose him worked in a centralized bureaucracy under his rule. Primogeniture was the method of throne succession. By 1708, every Dahomean citizen understood that his life had to be committed to the service of his monarch.
Dahomey Empire was set up for war not just to extend its territory, but also to capture prisoners and sell them as slaves. Initially, these were confined in the sparsely inhabited country to labor the royal crops. They were later sold to Europeans in return for firearms. The army was mostly made up of regulars who were known for their marksmanship.
It contained the legendary Amazon corps, which was most likely initially a royal guard. While Dahomey prospered, the coastal kingdoms of Allada and Ouidah were upset by competition between European traders, who pitted one chief against another, and vulnerable to Dahomey’s goal to push along the coast to take its portion of the slave trade. When Soso, King of Allada, died in 1724, two brothers vied for his throne. The loser approached Agaja for assistance.
Instead of reinstating his buddy to the throne, Agaja marched south with his army and seized Allada, exiling both rivals. Agaja’s unexpected conduct shattered the customary bonds that had held the peoples together. He said that from now on, the survival of kingdoms in the region would be determined solely by force. Nonetheless, Hufon, king of neighbouring Ouidah, who still believed in the legitimacy of ancient bonds, took no precautions.
Agaja invaded on a pretense in 1727. He encountered little opposition and soon captured and occupied Ouidah. His growth prompted the mighty Oyo kingdom, whose subject Allada had become by the early eighteenth century, to intervene and attack Dahomey. The conflict lasted from 1726 through 1730. Agaja used every available method, including burning down his capital and scattering his followers.
However, the Oyo cavalry eventually defeated Dahomey’s cannons. Agaja was forced to sign a peace treaty, recognize Oyo’s authority, pay an annual tribute, and relocate his capital from Abomey to Allada, the old Aja capital. In exchange, he was permitted to maintain Ouidah, a significant portion of Allada, overall control of his domestic affairs, and his army.
Agaja then focused on reestablishing contact with Europeans. He desired a royal monopoly on the slave trade because his sales were solely motivated by his need for weaponry; but, the Europeans compelled him to deal with them. They acknowledged him as the ruler of the land in exchange for his taking responsibility for the safety of Europeans and promising to work with their commerce. The Oyo, however, attacked again because Dahomey failed to pay the appropriate tribute.
Agaja ran away and died in 1740. His son Tegbesu (r. 1732–1774) succeeded him after a turbulent succession. He discovered that his treasury was empty and decided that commerce was better to conflict. By 1750, the slave trade had become well-organized, and it appeared that it would alleviate Dahomey’s difficulties. Dahomey remained strong as the rest of the Oyo empire crumbled. Nonetheless, the late eighteenth century saw a fall. Captives from Oyo were being diverted from Dahomey’s ports, while Fon raids in the devastated northern territories were unable to capture a sufficient quantity of slaves.
At the same time, European demand was diminishing, first as a consequence of the disruption caused by the conflicts, and subsequently as a result of Britain’s banning of the slave trade (1808). Only until 1818, under King Guezo, did Dahomey’s position improve. The Dahomey Empire has been condemned for its human sacrifices and huge slave trades. Historians have recently endeavored to explain rather than judge.
They remind us that, while Dahomean society accepted human sacrifices, Dahomey also provided order and security to its population. It established a sophisticated system of governance with constitutional checks and balances; it had an efficient administration, courts of justice, and professional combat forces; and it ensured its residents’ spiritual satisfaction and access to means of living. Historians also point out that Dahomean society legitimized the enslavement of conquered people as field laborers and servants, making it simple to transition to selling a few “undesirables.”
This resulted in increased European demand. Fon leaders appear to have entered the trade hesitantly, but they grew reliant on it for weaponry. They saw no other option but to enslave others or be slaves.
