slave, known as Onesimus, inspired Mather, when the next smallpox epi-
demic broke out in Boston in 1721, to begin the experiment that saved
thousands of lives.
Impressive though these aspects of African societies were, it is in the
structure of states and the mobilization of armies that they particularly
demand attention. After the decline of Mali, other African states built
themselves into empires by absorbing neighbors, organizing production
and commerce, and creating bureaucracies and armies. In each of these
areas, they were more impressive than American Indian and many European
societies.
The most remarkable state in late seventeenth-century Africa was
Dahomey. It might be considered Africa’s Prussia, but it was even more
coherently organized. Military service was universal, with young boys
assigned to mature soldiers to be trained “up in Hardships from their
Youth.” The standing army numbered about 10,000 and was composed
“entirely of women of remarkable physique and fierceness in combat.”
Western observers referred to them as “Amazons.” Given the enlistment of
women, Dahomey’s army was capable of extraordinary expansion. In the
season of war, about one in each four inhabitants was available for military
service, that is about 50,000 of the 200,000 or so men, women, and chil-
dren. And it was not, as some other African (and many European) armies
were, just a rabble. It was described by a French observer as “elite troops,
brave and well-disciplined, led by a prince full of valor and prudence, sup-
ported by a staff of experienced officers.” Perhaps even more remarkable
than the size and efficiency of the army was the fact that it was under civil-
ian control except during combat. As Karl Polanyi observed, Dahomey’s
administration and law were remarkably honest and reliable. The monar-
chy was despotic, but the way in which religion was woven into the econ-
omy and administration made “superfluous the governmental apparatus of
constraint with the masses of the people.” Even taxation, according to
Polanyi, was “linked to an efficient system of collection, accounting, and
control.” So deep was the penetration of government into every aspect of
economic and social life that it regulated gifts, the “bride price,” and even
prostitution. Nor was Dahomey an isolated case. At least half a dozen other
empires were nearly as impressive.
The African Roots of American Blacks 93