26 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavementthe 19th century. Aft er the abolition of slavery and sup-
pression of the slave trade, Dahomey’s prosperity declined.
Th e French occupied the area, defeating and disbanding the
famous brigade of women—the Amazons—who were the
best of Dahomey’s soldiers. Th e French declared Dahomey
a French Protectorate in 1892. Th ey challenged a histori-
cally powerful system of African nobility, and it took them
more than 50 years of treaty-making to establish Dahomey
as one of their colonies.
Th e original Benin kingdom, located in western Nige-
ria, was also part of the Bight of Benin. According to tradi-
tion, the Benin dynasty was founded by immigrants from
Ife three centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese in
the 15th century. It was one of the earliest African states to
come into contact with Europeans. Most of Benin’s history
lies in the Coastal Contact Period (1475–1850), but the gen-
esis of its state dates back to an earlier period. Benin City
was fairly large by the 15th century. By the time the Portu-
guese arrived on the Guinea coast, Benin was already fi rmly
established with a royal court, and its founding dynasty was
in its 10th reign. Th e Portuguese found a rich and civilized
kingdom. Visitors in the 16th and 17th centuries described
Benin as a great city, and one that could be fairly com-
pared to European cities of the time. What started out as a
city and mini-state progressed over a long period of time to
a kingdom type of government.
Signifi cant for its development in size and level of
political structure as a forest state, Benin rose to political
eminence and ultimately became the main state of the Edo-
speaking peoples. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, its
empire stretched across the southern tier of Yoruba states to
Lagos and Badagry, near the western edge of modern Nige-
ria. Th e kings of Benin initially refused to take part in the
Atlantic slave trade, but they did participate later. In 1516,
the Benin king restricted the export of male slaves. Benin
exported an estimated 10,000–12,000 slaves in 1763. In the
early 19th century, Benin dropped out of the slave trade en-
tirely but thrived and survived as a major state until close to
the end of the 19th century when it was conquered by the
British in 1897. As a militarily powerful early state, Benin
exercised considerable political and cultural infl uence over
extensive areas becoming best known for its early works of
remarkable bronze art.
According to 19th century oral tradition, Benin learned
the art of brass-casting from Ife in the 13th century. Benin
artists and craft smen were producing magnifi cent bronzeDahomeans also believed in witchcraft , which at times they
considered as the source of a king’s illness. Religion revolved
around an established priesthood, and the king served as
the nation’s high priest. Priests professed their view on the
nature of man and divinity, and the establishment of the
social and divine order.
Dahomey was organized along military lines and gov-
erned by a highly centralized authority with a king (oba)
who was granted total power by his people. He appointed
local rulers, army offi cers, and administrators. Dahomean
women were appointed along with men in government of-
fi ces and in various roles as advisors to men and replace-
ments during wars. Th e women’s military corps was a
functioning unit. Europeans referred to these women as
“Amazons.” Th ese military women included female com-
manders who fought alongside men. Th ey engaged in rig-
orous training and combat and were regarded as equals of
men. With unwavering loyalty and service from all citizens
and appointed offi cials, the king became one of the most
powerful monarchs along the West African coast, even
though the kingdom was small and poor. Dahomey en-
joyed uniqueness as one of the few absolute monarchies in
the region.
Early Dahomey’s power and prestige depended on
profi ts from the slave trade to a greater extent than that of
almost any other West African state.
Th e Dahomey coast trade was second to the Gold Coast
in importance as a trade network moving goods from Togo,
Dahomey, the eastern part of Upper Volta, the western part
of Nigeria, and northwest Nigeria down the Sudanic belt,
into several key trading towns. Th e Portuguese established
a successful and profi table trading station in Dahomey. Be-
ginning in the early 1600s, Dahomey took advantage of the
demand for slaves to expand its military power and used
the profi ts from the slave trade to invest in fi rearms. Access
to new weapons expanded Dahomey’s regional power and
allowed the obas to centralize their authority. In 1725, Da-
homey was strong enough to extend its borders. Th e pow-
ers in central Dahomey controlled most of the coast and
the European slave trade. Th e Atlantic slave trade increas-
ingly grew to be the basis of Dahomey’s economy. Diff er-
ent trading towns along the Bight of Benin from modern
Benin to Cameroon continued to participate in the Atlantic
slave trade until 1850–1860 when the British launched a
major antislave trade off ensive. Dahomey, however, con-
tinued to thrive from the slave trade in the second half of