Editing Dahomey (section)

{{Short description|1600–1904 kingdom in West Africa}}
{{About|the kingdom from 1600 until 1900|the republic from 1958–1975 (now known as [[Benin]])|Republic of Dahomey}}
{{For|the documentary film|Dahomey (film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = Danhɔmɛ ([[Fon language|Fon]])
| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Dahomey
| common_name            = Dahomey
| demonym                = Dahomean
| image_flag             = Royal banner of Béhanzin of Dahomey.svg
| image_flag2            = Flag of Ghezo of Dahomey.svg
| flag_border            = no
| flag_type              = Top: Flag of [[Béhanzin]] ({{circa|1890}}–{{circa|1894}})<br/>Bottom: Flag of [[Ghezo]] (1818–1858)
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Béhanzin.svg
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms ({{circa|1890}}–{{circa|1894}})
| image_map              = Royaume du Danhomè 1894.svg
| image_map_caption      = The Kingdom of Dahomey around 1894, superimposed on a map of the modern-day Republic of Benin, in the region of West Africa.
| status                 = Kingdom, vassal state of the [[Oyo Empire]] (1730–1823), [[Protectorate|French Protectorate]] (1894–1904)
| status_text            = 
| government_type        = [[Monarchy]]
| year_start             = {{circa|1600}}
| year_end               = 1904
| event1                 = [[Dakodonu]] begins conquest on Abomey Plateau
| date_event1            = {{circa|1620}}
| event2                 = [[Agaja|King Agaja]] conquers [[Allada]] and [[Kingdom of Whydah|Whydah]]
| date_event2            = 1724–1727
| event3                 = [[Ghezo|King Ghezo]] defeats the [[Oyo Empire]] and ends tributary status
| date_event3            = 1823
| event_start            = [[Aja people|Aja]] settlers from Allada settle on Abomey Plateau
| event4                 = Annexed into [[French Dahomey]]
| date_event4            = 1894
| p1                     = Kingdom of Ardra
| p2                     = Kingdom of Whydah
| s1                     = French Dahomey
| flag_s1                = Flag of France.svg
| capital                = [[Abomey]]
| common_languages       = [[Fon language|Fon]]
| religion               = [[West African Vodun|Vodun]]
| currency               = [[Cowrie]]
| leader1                = [[Do-Aklin]]
| year_leader1           = {{circa}} 1600–1625 (first)
| leader2                = [[Agoli-agbo]]
| year_leader2           = 1894–1900 (last)
| title_leader           = [[King of Dahomey|Ahosu (King)]]
<!-- Area and population of a given year -->| stat_year1             = 1700<ref name=Heywood />
| stat_area1             = 10,000
| stat_pop1              = 350,000
| today                  = [[Benin]]
}}
{{History of Benin}}
The '''Kingdom of Dahomey''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ə|ˈ|h|oʊ|m|i}}) was a [[West Africa]]n [[List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history|kingdom]] located within present-day [[Benin]] that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the [[Fon people]] in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by expanding south to conquer key cities like [[Ouidah|Whydah]] belonging to the [[Kingdom of Whydah]] on the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast which granted it unhindered access to the tricontinental [[Atlantic slave trade|Atlantic Slave Trade]].

For much of the middle 19th century, the Kingdom of Dahomey became a key regional state, after eventually ending tributary status to the [[Oyo Empire]].<ref name=Heywood>{{cite book|title=Soundings in Atlantic history: latent structures and intellectual currents, 1500–1830|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|author=Heywood, Linda M.|author2=John K. Thornton|editor=Bailyn, Bernard & Patricia L. Denault|chapter=Kongo and Dahomey, 1660–1815}}</ref> European visitors extensively documented the kingdom, and it became one of the most familiar African nations known to [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]].<ref name=Law-1986/> The Kingdom of Dahomey was an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and [[Slavery|slave labor]],<ref name=Polanyi>{{cite book|title=Dahomey and the Slave Trade: An Analysis of an Archaic Economy|last=Polanyi|first=Karl|location=Seattle|publisher=University of Washington Press|year=1966}}</ref> significant international trade and diplomatic relations with [[European colonization of Africa|Europeans]], a centralized administration, taxation systems, and an organized military.  Notable in the kingdom were significant artwork, an all-female military unit called the [[Dahomey Amazons]] by European observers, and the elaborate religious practices of [[West African Vodun|Vodun]].<ref name="Death by government">R. Rummel (1997)"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=N1j1QdPMockC Death by government]''". Transaction Publishers. p. 63. {{ISBN|1-56000-927-6}}</ref>

The growth of Dahomey coincided with the growth of the [[Atlantic slave trade]], and it became known to Europeans as a major supplier of slaves.<ref name=Law-1986>{{cite journal |last1=Law |first1=Robin |title=Dahomey and the Slave Trade: Reflections on the Historiography of the Rise of Dahomey |journal=The Journal of African History |date=July 1986 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=237–267 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700036665 |s2cid=165754199 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/dahomey-and-the-slave-trade-reflections-on-the-historiography-of-the-rise-of-dahomey/A293827948246D98B83BBAA5828E740F |language=en |issn=1469-5138|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Dahomey was a highly militaristic society constantly organised for warfare; it captured captives during  wars and raids against neighboring societies and sold them into the Atlantic slave trade in exchange for European goods such as [[rifles]], [[gunpowder]], [[Textile|fabrics]], [[cowrie shells]], [[tobacco]], [[Smoking pipe|pipes]], and [[Alcoholic beverage|alcohol]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The women soldiers of Dahomey pedagogical unit 1 &#124; Women |url=https://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/women-soldiers-dahomey/pedagogical-unit/1}}</ref><ref name="Brittani a2">{{cite web |title=Dahomey {{!}} historical kingdom, Africa {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Dahomey-historical-kingdom-Africa |website=www.britannica.com |date=May 30, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Other captives became slaves in Dahomey, where they worked on royal plantations<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dahomey {{!}} historical kingdom, Africa {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Dahomey-historical-kingdom-Africa |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> or were killed in [[human sacrifice]]s during the festival celebrations known as the [[Annual Customs of Dahomey]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Law |first=Robin |date=July 1986 |title=Dahomey and the Slave Trade: Reflections on the Historiography of the Rise of Dahomey |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/dahomey-and-the-slave-trade-reflections-on-the-historiography-of-the-rise-of-dahomey/A293827948246D98B83BBAA5828E740F |journal=The Journal of African History |language=en |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=237–267 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700036665 |s2cid=165754199 |issn=1469-5138|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Annual Customs of Dahomey involved significant collection and distribution of gifts and tribute, religious Vodun ceremonies, military parades, and discussions by dignitaries about the future for the kingdom.

In the 1840s, Dahomey began to face decline with British pressure to abolish the slave trade, which included the anti-slavery [[blockade of Africa]] by the [[Royal Navy]]'s [[West Africa Squadron]].<ref name=Law-1997>{{cite journal|last=Law|first=Robin|title=The Politics of Commercial Transition: Factional Conflict in Dahomey in the Context of the Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade|journal=The Journal of African History|year=1997|volume=38|issue=2|pages=213–233|doi=10.1017/s0021853796006846|hdl=1893/280|s2cid=15681629 |url=http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/280/1/politics-of-commercial-transition.pdf|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921202013/http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/280/1/politics-of-commercial-transition.pdf|archive-date=September 21, 2017|url-status=dead|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Dahomey was also weakened after facing crushing defeats at the hands of [[Abeokuta]], a [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] city-state which was founded by the Oyo Empire refugees migrating southward.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Akintoye |first1=Stephen |title=A history of the Yoruba people |date=2010 |publisher=Amalion Publishing |isbn=9782359260069 |pages=300–303}}</ref> Dahomey later began experiencing territorial disputes with [[France]] which led to the [[First Franco-Dahomean War|war in 1890]] and part of the kingdom becoming a French protectorate. The kingdom fell four years later, when [[Second Franco-Dahomean War|renewed fighting]] resulted in the last king, [[Béhanzin]], to be overthrown and the country annexed into [[French West Africa]]. 

[[French Dahomey]] would gain independence in 1960 as the [[Republic of Dahomey]], which would rename itself [[Benin]] in 1975.