Karl polanyi, economic development and cultural change 17, no. Factional conflict in dahomey in the context of the ending of the atlantic slave trade by robin law university of stirlingyork university, ontario in 1858, after a reign of forty years, king gezo of dahomey died and was succeeded by one of his sons called badahun, who took the royal name of. The damaging effects of the slave trade were seen in the paralysis of courtly politics. The government, however, sits in cotonou, the countrys economic centre.
The viceconsulate in the coastal port of ouidah, in the kingdom of dahomey, west african now in the modern republic of benin was established in18512 as part of the british governments efforts to suppress the transatlantic slave trade. Slaveraiders and middlemen, monopolists and freetraders. This article, which extends and modifies the analysis offered in an earlier article in this journal 1977, examines what is known of the organization of the supply of slaves for the transatlantic trade in dahomey, with particular emphasis on the relative importance of local slave raiding and the purchase of slaves from the interior, and on the evolution of a group of private merchants within. This prominence of ouidah in the atlantic slave trade is reflected in the.
Until 1670, king tefizon of allada opposed the unrestricted european trade in slaves. The women soldiers of dahomey elite troops of women soldiers, probably established in the early eighteenth century, contributed to the military power of the kingdom of dahomey in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. According to tradition, at the beginning of the 17th century three brothers vied for the kingdom of allada, which, like neighbouring whydah now ouidah, had grown rich on the slave trade. The transatlantic slave trade was brought to an end in the mid 1800s, at a time, eltis claims, when slaves were fetching record prices suggesting that its demise was influenced by moral considerations. The dahomey kingdom became known to european traders at this time as a major source of slaves in the slave trade at allada and whydah. King gezo, like his predecessors, was feared for his military power and his numerous slave raids. Bay emory university, atlanta the kpojito, the female reignmate to the king of dahomey, is said by twentiethcentury dahomeans to have been the richest and most powerful. It traded also with africans to its north for horses and for more captives for the slave trade. The historical roots of racial discrimination in the united states today can be traced back to north. Of all published articles, the following were the most read within the past 12 months. Slavery and the slave trade in precolonial africa by dr. He qualified as a lawyer in 1912 and served as a cavalry officer during world war i. Africa tends to be presented as an aggregate victim society.
So, says i, we are a brutal kindi meghan weddle emory history. Guide the discussion to include the following groups. He had an army of several thousand female warriors, the famous amazons. The history of the kingdom of dahomey black history 365. Dahomey traded prisoners, which it captured during wars and raids or exacted from tributaries, with the europeans for miscellaneous goods such as knives, bayonets, firearms, fabrics and spirits.
Dahomey, situated in the modern republic of benin, emerged in this period as one of the principle agents in the transatlantic slave trade and an exemplar of west african state formation. Abomey, dahomey s capital, was founded around 1620 by dogbari. Under king agaja17161740 the kingdom of dahomey was expanded. The rise of abeokuta in the 1840s created another power rivaling dahomey, largely by creating a safe haven for people from the slave trade.
Dahomey, then, is a type of early or protostate, in the service of the slave trade, organized by military conquest from without, and the civil power was essentially a tributary. From the 1720s to the 1860s, dahomey s trade was conducted mainly through the port of whydah and was oriented principally toward brazil. After a few minutes of brainstorming, ask for the students responses. Akosua perbi fulbrightscholarinresidence manchester college indiana, u. Wonders of the african world episodes slave kingdoms. At the same time, the slave trade began increasing in size in the coastal region through the kingdom of whydah and allada and trade with the portuguese, dutch, and british. Reflections on the historiography of the rise of dahomey volume 27 issue 2 robin law skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites.
Abomey, dahomeys capital, was founded around 1620 by dogbari, who fled allada after a power struggle amongst his brothers for the control of that kingdom. Introduction slavery and the slave trade have been age old institutions and practices in almost every continent in the world. The kingdom became a major regional power in the 1720s when it conquered the coastal kingdoms of allada and whydah. Europeans called the bight of beninwhere ouidah is locatedand the surrounding region the slave coast because of its importance in supplying american markets with african laborers. King gezo, dahomey images the abolition of the slave trade. Historians estimate that over the course of two centuries, ouidah alone exported more than one million africans before closing its trade in the 1860s. How important were africans to the atlantic slave trade. Archaeology and political order on the bight of benin. Slavery and the slave trade in eastern africa preliminary mss submitted on 2 april 2014 to unescos volume on forced migration of africans, to appear on unescos website for the slave. When one of the brothers won control of allada, the other two fled.
Often recruited as teenagers, the women soldiers lived in the royal palace, isolated from society. In college in budapest polanyi founded the radical club galilei, which would have farreaching effects on hungarian intellectual life. Ask students in small groups to make a list of the groups that played a role in the slave trade. On the african role in the transatlantic slave trade in dahomey. Archaeology nature of west afiican political order in the era. The organisation strives to promote gender equality and womens empowerment by integrating these principles in all its programmes, notably in education. The ashanti and dahomey kingdoms, traditional vodou religion henry louis gates reflects on the legacy of the slave trade life in ghana and africanamerican perspectives on the slave trade.
During the 1720s, the kingdom of allada and the kingdom of whydah came under dahomey. Pdf this article examines the correspondence between the. It considers, and refutes, the view that the rulers of dahomey had originally intended to bring the slave trade to an end. The last known slave ship that sailed to the united states of america to port in mobile, alabama brought a group of 110 slaves from the dahomey kingdom, purchased long after the abolition of the. The african slave trade a selection of cases from the records of the u. An evil west african king and the atlantic slave trade a. During the era of the atlantic slave trade, the kingdom of dahomey sent at least. Oyo was a slave state, and its king used slave labor on his vast farmlands. With control over these key coastal cities, dahomey became a major center in the atlantic slave trade until 1852 when the british imposed a naval blockade to stop the trade. Dahomey and the ending of the transatlantic slave trade. Dahomey and the slave trade 239 the rise of the slave trade and the emergence of dahomey the section of the west african coast later known as the slave coast was originally discovered by the portuguese in the i470s, but did not become important in the atlantic trade until much later. In wars, oyo took more slaves than it needed for the royal farms, and it traded them to the europeans for guns, cloth, metal goods and cowry shells.
Media in category slave trade the following 89 files are in this category, out of 89 total. Slavery and the kingdoms of oyo, dahomey and asante. Ouidah becomes a flourishing port and the king doms secondlargest city. Gender equality is one of the global priorities of unesco. Dahomey reached the height of its power and prestige during the heyday of the atlantic slave trade in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. Confronting the legacy of the african slave trade by zayde antrim, phd candidate in african history at harvard university adapted historically, west africa is associated with the trade in gold, ivory, and most of all, slaves. The civil authority was, therefore, incapable of regimenting the dahomean folk into a mature class system, without which a realized state cannot be said to exist. The arab slave trade involved the capture of peoples from the continental interior, who were then shipped overseas through ports on the red sea and elsewhere. The modern republic of benin is a west african state with its capital at portonovo originally developed as a port for the slave trade. European slave traders, arab slave traders, african slave traders, tribal chiefs, american. Histoire africaine dov nen purdue university on the african role the transatlantic slave trade dahomey between the end of the seventeenth century and the end of the nineteenth some seven million africans were transported from the west coast of africa to the american continent and the west indies many of them from the dahomean port of whydah. Abomey, dahomeys capital, was founded around 1620 by dogbari. An analysis of an archaic economy american ethnological society monographs, 42 karl polanyi, paul bohannon, abraham rotstein on.
Decay of benin rise of dahomey transatlantic slave trade. Kingdoms of west africa dahomey benin the history files. Dahomey, kingdom in western africa that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries in the region that is now southern benin. Slave coast by the europeans, because of the many slave trading posts operating at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. An analysis of an archaic economy polanyi, karl on. Apr 19, 2020 karl polanyi, economic anthropologist and former hungarian political leader. In the early 18th century, kings of dahomey known today as benin became big players in the slave trade, waging a bitter war on their neighbours, resulting in the capture of 10,000, including. The history of the kingdom of dahomey spans 300 years from around 1600 until 1904 with the rise of the kingdom of dahomey as a major power on the atlantic coast of modernday benin until french conquest. This gave dahomey direct access to the coast where they could profit from the slave trade directly and aquire firearms for further expansion and conquest. The atlantic slave trade took 70,000 people, primarily from the west coast of africa, per year at its peak in the mid1700s. The concept of africa as a victim have grown out of the abolition movement. Aug 09, 2009 the damaging effects of the slave trade were seen in the paralysis of courtly politics. District courts in the states of alabama, georgia, north carolina, and south carolina 5780 jonesboro road morrow, georgia 30260 770 9682100 morrow. Before looking at dahomeys involvement in the slave trade and the effect that the transition to palm oil had on the state, a short explanation of the.
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