Continuation

From around the 1760s, we enter into the Age of the Atlantic Revolutions with the corresponding growing opposition in many quarters to slavery and the slave trade. The pivotal date is 1807 when Britain abolished the slave trade. But on the local scene, little changed initially. Dahomey continued to be immersed in crisis and its rulers proved utterly unable to conquer any new territory – although the Dahomeans did manage at times to send raiding parties into the Eastern Slave Coast. On the other hand, the Huedan exiles were finally wiped out, and the once mighty Oyo empire, Dahomey’s overlord, began slowly to fall apart, as did also Glidji, another of Dahomey’s foes. In the middle of it all, in 1797, the Dahomean king Agonglo expressed his intention to convert to Christianity. This led to a coup in which Agonglo lost his life, and then to a counter-coup, both extremely bloody. On the Western Slave Coast the Danes, up until 1793, tried but failed to carve out a colony for themselves.

Near Disaster

Tegbesu, king of Dahomey (1740–74), found himself at the helm of a polity on the brink of implosion and was also faced with formidable external foes. He managed to wade through by accentuating the regime of terror, possibly establishing something akin to a “totalitarian” state, complete with internal purges. Dahomey’s enemies (Oyo, the exiled Huedans, Glidji etc.) were unable to coordinate their efforts. The relationship with (and between) the Europeans remained strained, provoking their slow disentanglement. But Tegbesu did try to mend his relations with the Portuguese-Brazilians, even sending the first of what turned out to be many Dahomean embassies to the viceroy in Brazil.

The African Side the Early/Legendary Past

The village of Tado in the north looms large in some local traditions. It was possibly the first general polity of the region (a theory supported by archaeological findings). What we think we know is that its ruler was a typical sacred king and the society a kinship-type one. But at some stage a group of people known as the Aja or Agasuvi had to flee towards the south. They founded Notsé and Allada. From Allada some groups moved to establish Dahomey in the north and, somewhat later, Porto Novo/Hogbonu in the east. The author argues that all the Ewe of the Western Slave Coast originated from Notsé – a contention modern anthropologists and historians are skeptical of – and that if there was migration, it must have involved few people and short distances. The chapter observes that there is a rival tradition to that of Tado, which underlines the importance of the kingdom of Grand Popo on the coast in the south.

The Database and the Slave Trade from the Slave Coast

The monumental Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade database has its limitations. It tells us, however, that of the 12 million (or more) slaves embarked from Africa for America, around 2 million (or more) came from the Slave Coast. Between 1696 and 1730 – that is, before the rise of Dahomey – one-third of all slaves came from the Slave Coast, which was then the leading African supplier. But under Dahomey, and much to the dismay of the new rulers, that coast lost its predominant position. A relative decline set in, as the heavy-handed methods of the new masters of the coast turned out to be counterproductive.

Societal, Religious and Political Structures

This chapter presents a model for the understanding of the “traditional” societies of the Slave Coast and, in fact, of most of West Africa. It explores concepts which are not prevalent in the anthropological literature, and much less so in historical literature: “owners of the land” in the ritual sense; earth-priests; water priests; “ritual control of the land”; “contrapuntal paramountcy” (very central for our purpose and explained later); “sacred kingship”; stranger-kings; ancestor worship; fertility cults, etc. These all have marked religious connotations, implying that these were so-called sacred kinship societies, and that everything had to be explained and legitimized in religious or supranatural terms.

The Long Goodbye

The ruler of Dahomey from 1797 (up until possibly 1818) was Adandozan. But his reign has been erased from oral memory and the local tradition. Why this is so, constitutes another mystery in Dahomean history. In any case, his reign and that of his successors saw the official but slow and tortuous disentanglement of the European and American powers from slavery, the slave trade, and the Slave Coast (until the colonial conquest). As the locals were opposed to the abolition of the slave trade, the result was for a while a moderately thriving so-called illegal slave trade with the connivance of the Brazilian authorities. In addition, a trade in palm-oil developed. If we add the final collapse of Oyo and the subsequent eruption of the Yoruba wars, we could say that prospects looked fairly promising for Dahomey. Dahomey was eclipsed, and in fact defeated at times, by the polities (some new) of the Yoruba in the east, principally Lagos and Abeokuta.

Dahomey and its Neighbours

Dahomey emerged on the Abomey plateau in the north, possibly in the 1640s/50s. Those who established the new polity were probably a horde of outlaws who succeeded in lording it over the local population (most known as Guedevi). The author repeats that the newcomers did not try to establish any modus vivendi with the indigenes, as the traditional “rule” required, but instead eliminated them, appropriating for themselves the position of earth-priest (aïnon) and the ritual control of the land. They did of course go looking for respectable ancestors. Indeed, the ruling sib, that of the Agasuvi, claimed descent from the dynasty of Allada, and through Allada, ultimately from Tado. This was mere propaganda. The Agasuvi set about manipulating the kinship-type setup of the society, establishing a markedly militaristic polity. As conquerors they set aside another “rule of the game”, since they simply erased the overpowered entities from the map, incorporating them into Dahomey. The neighboring realm of the Wemenu was the first “victim”, constituting a decisive victory for Dahomey.

Introduction

This chapter explores how a large-scale trade in human beings could take place in a particularly inhospitable, even dangerous, environment. In fact, everything depended on the local population, as illustrated by the fact that the three European forts which emerged, were situated not on the sea-shore, but some 4 kilometers inland. All told, it is clear that the slave trade constituted an authentic horror story, perhaps even (in a global context) an unrivalled one at that. The worst part may have been the infamous waiting and loading time, an aspect somewhat neglected in the existing literature.

More About the Tegbesu Era

Tegbesu tried to get around his problem of legitimacy by manipulating the ideological-religious sphere. In particular, he promoted the cult of Mawu-Liisa, the Supreme Deity, and tried to link it to the monarchy. But the evidence seems to indicate that the internal opposition, as symbolized by the formally outlawed divinities of the “owners of the land”, especially Sakpata, continued to be significant. If the beginnings of the bocio art (grotesque sculptures of fury), can be attributed to this period, then we might say that we are confronted with a society which suffered from a collective trauma. It is possible that all the members of that society were actually slaves of the king. As for the wider geopolitical picture, we note the increasing importance of the Eastern Slave Coast, due in part to the policy of Oyo. And on the Western Slave Coast, the Danes and especially the new mighty Asante empire of the Gold Coast began to make their impact felt, whether directly or indirectly.

Allada, its Vassals and Neighbours, and the Europeans

It is clear that Allada, reputedly founded by people from Tado, was for long the main polity on the Slave Coast. It is also clear that it was a polity of the traditional kind, typical of West Africa of old. As such, the society was a kindred-type society, its kings of the sacred kind, and the power of those kings possibly limited by “contrapuntal paramountcy”. The kings ruled most of their realm indirectly, since most local vassals were in fact (sacred) rulers in their own right who could not be removed, only persuaded/forced to pay allegiance. All those vassal polities had their own deities and their own ancestors which the over-king was required to respect. Among the vassals, we note especially the kingdom of Hueda with the future town of Ouidah-Glehue which was to play a central role in the slave trade. We also note the “temptation” Christianity represented to many rulers. It had the potential to do away with “contrapuntal paramountcy” and all of the other local institutions and beliefs/deities which severely limited the power of the over-king.