I.

Introduction

Kingdom of Dahomey, African kingdom in what is now the southern part of Benin. Dahomey was founded during the 1600s on a plateau 60 miles inland from the African Slave Coast. The plateau was in the Dahomey Gap, a break in the rain forest where savanna grasslands extend to the sea. Eventually, European traders came into contact with Dahomey when it expanded from the plateau to the coast. To the south, Dahomey was bordered by the Lama swamp, impassable during the rainy season. Rivers to the east, northeast, and west formed other natural boundaries for the kingdom.

The kingdom grew wealthy in the 1700s as a result of slavery. When slavery declined in the 1800s Dahomey began to produce and export palm oil to Europe.

By the mid-1800s court life flourished in Dahomey, enhanced by the works of artisans employed by the royal family. In the 1890s Dahomey had fallen victim to European rivalries for colonies in Africa, and the kingdom succumbed to an invasion by France. In 1900 France abolished the kingdom and incorporated it into the French colony of Dahomey. By 1960 Dahomey gained its independence. It changed its name to Benin in 1975.