Dahomey

Dahomey, meaning in the belly of Chief Dan, was the West African kingdom in present-day Benin, lasting from about 1600 to 1894. It grew on the Abomey Plateau among the Fon people and became a regional power by marching south to seize Whydah and the Atlantic shore, ending its tribute to the Oyo Empire. What it did with the coast made it infamous and rich: Dahomey organised its whole economy around war and the slave trade, selling captives to European ships while building a centralised state of palaces, taxes, censuses and standing armies, including the all-female regiments Europeans called the Amazons. Vodun religion, elaborate court ritual and celebrated art covered a militarism that never rested. The slave trade's end did not end Dahomey, but French rifles did: after two wars the French defeated King Behanzin in 1894, shipped him to Martinique, and folded the kingdom into French West Africa. The Abomey palaces stand today as a world heritage site, and the amazons march on in memory.