¹ Catherine, Coquery-Vidrovitch, ‘De la traite des esclaves à l'exportation de l'huile de palme et des palmistes au Dahomey: XIX^e siècle’, in The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa, Claude, Meillassoux, ed. (London, 1970), 107–23.Google Scholar

² See for example Abbé, Lafitte, Les pays des nègres et la côte des esclaves (Tours, 1878), 95. Lafitte was a Catholic missionary to Dahomey in the 1860s.Google Scholar

³ Edouard, Foa, Le Dahomey (Paris, 1895), 265.Google Scholar

⁴ Melville, J. Herskovits, Dahomey, An Ancient West African Kingdom (Evanston, 1938), 22–48.Google Scholar

⁵ Akinjogbin, I. A., Dahomey and Its Neighbours 1708–1818 (London, 1967),Google ScholarArgyle, W. J., The Fon of Dahomey (London, 1966), and Coquery-Vidrovitch, ‘De le traite des esciaves à l'exportation de l'huile de palme’.Google Scholar

⁶ This view was accepted by Herskovits, , who was not in Dahomey during the tune when Xwetaztù was held, Dahomey, II, 49–69.Google Scholar Akinjogbin does not challenge this position. The most recent assertion that the Xwetanù was essentially a religious event is made by Dov, Ronen, ‘On the African Role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Dahomey’, Cahiers d'études africaines, XI (1971), 5–13. Xwetanù is the proper Fon term for an event generally described by Europeans as Annual Customs: personal communication from Gilbert Rouget, Musée de l'Homme, Paris.Google Scholar

⁷ The best explanation of the elaborate heraldry on Dahomean state umbrellas is given in Skertchly, J. A., Dahomey As It Is (London, 1874), 193–4.Google Scholar

⁸ Forbes, F. E., Dahomey and the Dahomans (London, 1851), II, 243–6. Forbes recorded the names of more than 300 official delegates attending Xwetanù in 1850. Although Forbes and other European visitors observed that thousands of people were in Abomey for Xwetaiù, Faust of these were retainers of the official delegates.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁹ In this paper the name Great Council is used to distinguish the large body meeting during Xwetanù from a much smaller Council of Ministers which attended to the daily affairs of government throughout the entire year.

¹⁰ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, 83.Google Scholar

¹¹ While European observers were unanimous in speaking of three separate divisions, none of the visitors gave a satisfactory description of the groups. The following portrayal is, therefore, tentative.

¹² Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 224–6.Google Scholar

¹³ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 213–14.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 233–34.Google Scholar

¹⁵ For a description of the role of women in Dahomean politics see Herskovits, , Dahomey, II, 44–8.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Europeans called these messengers ‘half-heads’ because they shaved off all the hair from one side of their heads.

¹⁷ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 108–21.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 111–14.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Forbes, , Dahomey, II.Google Scholar Other good accounts of Xwetanù are found in Archibald, Dalzel, The History of Dahomy (London, 1793), 126–39;Google ScholarJohn, Duncan, Travels in Western Africa in 1845 and 1846 (London, 1847), I, 216–52;Google ScholarThomas, B. Freeman, ‘Life and Travels on the Gold Coast’, in the Western Echo, 16 07 to 31 12 1887;Google ScholarRichard, F. Burton, A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome (London, 1864), I, 201–386, and II, 1–63,Google Scholar and Skertchly, , Dahomey, 147–292.Google Scholar

²⁰ Robert, Norris, Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahadee, King of Dahomey (London, 1789), 222,Google Scholar and Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 37–8 and 223–42. Forbes made a complete listing of all the objects displayed in 1850.Google Scholar

²¹ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 44–55. On alternate years the captives were slain while tied to horses.Google Scholar

²² Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 16–17. Burton observed that the quantity of wealth displayed in 1863 did not nearly equal that shown in the time of King Gezo.Google Scholar

²³ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 8 and 42.Google Scholar

²⁴ Duncan, , Travels, I, 229–36,Google Scholar and Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 122–7.Google Scholar

²⁵ Duncan, , Travels, I, 224 and 234;Google ScholarForbes, , Dahomey, II, 86–134;Google ScholarBurton, , A Mission to Gelele, I, 336–71,Google Scholar and Skertchly, , Dahonwy, 247–75.Google Scholar

²⁶ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 12 and 15–16.Google Scholar See also Freeman, , ‘Life and Travels’, Western Echo, 18–3 12 1887, 8.Google Scholar

²⁷ Duncan, , Travels, I, 228.Google Scholar

²⁸ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 139–40.Google Scholar

²⁹ Skertchly, , Dahomey, 247–8.Google Scholar

³⁰ Edouard, Dunglas, ‘Contribution à l'histoire du Moyen-Dahomey (Royaumes d'Abomey, de Kétou et de Ouidah)’, études ahoméennes, XX (1957), 26–51. Dunglas argued that Gezo's coup d'état succeeded only because of Da Souza's help. British records indicate that Da Souza also benefited greatly from his friendship to Gezo. Already in 1820 he had established himself as the principal trader in Dahomey. G. A. Robertson to Lord Bathurst (dated Cape Coast; November, 1820), Public Record Office, London: CO 2/11, no. 180Google Scholar

³¹ Forbes described a royal plantation worked by captured slaves. ‘Near Abomey is a royal plantation of palms, corn, etc., called Lefflefoo. It is inhabited by people from the province of Anagoo, prisoners of war, and is under the direction of a Dahoman cabooceer.’ Forbes, , Dahomey, 1, 31.Google Scholar For a description of the extensive trading monopoly established over newly conquered area north of Dahomey see Duncan, , Travels, I, 2825, 290, and 297; II, 29–36.Google Scholar See also Akinjogbin, I. A., ‘Dahomey and Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century’, in A Thousand Years of West African History, Ajayi, J. F. A. and Espie, I., eds. (Ibadan, 1965), 325.Google Scholar

³² Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 223.Google Scholar

³³ Duncan, , Travels, I, 282–3.Google Scholar

³⁴ Forbes described the elaborate defensive system designed to alert and protect a border town against invasion by hostile forces. Forbes, , Dahomey, 3, 39–40. In 1863 Commodore Wilmot reported widespread anxiety caused by the constant threat of war. Commodore Wilmot to Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker (dated Rattlesnake,Google Scholar off Lagos; January 1863) in Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 366.Google Scholar

³⁵ Freeman, who visited Dahomey in the 1840s, noted the extensive commercial cultivation of tubers near the coast. ‘The Cassada is cultivated more extensively in the provinces of Whydah than it is in the Interior districts; on account of the farina of that valuable root which are demanded by the slaveships. Some of the natives of Whydah have made little fortunes by the cultivation of the cassada and the manufacture of its farina’, Freeman, , ‘Life and Travels,’ Western Echo, 16–3007 1887,Google Scholar 8. See also Forbes, , Dahomey, 3, 323–2 and 127. Forbes listed the salaries of ordinary Dahomean citizens working for the international traders and he observed that people longed for the happier days of the past when the slave trade had been active and when there had been full employment in Whydah.Google Scholar

³⁶ Philip, D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade (Madison, 1969), chapter 8. Curtin's statistics indicate that large numbers of slaves continued to be exported from the Dahomey and Nigeria region in the first half of the nineteenth century.Google Scholar See also David, A. Ross, ‘The Career of Domingo Martinez in the Bight of Benin 1833–1864’, J. Afr. Hist. VI (1965), 79–90.Google Scholar Ross suggests the Dahomean slave trade continued relatively unaffected until 1848 when the British naval blockade became effective. Ross argues that some slave traders prospered until as late as 1851 when Brazil agreed to withdraw from the Atlantic slave trade. See also Freeman, , ‘Life and Travels’, Western Echo, 7–1312. 1887, 8. Quoting one of his own letters written in 1845, Freeman described the elaborate network of coastal intelligence allowing the Creole traders to evade easily the few British vessels patrolling the area in the mid-1840s.Google Scholar

³⁷ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 108. Brackets mine.Google Scholar

³⁸ For an account of the rise of Abeokuta and the alarm this caused in Dahomey see Akinjogbin, , ‘Dahomey and Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century’, 324.Google Scholar

³⁹ Wilmot, to Walker, , in Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 351–9.Google Scholar See also Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 189–92.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ It should not be thought that the two groups had any organizational structure or that they called themselves by the names Elephant or Fly. I chose these labels, used by Dahomeans to describe military targets, because they clearly symbolized the conflicting methods and objectives of the two competing coalitions which can be called parties.

⁴¹ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 109.Google Scholar

⁴² ibid.

⁴³ Dunglas, , ‘Contribution à l'histoire du Moyen-Dahomey’, 77–8.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 92–9.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 109. Brackets mine.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 109. Brackets mine.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 113–14.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 99–100.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 103–23.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, 20.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Wilmot, to Walker, , in Burton, , A Mission to Celele, II, 366.Google Scholar

⁵² Paul, Ellingworth, ‘Christianity and Politics in Dahomey, 1843–1867’, J. Afr. Hist., v (1964), 210.Google Scholar See also Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 185–7;Google Scholar and Wilmot, to Walker, , in Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 349.Google Scholar

⁵³ Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 276–8.Google Scholar See also Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 189. In the 1840s, members of the Fly Party resented British interference in the traflic of slaves and some Fly Party members were involved in the sale of slaves.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Burton, , A Mission To Gelele, I, 74–5 and 115.Google Scholar See also Duncan, , Travels, I, 138.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Duncan, , Travels, 1, 138.Google Scholar See also Newbury, C. W., The Western Slave Coast and Its Rulers (Oxford, 1964), 39–42;Google ScholarRoss, , ‘The Career of Domingo Martinez’, 86–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Duncan, , Travels, I, 285–6.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Ellingworth, , ‘Christianity and Politics in Dahomey’, 204–21.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Thomas, B. Freeman, Journal of Various Visits to the Kingdom of Ashanti, Aku and Dahomi in Western Africa (London, 1844), 240–3.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 8–9.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 202.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, I, 375–6.Google Scholar

⁶² Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 189–90.Google Scholar

⁶³ Although Dahomeans consistently rejected British demands to halt the slave trade they always welcomed British negotiators to Abomey.

⁶⁴ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 62–3.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 189–90.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, I, 375–6.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, 112; II, 243 and 246. Forbes referred to this group of men three times. In V. I, 112, he named three of these five merchants. In two separate lists (II, 243 and 246) all five names appeared in association with the Yovogan. Professor Jack Berry of Northwestern University assures me that although Forbes's spelling is not consistent, he is always speaking of the same five men. I have included a fourth spelling that may be the Fon word referred to by Forbes. Forbes, Forbes, Forbes, Possible Fon I, 112 II, 243 II, 246 orthography Ahojohvee Alijohvee Ahjohvee Adjovi (not listed) Hoodoonoo Khodohnoo Xodonu Narwhey Nearwhey Narwhey Nahwe (not listed) Quejah Kohjeh Kadzee Quenung Ahqueanoo Quaenung QuenumGoogle Scholar

⁶⁸ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, 112–15; II 175–6.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Ross, , ‘The Career of Domingo Martinez’, 81.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 243 and 246.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, III.Google Scholar

⁷² Forbes, , Dahomey, I, 53.Google Scholar

⁷³ The intense and shrewd interest in British commerce expressed by Dahomean traders in Setta north of Abomey indicates that many Dahomeans linked to trade probably desired to restore normal commercial relations with England. Thus, the five men noted by Forbes were probably only a few of the many merchants forming part of the Fly Party.

⁷⁴ Dunglas, , ‘Contribution à l'histoire du Moyen-Dahomey’, 78–85.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Skertchly, , Dahomey, 275–89.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Forbes, , Dahomey, I, III.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 7 and II.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Forbes, , Dahomey, II, 3.Google Scholar See also Burton, , A Mission to Celele, 1, 91–2 and 105–6.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Lafitte, , Les pays des nègres, 198–200.Google Scholar See also Burton, , A Mission to Gelele, II, 104–6.Google Scholar See also Skertchly, , Dahomey, 13–14, 25, 32–3, 45, 50–3.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ I wish to express my thanks for the generous help and insightful criticisms of Professor Ivor Wilks.