The Dahomey Amazon (Celebrating Female warriors in Africa) part One.
A little story of the forgotten history.
Afrovibe magazine presents;
"Celebrating Female Warriors in Africa".
Part one; " The Dahomey Amazon". (A little story on the forgotten history).
Written by Oluwatoyin Magbagbeola.
The movie Black Panther shunned light on the female warriors in Africa. I came across this history on a YouTube channel which I recommend for everyone reading this to watch if you want to know more about the history of the Dahomey. I questioned why our history is not taught in school, and why is it that it's only now we are learning it? Why is it so easy to learn about the history of the "White saviors" and not the history of us? We were never taught the history of ancient Egyptians, who we thought were white skin or light skin, not knowing that ancient Egypt once belonged to the Sudanese and Ethiopians.
Although it's not too late to relearn history, I think many lives would have been better if they knew of their history and background. I've watched many YouTube videos telling the story of the Dahomey people, but the narrative that states facts and truth, happened to be the ones done by Africans and Africans in diaspora.
A Little History.
The Dahomey or kingdom of Dahomey was a western African kingdom located within the present day Benin, that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey was developed on the Abomey plateau among the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by conquering key cities on the Atlantic coast. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a key regional state, eventually ending a tributary status to the Oyo empire. The kingdom of Dahomey was known to be an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labors. The kingdom is also l known for its notable artworks, an all female military until called the Dahomey Amazons by the European observers, and the elaborate religious practice of Vodun. The growth of the kingdom coincided with the growth of the Atlantic slave trade, as it becomes known to European traders as a major source of slaves. In exchange of riffles, gunpowder, fabrics, tobacco, and alcohol, the kingdom captured prisoners during war raids and sold them into the Atlantic slave trade.
The kingdom grew stronger until when the kingdom began to face decline with British pressure to abolish the slave trade. During this time, Dahomey was all weakened by the military defeat from Abeokuta, a Yoruba city-state in Nigeria, which was founded as a safe haven for refugees escaping slave raids from Dahomey. The Dahomey kingdom got defeated by France leading the country to be annexed into French west Africa as the colony of French Dahomey.
A French official letter called "Dahomey assuredly the only country in the world that offers the singular spectacle of organization of women as soldiers".
Dahomey Amazon were a "Fon" all-female military regiment of the kingdom of Dahomey which existed until 1904. They were said to be named by the western observers and historians due to their similarities to the mythical Amazon's of ancient Anatolia and black sea. The group of female warriors was referred to as "Mino" referring to our mothers in the Fon language. The Dahomey Amazon were known to be elephant hunters. They are known for their hunting skills to hunt down elephants. For a person to hunt down an animal as big as an elephant, it takes strength, power with focus, and agility. So far these women were seen as tip notch. The Dahomey Amazon warriors got recognized for their powerful and fierce nature when the king felt his kingdom was under a threat by the neighborhood empire known as the Oyo empire(in Nigeria). These women were recruited to safeguard the kingdom and also the king.
At their peak in the early nineteenth century, Dahomey Amazon women numbered as high as six thousand. Recruitment was done from an early age as 8, young girls became soldiers voluntarily, while others involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the king about their behavior. During their membership, many of them were not allowed to have children or be part of married life, though they were legally married to the king, while some of them were still virgins.
Dahomey Amazon women trained with intense physical exercise. They learnt survival skills and indifference to pain and death, storming acacia thorn defense in military exercises and executing prisoners. Discipline was emphasized. More importantly, they were also wealthy and held high status in the society.
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