Literature Review
This Literature Review is a scholarly paper based on secondary sources that looks at the scholarly work that has been done on the female warriors.
Despite the questions that still persist about the women warriors, the economic and political history of the kingdom of Dahomey has been well documented in numerous books, travelogues, and military reports. As one of the few African kingdoms that has historically welcomed Western visitors, Dahomey quickly roused the curiosity of people in Europe and America. While not as much has been written about the female warriors of Dahomey from their own perspective, their roles as elite soldiers and as the specialized tool of the monarch have been well documented. Despite their importance to the kingdom, much of the literature about the Dahomey women warriors suggests that they played a passive role in determining their future and argues that they had little impact on shaping their society. The existing literature on Dahomey focuses on the origins of the female warriors, the power of the king, myth building, economic impact, common women, slave trade and their rise to power.
Origin of female warriors
From hunters to palace guards to body guards to warriors there is little agreement among historians on the origin of the female warriors. Stanley B. Alpern claims that one possibility was that the female warriors evolved from the female elephant hunters, who were among the first women to have proven their strength by having successful hunts.[1] Robert Edgerton documents how the elephant hunters were excellent sharpshooters whose skills translated easily into battle. He asserts that these women were used as snipers against the French army.[2] In contrast, Bay points out that although the two groups of women may have worked together, the warriors did not evolve from the hunters, because elephants were extinct from the seventeenth century to end of the eighteenth century.[3]
Even precisely when the women warriors of Dahomey were created is difficult to ascertain. Alpern estimated that they existed as a group between the mid-1600s and the late 1800s.[4] The oral traditions of the Ouemenou recorded the women warriors existing during the time of king Akaba, who was the king of Dahomey from 1685 to 1708.[5] This claim was supported by the description of the raffia cloth that the warriors would have worn during that time period.[6] Raffia is cloth made from the leaves of a raffia palm tree.[7] There was also a song that the Dahomey women warriors sang, that detail their conquest during Akaba’s time.[8]
Alpern and others note that King Agaja, whose reign lasted from 1708 to 1732 was likely the first king who used women as palace guards or as a police force. Aplern’s analysis is based on a letter that King Agaja wrote to King George I of England in which he described using women as guards in his palace.[9] He described them as “Doorkeepers and their Assistants, who are always a robust sort of Women Slaves.”[10] More importantly, Dahomey expanded dramatically under King Agaja by conquering neighboring territories. In 1727, when Dahomey conquered the kingdom of Savi, to acquire control of its major city, Ouidah, it gained direct access to and control over the trading ports along the southern coast, including the highly profitable slave trade with the Europeans. Agadja's victory over Ouidah came, in part, as a result of his use of his palace guards as soldiers. From then on the female warriors are part of the dynastic tradition. Iris Berger and Frances White agree, they state clearly in their book Women in Sub-Sahara Africa, that it was under Agaja’s rule that women were first used as soldiers.[11] Berger and White argue that when Agaja was at war with the Yoruba of Oyo, he experienced devastating losses to the men in his army. To compensate for the low numbers in his army, he had some of the common women dress as men and stand in the back of the men’s army. The increased number of soldiers intimidated the Yoruba and they fled, even though the women were not reported to have actually participated in battle.[12]
Law, however, used reports from Ringard, an early French trader, to suggest that even before the wars with Yoruba peoples, women and children were seen as part of the invading army of the Dahomey. He also reports that both the men and women participate in mock battles to prepare them for war. Alpern, eventually concludes that the female warriors actually fought during the reigns of Tebesu and Kpengla, who came before Agaja and Gezo.[13] In her 1988 book Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey, Edna Bay argues that Agaja used women in the role of personal guards of the king, and it would be reasonable for Agaja to use them as a military force in times of need to bolster the numbers of the army.[14] Edgerton in his book Warrior Women: The Amazons Of Dahomey And The Nature Of War, supports this argument as he asserts that women were palace guards, a role reserved for women because no man was allowed inside the palace during the hours of darkness.[15] Bay refutes Edgerton’s conclusions noting that foreign visitors were often received in the palace after dark.[16] Furthermore, she points out that Edgerton fails to acknowledge the presence of eunuchs who also served as palace guards at night.[17] Despite the few differences in origin dates and purpose of service, it is generally accepted that in the 1760s there were definitely female guards at the gate of the king’s palace.
Alpern postulates that as dualism is a major theme in Dahomean society, it could be one of the driving factors that inspired the origin of the female warriors. Dualism is a belief that all things in life, both physical and spiritual, needed to be balanced. He claims that, oral traditions look at the royal twins Akaba (male) and Ahangbe (female).[18] As twins, they were thought to have been “special guardian spirits, and were thought to maintain relations with the spirit world and to have the ability to die and come back to life at will.”[19] Alpern suggests that people believed that these twin rulers established the foundation and rationale for the dualism in Dahomean society. The kings in Dahomey had a female reign mate who had her own court and wielded significant power. Bay's notes that by the eighteenth century the queen and staff of female officials grow in political importance. Women are organized into a palace bureaucracy equal to the male controlled bureaucracy outside of the palace.[20] Alpen argues, along that line of thought, having a female army to balance out a male army, just gave more balance to the world. [21] Edgerton also discussed dualism and how it helped to propel both noble and common women who lived in the palace to positions of power, but he does not directly connect it to the evolution of the female warriors.[22] Robin Law, , also suggested that the dualism was also evident in the formation for the army. The male and female armies mirrored each other down to the command structure.[23] This dualism was applied to all official roles within the kingdom.[24]
Power of the King
The kings of Dahomey were famous for the power and authority they wielded. For this study, it is important to understand the relationship that the kings had with female warriors. Since king Gezo shaped the female corps into a regimented fighting force, his reign is a good starting point. Gezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The female warriors were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with guns obtained via the slave trade.[25] Gezo increased their numbers to between 4,000 and 6,000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. Edgerton explains that after being aided by female soldiers during the coup which put him in power, king Gezo reorganized the army to make them the dominant fighting force in Dahomey. Bay concurs with this analysis stating that when faced with the decision about what to do with the palace guard following the coup, he decided to increase their training and equip them better than the men.[26] She goes on to explain that the changes Gezo incorporated to the female military included adding pants to the uniform and a fitted tunic, which allowed the fighters a freedom of movement that would have been unusual for women during that time.[27] Law points out that the female warriors saw themselves as born again under the rule of the king. This essentially cut them off from any potential familial connections outside of the palace.[28]
When looking at the power of the monarchs of Dahomey, historians describe this position as one with absolute control over the people. Alpern states that the king’s power was totalitarian in nature, and the common man had almost no say in the functioning of the state.[29] However, John Yoder, Fly and Elephant Parties: Political Polarization in Dahomey, 1840–1870, maintains that the king did not have absolute power. He analyzes Dahomean tradition to demonstrate that the king visibly answerable to his subjects during the yearly Customs. During Customs was when the legislative body, the Great Council, convened to discuss and determine many important political and regulatory decision.[30] Yoder argued that ceremonies such as yearly Customs reinforced the “belief that the welfare of the nation depended on trade, tribute, and welfare, by providing that the king and his minister had been successful in carrying out his policy, and by demonstrating to the assembled officials that they had benefited personally from his policy.”[31] In her work Bay states that king Gelele even admits to having to bend to the will of his people. She notes that Gelele felt that if he wanted to remain king, he needed to “retain the support of his followers and adhere to accepted rules of behavior for a Dahomean king.”[32]
According to Yoder, many women, including the female warriors, served on the Great Council. They were active and prominent members of the Great Council discussions. The female warriors also worked with the wealthy Creole traders who were also members of the Great Council. Yoder theorizes that they had such a prominent role in council discussions due to the valor and steadfastness as military leaders, often surpassing their male counterparts.[33]
Myth Building
Bay asserts that kings Gelele and Gezo were very conscious of the mythology they were building around the female warriors. They purposely emphasized their ‘fearless and bloodthirsty’ behavior.[34] The goal of the King was twofold, 1) being able to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies, as well as 2) being able to humiliate them by being defeated by women.[35]Alpern agrees with Bay and explains that king Gezo was aware that he alone commanded a female army, and this accomplishment was reflected in the songs they sang.[36] Bay agrees that the female army was used to demonstrate the military power of Dahomey as evidenced by the visitors who were treated to elaborate parades and mock battles.[37] She notes that, “Military power was directly linked to the economic well-being of Dahomey.”[38] Yoder also notes that female warriors at annual Customs staged mock battles to show off the nation’s military success and might before the people and visiting dignitaries. This show of strength demonstrated the belief that “Dahomean success as a nation depended on the army’s ability to capture the slaves employed on Dahomean plantations or exported.”[39] Thus, the success of Dahomey relied on the productive and reproductive labor of the female warriors.
Economic Impact
A key issue in the literature on Dahomey is the economic impact of women’s work in this society. Bay divides the economic impact of women’s work into three groups; work that contributed to the wealth of the royal families, work that enhanced the royal prestige, and work that enriched the women themselves.[40] All of this labor helped to drive the economic prosperity of Dahomey. For example, women who worked for the king operated a palm-oil factory, helped to transport that oil, and female porters returned to Dahomey with European trade goods such as gin and salt.[41]More importantly, Bay clearly stated that “military power was directly linked to the economic well-being of Dahomey.”[42] It gave the kingdom the power to increase its territory and obtain the much needed human capital to produce goods to sell and slaves to sell for profit.[43] In addition, Bay discusses the vigorous military focused debates held during the ceremonies in which constituents, both male and female, voted on policy decisions.[44] Boniface I. Obichere, Women and slavery in the Kingdom of Dahomey, focused his analysis on the importance of slavery in Dahomey. He examined how women benefited from and were commodities in the slave trade. “Domestic servants, field-hands, carriers, soldiers more often than not were women slaves, more often than not these women slaves were more prized than men.”[45] Obichere asserted that women had full participation in the economic life of Dahomey.[46] Women were able to enslave people, both male and female.[47] Wealthy women could establish their own compounds and this led to them having political influence.[48] Patrick Manning, Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, highlights that market women were expected to pay taxes and the wealthy ones paid inheritance taxes.[49]
Common Women
In order to better understand the magnitude of the wealth and equality the female warriors of Dahomey attained, it is instrumental to examine the common women and their status in society. Alpern paints a pretty gloomy picture of the life of women in Dahomey. He suggests that like much of Western Africa, women in Dahomey had a difficult life. Women’s roles were to solely care for the entire household while simultaneously farming and engaging in trade. He argues that women led a life of misery and servitude only counterbalanced by the joy they experienced in motherhood.[50] According to Alpern, men did less labor than women and had the right to sell their children into slavery. In general women were seen as inferior people, whose only hope at love being returned came in the form of having children.[51] Despite his negative image of women’s experiences, Alpern demonstrates the need to understand women’s contributions to this society through a social reproduction lens. Edgerton paints Dahomean women with a wider brush. He acknowledges the mundane lives of the common Dahomean women but also acknowledged the choices women had such as the right to reject any husband chosen, the right to get a divorce, the right to keep their earnings gained outside of the family, and control their inheritance. In addition, Edgerton believes that royal women had the additional prerogative of choosing male lovers, even if they were already married.[52] Bay’s work is the most detailed in this area and is almost entirely devoted to the considerable amounts of power women had in Dahomean society. Bay explains that inside the family structure daughters or sons could be made head of the family, gender was not a factor in this decision.[53] This gave women greater control over their daily lives.
Clearly, outside of the female warrior class not all women were equal. However, women could clearly gain in political and economic clout in this society. Women warriors came from the common ranks of women and from among women who were captured as slaves. Edgerton maintains that once a woman became a warrior, she became one of “the female elite of the nation.”[54] She was honored along with the queen mother, as a person of quality.[55] Commoners prostrated themselves before a procession of the women warriors,[56] demonstrating how significant the shift was to becoming a woman warrior. This shift is especially noteworthy with respect to the amount of power one could attain in the kingdom. Law also confirmed that taking on a traditional male role must have seemed subversive to Dahomean’s, because women weren’t only seen as equals, but often as superior to their male counterparts.[57] However, he cautioned about assuming that all women in general were elevated to a superior status. Law argues that by assuming a male persona, the women warriors “sought to deny, rather than vindicate the status of women.”[58] Women were instead elevated as individuals, not as a group.[59]
If a woman resided in the palace, it was possible for her to raise her social and economic status. A good example of the upward mobility that transpired was the social climbing done by the queen mother. According to Alpern, if a man wanted to even speak with the king he would have to do so through the queen mother.[60] The title of queen mother was a very coveted position. As Berger and White pointed out, there was a tradition of choosing the queen mother from a newly acquired territory. As a person who now clearly had a stake in the success of Dahomey, she could provide insider information on the newly acquired land and its people.[61] The queen mother became allied with the king and helped him to take power in the kingdom. Bay believed that inside the palace, women were able to advance their socio economic and political status by their use of intelligence, hard work, and political acumen in a variety of occupations.[62]
Bay and Edgerton disagree on the role of the women warrior in the palace. According to Edgerton these women engaged in “cooking, working at crafts such as textiles, pottery, or making uniforms for the army.”[63] When the warriors, sometimes also referred to as wives of the king, were able to gain the favor of the king, he could be very generous with his gifts. As part of Dahomean custom, women were permitted to pass down titles, goods, or slaves to a female descendent of their choice. Bay argues instead that the warriors had slaves to do the mundane domestic tasks for them, Alpern often casts all women within the palace as soldiers and fails to notes the division of labor and status that existed.[64]
Clearly women in Dahomey had some access to power and privilege that other women in West Africa did not have. Ann Johnson, Garnett's Amazon from Dahomey: Literary Debts in "The Sailor's Return, also suggests that the women of Dahomey felt that they had changed their gender and in many ways carried themselves as a man would.[65] In their society, common women were often treated like second-class citizens, and in order to transform themselves into people of worth, they needed to leave their womanhood behind. By assuming the mannerisms and actions of men, they effectively transcended to manhood. In doing so they gained the power and respect they never could have achieved as women. As policemen, they definitely had the power to enforce the laws of the king, which means to exact power over men and other women. (cite) According to Alpern, the before acting as warriors, the female guards of the king were used as a policing force to settle disagreements between villages, arrest agitators, and deliver punishments.[66]
Most historians writing about the female warriors mention that they were reportedly celibate. However, the level to which that celibacy was enforced remains a topic of debate. Alpern believes that in Dahomey, the goal in life for a girl was children and marriage. To go against that was against societal expectations. “Motherhood was the female norm, children were the ultimate blessing. Female bachelorhood was a weird notion, barrenness a tragedy if not a disgrace, and a childless wife an object of pity if not scorn.”46 Alpern maintains that giving up the idea of motherhood and marriage was an extremely difficult thing for the new female warrior recruits who were native born. Nothing would truly replace what they were giving up to become a soldier.47 The reality is that the warriors were not celibate. Alpern notes that relative to the thousands who served in the army, only a few broke their vow.[67] He also states that if a warrior fell pregnant the punishment could be banishment, imprisonment or leading the army in a battle, so that she could be the first to die. Sometimes the king ordered a pregnant warrior’s death. If women were to be executed, it was done by the female officers in private.[68]
Edgerton reported that it was mandatory for the soldiers to be celibate until they approached middle-age and or left the military.[69] Some women took an oral contraceptive to prevent pregnancy and of those who were caught only a handful were executed for the offense.[70] Scholars agree that celibacy was a goal for the warriors and was seemingly upheld by many, but it was often broken for official or unofficial reasons. Bay acknowledges the beliefs that the state controlled their celibacy.[71] However, she ultimately believed that the vows of celibacy were often broken.[72] Law points out that being celibate did not also mean virgin as many of the women were recruited were once married, especially if taken from a neighboring village.[73]
Skilled Warriors
Bay clearly states that Gezo’s choice to grow the female army led to them being “better equipped, disciplined, and trained than …the men.”[74] By the late 1800s, female sharpshooters were seen as a threat to French forces, even though they had old and inferior weapons in comparison.[75] Specialized forces of archers, marksmen, and women wielding razors were used in addition to the infantry in battle.[76] Alpern reports that there were many mock attacks for the purpose of impressing visitors, where the women warriors showed off their physical strength and skill.[77] Oral tradition also supports the idea that physical training, like running with weighted loads and wrestling, was a normal part of the woman warrior’s routine. [78]
Alpern argued that for the women warriors to be fearless in battle, a certain amount of “insensitivity training”[79] was needed. In addition to performing the execution of their peers, they also executed captives and fellow Dahomean’s found guilty of crimes. Participation and observation of ritual sacrifice was a requirement and one way that new women warriors were tested. He writes “Trussed up and gagged, the prisoners were carried in baskets or wooden mini-canoes on to a platform 12 to 16 feet high and then thrown down alive to the people.”[80] The victims were then ripped apart by the mob.[81] The process of indoctrination was so successful that, Edgerton reports of a young warrior who was recaptured by her original people refused to let her parents free her, instead she stayed as a captive until the female warriors paid her ransom.[82]
There is one element about the women warriors of Dahomey that all of the historians agree on, and that is that they were all much better warriors than the men. Edgerton states that “Later on, European visitors to Dahomey learned what the enemies of Dahomey already knew – these women were not only a supremely loyal corps of palace guards, but by early nineteenth century they were also elite professional soldiers, more disciplined, audacious, and courageous than Dahomey’s best full-time male soldiers.”[83] He also concludes that many of the victories the women won were without the help of men because the men had run off. [84]
Slave Trade & Rise to Power
Bay suggested that the establishment of the “women’s army was the embodiment of nineteenth-century militarism and symbol of a nation bent on exhibitions its war-making capacities.[85] She also said that, as the demand of the international and inter-African slave trade fell, so did the power of the female warriors. According to Bay, by the mid-century women were finding a harder time attaining positions of power within the palace, for those roles were increasingly going to men. [86] While women were still in demand for their labor in industries such as palm-oil or military services, their influence within the palace walls lessened.[87] The female warriors were not used as farm laborers due to their status, but like the other wives of the king, their power was still steadily decreasing.[88] Bay asserts, that this was due to Gezo changing the succession process to be through royal lineage, as opposed to through support of influential palace women.[89]
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought the rise and fall of the female warriors. Dahomean historians have not fully articulated how the female warriors rose to power. Historians have examined some social, cultural, and economic forces that came together in this brief window of time to enable a female army to arise. Bay, the most notable historian on women in Dahomey wrote several articles on women in Dahomey, as well as, a book on the female rulers and how their constant drive for power transformed their society.[90] However, she did not specifically address what factors were present in Dahomey that allowed the female warrior to be created and thrive in their environment. Law also did not specify how their rise happened. He instead suggested that their rise to power, like Dahomean men with such designs, was through the favor of the king.[91] Alpern suggests that the reasons for the creation for a female army rested more with the demography of the nation. He suggests that Dahomey was engaged in ongoing warfare which took a huge toll on its male population. In addition, they were heavy into the slave trade, which held a preference for male slaves. That left a largely female population behind to fill in the ranks.[92] However, this does not explain why this only happened in Dahomey. Other kingdoms dealt with similar issues, yet had different results. The question remains, what combination of circumstances existed to give rise to such a powerful army. This thesis will argue that looking at the role of women and their agency through the lens of social reproduction theory over the span of nearly 200 years will help explain the rise of the female warriors of Dahomey.
[1] Alpern, “Origins,” 21.
[2] Edgerton, Warrior, 32.
[3] Bay, Wives, 20.
[4] Alpern, “On the Origins of the Amazons of Dahomey.” History in Africa
25 (January 1, 1998): 9.
[5] Alpern, “Origins,” 9.
[6] Ibid, 13.
[7] Sara Pendergast, Tom Pendergast, and Sarah Hermsen, Encyclopedia.com , s.v. "Kuba Cloth: Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages", accessed May 10, 2017, http://www.encyclopedia.com/fashion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kuba-cloth.
[8] Alpern, “Origins,” 13-14.
[9] Ibid, 14-15.
[10] Robin Law, and King Agaja of Dahomey. “An Alternative Text of King Agaja of Dahomey's Letter to King George I of England, 1726.” History in Africa 29 (January 1, 2002): 226.
[11] Iris Berger, and E. Frances White. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Restoring Women to History. (Indiana University Press, 1999): 74.
[12] Alpern, “Origins,” 18.
[13] Ibid, 21.
[14] Bay, Wives, 137.
[15] Edgerton, Warrior, 22.
[16] Edna G. Bay, review of Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War by Robert B. Edgerton, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, no. 2 (2000): 381, accessed September 09, 2013, doi:10.2307/220661.
[17] Ibid, 381.
[18] Alpern, “Origins,” 22.
[19] Ibid, 22.
[20] Bay, Wives, 20.
[21] Alpern, “Origins,” 22-24.
[22] Edgerton, Warrior, 48, 49, 54, 75.
[23] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 254. Robin Law, "The 'Amazons' of Dahomey," Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 39 (1993): 254, doi:10.1017/s0021853700024452.
[24] Ibid, 254.
[25] Edgerton, Warrior, 17-18.
[26] Bay, Wives, 201.
[27] Ibid, 201.
[28] Robin Law, " Dahomey," 257.
[29] Alpern, “Origins,” 37.
[30] John C. Yoder, "Fly and Elephant parties: Political polarization in Dahomey, 1840–1870," The Journal of African History 15, no. 03 (1974): 419, doi:10.1017/s0021853700013566.
[31] Yoder, "Fly,” 421.
[32] Bay, Wives, 175.
[33] Yoder, “Fly,” 419.
[34] Bay, Wives, 206.
[35] Ibid, 206.
[36] Alpern, “Origins,” 11.
[37] Bay, Wives, 228.
[38] Ibid, 13.
[39] Yoder, “Fly” 422.
[40] Bay, Wives, 209-210.
[41] Ibid, 210.
[42] Ibid, 13.
[43] Ibid, 13.
[44] Ibid, 229.
[45] Boniface I. Obichere, "Women and slavery in the Kingdom of Dahomey," Abstract, Revue française dhistoire doutre-mer 65, no. 238 (1978), doi:10.3406/outre.1978.2075.
[46] Ibid, 2.
[47] Ibid, 9.
[48] Ibid, 6.
[49] Patrick Manning, Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey: 1640-1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1982), 81.
[50] Alpern, Amazons, 49.
[51] Alpern, Amazons, 48-49.
[52] Edgerton, Warrior, 52-53.
[53] Edna G. Bay, "Belief, Legitimacy and the Kpojito: An Institutional History of the ‘Queen Mother’ in Precolonial Dahomey," The Journal of African History 36, no. 01 (1995): 9, doi:10.1017/s0021853700026955.
[54] Alpern, Amazons, 49.
[55] Edgerton, Warrior, 44.
[56] Alpern, “Origins,” 22.
[57] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 257.
[58] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 258.
[59] Ibid, 258.
[60] Edgerton, Warrior, 44-45.
[61] Iris Berger, and E. Frances White. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Restoring Women to History. (Indiana University Press, 1999): 74.
[62] Bay, Belief, 8.
[63] Edgerton, Warrior, 53.
[64] Edna Bay, "Women In Combat," Journal of African History 40, no. 3 (1999): 486, accessed September 24, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/183631.
[65]. Ann S Johnson, “Garnett's Amazon from Dahomey: Literary Debts in "The Sailor's Return".” Contemporary Literature 14, no. 2 (April 1, 1973): 179.
[66] Alpern, “Origins,” 15.
[67] Ibid, 47.
[68] Alpern, Amazons, 47.
[69] Edgerton, Warrior, 21.
[70] Ibid, 24.
[71] Bay, Wives, 206.
[72] Edna Bay, "Dahomey Female Warriors Inquiry," e-mail message to author, May 3, 2013.
[73] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 257.
[74] Bay, Wives, 201.
[75] Ibid, 201.
[76] Ibid, 201.
[77] Alpern, “Origins,” 8.
[78] Ibid, 99.
[79] Ibid, 102.
[80] Ibid, 103.
[81] Ibid, 103.
[82] Alpern, “Origins,” 103.
[83] Edgerton, Warrior, 16.
[84] Ibid, 16.
[85] Bay, Wives, 228.
[86] Ibid, 316.
[87] Ibid, 316.
[88] Bay, Wives, 317.
[89] Ibid, 316.
[90] Ibid, 3-5.
[91] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 258.
[92] Alpern, Amazons, 37.
Despite the questions that still persist about the women warriors, the economic and political history of the kingdom of Dahomey has been well documented in numerous books, travelogues, and military reports. As one of the few African kingdoms that has historically welcomed Western visitors, Dahomey quickly roused the curiosity of people in Europe and America. While not as much has been written about the female warriors of Dahomey from their own perspective, their roles as elite soldiers and as the specialized tool of the monarch have been well documented. Despite their importance to the kingdom, much of the literature about the Dahomey women warriors suggests that they played a passive role in determining their future and argues that they had little impact on shaping their society. The existing literature on Dahomey focuses on the origins of the female warriors, the power of the king, myth building, economic impact, common women, slave trade and their rise to power.
Origin of female warriors
From hunters to palace guards to body guards to warriors there is little agreement among historians on the origin of the female warriors. Stanley B. Alpern claims that one possibility was that the female warriors evolved from the female elephant hunters, who were among the first women to have proven their strength by having successful hunts.[1] Robert Edgerton documents how the elephant hunters were excellent sharpshooters whose skills translated easily into battle. He asserts that these women were used as snipers against the French army.[2] In contrast, Bay points out that although the two groups of women may have worked together, the warriors did not evolve from the hunters, because elephants were extinct from the seventeenth century to end of the eighteenth century.[3]
Even precisely when the women warriors of Dahomey were created is difficult to ascertain. Alpern estimated that they existed as a group between the mid-1600s and the late 1800s.[4] The oral traditions of the Ouemenou recorded the women warriors existing during the time of king Akaba, who was the king of Dahomey from 1685 to 1708.[5] This claim was supported by the description of the raffia cloth that the warriors would have worn during that time period.[6] Raffia is cloth made from the leaves of a raffia palm tree.[7] There was also a song that the Dahomey women warriors sang, that detail their conquest during Akaba’s time.[8]
Alpern and others note that King Agaja, whose reign lasted from 1708 to 1732 was likely the first king who used women as palace guards or as a police force. Aplern’s analysis is based on a letter that King Agaja wrote to King George I of England in which he described using women as guards in his palace.[9] He described them as “Doorkeepers and their Assistants, who are always a robust sort of Women Slaves.”[10] More importantly, Dahomey expanded dramatically under King Agaja by conquering neighboring territories. In 1727, when Dahomey conquered the kingdom of Savi, to acquire control of its major city, Ouidah, it gained direct access to and control over the trading ports along the southern coast, including the highly profitable slave trade with the Europeans. Agadja's victory over Ouidah came, in part, as a result of his use of his palace guards as soldiers. From then on the female warriors are part of the dynastic tradition. Iris Berger and Frances White agree, they state clearly in their book Women in Sub-Sahara Africa, that it was under Agaja’s rule that women were first used as soldiers.[11] Berger and White argue that when Agaja was at war with the Yoruba of Oyo, he experienced devastating losses to the men in his army. To compensate for the low numbers in his army, he had some of the common women dress as men and stand in the back of the men’s army. The increased number of soldiers intimidated the Yoruba and they fled, even though the women were not reported to have actually participated in battle.[12]
Law, however, used reports from Ringard, an early French trader, to suggest that even before the wars with Yoruba peoples, women and children were seen as part of the invading army of the Dahomey. He also reports that both the men and women participate in mock battles to prepare them for war. Alpern, eventually concludes that the female warriors actually fought during the reigns of Tebesu and Kpengla, who came before Agaja and Gezo.[13] In her 1988 book Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey, Edna Bay argues that Agaja used women in the role of personal guards of the king, and it would be reasonable for Agaja to use them as a military force in times of need to bolster the numbers of the army.[14] Edgerton in his book Warrior Women: The Amazons Of Dahomey And The Nature Of War, supports this argument as he asserts that women were palace guards, a role reserved for women because no man was allowed inside the palace during the hours of darkness.[15] Bay refutes Edgerton’s conclusions noting that foreign visitors were often received in the palace after dark.[16] Furthermore, she points out that Edgerton fails to acknowledge the presence of eunuchs who also served as palace guards at night.[17] Despite the few differences in origin dates and purpose of service, it is generally accepted that in the 1760s there were definitely female guards at the gate of the king’s palace.
Alpern postulates that as dualism is a major theme in Dahomean society, it could be one of the driving factors that inspired the origin of the female warriors. Dualism is a belief that all things in life, both physical and spiritual, needed to be balanced. He claims that, oral traditions look at the royal twins Akaba (male) and Ahangbe (female).[18] As twins, they were thought to have been “special guardian spirits, and were thought to maintain relations with the spirit world and to have the ability to die and come back to life at will.”[19] Alpern suggests that people believed that these twin rulers established the foundation and rationale for the dualism in Dahomean society. The kings in Dahomey had a female reign mate who had her own court and wielded significant power. Bay's notes that by the eighteenth century the queen and staff of female officials grow in political importance. Women are organized into a palace bureaucracy equal to the male controlled bureaucracy outside of the palace.[20] Alpen argues, along that line of thought, having a female army to balance out a male army, just gave more balance to the world. [21] Edgerton also discussed dualism and how it helped to propel both noble and common women who lived in the palace to positions of power, but he does not directly connect it to the evolution of the female warriors.[22] Robin Law, , also suggested that the dualism was also evident in the formation for the army. The male and female armies mirrored each other down to the command structure.[23] This dualism was applied to all official roles within the kingdom.[24]
Power of the King
The kings of Dahomey were famous for the power and authority they wielded. For this study, it is important to understand the relationship that the kings had with female warriors. Since king Gezo shaped the female corps into a regimented fighting force, his reign is a good starting point. Gezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The female warriors were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with guns obtained via the slave trade.[25] Gezo increased their numbers to between 4,000 and 6,000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. Edgerton explains that after being aided by female soldiers during the coup which put him in power, king Gezo reorganized the army to make them the dominant fighting force in Dahomey. Bay concurs with this analysis stating that when faced with the decision about what to do with the palace guard following the coup, he decided to increase their training and equip them better than the men.[26] She goes on to explain that the changes Gezo incorporated to the female military included adding pants to the uniform and a fitted tunic, which allowed the fighters a freedom of movement that would have been unusual for women during that time.[27] Law points out that the female warriors saw themselves as born again under the rule of the king. This essentially cut them off from any potential familial connections outside of the palace.[28]
When looking at the power of the monarchs of Dahomey, historians describe this position as one with absolute control over the people. Alpern states that the king’s power was totalitarian in nature, and the common man had almost no say in the functioning of the state.[29] However, John Yoder, Fly and Elephant Parties: Political Polarization in Dahomey, 1840–1870, maintains that the king did not have absolute power. He analyzes Dahomean tradition to demonstrate that the king visibly answerable to his subjects during the yearly Customs. During Customs was when the legislative body, the Great Council, convened to discuss and determine many important political and regulatory decision.[30] Yoder argued that ceremonies such as yearly Customs reinforced the “belief that the welfare of the nation depended on trade, tribute, and welfare, by providing that the king and his minister had been successful in carrying out his policy, and by demonstrating to the assembled officials that they had benefited personally from his policy.”[31] In her work Bay states that king Gelele even admits to having to bend to the will of his people. She notes that Gelele felt that if he wanted to remain king, he needed to “retain the support of his followers and adhere to accepted rules of behavior for a Dahomean king.”[32]
According to Yoder, many women, including the female warriors, served on the Great Council. They were active and prominent members of the Great Council discussions. The female warriors also worked with the wealthy Creole traders who were also members of the Great Council. Yoder theorizes that they had such a prominent role in council discussions due to the valor and steadfastness as military leaders, often surpassing their male counterparts.[33]
Myth Building
Bay asserts that kings Gelele and Gezo were very conscious of the mythology they were building around the female warriors. They purposely emphasized their ‘fearless and bloodthirsty’ behavior.[34] The goal of the King was twofold, 1) being able to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies, as well as 2) being able to humiliate them by being defeated by women.[35]Alpern agrees with Bay and explains that king Gezo was aware that he alone commanded a female army, and this accomplishment was reflected in the songs they sang.[36] Bay agrees that the female army was used to demonstrate the military power of Dahomey as evidenced by the visitors who were treated to elaborate parades and mock battles.[37] She notes that, “Military power was directly linked to the economic well-being of Dahomey.”[38] Yoder also notes that female warriors at annual Customs staged mock battles to show off the nation’s military success and might before the people and visiting dignitaries. This show of strength demonstrated the belief that “Dahomean success as a nation depended on the army’s ability to capture the slaves employed on Dahomean plantations or exported.”[39] Thus, the success of Dahomey relied on the productive and reproductive labor of the female warriors.
Economic Impact
A key issue in the literature on Dahomey is the economic impact of women’s work in this society. Bay divides the economic impact of women’s work into three groups; work that contributed to the wealth of the royal families, work that enhanced the royal prestige, and work that enriched the women themselves.[40] All of this labor helped to drive the economic prosperity of Dahomey. For example, women who worked for the king operated a palm-oil factory, helped to transport that oil, and female porters returned to Dahomey with European trade goods such as gin and salt.[41]More importantly, Bay clearly stated that “military power was directly linked to the economic well-being of Dahomey.”[42] It gave the kingdom the power to increase its territory and obtain the much needed human capital to produce goods to sell and slaves to sell for profit.[43] In addition, Bay discusses the vigorous military focused debates held during the ceremonies in which constituents, both male and female, voted on policy decisions.[44] Boniface I. Obichere, Women and slavery in the Kingdom of Dahomey, focused his analysis on the importance of slavery in Dahomey. He examined how women benefited from and were commodities in the slave trade. “Domestic servants, field-hands, carriers, soldiers more often than not were women slaves, more often than not these women slaves were more prized than men.”[45] Obichere asserted that women had full participation in the economic life of Dahomey.[46] Women were able to enslave people, both male and female.[47] Wealthy women could establish their own compounds and this led to them having political influence.[48] Patrick Manning, Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, highlights that market women were expected to pay taxes and the wealthy ones paid inheritance taxes.[49]
Common Women
In order to better understand the magnitude of the wealth and equality the female warriors of Dahomey attained, it is instrumental to examine the common women and their status in society. Alpern paints a pretty gloomy picture of the life of women in Dahomey. He suggests that like much of Western Africa, women in Dahomey had a difficult life. Women’s roles were to solely care for the entire household while simultaneously farming and engaging in trade. He argues that women led a life of misery and servitude only counterbalanced by the joy they experienced in motherhood.[50] According to Alpern, men did less labor than women and had the right to sell their children into slavery. In general women were seen as inferior people, whose only hope at love being returned came in the form of having children.[51] Despite his negative image of women’s experiences, Alpern demonstrates the need to understand women’s contributions to this society through a social reproduction lens. Edgerton paints Dahomean women with a wider brush. He acknowledges the mundane lives of the common Dahomean women but also acknowledged the choices women had such as the right to reject any husband chosen, the right to get a divorce, the right to keep their earnings gained outside of the family, and control their inheritance. In addition, Edgerton believes that royal women had the additional prerogative of choosing male lovers, even if they were already married.[52] Bay’s work is the most detailed in this area and is almost entirely devoted to the considerable amounts of power women had in Dahomean society. Bay explains that inside the family structure daughters or sons could be made head of the family, gender was not a factor in this decision.[53] This gave women greater control over their daily lives.
Clearly, outside of the female warrior class not all women were equal. However, women could clearly gain in political and economic clout in this society. Women warriors came from the common ranks of women and from among women who were captured as slaves. Edgerton maintains that once a woman became a warrior, she became one of “the female elite of the nation.”[54] She was honored along with the queen mother, as a person of quality.[55] Commoners prostrated themselves before a procession of the women warriors,[56] demonstrating how significant the shift was to becoming a woman warrior. This shift is especially noteworthy with respect to the amount of power one could attain in the kingdom. Law also confirmed that taking on a traditional male role must have seemed subversive to Dahomean’s, because women weren’t only seen as equals, but often as superior to their male counterparts.[57] However, he cautioned about assuming that all women in general were elevated to a superior status. Law argues that by assuming a male persona, the women warriors “sought to deny, rather than vindicate the status of women.”[58] Women were instead elevated as individuals, not as a group.[59]
If a woman resided in the palace, it was possible for her to raise her social and economic status. A good example of the upward mobility that transpired was the social climbing done by the queen mother. According to Alpern, if a man wanted to even speak with the king he would have to do so through the queen mother.[60] The title of queen mother was a very coveted position. As Berger and White pointed out, there was a tradition of choosing the queen mother from a newly acquired territory. As a person who now clearly had a stake in the success of Dahomey, she could provide insider information on the newly acquired land and its people.[61] The queen mother became allied with the king and helped him to take power in the kingdom. Bay believed that inside the palace, women were able to advance their socio economic and political status by their use of intelligence, hard work, and political acumen in a variety of occupations.[62]
Bay and Edgerton disagree on the role of the women warrior in the palace. According to Edgerton these women engaged in “cooking, working at crafts such as textiles, pottery, or making uniforms for the army.”[63] When the warriors, sometimes also referred to as wives of the king, were able to gain the favor of the king, he could be very generous with his gifts. As part of Dahomean custom, women were permitted to pass down titles, goods, or slaves to a female descendent of their choice. Bay argues instead that the warriors had slaves to do the mundane domestic tasks for them, Alpern often casts all women within the palace as soldiers and fails to notes the division of labor and status that existed.[64]
Clearly women in Dahomey had some access to power and privilege that other women in West Africa did not have. Ann Johnson, Garnett's Amazon from Dahomey: Literary Debts in "The Sailor's Return, also suggests that the women of Dahomey felt that they had changed their gender and in many ways carried themselves as a man would.[65] In their society, common women were often treated like second-class citizens, and in order to transform themselves into people of worth, they needed to leave their womanhood behind. By assuming the mannerisms and actions of men, they effectively transcended to manhood. In doing so they gained the power and respect they never could have achieved as women. As policemen, they definitely had the power to enforce the laws of the king, which means to exact power over men and other women. (cite) According to Alpern, the before acting as warriors, the female guards of the king were used as a policing force to settle disagreements between villages, arrest agitators, and deliver punishments.[66]
Most historians writing about the female warriors mention that they were reportedly celibate. However, the level to which that celibacy was enforced remains a topic of debate. Alpern believes that in Dahomey, the goal in life for a girl was children and marriage. To go against that was against societal expectations. “Motherhood was the female norm, children were the ultimate blessing. Female bachelorhood was a weird notion, barrenness a tragedy if not a disgrace, and a childless wife an object of pity if not scorn.”46 Alpern maintains that giving up the idea of motherhood and marriage was an extremely difficult thing for the new female warrior recruits who were native born. Nothing would truly replace what they were giving up to become a soldier.47 The reality is that the warriors were not celibate. Alpern notes that relative to the thousands who served in the army, only a few broke their vow.[67] He also states that if a warrior fell pregnant the punishment could be banishment, imprisonment or leading the army in a battle, so that she could be the first to die. Sometimes the king ordered a pregnant warrior’s death. If women were to be executed, it was done by the female officers in private.[68]
Edgerton reported that it was mandatory for the soldiers to be celibate until they approached middle-age and or left the military.[69] Some women took an oral contraceptive to prevent pregnancy and of those who were caught only a handful were executed for the offense.[70] Scholars agree that celibacy was a goal for the warriors and was seemingly upheld by many, but it was often broken for official or unofficial reasons. Bay acknowledges the beliefs that the state controlled their celibacy.[71] However, she ultimately believed that the vows of celibacy were often broken.[72] Law points out that being celibate did not also mean virgin as many of the women were recruited were once married, especially if taken from a neighboring village.[73]
Skilled Warriors
Bay clearly states that Gezo’s choice to grow the female army led to them being “better equipped, disciplined, and trained than …the men.”[74] By the late 1800s, female sharpshooters were seen as a threat to French forces, even though they had old and inferior weapons in comparison.[75] Specialized forces of archers, marksmen, and women wielding razors were used in addition to the infantry in battle.[76] Alpern reports that there were many mock attacks for the purpose of impressing visitors, where the women warriors showed off their physical strength and skill.[77] Oral tradition also supports the idea that physical training, like running with weighted loads and wrestling, was a normal part of the woman warrior’s routine. [78]
Alpern argued that for the women warriors to be fearless in battle, a certain amount of “insensitivity training”[79] was needed. In addition to performing the execution of their peers, they also executed captives and fellow Dahomean’s found guilty of crimes. Participation and observation of ritual sacrifice was a requirement and one way that new women warriors were tested. He writes “Trussed up and gagged, the prisoners were carried in baskets or wooden mini-canoes on to a platform 12 to 16 feet high and then thrown down alive to the people.”[80] The victims were then ripped apart by the mob.[81] The process of indoctrination was so successful that, Edgerton reports of a young warrior who was recaptured by her original people refused to let her parents free her, instead she stayed as a captive until the female warriors paid her ransom.[82]
There is one element about the women warriors of Dahomey that all of the historians agree on, and that is that they were all much better warriors than the men. Edgerton states that “Later on, European visitors to Dahomey learned what the enemies of Dahomey already knew – these women were not only a supremely loyal corps of palace guards, but by early nineteenth century they were also elite professional soldiers, more disciplined, audacious, and courageous than Dahomey’s best full-time male soldiers.”[83] He also concludes that many of the victories the women won were without the help of men because the men had run off. [84]
Slave Trade & Rise to Power
Bay suggested that the establishment of the “women’s army was the embodiment of nineteenth-century militarism and symbol of a nation bent on exhibitions its war-making capacities.[85] She also said that, as the demand of the international and inter-African slave trade fell, so did the power of the female warriors. According to Bay, by the mid-century women were finding a harder time attaining positions of power within the palace, for those roles were increasingly going to men. [86] While women were still in demand for their labor in industries such as palm-oil or military services, their influence within the palace walls lessened.[87] The female warriors were not used as farm laborers due to their status, but like the other wives of the king, their power was still steadily decreasing.[88] Bay asserts, that this was due to Gezo changing the succession process to be through royal lineage, as opposed to through support of influential palace women.[89]
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought the rise and fall of the female warriors. Dahomean historians have not fully articulated how the female warriors rose to power. Historians have examined some social, cultural, and economic forces that came together in this brief window of time to enable a female army to arise. Bay, the most notable historian on women in Dahomey wrote several articles on women in Dahomey, as well as, a book on the female rulers and how their constant drive for power transformed their society.[90] However, she did not specifically address what factors were present in Dahomey that allowed the female warrior to be created and thrive in their environment. Law also did not specify how their rise happened. He instead suggested that their rise to power, like Dahomean men with such designs, was through the favor of the king.[91] Alpern suggests that the reasons for the creation for a female army rested more with the demography of the nation. He suggests that Dahomey was engaged in ongoing warfare which took a huge toll on its male population. In addition, they were heavy into the slave trade, which held a preference for male slaves. That left a largely female population behind to fill in the ranks.[92] However, this does not explain why this only happened in Dahomey. Other kingdoms dealt with similar issues, yet had different results. The question remains, what combination of circumstances existed to give rise to such a powerful army. This thesis will argue that looking at the role of women and their agency through the lens of social reproduction theory over the span of nearly 200 years will help explain the rise of the female warriors of Dahomey.
[1] Alpern, “Origins,” 21.
[2] Edgerton, Warrior, 32.
[3] Bay, Wives, 20.
[4] Alpern, “On the Origins of the Amazons of Dahomey.” History in Africa
25 (January 1, 1998): 9.
[5] Alpern, “Origins,” 9.
[6] Ibid, 13.
[7] Sara Pendergast, Tom Pendergast, and Sarah Hermsen, Encyclopedia.com , s.v. "Kuba Cloth: Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages", accessed May 10, 2017, http://www.encyclopedia.com/fashion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kuba-cloth.
[8] Alpern, “Origins,” 13-14.
[9] Ibid, 14-15.
[10] Robin Law, and King Agaja of Dahomey. “An Alternative Text of King Agaja of Dahomey's Letter to King George I of England, 1726.” History in Africa 29 (January 1, 2002): 226.
[11] Iris Berger, and E. Frances White. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Restoring Women to History. (Indiana University Press, 1999): 74.
[12] Alpern, “Origins,” 18.
[13] Ibid, 21.
[14] Bay, Wives, 137.
[15] Edgerton, Warrior, 22.
[16] Edna G. Bay, review of Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War by Robert B. Edgerton, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, no. 2 (2000): 381, accessed September 09, 2013, doi:10.2307/220661.
[17] Ibid, 381.
[18] Alpern, “Origins,” 22.
[19] Ibid, 22.
[20] Bay, Wives, 20.
[21] Alpern, “Origins,” 22-24.
[22] Edgerton, Warrior, 48, 49, 54, 75.
[23] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 254. Robin Law, "The 'Amazons' of Dahomey," Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 39 (1993): 254, doi:10.1017/s0021853700024452.
[24] Ibid, 254.
[25] Edgerton, Warrior, 17-18.
[26] Bay, Wives, 201.
[27] Ibid, 201.
[28] Robin Law, " Dahomey," 257.
[29] Alpern, “Origins,” 37.
[30] John C. Yoder, "Fly and Elephant parties: Political polarization in Dahomey, 1840–1870," The Journal of African History 15, no. 03 (1974): 419, doi:10.1017/s0021853700013566.
[31] Yoder, "Fly,” 421.
[32] Bay, Wives, 175.
[33] Yoder, “Fly,” 419.
[34] Bay, Wives, 206.
[35] Ibid, 206.
[36] Alpern, “Origins,” 11.
[37] Bay, Wives, 228.
[38] Ibid, 13.
[39] Yoder, “Fly” 422.
[40] Bay, Wives, 209-210.
[41] Ibid, 210.
[42] Ibid, 13.
[43] Ibid, 13.
[44] Ibid, 229.
[45] Boniface I. Obichere, "Women and slavery in the Kingdom of Dahomey," Abstract, Revue française dhistoire doutre-mer 65, no. 238 (1978), doi:10.3406/outre.1978.2075.
[46] Ibid, 2.
[47] Ibid, 9.
[48] Ibid, 6.
[49] Patrick Manning, Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey: 1640-1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1982), 81.
[50] Alpern, Amazons, 49.
[51] Alpern, Amazons, 48-49.
[52] Edgerton, Warrior, 52-53.
[53] Edna G. Bay, "Belief, Legitimacy and the Kpojito: An Institutional History of the ‘Queen Mother’ in Precolonial Dahomey," The Journal of African History 36, no. 01 (1995): 9, doi:10.1017/s0021853700026955.
[54] Alpern, Amazons, 49.
[55] Edgerton, Warrior, 44.
[56] Alpern, “Origins,” 22.
[57] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 257.
[58] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 258.
[59] Ibid, 258.
[60] Edgerton, Warrior, 44-45.
[61] Iris Berger, and E. Frances White. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Restoring Women to History. (Indiana University Press, 1999): 74.
[62] Bay, Belief, 8.
[63] Edgerton, Warrior, 53.
[64] Edna Bay, "Women In Combat," Journal of African History 40, no. 3 (1999): 486, accessed September 24, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/183631.
[65]. Ann S Johnson, “Garnett's Amazon from Dahomey: Literary Debts in "The Sailor's Return".” Contemporary Literature 14, no. 2 (April 1, 1973): 179.
[66] Alpern, “Origins,” 15.
[67] Ibid, 47.
[68] Alpern, Amazons, 47.
[69] Edgerton, Warrior, 21.
[70] Ibid, 24.
[71] Bay, Wives, 206.
[72] Edna Bay, "Dahomey Female Warriors Inquiry," e-mail message to author, May 3, 2013.
[73] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 257.
[74] Bay, Wives, 201.
[75] Ibid, 201.
[76] Ibid, 201.
[77] Alpern, “Origins,” 8.
[78] Ibid, 99.
[79] Ibid, 102.
[80] Ibid, 103.
[81] Ibid, 103.
[82] Alpern, “Origins,” 103.
[83] Edgerton, Warrior, 16.
[84] Ibid, 16.
[85] Bay, Wives, 228.
[86] Ibid, 316.
[87] Ibid, 316.
[88] Bay, Wives, 317.
[89] Ibid, 316.
[90] Ibid, 3-5.
[91] Robin Law, "Dahomey," 258.
[92] Alpern, Amazons, 37.