Ghezo of Dahomey

Ghezo, also spelled Gezo, was born in 1787 in Abomey, the capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey in what is now the Republic of Benin. He became king in 1818 after a coup against his brother Adandozan, who was then largely erased from the official history of Dahomey. His reign, from 1818 to 1858, was one of the longest and most important in the kingdom's history.

When Ghezo came to the throne, Dahomey was paying a humiliating tribute to the Oyo Empire. He refused to keep paying it, and in 1823, at the Battle of Paouingnan, his armies defeated Oyo and ended Dahomey's tributary status, a victory that restored the kingdom's pride and independence and led to many later campaigns.

Ghezo reorganised the army, including the famous regiments of women soldiers, known to Europeans as the Amazons and to themselves as the Mino, our mothers, or the Agojie. He also encouraged the arts, brought skilled artisans to live in Abomey and refined the royal bureaucracy. To keep the kingdom wealthy he set customs duties on trade and encouraged the harvest of palm oil.

His record also includes the slave trade. Dahomey's economy had for two centuries depended on it, and Ghezo told British visitors that he would do anything for them except give up the trade. Under British pressure, which included a naval blockade of his ports, he promised to end it in 1852 but resumed in 1857. His reign was therefore a difficult period of transition from slaves to legitimate trade in palm oil, and the change was not easy.

Ghezo was killed in 1858, according to some accounts assassinated, and was succeeded by his son Glele. He is remembered in Benin as one of its great kings, the ruler who made Dahomey a regional power, while the history of the slave trade he took part in is a reminder of how deeply African rulers, and European buyers, were bound up in it.