Dahomey

The Kingdom of Dahomey (, ) was a West African kingdom located within the present-day Republic of Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau among the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by expanding south to conquer key cities like Whydah belonging to the Kingdom of Whydah on the Atlantic coast, which granted it unhindered access to the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Ending tributary status to the Oyo Empire, Dahomey became a key regional state for much of the middle 19th century. European visitors extensively documented the kingdom, and it became one of the most familiar African nations known to Europeans. An important regional power, it had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labor, significant international trade, diplomatic relations with Europeans, a centralized administration, taxation, and an organized military. Notable were significant artwork, an all-female military unit called the Dahomey Amazons by European observers, and the elaborate religious practices of Vodun.