GREAT BENIN KINGDOM

IGUE Festival, the People and Civilisation of the Great Benin Kingdom, Edo State Nigeria

[Institute's Name]

Great Benin Kingdom, Edo State Nigeria

Introduction

Some authors give 1625 as the date of the founding of Dahomey. Others like Berger, in the Ouagbadja reign of Prince, who stands between 1650 and 1680 and under which would have appeared, according to him, for the first time the name of Dahomey or Dan home (Berger, 2004, 98-101).

The traces of human settlements are very old in this region of Africa, probably from the Paleolithic (Cook et al., 2006, 21-22). The first kingdoms were established in the fourteenth century. The best known, the kingdom of Dan-Home (Dahomey), seems to have been created in the south by the Yoruba. It is the cause of the principalities of Savè and Allada who made contact with the first European navigators (Britton, 2002, 451-478).

In the following century, a split among the heirs of the kingdom of Allada results in the formation of the Kingdom of Adjatchè, south-east and further north, under the direction of Houegbadja (1645-1689), the kingdom of Dahomey, from Abomey, which became the capital of the kingdom (Harp, 2001, 28-29).

Discussion

Founded, it seems, in 1625, the kingdom of Abomey quickly became dominant. Its successive rulers launched several wars of conquest against their neighbors, including the Yoruba, and manage to significantly enlarge their field. All political and territorial formed after absorption in the early eighteenth century Allada and Ouidah received the name of the kingdom of Dahomey (Dumazedier, 2007, 112-114). The kingdom of Porto-Novo, detached itself from the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was ruled by two kings, one of which ruled the day and one night (Urry, 1990, 5-6). A number of countries have submitted in Dahomey in the nineteenth century, too detached from him and, although exposed to its claims and his warlike incursions, have in fact become separate and independent (Home, 1982, 87). The actual territory of Dahomey at this time lies on the coast of the "Mouth of the King" (to the east of Grand-Popo), Lake Denham of Grau and Kotonou (Cotonou) and in the interior between River Abomey (Abome) in the West and the East River Ouémé and was limited to the north of Abomey, by an ill-defined border on the territory of Mahi (www.edoworld.net).

The kingdom of Dahomey is subjected to a totalitarian regime and warmongering. It has a niggling tax administration, where officials are monitored by the king's wives (Igbafe, 1970, 385-400). The artisans themselves, tightly controlled, must produce an exclusive art to the glory of the sovereign and his feats of arms (Igbafe, 1979, 15-19). Two features of civilization have often been identified: the famous Amazons, which correspond to the establishment, after the capture of Ouidah (edoglobalorganization.org), the military training of women and bloodthirsty cults like that of human sacrifice in Abomey (especially during the feast of the "great custom" celebrated after the death of King), and Vodou, along the coast, among others associated with the worship of snakes (Kalu, 2011, ...