Background to the question
The
Fon society is popularly known as Dahomey, scholars stress the origin
of Dahomey from the reign of wegbaja. Dahomey was founded out of the
conquest 0f several small Aja states under the Aladaxonu dynasty. It was
located in the poorest areas 0f West African coastal areas. It reached
the peak of its power between 1818-1858, with its capital at Abomey;
they were Aja speaking people, and prominent leaders of Dahomey included
wegbaja
I 650-1 680), Agaja (1708-1740), Tegbesu (1740-89) Gezo (1818-1858
Glele (1859-1889) and Behanzin (1889-1894).
Political organization
1. Dahomey had a centralized system of political organization with the king on the top
2. The king had excessive powers he could appoint, promote or demote his officials.
3.
The king was assisted by a cabinet with ministers responsible for
specific duties or departments. These included; Migan prime minister,
the chief of the army was Mingi and also chief magistrate and
superintendent of police, Meu the minister of finance who collected
revenue, Yevogan minister in charge of overseas trade and European
relation then Tokpe minister of agriculture.
4. There was also a council of advisors from whom the king chose his ministers.
5. There was a spying system traditionally known as the Naye
6.
The king appointed a female counterpart to each minister to monitor the
activities of the officials. They were believed to be kings wives some
of them were not
7. Dahomey was divided into
metropolitan Dahomey with Abomey the capital as its nucleus and
Provincial Dahomey that consisted of the other outlying provinces.
8.
The king appointed governors to administer the provinces on his b,
below the governors were the village chiefs. They ensured law an",
order, settled minor cases, collected tax among other duties.
9.
There was a policy of Dahomanization in which the conquered pre and
people were initiated and incorporated into Dahomey This ensured unity.
10. Dahomey had a well organized, well trained, Disciplined and skilled army.
The
army was responsible for the expansion of the kingdom, raiding,
defending against external aggression and suppressing rebellions. It was
composed of men and women.
11. The female section of warriors which is believed to have been braver was known as Amazon.
12.
There's an intelligence institution known as Agbadjigbeto which was
responsible for spying her neighbours and also spread propaganda in the
empire especially about the intelligence findings,
13.
They had a centralized judicial system; there was a royal court of
appeal at the kings palace presided over by the Mingi where severe
punishments were given.
14. The king could reduce or abolish sentences if he wished.
15. King's word was law but he was not above the law, for example king Gilele was fined for breaking the law.
Economic organization
16.
They carried out livestock census, village chiefs reported the number
of animals slaughtered and skulls were kept to make periodic checks.
17. Trade was an important economic activity in the kingdom.
18. Slave trade was a major source of tax revenue to the kingdom before it was abolished.
19. Dahomey raided her neighbours for slaves whom she sold to the traders at the coast.
20. Honey, black pepper and ginger were only produced by the royal family.
21.
When slave trade was abolished, Dahomey shifted to palm oil, slaves
were diverted to serve as labourers in palm oil plantations, and state
palm oil plantations were started
22. Goats, sheep, cattle and pigs were kept for food and trade purposes.
23. The state collected many taxes like customs duty, transit tolls, death duties etc.
24. They were hunters, basket weavers and craft men and produced several hand craft materials for sale,
25.
There was regional specialization in agriculture e.g. the Aja produced
maize alone; Zamanda produced millet, ground nuts and maize.
26. Tributes were collected from her vassel states like Yoruba, lfe among others
27. Salt mining was done and Yevogan collected one pebble of salt for every bag of salt mined.
Social organization.
28. They had many religious beliefs and gods, the state controlled religion which helped in national unity
29. The king licensed the chief priests of all religious societies
30. The gods of conquered people were absorbed into the Dahomenian group of gods
31. All the religious societies had to recognize the position of the king as the head of human society,
32. The king forbade secret societies because they might prove a threat to royal power.
33. Human beings were sacrificed to the gods for blessings
34.
The ancestors were important to the well being of each Dahomean family,
but the royal ancestors were especially important because the well
being of the society depended on them.
35. Royal
ancestors were honoured annually in celebrations were people and
officials from the whole nation gathered at the capita] (Kumasi).
36. The monarchy displayed its wealth and power while great servants were rewarded for their loyalty to the king
37.
Dahomey had a stratified society it consisted of the privileged royal
class at the top of the strata, which consisted of the kings, his
relatives and all descendants of the king.
38. Below this class were the kings' ministers, military commanders, plus provincial and village chiefs.
39. Below them were the commoners consisting of the free born of Pahomey like peasants, artisans etc.
40.
At the bottom was the servant class consisting of serfs and slaves;
they could be sold off, worked in state plantations could be sacrificed
to the ancestors at ceremonies.
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