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Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies

The Kingdoms and Empires of Oyo and Dahomey 1608–c.1800: the rise of Oyo and Dahomey, their armies and their kings

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  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on West Africa around 1600, the re-establishment of Oyo and its cavalry, the rise and coastal conquests of Dahomey, the two armies, and the powers of the Alafin and the king of Dahomey.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Contrast the armies of Oyo and Dahomey.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the situation in West Africa around 1600?

    Model answer

    Oyo was recovering from defeat and exile at the hands of Nupe and Borgu, the Fon states of the Abomey plateau were still small and inland, and the growth of European trade on the Slave Coast was beginning to reshape the region's politics.

  2. 2

    How was Oyo re-established at the beginning of the seventeenth century?

    Model answer

    After a long exile at Igboho following the destruction of the old capital, Alafin Abipa led the Yoruba court back to Oyo-Ile around 1608 and rebuilt it, launching the empire's period of expansion.

  3. 3

    Why was cavalry the foundation of Oyo's power?

    Model answer

    Oyo lay in open savannah where horses could be used, and by importing horses from the north it built a mounted force that could raid and dominate the grassland; that advantage disappeared in the forest belt, which limited how far south Oyo could rule directly.

  4. 4

    How did the kingdom of Dahomey rise?

    Model answer

    It grew from the Fon kingdom of Abomey, consolidated in the later seventeenth century by rulers of the line of Wegbaja, who built an unusually centralised monarchy and a disciplined standing army in place of loose clan authority.

  5. 5

    Which conquests gave Dahomey direct access to the Atlantic trade?

    Model answer

    Agaja's conquest of Allada in 1724 and of Whydah in 1727 carried Dahomey to the coast and gave its king direct control of the ports through which slaves and European goods passed.

  6. 6

    Contrast the armies of Oyo and Dahomey.

    Model answer

    Oyo's strength lay in cavalry raised from the savannah and from tribute in horses, while Dahomey, in country where horses could not survive, relied on a permanent, drilled infantry armed with muskets bought on the coast.

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