Agoli-Agbo, roi d'Abomey et sa cour (Dahomey)

Agoli-agbo is considered to have been the twelfth and final King of

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...

. He was in power from 1894 to 1900.

Biography

He took the throne after the previous king,

Béhanzin Béhanzin ( – 10 December 1906) is considered the eleventh (if Adandozan is not counted) King of Dahomey, modern-day Republic of Benin. Upon taking the throne, he changed his name from Kondo. Biography He succeeded his father, Glele, an ...

, went into exile after being defeated in the invasion of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

Second Franco-Dahomean War The Second Franco-Dahomean War, which raged from 1892 to 1894, was a major conflict between France, led by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, and Dahomey under King Béhanzin. The French emerged triumphant and incorporated Dahomey into their gro ...

. The exile of Béhanzin did not legalize the French colonization. The French general

Alfred-Amédée Dodds Alfred Amédée Dodds (6 February 1842 – 17 July 1922) was the commander of French forces in Senegal from 1890, commander of French forces in the second expeditionary force to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, and commander of French forces d ...

offered the throne to every one of the immediate royal family, in return for a signature on a treaty establishing a French protectorate over the

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

; all refused. Finally, on January 15th 1894, Béhanzin's Army Chief of Staff Prince Agoli-agbo (whose name meaning "the dynasty has not fallen"), brother of Béhanzin and son of King Glélé, signed. He was appointed to the throne, as a 'traditional chief' rather than head of state of a sovereign nation, by the French when he agreed to sign the instrument of surrender. He 'reigned' for only six years, assisted by a French

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

. The French prepared for direct administration, which they achieved on 12 February 1900. As the

Indigénat The ''Code de l'indigénat'' ( "native code"), called ''régime de l'indigénat'' or simply ''indigénat'' by modern French historians, were diverse and fluctuating sets of laws and regulations characterized by arbitrariness which created in prac ...

exacerbated the exploitation, Agoli-agbo went into exile in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

. In 1910, he was allowed to return and to live in the Save Region. He occasionally returned to Abomey in order to perform ancestor worship for the departed kings. Agoli-agbo's symbols are a leg kicking a rock, a bow (a symbol of the return to traditional weapons under the new rules established by the colonial administrators), and a broom, and the last king of Dahomey.

References

, - Kings of Dahomey People of French West Africa 19th-century monarchs in Africa 19th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey 20th century in Benin 20th-century monarchs in Africa {{Benin-bio-stub