Houegbadja or Wegbaja or Aho was a

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

in the

Kingdom 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 ...

, in present-day

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, from around 1645 until 1685. Houegbadja followed his father

Dakodonou Dakodonou, ''Dakodonu'', ''Dako Donu'' or ''Dako Danzo'' was an early king of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, ruling from around 1620 until 1645. Oral tradition recounts that Dakodonu was the son of Do-Aklin, the founder of the ro ...

to the throne and formed much of the administration and religious practices for the Kingdom of Dahomey. Because of this he is often credited as the First King of Dahomey.

Rise to power

The rise of Houegbadja to the throne is a story based largely on oral traditions. The primary oral tradition claims that Houegbadja was the son (or in some adopted son) of

Dakodonu Dakodonou, ''Dakodonu'', ''Dako Donu'' or ''Dako Danzo'' was an early king of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, ruling from around 1620 until 1645. Oral tradition recounts that Dakodonu was the son of Do-Aklin, the founder of the roya ...

and that a Gedevi woman (the Gedevi were the native people of the Abomey Plateau) named Adanon was

betrothed An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to Dakodonu. Although the woman was betrothed to his father, Houegbdaja got the woman pregnant and the result was that Dakodonu disinherited him. Houegbadja and Dakodonu only reconciled when Houegbadja killed a strong rival of Dakodonu, and Houegbadja was then named the heir apparent. With the death of Dakodonu, Houegbadja became the King of Dahomey.

Administration

Houegbadja plays a primary role in the ceremonies of the

and as such is often attributed with many administrative developments that he is unlikely to have solely created. However, various oral traditions hold that Houegbadja established the current

Royal Palaces of Abomey The Royal Palaces of Abomey are 12 palaces spread over an area of at the heart of the Abomey town in Benin, formerly the capital of the West African Kingdom of Dahomey. The Kingdom was founded in 1625 by the Fon people who developed it into a ...

, the general structure of the royal administration, poll taxes, death taxes, and made it so that the King's sacrifices to ancestors were primary within the kingdom. Militarily, Houegbadja is often credited with the first expansions of the kingdom outside of the Abomey Plateau and is sometimes credited with creating the

Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Mino ( Fon: Agojie, Agoji, Mino, or Minon) were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey (in today's Benin, West Africa) that existed from the 17th century until the late 19th century. They are one of the few doc ...

(although this claim is considered unlikely).

Legacy

Houegbadja is often considered the first king of Dahomey because of the establishment of the palace and creation of many rules that defined the administration of the kingdom. During the

Annual Customs of Dahomey The Annual Customs of Dahomey (''xwetanu'' or ''huetanu'' in Fon) were the main yearly celebration in the Kingdom of Dahomey, held at the capital, Abomey. These ceremonies were largely started under King Agaja around 1730 and involved significa ...

, a ceremony centered on tributes given to royal ancestors, Houegbadja was the first king recognized. He named his oldest son Akaba as his heir and upon his death around 1685, Akaba came to power.

References

{{Monarchs of Dahomey Kings of Dahomey 17th-century monarchs in Africa 17th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey Year of birth unknown 1685 deaths