Kpengla 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 tit ...
of the
Kingdom of Dahomey, 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 nort ...
, from 1774 until 1789. Kpengla followed his father
Tegbessou
Tegbesu (French: Tegbessou) or Bossa Ahadee was a king of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from 1740 until 1774. While not the oldest son of King Agaja (1718-1740), he became king after Agaja's death following a succession struggle w ...
to the throne and much of his administration was defined by the increasing
Atlantic slave trade and regional rivalry over the profits from this trade. His attempts to control the slave trade generally failed, and when he died of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
in 1789, his son
Agonglo came to the throne and ended many of his policies.
Rise to power
The
Kingdom of Dahomey had increased significantly in power since the 1720s.
King Agaja (1718-1740) had expanded the kingdom to the key Atlantic ports of
Whydah and
Allada
Allada is a town, arrondissement, and commune, located in the Atlantique Department of Benin.
The current town of Allada corresponds to Great Ardra (also called Grand Ardra, or Arda), which was the capital of a Fon kingdom also called Allada (t ...
. Agaja's son
King Tegbessou (1740-1774) had similarly expanded the kingdom. However, the kingdom remained a tributary to the
Oyo Empire
The Oyo Empire was a powerful Yoruba empire of West Africa made up of parts of present-day eastern Benin and western Nigeria (including Southwest zone and the western half of Northcentral zone). It grew to become the largest Yoruba-speaking s ...
, owing yearly gifts to the Oyo Empire. The slave trade had increased substantially along the coast with European traders. During the last years of Tegbessou's reign, the Oyo Empire began restricting the slave trade through Dahomey and channeling slaves to other ports or to charge high prices through Dahomey. The shortage became so problematic that Tegbessou was forced to sell his own slaves to keep the trade going.
It is not entirely clear whether Kpengla was the named heir of Tegbessou; regardless, upon Tegbessou's death, he rushed with armed companions to the
Royal Palace to make a claim to the throne. Large scale fighting occurred in the palace and it is reported that 285 women in the palace fighting died.
Following this struggle, Kpengla was named king.
Slave trade policy
Kpengla became king at a particularly difficult period of history for the kingdom. The slave trade was the major economic resource for the kingdom and the king's personal finances, but Oyo and other inland traders had begun raising rates and playing port cities against one another.
Kpengla had the opportunity to either improve the kingdom's position as middleman or to start slave raiding which would cause anger by Oyo and others. At Kpengla's coronation, he vowed to free Dahomey from the Oyo Empire in terms of both ending the tributary status of Dahomey to Oyo and breaking their control over the slave trade.
Kpengla initially attempted to negotiate a situation with the Oyo Empire that would cement the position of Dahomey as middleman between Oyo and the Europeans. The proposal was that Dahomey would destroy eastern slave ports which were taking trade away from Dahomey and Oyo ports, forcing the Europeans to trade with their ports. Kpengla believed that this situation would result in the Oyo moving their trade from rival ports like
Porto-Novo
Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...
into the Dahomey port of Whydah. As a result, Kpengla destroyed
Epe in 1782 and
Badagry
Badagry (traditionally Gbagli) also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that con ...
in 1784. Having fulfilled his part of the agreement, Kpengla grew angry when Oyo and
Porto-Novo
Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...
continued to trade actively as a rival port to Whydah.
As a result, Kpengla reformed trade policy to ban all trade in slaves with Oyo in 1786. The next year, he created a royal monopoly over trade at Whydah, controlling all English and French imports (except for Brazilian
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
). In addition, he set price controls significantly decreasing the price of slaves into the kingdom. Traders who attempted to work around the price controls were executed or sold as slaves themselves. Traders resisted this and decided not to sell slaves at all. Kpengla responded by forcing sale by the traders. These policies resulted in significant movement of trade away from Dahomey and to other ports and so in 1788, he began slave raiding once again.
Construction
Kpengla was crucial in significant amount of construction in Abomey and the kingdom.
Kpengla may have been the king to establish the royal road of Dahomey, a wide road from Whydah to Cana and then to Abomey. This width of this road and its maintenance were unique in West Africa for the time and the Cana to Abomey stretch was maintained and impressed European visitors for the next century.
Lionel Abson, head of the English fort at Whydah, first reported of the project in the 18th century. According to Abson, in 1779 the king;
Death
Kpengla died in 1789 from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and his son Agonglo became the new king after a violent struggle in the palace that resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Agonglo largely ended Kpengla's slave trade restrictions and allowed slave traders to set their own rate.
See also
*
History of the Kingdom of Dahomey
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
References
{{Monarchs of Dahomey
Kings of Dahomey
1735 births
1789 deaths
Deaths from smallpox
18th-century monarchs in Africa
18th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey