Tegbesu (French: Tegbessou) or Bossa Ahadee 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 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 1740 until 1774. While not the oldest son of King Agaja (1718-1740), he became king after Agaja's death following a succession struggle with a brother.

Rise to power

Oral traditions hold that Tegbesu was the son of

Agaja Agaja (also spelled Agadja and also known as Trudo Agaja or Trudo Audati) was a king of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, who ruled from 1718 until 1740. He came to the throne after his brother King Akaba. During his reign, Dahomey e ...

and

Hwanjile Hwanjile (r. 1740–1774) was a high priest and ''kpojito'' ("reign mate") of the African Kingdom of Dahomey, in what is now Benin. Life Hwanjile was an Aja woman from the village of Home in an area west of Abomey, in the southern portion of moder ...

, a woman reported to have brought ''Vodun'' to the kingdom. King Agaja had significantly expanded the Kingdom of Dahomey during his reign, notably conquering

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 ...

in 1724 and Whydah in 1727. This increased the size of the kingdom and increased both domestic dissent (with the royal aristocrats of both Allada and Whydah opposing Dahomey from fortified islands off the coast) and regional opposition (mainly with semi-regular warfare between Dahomey and 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 language, ...

). According to one oral tradition, as part of the tribute owed by Dahomey to Oyo, Agaja had to give to Oyo one of his sons. The story claims that only Hwanjile of all of Agaja's wives was willing to allow her son to go to Oyo. This act of sacrifice, according to the oral tradition made Tegbesu favored by Agaja. Agaja reportedly tells Tegbesu that he is the future king, but his brother Zinga is still the official heir. One oral history contends that with the death of Agaja, Tegbesu's brothers quickly plot to kill him. His brothers surrounded his house to prevent him from reaching the Palace and claiming the throne, but he miraculously escapes and reaches the palace. Despite challenges, the Great Council appoints Tegbesu the new king. Historian Edna Bay notes that oral histories disagree about precisely ''who'' appointed Tegbesu as the new king.

Administration

Tegbesu ruled over Dahomey at a point where it needed to increase its legitimacy over those who it had recently conquered. As a result, Tegbesu is often credited with a number of administrative changes in the kingdom in order to establish the legitimacy of the kingdom. Since he had spent significant time during his youth in Oyo, much of the kingdom was fashioned along administrative aspects of that empire. Tegbesu returned the capital from

Abomey Abomey is the capital of the Zou Department of Benin. The commune of Abomey covers an area of 142 square kilometres and, as of 2012, had a population of 90,195 people. Abomey houses the Royal Palaces of Abomey, a collection of small traditional ...

, while creating a puppet king to rule in Allada. He increased the number of wives of the king in order to establish wide family connections throughout the kingdom. The Palace complex was styled along those of Oyo and a number of administrative positions were created that had existed in Oyo. Most notably, Tegbesu had multiple traders in Whydah put to death and replaced with individuals loyal to him. In addition, instead of having different administrative positions to deal with each different European power, he created the ''Yevogan'' in 1745, a central bureaucrat to deal with all European trade. In addition, Tegbesu's rule is the one with the first significant ''

kpojito The ''kpojito'' was the queen mother and consort of the pre-colonial African kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin, West Africa). History Beginning in the early eighteenth century, the ''kpojito'' was a wife of the king's father, often born of co ...

'' or ''mother of the leopard'' with Hwanjile in that role. The ''kpojito'' became a prominently important person in Dahomey royalty. Hwanjile, in particular, is said to have changed dramatically the religious practices of Dahomey by creating two new deities and more closely tying worship to that of the king. The slave trade increased significantly during Tegbesu's reign and begun to provide the largest part of the income for the king, reportedly earning him £250,000 per year (over £56 million adjusted for

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...

as of 2020 according to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Inflation Calculator).Inflation Calculator , Bank of England
br>Bank of England. Retrieved 12 May 2021.

References

{{Monarchs of Dahomey Kings of Dahomey Year of birth unknown 1774 deaths 18th-century monarchs in Africa 18th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey

Rise to power

Administration

See also

References