Akaba also known as Adahunzo or Housseou was an early

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

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. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional ...

, in present-day

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

, from 1685 until ''c.''1716. King

Houegbadja Houegbadja or Wegbaja or Aho was a King of Dahomey, King in the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from around 1645 until 1685. Houegbadja followed his father Dakodonou to the throne and formed much of the administration and religious p ...

had created the basic structure of the kingdom on the Abomey plateau. His first children were the twins of Akaba and Hangbe and they were followed by another son of Houegbadja who would become King

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

. As the oldest son, Akaba became the king upon Houegbadja's death and ruled until 1716 when he died during battle in the Ouémé River Valley, either of

small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and pla ...

or in battle. When he died his sister, Hangbe, became the ruler and began preparing Akaba's oldest son, Agbo Sassa, for the throne. In 1718, Agaja, the next oldest son after Akaba from

, fought with Agbo Sassa and Hangbe and became the next King of Dahomey.

Symbol

The chameleon symbolized his adaptability of policies.It was also a symbol of his patience to wait to ascend to the throne (as he ascended the throne in such an old age), inspired from the quote "The chameleon walks slowly but can go far, and he will never break even the finest branch he walks on the

bombax ''Bombax'' is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western Africa, the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian ...

tree".The king was also symbolized by a boar.

King of Dahomey

Oral tradition records that Akaba was the eldest born child of Houegbadja with a twin sister named Hangbe. In addition, Houegbadja also had a younger son named Dosu (the traditional name for the first male born after twins in Fon) who would later take the name Agaja. As the oldest son, Houegbadja named Akaba his heir before he died and Akaba assumed the throne in 1685 upon his father's deaths. In some versions, Akaba is the king who kills the chieftain ''Dan'' to establish the dominance of the Dahomey Kingdom over the Abomey plateau, rather than Houegbadja. Akaba's administration continued military expansion off the Abomey plateau and increasing centralization of the kingdom over the region. Some of his most significant military activity was in the

Ouémé River The Ouémé River, also spelled Weme (Yoruba language: Odò Ofe, Gbe languages: Weme) is a river in Benin. It rises in the Atakora Mountains, and is about long. It flows past the towns of Carnotville and Ouémé to a large delta on the Gulf o ...

valley. During this campaign in around 1715–1716, Akaba died either of smallpox, poisoning, or in battle. Because his death was quite sudden, and his heir was still young, Edna Bay contends that his twin sister Hangbe became the regent until

forcibly replaced her and the oldest son of Akaba, Agbo Sassa, to take over the throne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akaba Kings of Dahomey Year of birth unknown 1716 deaths Deaths from smallpox 17th-century monarchs in Africa 18th-century monarchs in Africa 17th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey 18th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey