Editing Ghezo (section)

==Rise to power==
[[File:Symbole de Guezo roi du Dahomey au mur de la place Goho à Abomey au Bénin.jpg|thumb|Symbol of Guezo on place goho]]
Ghezo was a son born with the name Gakpe to [[Agonglo|King Agonglo]] and was a younger brother to [[Adandozan]]. When Agonglo died, there was a succession struggle between his sons before Adandozan was enthroned. An oral tradition which developed during Ghezo's rule, to largely erase Adandozan from official history, says that Adandozan was merely named regent and that he refused to step down for Ghezo when the latter was old enough.<ref name=Bay/> This is generally doubted by historians.<ref name=Bay>{{cite book|title=Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey|first=Edna G.|last= Bay|publisher= University of Virginia Press|year= 1998|isbn=0-8139-1792-1}}</ref>

Information about the final years of Adandozan's administration is very limited, providing only a partial understanding of the situation that resulted in Ghezo's rule. What is known is that around 1818, Adandozan imprisoned [[Francisco Félix de Sousa]], a powerful Afro-Brazilian slave trader, when the latter demanded repayment for money loaned to Adandozan. With the help, reportedly, of Nicola d'Olveira, the son of the Afro-Dutch wife of Agonglo, de Sousa escaped from imprisonment and relocated to [[Grand-Popo]].<ref name=Bay />

While in exile, de Sousa sent gifts and money to Ghezo that Ghezo used to establish support for a challenge to the throne.  In the 1818 [[Annual Customs of Dahomey|Annual Customs]], it is said that Ghezo appeared holding the war drum in the palace. Upon seeing this, the ''Migan'' and ''Mehu'' (prime ministers) removed the royal sandals from Adandozan and named Ghezo the king.<ref name=Akinjogbin>{{cite book|last=Akinjogbin|first=I.A.|title=Dahomey and Its Neighbors: 1708-1818|year=1967|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> It is quite likely that the initial struggle was more violent than this story relates.<ref name=Bay />

According to some versions, Ghezo was not named the ruler at this point, but instead was named the [[regent]] to rule until Adandozan's son Dakpo was old enough to rule. The story says that this understanding lasted until 1838, when Ghezo instead named his own son, the future king [[Glele]], as the crown prince. At that point Dakpo and Adandozan led a brief fight within the palaces. The fight resulted in a fire that burned part of a palace and killed Dakpo, making Ghezo the clear king of Dahomey.<ref name=Araujo>{{cite book|last=Araujo|first=Ana Lucia|title=Public Memory of Slavery: Victims and Perpetrators in the South Atlantic|year=2010|publisher=Cambria Press|location=Amherst, NY}}</ref>