Editing Adandozan (section)

==Administration==
Adandozan followed Agonglo's policies of trying to revive the slave trade through slave raiding of the [[Mahi people]] to the north and disrupting the trade at rival ports (namely [[Porto-Novo]]). However, these attempts were generally unsuccessful and with the recovery of the [[Oyo empire]] by 1805, they reasserted power and stopped these activities by Adandozan.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

Unable to foster the slave trade through military action, he turned to improving diplomacy with European traders.  In 1804, he sent ambassadors to Portugal and to the British at [[Cape Coast Castle]].  Unlike his father who had received Catholic missionaries from the Portuguese, Adandozan made clear that he had no interest in conversion but requested the Portuguese help him in building mining operations and a gun manufacturing facility in Dahomey. The Portuguese received these requests politely to secure the release of some Portuguese prisoners, but did not agree to the terms.  The British had grown highly suspicious of Adandozan when the British officer in the port city of Whydah, who had become a citizen of Dahomey, had died in 1803 and, as per the customs, his wives were taken by the king.  His assistant wrote to the British calling Adandozan a tyrant and this increased tension with the British. Adandozan, worried that the British would abandon their fort in Whydah, passed a law that any British person in Dahomey could not leave without a substitute which only ended increasing tensions.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

Adandozan responded to the slowing of the slave trade by trying to reform the economy to focus on agricultural production. He increased opportunities for agriculture and made the Corn Customs a primary festival held publicly. While attempting these reforms, changed policies in Europe largely undermined his efforts. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 and began pressuring other countries in Europe to do the same. As part of these efforts they signed an agreement in 1810 with the Portuguese which allowed slave trade only at ports where the Portuguese already traded slaves and no new ports, Whydah was specifically mentioned as a port which could have trade while [[Porto-Novo]], [[Badagry]], and [[Aného|Little Popo]] (all rival slave trade ports) could not. The result was a sudden increase in the Portuguese slave trade in Whydah.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

The increased slave trade simultaneously undermined the agricultural reforms of Adandozan and increased the power of [[Francisco Félix de Sousa]], a powerful Brazilian slave trader. By 1810, de Sousa had become the wealthiest trader in the city of Whydah and loaned significant amounts of money to Adandozan. When he requested repayment for this loan, Adandozan publicly insulted de Sousa and imprisoned him causing de Sousa to flee to Little Popo.  One of Adandozan's younger brothers, [[Ghezo]] (then called Madogungun), befriended de Sousa and together the plotted a coup to replace Adandozan.<ref name=Akinjogbin />