Editing Agonglo (section)

==Administration==
As king, Agonglo attempted a variety of efforts to get the Dahomey economy started but was often constrained by domestic opposition and a major smallpox epidemic.<ref name=Bay /> The [[Oyo empire]] which had exercised power over Dahomey since 1730 had grown significantly weak in the early 1790s. This culminated in the suicide of the king of Oyo in 1796, which provided Agonglo with the ability to end the tributary status of Dahomey to Oyo. However, while Agonglo was able to act independently, domestic dissent prevented him from directly challenging Oyo power.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

Although he reduced many of the restrictions on slave traders that Kpengla had created, he still followed some of the other policies of Kpengla: including slave raiding and attacking rival ports.  However, these were generally not successful with multiple unsuccessful raids against the [[Mahi people]] to the north and unsuccessful attacks on [[Aného|Little Popo]] and [[Porto-Novo]].  However, in 1795 he was able to lead a successful slave raid against the Mahi, largely by rewarding soldiers with wives before the war, and allied with [[Grand-Popo]] was able to successfully disrupt Little Popo's slave trade.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

Unfortunately these efforts to improve the domestic supply of slaves were of limited impact because of developments impacting the different European countries involved in the slave trade.  The [[British Empire|British]] commander in the port city of Whydah had become very slow and unresponsive to British regional efforts and so the British had slowed their trade in the port.  At the same time, the [[French Revolution]] resulted in France banning the trade on slaves in 1794 (to be restored in 1802) and began an active effort to stop the trade by other countries.  In November 1794, the French seized all Portuguese slave ships in the port of Whydah and would continue this practice for the next few years.  The result was that Whydah no longer was a safe harbor for the trade and Portuguese slowed their trade.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

Agonglo responded by sending three ambassadors to [[Maria I of Portugal]] to try to convince her to resume trade with Dahomey.  Instead of resuming the trade, Maria sent two Catholic missionaries to Agonglo and encouraged him to convert for continued trade relations.<ref name=Decalo-1987>{{cite book|last=Decalo|first=Samuel|title=Historical Dictionary of Benin|year=1987|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Metuchen, NJ|pages=22–23}}</ref>  Agonglo accepted the missionaries and expressed a willingness to be converted which caused a significant uproar amongst different factions within the kingdom.  It is unknown whether he was sincere in his willingness to be converted or whether it was merely to appease the Portuguese.<ref name=Bay />  Agonglo did know about Catholicism, having married the former wife of the commander of the French fort in Whydah, a Dutch-African woman named Sophie who had introduced a Christian shrine into the pantheon of deities worshiped.<ref name=Bay />

Regardless, the willingness for conversion resulted in Dogan, a brother of Agonglo, starting serious efforts to remove Agonglo from power.  Lengthy debates in the palace followed and when these efforts failed, on May 1, 1797, Dogan and a woman named Na Wanjile [[Assassination|assassinated]] Agonglo in the palace.  According to Akingjogbin, she shot and killed Agonglo,<ref name=Akinjogbin /> but Edna Bay says that the assassination happened through poisoning.<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>  Dogan and Na Wanjile were buried alive for the assassination.<ref name=Akinjogbin />