Editing Ghezo (section)

==Rule==
[[File:FORBES(1851) p2.322 PROCESSION OF THE KINGS WEALTH, EK-BAH-TONG-EK-BEH.jpg|thumb|250px|Procession of the wealth of King Ghezo, painted in 1851 by Frederick E. Forbes]]
Ghezo's rule was defined by some important military victories, domestic dissent, and transformation of the slave trade economy. Ghezo's rule is often remembered as one of the most significant in terms of reform and change to the political order of the kingdom (although some of this is ascribing reforms that happened under Adandozan to Ghezo as part of the erasure of Adandozan's rule). In addition to the military victories, domestic dissent, and slave trade, Ghezo is also credited with expanding the arts significantly and giving royal status to many artisans to move to the capital of Abomey.<ref name=Bay />

===Military expansion===
[[File:Dahomey amazon2.jpg|thumb|[[Dahomey Amazons]] became a significant part of the military under Ghezo]]
His most significant military victory was over the depleted [[Oyo empire]] in 1823.<ref name=Law-1986>{{cite journal|last=Law|first=Robin|title=Dahomey and the Slave Trade: Reflections on the Historiography of the Rise of Dahomey|journal=The Journal of African History|year=1986|volume=27|issue=2|pages=237–267|doi=10.1017/s0021853700036665|s2cid=165754199 }}</ref> Since 1730, Dahomey had provided yearly tribute to the Oyo empire and some of its economic and military policy was controlled by Oyo interests. However, the Oyo empire had been significantly weakened over the previous 30 years and, with the rise of the Islamic jihad to the north in the [[Sokoto Caliphate]], the empire was unable to secure its tribute from Dahomey.<ref name=Akinjogbin />

In the early 1820s, Ghezo refused to pay the annual tribute to Oyo.<ref name=Bay /> Oyo and Dahomey fought a small war early in the 1820s. Violence escalated in 1823 when Oyo sent an ambassador to demand tribute and Ghezo killed him.<ref name=Law-1977>{{cite book|last=Law|first=Robin|title=The Oyo Empire c. 1600-c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade|year=1977|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London}}</ref> The Oyo responded by organizing a force made up of the [[Mahi people|Mahi]] and other regional forces to attack Dahomey. Ghezo defeated these forces at a battle near [[Paouingnan]]. Oyo then sent a larger force that was 4,000 strong, including cavalry, and camped near the village of Kpaloko.  Ghezo defeated this force by organizing a night raid which resulted in the death of the Oyo leader, Ajanaku, and caused the Oyo troops to retreat.<ref name=Law-1977 />

Although the victories over the Oyo were important, other military engagements in the early years of Ghezo's reign were less effective. He suffered losses to the [[Mahi people]] to the north of Dahomey and was unable to secure enough individuals to meet slave demands, leading him to sell citizens of Dahomey, a quite unpopular decision.<ref name=Law-1997>{{cite journal|last=Law|first=Robin|title=The Politics of Commercial Transition: Factional Conflict in Dahomey in the Context of the Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade|journal=The Journal of African History|year=1997|volume=38|issue=2|pages=213–233|doi=10.1017/s0021853796006846|url=http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/280/1/politics-of-commercial-transition.pdf|hdl=1893/280|s2cid=15681629 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

With the further reduction of Oyo power in the region, Ghezo was more able to expand militarily against the Mahi and the [[Gbe languages|Gbe]] people to the southwest of Dahomey after the mid-1820s.<ref name=Bay /> Following victories in these areas, Ghezo focused the military power on a region which had been between the Oyo empire and Dahomey and had been the target of significant slave raiding. After some significant victories in this area by Dahomey, the city of [[Abeokuta]] was founded as a safe-haven for people to be free of slave raiding in an easily defended location.<ref name=Bay /><ref name=Yoder /> By the 1840s, Abeokuta had become a major power in the area and wars between Abeokuta and Dahomey became regular.

In 1849–50, under the direction of British Governor [[William Winniett]], British naval officer Frederick E. Forbes went on two missions to the court of King Ghezo "in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to end involvement in the slave trade."<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans - via World Digital Library
| last = Forbes
| first = Frederick E
| title = Dahomey and the Dahomans: Being the Journals of Two Missions to the King of Dahomey, and Residence at His Capital, in the Year 1849 and 1850 - World Digital Library
| location = London
| access-date = 2014-06-19
| date = 1851
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2527/#regions=africa&page=4
}}</ref>

In 1851, Ghezo organized a direct attack on the city of Abeokuta, but it did not succeed. Ghezo suspended large-scale military operations when he ended the slave trade (1852). However, by 1858, a conservative faction pressured Ghezo to begin large-scale military operations again with an assault on Abeokuta to follow.<ref name=Law-1997 /> It is possible that this renewed warfare between the two states led to Ghezo's death, with some accounts stating that Abeokuta paid for an assassination of Ghezo (other accounts disagree).<ref name=Yoder />

Ghezo is credited with the formation of the [[Dahomey Amazons|Mino]] as an actual war fighting force. Although the female bodyguard for the king had existed for many kings, Ghezo is said often as the king who transformed them into a force for battle.<ref name=Alpern>{{cite journal|last=Alpern|first=Stanley B.|title=On the Origins of the Amazons of Dahomey|journal=History in Africa|year=1998|volume=25|pages=9–25|doi=10.2307/3172178|jstor=3172178 |s2cid=162412301 }}</ref> Historian Edna Bay contends that this may have been a result of a need to gain the support of the female palace guard after they had opposed Ghezo's coup against Adandozan. Ghezo did this by raising the status of the female guards, providing them uniforms, giving them additional weapons, and making them a crucial part of war policy.<ref name=Bay />

===Domestic dissent===
Domestic dissent was a significant problem throughout Ghezo's reign with different forces contesting his rule. Initially, after the coup against Adandozan, Ghezo had to secure support from a number of different individuals who helped bring him to power. Although he had initially presented himself as able to restore militaristic practices to Dahomey, which he argued Adandozan was unable to do, the early losses in his reign to the Mahi made him very unpopular. It is even reported that in 1825, he offered to return Adandozan to power but that Adandozan refused, hoping for a popular uprising against Ghezo.<ref name=Law-1997 />

To secure the support of different powerful people, Ghezo provided many of them with important positions. To secure the support of other princes, he appointed two of his brothers as the ''Migan'' and ''Mehu'' and transformed these into hereditary positions which they could pass to their sons.<ref name=Bay /> Since de Sousa was of crucial importance in Ghezo's rise to power, he named de Sousa the ''Chacha'' at Whydah, a position which would be the principal trade official in that port (and would also be passed to de Sousa's son).<ref name=Law-1997 /> As a symbolic strike against Adandozan's legacy, Ghezo appointed Agontime his ''[[Kpojito]]'' (or queen-mother, an important post in the Kingdom of Dahomey). Agontime was a wife of Agonglo, sometimes claimed to be the mother of Ghezo, who was sold into slavery when Adandozan came to power because she supported a rival to the throne.<ref name=Bay /> In [[São Luís, Maranhão|São Luís]], in the state of [[Maranhão]], she would have founded the [[Casa das Minas]] (House of Minas), an important temple that originated the [[Tambor de Mina]], an [[Afro-American religion|Afro-Brazilian religion]], establishing the cult of the ancestors of the royal family (voduns).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://extra.globo.com/noticias/religiao-e-fe/rosiane-rodrigues/a-rainha-mae-do-senhor-de-dois-reinos-uma-historia-real-1734759.html|title=A rainha-mãe do senhor de dois reinos – uma história real|date=2011-05-04|website=Extra Online|language=pt-BR|access-date=2019-02-07}}</ref> According to some versions, Ghezo was able to secure her release from Brazil and bring her back to the kingdom, although evidence of this is not clear.<ref name=Araujo />

When ending the slave trade became the crucial issue in the 1840s and 1850s, there developed two distinct factions which historian John C. Yoder has called the ''Elephant'' and the ''Fly'' parties.<ref name=Yoder>{{cite journal|last=Yoder|first=John C.|title=Fly and Elephant Parties: Political Polarization in Dahomey, 1840-1870|journal=The Journal of African History|year=1974|volume=15|issue=3|pages=417–432|doi=10.1017/s0021853700013566|s2cid=162286376 }}</ref> Ghezo was the head of the Elephant faction which supported opposition to the British demands to end the slave trade and was supported by key officials and the representatives of de Sousa. The Fly faction, in contrast, supported ending the slave trade and accommodating British demands.<ref name=Yoder /> The Fly faction grew more powerful with the British naval blockade of 1852 and Ghezo eventually agreed to end the slave trade; however, the Elephant faction and the interests of de Souza's family remained important for the rest of his reign.<ref name=Yoder /> Historian Robin Law largely believes that the elite factionalism to Ghezo developed in 1856 when he had reduced the slave trade.  In that year, a faction for the resumption of the slave trade formed, headed by the ''Migan'' and ''Yovogan'' (governor of Whydah) which pushed Ghezo toward resuming the slave trade in 1857.<ref name=Law-1997 />

One additional way that Ghezo maintained domestic support was by lengthening the ceremony cycle in the 1850s with additions to the [[Annual Customs of Dahomey|Annual Customs]] including a ceremony for the palm oil trade, one to celebrate ending tribute to the Oyo empire, and one dedicated to Ghezo himself (but to the time when he was a prince).<ref name=Bay />