Editing Dahomey (section)

===Domestic===
The domestic economy largely focused on agriculture and crafts for local consumption. Until the development of palm oil, very little agricultural or craft goods were traded outside of the kingdom. Markets served a key role in the kingdom and were organized around a rotating cycle of four days with a different market each day (the market type for the day was religiously sanctioned).<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" />  Agriculture work was largely decentralized and done by most families. With the expansion of the kingdom, agricultural plantations began to be a common agricultural method in the kingdom. Craftwork was largely dominated by a formal guild system.<ref name=Duignan>{{cite book|title=Colonialism in Africa 1870–1960|year=1975|publisher=Cambridge|location=London|pages=33–67|author=Duignan, Peter|author2=L.H. Gann|chapter=The Pre-colonial economies of sub-saharan Africa}}</ref> Several wealthy citizens stored their cowrie wealth in a building called ''akueho'' (cowrie huts) located in the compounds of their houses. Such cowrie huts were designed to protect the cowries from fire and theft. [[Abiola Félix Iroko|Iroko]] argues that this was a form of [[banking]] in Dahomey because the owners of such ''akueho'' houses regularly kept the deposits of others in the storehouse which they used as a form of loans to 3rd parties. [[Jane I. Guyer|Guyer]] and Stiansen on the other hand, are skeptical of Iroko's theory.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stiansen|first1=Endre |last2=Guyer|first2=Jane I.|author-link2=Jane I. Guyer|title= Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cRIbZRBweoEC|year=1999|publisher=[[Nordic Africa Institute]]|pages=31–32|isbn=9789171064424}}</ref>

==== Taxation ==== 
Herskovits recounts a complex tax system in the kingdom, in which officials who represented the king, the {{transliteration|fon|tokpe}}, gathered data from each village regarding their harvest. Then the king set a tax based upon the level of production and village population. In addition, the king's own land and production were taxed.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" /> After significant road construction undertaken by the kingdom, [[toll booths]] were also established that collected yearly taxes based on the goods people carried and their occupation. Officials also sometimes imposed fines for public nuisance before allowing people to pass.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" /> Tax officials on road tolls were provided with armed guards.<ref name="Diamond proto state">{{cite journal | last=Diamond| first=Stanley| title= Dahomey: The Development of a Proto-State | journal=Dialectical Anthropology| volume=21 | issue=2 | pages=121–216| year=1996 | jstor=29790427| doi=10.1007/BF00244520 | s2cid=144297421}}</ref> 

Taxes were imposed on craft workers including blacksmiths, weavers and wood cutters for example. [[Kangaroo court]]s could be held at any place such as the market or on roads, presided over by officials recognized by the central government. Such courts could extract some form of tax from the litigants before judging the case.<ref name="Diamond proto state"/> Since the 18th century, prostitution (''Ko-si'') was licensed by the king. Robert Norris and [[Archibald Dalzel]] documented in the late 18th century that the central government was responsible for distributing prostitutes throughout the state at a price set by civil decree. Taxes were derived from prostitutes during the annual customs.<ref name="Diamond proto state"/>