Editing Ghezo (section)

==Slave trade==
When King Ghezo ascended the throne in 1818, he was confronted by two immediate obstacles: the [[Dahomey|Kingdom of Dahomey]] was in political turmoil, and it was financially unstable.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Adeyinka |first=Augustus A. |date=1974 |title=King Gezo of Dahomey, 1818-1858: A Reassessment of a West African Monarch in the Nineteenth Century |journal=African Studies Review |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=541–548|doi=10.2307/523800 |jstor=523800 |s2cid=144269135 }}</ref> First, he needed to gain political independence by removing the hold that the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] empire of [[Oyo Empire|Oyo]] had over the Dahomey since 1748. Secondly, he needed to revitalize the Dahomey economy.<ref name=":0" /> Both of these objectives relied on the slave trade. King Ghezo implemented new military strategies, which allowed them to take  a physical stand against the Oyo, who were also a major competitor in the slave trade.<ref name=":0" /> He also put stipulations on Dahomey's participation in the slave trade. Under his reign, no longer would the Dahomey be traded, as they were under his brother's, [[Adandozan]], leadership. Dahomey would focus on capturing people from enemy territories and trading them instead.<ref name=":0" /> 

While [[Slavery in Brazil|Brazil's]] demand for slaves increased in 1830, the British started a campaign to [[Abolitionism|abolish]] the slave trade in Africa.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Holly |title=How Britain is facing up to its hidden slavery history |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200205-how-britain-is-facing-up-to-its-secret-slavery-history |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}</ref> The British government began putting significant pressure on King Ghezo in the 1840s to end the slave trade in Dahomey.<ref name=":0" /> King Ghezo responded to these requests by saying he was unable to end the slave trade because of domestic pressure.<ref name="Law-1997" />  Ghezo added:
<blockquote>The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth…the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery<ref name="Martin">{{cite book |last1=Meredith |first1=Martin |title=The Fortunes of Africa |date=2014 |publisher=PublicAffairs |location=New York |isbn=9781610396356 |pages=193}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Story of Africa • Slavery |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml |access-date=24 September 2022 |work=[[BBC]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011223090507/https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml |archive-date=23 December 2001 |language=en |quote=King Gezo said in the 1840s he would do anything the British wanted him to do apart from giving up slave trade: The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth…the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery…}}</ref></blockquote> He additionally explained to the British that the entire region had become dependent on the trans-Atlantic slave trade for profit, so ending it in one day would destabilize his kingdom and lead to anarchy.<ref name=":0" /> King William Dappa Pepple of [[Kingdom of Bonny|Bonny and Kosoko]] took the same stance towards the British requests.<ref name=":0" /> Instead, King Ghezo proposed an expansion of [[palm oil]] trade,<ref name="Law-1997" /> which according to historian Augustus Adeyinka, would have led to the gradual abolishment of the slave trade.<ref name=":0" /> However, Dahomey's palm oil production ran on domestic slavery.

His domestic support had shifted as well, with the declining power of [[Francisco Félix de Sousa|Francisco Felix de Sousa]] and his death in 1849. By 1850, King Ghezo was on the verge of war with the [[Egba people|Egbas]] of [[Abeokuta]], the new Yoruba capital that arose after the Oyo Empire dissolved.<ref name=":0" /> The Egbas, who did not participate in slavery, had set their sights on becoming the new palm oil capital of the region; a title King Ghezo needed to steer the Dahomey Kingdom away for slavery.<ref name=":0" /> Ebgas gained the advantage by welcoming Europeans, including missionaries and traders, into Abeokuta. This strategy allowed the Egba to obtain new firearms and other weapons that the [[Dahomey Amazons]] did not yet possess.<ref name=":0" /> Jealous of the attention and goods that the Egba were received from the British and fearful of what it would mean for Dahomey, King Ghezo decided to act. That same year, he told Consul Beecroft and Commander Forbes that he planned to attack Abeokuta, and if the British didn't help him end the palm oil trade in Abeokuta by evacuating the capital, Dahomey would also see the British as an enemy.<ref name=":0" /> The issue with this demand is that [[Abeokuta]] and [[Badagry]] had become headquarters for British missionaries, who sought to "civilize" the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] locals. Thus, Britain sided with the Egba, effectively undermining King Ghezo and the Dahomey's ability to flourish in the palm oil trade and leaving them no means to end their involvement in the slave trade without dissolving the Kingdom of Dahomey.<ref name=":0" />

Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, King Ghezo joined forces with [[Kosoko|King Kosoko]], the [[Oba of Lagos]]. Together, they created a plan for the Dahomey to attack Abeokuta while Lagos attacked Badagry simultaneously.<ref name=":0" /> In March 1851, the attack was carried out, and the Egba triumphed with British support. It became known as the Battle of Abeokuta.<ref name=":0" /> Following the defeat of Dahomey against Abeokuta and the establishment of a British naval blockade on the ports of Dahomey,<ref name="Law-1997" /> King Ghezo appealed to the British government and proposed to end the slave trade immediately if the British were willing to pay reparations to Dahomey for their loss of income from slave trading, as Britain had done to slave owners in its Caribbean colonies for freeing their slaves.<ref name=":0" /> After they rejected his offer, King Ghezo continued to trade slaves, since palm oil was no longer a lucrative option.<ref name=":0" />

By January 1852, British pressure forced Ghezo to sign an agreement (along with both the ''Migan'' and the ''Mehu'') with the British. The agreement specified that Ghezo was to end the slave trade from Dahomey.<ref name="Law-1997" /> The British believed that Ghezo never implemented the provisions of this treaty, although he believed he did comply by stopping slave trade through Dahomey's ports even though he allowed slaves to be traded from Dahomey to other ports and then sold into the slave trade.<ref name="Law-1997" />

The decrease in the slave trade resulted in additional reforms during the last years of Ghezo's rule. He significantly reduced the wars and slave raids by the kingdom and in 1853 told the British that he reduced the practice of human sacrifice at the [[Annual Customs of Dahomey|Annual Customs]] (possibly ending sacrifice of war captives completely and only sacrificing convicted criminals)<ref name=Law-1997 /> However, these positions were reversed dramatically in 1857 and 1858 as Ghezo became hostile to the British; he revived slave trade through the port of Whydah, and in 1858, Dahomey attacked Abeokuta. The decision to attack Abeokuta had been resisted by Ghezo, but there was significant domestic pressure on Ghezo that the attack had been allowed to happen.<ref name=Law-1997 />