41 Facts About Agaja

Agaja was a king of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, who ruled from 1718 until 1740.

Agaja came to the throne after his brother King Akaba.

Wars with the powerful Oyo Empire to the east of Dahomey resulted in Agaja accepting tributary status to that empire and providing yearly gifts.

Agaja died in 1740 after another war with the Oyo Empire and his son Tegbessou became the new king.

Agaja is credited with creating many of the key government structures of Dahomey, including the Yovogan and the Mehu.

Agaja served a crucial role in the early development of the Kingdom of Dahomey.

Oral tradition says that Agaja was born around 1673, the second oldest son to Houegbadja.

Agaja was originally called Dosu, a traditional Fon name for the first son born after twins.

Hangbe supported a faction that wanted Agbo Sassa to be the next king, but Agaja contested this and became the ruler in 1718 after a brief, violent struggle.

Agaja led the most important expansions of the kingdom in the 1720s with the conquest of the Kingdom of Allada in 1724 and the Kingdom of Whydah in 1727.

Rather than place Hussar on the throne, though, Agaja drove him out of the city after establishing his own power.

Agaja then turned his forces against the other Aja kingdoms.

Agaja conspired with his daughter, Na Gueze, who was married to Huffon, to pour water on the gunpowder stores in Whydah.

Agaja sent a letter to all of the European traders in the port of Whydah encouraging them to remain neutral in the conflict, in return for which he would provide favorable trade relations at the conclusion of the war.

Agaja rebuilt Abomey and when he conquered Whydah the next year he provided many gifts to the King of Oyo.

Attempts by the Portuguese and the Dutch to establish forts in Godomey, which Agaja had conquered in 1724 but whose leader had recently renounced his allegiance to Dahomey, caused a large war in 1732 in which Agaja burned the town and took thousands of people captive.

Agaja undertook significant administrative reforms to govern the newly conquered areas.

Many of the chiefs and officers in Allada were retained, while Agaja dispatched his trade officers and kept active military control over Whydah.

The old chiefs, retained for necessity, often caused problems for Agaja by resisting his rule or even revolting.

Agaja appointed three different trade directors, one to manage relations with each different European power.

Conversely, it is possible that Agaja simply refused to continue paying the tribute to Oyo.

Whatever the reason, war between Oyo and Dahomey resumed in 1739 and Agaja repeated his earlier strategy of withdrawing into the wild to wait for the Oyo troops to leave.

Agaja was the first king of Dahomey to have significant contact with European traders.

Agaja opposed the Dutch and largely excluded them from trade along the coast after he had conquered it.

One important contact began in 1726 when Agaja sent Bulfinch Lambe and a Dahomey ambassador known as Adomo Tomo or Captain Tom on a mission to Britain.

Lambe and Tomo carried a letter claimed to be from Agaja and received an audience with King George II.

The letter from Agaja was dismissed as a fraud and Tomo was returned to Dahomey where Agaja appointed him the assistant to the chief of trade with the British.

Agaja died in Allada a few months after returning following the war with Oyo in 1740.

The debate over Agaja's motivations goes back to John Atkins' 1735 publication of A Voyage to Guinea, Brazil, and the West Indies.

Later historians have continued this debate about the role of Agaja in the slave trade, but with the need to account for the fact that in the last years of Agaja's life the Kingdom of Dahomey was a major participant in the Atlantic slave trade.

Robert W Harms writes that Agaja's participation in the slave trade was a self-perpetuated necessity.

Agaja had increasingly made his kingdom more and more dependent on foreign wares that could only be paid for by slaves.

Agaja noted that by converting his army from bows and arrows to guns, he needed a steady supply of gunpowder from the Europeans.

Agaja described the fine clothing of his wives and the opulence of his royal court, implying that he needed a reliable supply of imported cloth and other luxury goods in order to maintain the court lifestyle.

Agaja argued that Agaja took over the coastal cities to secure access to European firearms to protect the Fon from slave raiding.

Agaja writes that although Agaja participated in the slave trade, this was primarily a means of self-defense and that his original motives were to end the slave trade.

In terms of the Bulfinch Lambe letter, they maintain that its authenticity remains "not proven" but that since Lambe was provided 80 slaves when he was released, it is unlikely that Agaja's motivations were clear.

Agaja is credited with introducing many features of the Dahomey state that became defining characteristics for future kings.

Multiple histories account that Agaja did have armed female bodyguards in his palace and that he did dress women in armor in order to attack Whydah in 1728; however, historian Stanley Alpern believes that the Amazons were not likely fully organized during his reign.

Agaja had a large impact on the religion of Dahomey, largely by increasing the centrality of the Annual Customs.

Agaja is often considered one of the great kings in Dahomey history and is remembered as the "great warrior".