Book
Dahomey, an ancient West African kingdom: volume 1
Northwestern University Press • Evanston [ill.] • Published In 1967 • Pages:
By: Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book focuses on the Fon-speaking people of West Africa historically associated with the emergence and expansion of the Dahomey Kingdom. Centered in the city of Abomey, now in Benin, this kingdom was ruled by hereditary monarchs that claimed absolute control over the life and property of subjects. A great deal of the book is devoted to discussing the religious, economic and sociological conditions that led to the continuity of this complex political system possible. The book is the first part of a two volume work compiled based on ethnographic data collected in 1931. The author also makes extensive use of earlier accounts by European travelers and traders. The most important of these accounts was compiled by E. Burton who lived in Abomey in 1863-1864. Grouped into major headings, coverage of this volume includes geography and history, economic life (including detailed discussion of production, distribution, property, and how each of these related to Dahomey culture and political organization), social organization (with particular emphasis on kinship, clanship, and secret societies), and major customs and rituals related to life cycles.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Form and rules of government
- Chief executive
- Territorial hierarchy
- Ethos
- General character of religion
- Animism
- Priesthood
- Cult of the dead
- Tillage
- Local officials
- Community structure
- Congregations
- Internal trade
- External relations
- Slavery
- Inter-ethnic relations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Fon
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem ; 2014
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1931
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1845-1931
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Benin (Dahomey)
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Melville J. Herskovits
- Reprint of the 1938 ed.
- Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 373-376)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 67031811
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Fon (African people)
- Ethnology--Benin
- Benin