article
The politics of commercial transition: factional conflict in Dahomey in the context of the ending of the Atlantic slave trade
journal of African history • 38 (2) • Published In 1997 • Pages: 213-233
By: Law, Robin.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article examines the background and significance of the royal succession crisis that occurred in Dahomey in 1858. It places the crisis in the wider context of widening divisions among members of the traditional political elite over two culturally and economically important issues. One involved heated controversies over the custom of sacrificing captured humans on the coronation and anniversary of kings. The other related to disagreements within the Dahomian ruling élite about how to respond to the decline of the Atlantic slave trade. Conservative elites wished for the continuity of both human sacrifice and slavery, claimed that discontinuing them would led to the demilitarization of Dahomey society. By contrast, progressive elites organizing themselves around the designated heir apparent Badahun (Glele) who sought to promote the legitimate trade of exporting palm oil as a substitute for slaves. The encirclement of the kingdom by British and French colonial forces led to the resolution of this controversy in favor of progressive elites.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Chief executive
- Form and rules of government
- Status, role, and prestige
- Administrative agencies
- Ingroup antagonisms
- External relations
- Slavery
- External trade
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Inheritance
- Political movements
- Political parties
- 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
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary 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
- Not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1800-1894
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Dahomey Kingdom (Benin since 1975)
- NotesAdditional notes
- By Robin Law
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 63005723
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Fon (African people)