The warrior women of Dahomey
These warriors are the only known army in modern history to be exclusively composed of women, and they protected the citizens of their kingdom for at least two centuries.
Image credit: Smithsonian Magazine
The Amazons, who have been immortalised in many epic poems and legends — The Argonauts and The Iliad to name some of the most well-known — are a group of famous women warriors celebrated for their strength, courage and independence. They have been and continue to be depicted in countless artworks, literary texts and media adaptations, so that their legacy is permanent. While these women existed only in Greek mythology, there is another group of warriors that lived in the Kingdom of Dahomey, in the south of modern-day Benin, made entirely of women. These warriors are the only known army in modern history to be exclusively composed of women, and they protected the citizens of their kingdom for at least two centuries. So skilled and ruthless they were, European missionaries nicknamed them the Dahomey Amazons; though they called themselves Mino, meaning ‘our mothers.’ The female army formed a separate community from the male army, although their origins are shrouded in uncertainty. Today they do not receive even a scrap of the fame and eminence of the Amazonians they were named after.
While there were references made in European accounts to warrior women in Dahomey as early as 1720, it is fiercely debated whether the group was formed under King Houegbadja (1645-85) or Queen Hangbe (1716-18). The reign of King Ghezo (1818-58) formalised the female military and developed some of the brutal training methods that survived historical accounts. Candidates for the soldiers included people with aggressive character traits, or young girls whose parents found them too difficult to manage and sent them to the army. The women were legally married to the king, who would have hundreds of wives (ahosi or agojie). Nonetheless, their legal status was merely a formality, as their primary role was to guard the king and defend the kingdom from any external threat, such as the Yoruba clan in the east. Some alternative theories have been made about their original role, including that the warriors came from gbeto groups whose role was to hunt elephants, who were commended by the king and who supposedly said that “a nice manhunt would suit [them] even better.” Another theory outlines that the frequent battles with neighbouring clans necessitated enhancing the military capabilities of the kingdom. However, it is more likely that their role was less glamorous and emerged from positions as bodyguards.
At its peak, the Mino had 6,000 warriors. An Italian missionary, Francesco Borghero, reported in 1861 that he had seen the women train by scaling a wall of acacia branches with large thorns that cut their skin, to prove that they were impervious to pain. At the end of the training session, those who had performed best were presented with a prize of a belt made of acacia thorns, which they wore as a symbol of their skill and strength. They also wore long, curved razor-sharp blades that they could use to kill their enemies.
Despite its various progressive leanings, the Dahomey kingdom was deeply involved in the slave trade, and often prisoners taken in raids of neighbouring clans would be sold into slavery. This was likely a major source of revenue, as Dahomey exported enslaved people well throughout the mid-19th century to exploit the significant demand. The warriors also dealt with the prisoners violently and mercilessly, often taking the heads of foreign citizens as trophies. With this, the legacy of the warriors becomes a complex and sombre one, for their progressive society clearly did not extend beyond the borders of their territory.
After a war between Dahomey and France in 1890, the two fought again in 1892, in a battle so bloody that out of thousands, only a few dozen Dahomey warriors survived. While the first war had been fought mainly in hand-to-hand combat, the second war involved the use of artillery by the French which inflicted significant casualties onto the Dahomey army, and obliterated their military force. The Dahomey warriors were physically superior as a result of their ruthless military training, but the use of modern military weaponry rendered the battle grossly unequal even in the face of their grim discipline and refusal to surrender.
Today, the wound of colonialism has struck the warriors on two fronts. In addition to nearly wiping out the entire group and destroying their way of life, it has also swallowed their legacy and culture into obscurity. This army, an icon of African female history, is less well-known than a mythological group of people who were celebrated for what the Dahomey warriors actually achieved.
In 1894, Dahomey became a French protectorate and the army was disbanded. The warriors had sown such fear into the French that they forbade them from carrying arms or serving in the military. Although they struggled to adjust to a peaceful lifestyle, the warriors secretly continued their legacy, with some training various women or descendants in an effort to continue their legacy. Today their way of life has been completely wiped out, but at least we can hope that it will not be forgotten.