Agaja and the Slave Trade: Another Look at the Evidence

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Periodical article

Title:	Agaja and the Slave Trade: Another Look at the Evidence
Authors:	Henige, David P. Johnson, Marion
Year:	1976
Periodical:	History in Africa
Volume:	3
Pages:	57-67
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Benin
Subjects:	slave trade History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171561
Abstract:	As a major centre of the slave trade, Dahomey has been studied extensively. I.A. Akinjogbin has advanced the argument that Dahomey developed reluctantly into an important slave trading polity (only because the European trading along the coast demanded slaves). This article examines the validity of Akinjogbin's thesis by examing one particular aspect of his argument: the motives of the Dahomey ruler Agaja in conquering the coastal states of Allada and Whydah between 1724 and 1727. An analysis of European and Dahomean commercial activities in the first few years after the conquest makes clear that the decline of the slave trade in this period was due to Agaja's interest in gold and not to reluctance to take part in the slave trade. Notes.