This engraving depicts the king of Dahomey, likely Ahosu Tegbessou (1740-1774), in the Bight of Benin hinterland. The levee, or receptions, shows the king seated on his throne, with female "amazon" soldiers and other members of his royal court. On the right, British visitors and slave traders were being entertained. Archibald Dalzel (1740–1811) was a Scottish governor at Ouidah (1767 -1770) and twice at the Gold Coast (1792-1798; 1800-1802). He advocated against abolitionism and justified slavery because it saved people from the greater evil of being human sacrifices in the kingdom of Dahomey.
The King of Dahomey's Levée
SI-OB-875
1793
The King of Dahomey's Levée
Archibald Dalzel, The History of Dahomey: An Inland Kingdom of Africa (London: T. Spilsbury and Son, 1793), facing p. viii.
English
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Africa--Western Bight
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
2007; 28-Aug-19
B012