The story of the brave women’s army in West Africa

Trained to be cold-blooded assassins, the Dahomey Amazons instilled fear among 19th-century invaders. In their own country, they were considered legendary warriors.

The Dahomey Amazons Women’s Troops. Photo taken in the 1890s Well trained From the 17th century until 1904, the Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa included a large area, today known as the Republic of Benin. The kingdom had a prosperous economy, a complex tax system, and a powerful military. But most impressive of the pre-colonial strength of Dahomey was the brave female warriors. Known as Mino, or “mothers,” and Ahosi or “king’s wife,” this legion of more than 3,000 female soldiers defended the Kingdom of Dahomey for centuries. One scholar has traced these famous warriors back to the early days of Dahomey. At that time, the king recruited bodyguards from “third-rate” wives, or women he considered too unattractive to have sex with him. These female bodyguards have an advantage over the male soldiers. Since they were married to the king, though mostly in name only, their loyalty was guaranteed. They could patrol the palace grounds at night, when men were forbidden to enter. In the mid-19th century, the Dahomey Amazons made up 40% of the kingdom’s army. Arthur Eardley Wilmot, a British naval officer, visited Dahomey in 1862 and found women outnumbered men in the towns – a phenomenon he attributed to military losses and the consequences of the trade. sell slaves. Divided into several units, each unit has a female commander, wearing a military uniform and carrying a characteristic weapon. Among these, the famous gbeto, made up of female hunters, was the oldest unit of the female army. In the 1850s, a French tourist reported that a group of 20 women armed with curved daggers and tied with antelope horns had attacked a large herd of elephants. Despite being the king’s “pet” army, these female soldiers also had to pass a series of challenging tests, from demonstrating physical strength, to acts of torturing enemies. But the most brutal tests belong to the so-called “insensitivity training”. Most of the recruits had never killed before joining the army, so the king wanted the warriors to execute prisoners to show their bravery. In one test, the women were ordered to throw bound prisoners from a raised platform. In another challenge, the recruits had to use blades to execute prisoners. In 1861, an Italian monk, Francesco Borgero, described an exercise in which thousands of barefoot women climbed thorny acacia trees without flinching. In 1889, Jean Bayol, the officer in charge of the French colony, described the scene he witnessed: “A young woman of the Amazons in training approached a prisoner. She happily stepped forward, raised her sword with both hands three times, then calmly cut off the flesh that was still attached to the prisoner’s head and body. Then she wiped the blood off the weapon and swallowed it.” After passing the tests, the female recruits will enjoy a lavish life in the king’s palace, drinking alcohol and tobacco given by the king. According to one scholar, “when the Amazons came out of the palace, ahead of them was a slave girl carrying a bell that sounded to all men to get out of their way, to take a step back. and look the other way”. Failure to comply will result in the violator being punished with death. Female soldiers practice. Photo taken circa 1890. Fight till the end In late 1978, a Benin historian met an elderly woman in the village of Kinta, named Nawi. She claimed to have fought against the French in 1892. She died in 1979, aged over 100 years. Perhaps this is the last female soldier of the army of Dahomey Amazons. In 1890, during the First Franco-Dahomey War, the French prevailed thanks to more advanced rifles. What makes Dahomey’s female warriors legendary is that they fought, willingly died for the king and country. In the final battles against the superiorly armed French army, about 1,500 women went to battle and only about 50 were fit to carry out the final mission. A French legionnaire named Bern praised them as “warriors who fought with great courage, always ahead of other armies. They are very brave, well trained and very disciplined.” One French marine, Henri Morienval, said, “…they were ready to throw themselves at our bayonets with extraordinary courage.” After Dahomey fell to the French, the female warriors continued to fight. They mingled with the women captured by the French, sneaking out at night to kill French officers. The French were terrified, outlawed the Amazons and banned Dahomey women from serving in the army or carrying weapons. But the Dahomey Amazons haven’t completely disappeared. Most sources suggest that the last female warriors died in the 1940s, but Stanley Alpern, author of Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey (Dahomey’s Women Warriors) opposes this. He pointed out that, “a woman who fought France as a teenager would not be older than 69 years old in 1943. It is likely that one or more will survive long enough to see their country regain its independence. in 1960”.