West Africa sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland, but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The Benin Empire was a pre-colonial empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire
In Dahomey also thought to have marked a significant shift in black theatre performance. Limited by a demand for the comedy of ethnic and racial stereotypes— particularly black stereotypes as depicted through minstrel performance— African American performers were constricted to perform variations of the "darky" and the Chinese as caricatures. While still featuring such racial caricatures, "In Dahomey" simultaneously builds on depictions of black characters, forging a significant shift in dominant representations of blacks in the theatre during its era and creating. As the first show with an entirely African American cast, "In Dahomey" is said to have been met with hostility.