History of the Kingdom of Dahomey of National Assembly of Benin 1990-1991), and others. Kojo Tovalou Houénou (1887–1936), who claimed to be a prince of Dahomey but had lived most of his life in France, became a major critic of the French colonial empire founded the "Ligue Universelle pour la Défense de la Race Noire" to push for recognition of Africans as full citizens of the French state. European historiography of Dahomey has been significant for its use in debates about the morality of the slave trade and for its importance to fields outside African history. Many of the early histories and descriptions were written by
Dahomey to include different forces together to unlock powerful forces. In addition, the cloth appliqué of Dahomey depicted royalty often in similar zoomorphic representation and dealt with matters similar to the reliefs, often the kings leading during warfare. Dahomey had a distinctive tradition of casting small brass figures of animals or people, which were worn as jewellery or displayed in the homes of the relatively well-off. These figures, which continue to be made for the tourist trade, were relatively unusual in traditional African art in having no religious aspect, being purely decorative, as well as indicative of some wealth. Also unusual,