Dahomey his exile to the Caribbean. The novel "Thread of Gold Beads" (2012) by Nike Campbell-Fatoki centers on a daughter of Behanzin; through her eyes, the end of his reign is observed. Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was an African kingdom (located within the area of the present-day country of Benin) that existed from about 1600 until 1894, when the last king, Béhanzin, was defeated by the French, and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the
History of the Kingdom of Dahomey area (or were possibly a result of intermarriage between the Aja people and the Gedevi). The Palace in Abomey was established in the early 17th century. The foundational king of the Kingdom of Dahomey is often considered Houegbadja (c.1645-1685) who built the Royal Palaces of Abomey and began raiding and taking over towns outside of the Abomey plateau. At the same time, the slave trade began increasing in size in the coastal region through the Kingdom of Whydah and Allada and trade with the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. The Dahomey Kingdom became known to European traders at this time as