Dahomey conquered Allada, the origin for the royal family according to oral tradition, and in 1727 he conquered Whydah. This increased size of the kingdom, particularly along the Atlantic coast, and increased power made Dahomey into a regional power. The result was near constant warfare with the main regional state, the Oyo Empire, from 1728 until 1740. The warfare with the Oyo empire resulted in Dahomey assuming a tributary status to the Oyo empire. Tegbesu, also spelled as Tegbessou, was King of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from 1740 until 1774. Tegbesu was not the oldest son of King Agaja (1718–1740), but
History of the Kingdom of Dahomey Viceroy of Ouidah (1980) is largely based around Francisco Felix de Sousa, the slave trader who helped bring King Ghezo to power. The book resulted in the film adaptation "Cobra Verde" (1987) by Werner Herzog. Ben Okri's novel "The Famished Road" (1991), which won the Man Booker Prize, tells the story of a person caught in the slave trade through Dahomey. Behanzin's resistance to the French has been central to a number of works. Jean Pliya's first play "Kondo le requin" (1967), winner of the Grand Prize for Black African History Literature, tells the story of Behanzin's resistance. Maryse Condé's