Dahomey Expedition commemorative medal 1892 troops taking part in this expedition, which lasted five months, defeated the 12,000 warrior strong army (including the 2000 women strong Corps of amazons) of Behanzin at Dogba. France thus reconquered the kingdom of Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin) and placed at its head, Toffa as the king of Porto-Novo. King Behanzin was captured in 1893 and deported to Martinique then to Algiers where he died in 1906. The Law of 24 November 1892 instituted the Commemorative Medal of the Dahomey Expedition for award to the officers, sailors and soldiers who took part in this campaign. The Dahomey Expedition
Dahomey to the Oyo Empire. The Kingdom of Dahomey was an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labor, significant international trade with Europeans, a centralized administration, taxation systems, and an organized military. Notable in the kingdom were significant artwork, an all-female military unit called the Dahomey Amazons by European observers, and the elaborate religious practices of Vodun with the large festival of the Annual Customs of Dahomey. They traded prisoners, which they captured during wars and raids, and exchanged them with Europeans for goods such as knives, bayonets, firearms, fabrics, and spirits. The