Dahomey Amazons warriors are also the main focus and written about in Layon Gray's stage play "Black Sparta". The Dora Milaje, army/bodyguards to the "Black Panther", are based partially off the Dahomey Amazons. In Zora Neale Hurston’s "", 86 year old Cudjo Lewis, the last known survivor of the slaver Clotilda, describes his own capture by Dahomey Amazons when he was 19 years old. Dahomey Amazons The Dahomey Amazons or Mino, which means "our mothers," were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey in the present-day Republic of Benin which lasted until the end of the 19th century. They
Dahomey was selected following his father's death after winning a succession struggle with a brother. King Agaja had significantly expanded the Kingdom of Dahomey during his reign, notably conquering Whydah in 1727. This increased the size of the kingdom and increased both domestic dissent and regional opposition. Tegbessou ruled over Dahomey at a point where it needed to increase its legitimacy over those who it had recently conquered. As a result, Tegbesu is often credited with a number of administrative changes in the kingdom in order to establish the legitimacy of the kingdom. The slave trade increased significantly during Tegbessou's reign