Franco-Dahomean WarsBenin · 1890-1894“Now hear Abomey, where Dahomey's soldiers faced France and the coast became a door for conquest.”The Kingdom of Dahomey had long been a hard power in the Bight of Benin, with a royal army, a disciplined court and women soldiers known as the Agojie or Mino. But French influence was growing from the coast through Porto-Novo and Cotonou.The lesson the elders kept: A state can be both powerful and morally stained, both resistant and responsible for old harms. Dahomey teaches that history rarely gives clean hands to those who still deserve honest telling.