Ouidah. Robin Law

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       Ouidah

       Western African Studies

       Lineages of State Fragility

      Rural Civil Society in Guinea-Bissau

      JOSHUA B. FORREST

       Willing Migrants

      Soninke Labor Diasporas, 1848–1960

      FRANÇOIS MANCHUELLE

       El Dorado in West Africa

      The Gold-Mining Frontier, African Labor & Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast, 1875–1900

      RAYMOND E. DUMETT

       Nkrumah & the Chiefs

      The Politics of Chieftaincy in Ghana, 1951–60

      RICHARD RATHBONE

       Ghanaian Popular Fiction

      ‘Thrilling Discoveries in Conjugal Life’ & Other Tales

      STEPHANIE NEWELL

       Paths of Accommodation

      Muslim Societies & French Colonial Authorities in Senegal & Mauritania 1880–1920

      DAVID ROBINSON

       Slavery & Reform in West Africa

      Toward Emancipation in Nineteenth Century Senegal & the Gold Coast

      TREVOR R. GETZ

       Ouidah

      The Social History of a West African Slaving ‘Port’ 1727–1892

      ROBIN LAW

       Between the Sea & the Lagoon

      An Eco-social History of the Anlo of South-eastern Ghana, c. 1850 to Recent Times

      EMMANUEL AKYEAMPONG

       West African Challenge to Empire

      Culture & History in the Volta-Bani Anticolonial War

      MAHIR SAUL & PATRICK ROYER

       ‘Civil Disorder is the Disease of Ibadan’

      Chieftaincy & Civic Culture in a Yoruba City

      RUTH WATSON

       Smugglers, Secessionists & Loyal Citizens on the Ghana–Togo Frontier

      The Lie of the Borderlands since 1914

      PAUL NUGENT

       Eurafricans in Western Africa

      Commerce, Social Status, Gender & Religious Observance from the 16th to the 18th Century

      GEORGE E. BROOKS

       Fighting the Slave Trade

      West African Strategies

      SYLVIANE A. DIOUF (ED.)

       ‘Kola is God’s Gift’*

      Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives & the Kola Industry in Asante & the Gold Coast c. 1820–1950

      EDMUND ABAKA

      Themes in West Africa’s History*

      EMMANUEL AKYEAMPONG (ED.)

      * forthcoming

       Ouidah

      The Social History of a West African Slaving ‘Port’ 1727–1892

      ROBIN LAW

       Professor of African History

       University of Stirling

       Ohio University Press

      ATHENS

       James Currey

      OXFORD

      eBook edition published 2016

      Ohio University Press

       www.ohioswallow.com

      James Currey

      Boydell & Brewer Ltd

      PO Box 9, Woodbridge

      Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB)

       www.jamescurrey.com

      Boydell & Brewer Inc.

      668 Mt Hope Avenue

      Rochester, NY 14620-2731 (US)

       www.boydellandbrewer.com

      Copyright © Robin Law 2004

      First published 2004

      1 2 3 4 5 08 07 06 05 04

       British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      Law, Robin

      Ouidah : the social history of a West African slaving ‘port’, 1727-1892. - (West African studies)

      1. Slave trade - Africa, West - History - 18th century 2. Slave trade - Africa, West - History - 19th century 3. Ouidah (Benin) - History - 18th century 4. Ouidah (Benin) - History - 19th century I. Title

      966.8'3

      ISBN 0-85255-498-2 (James Currey cloth)

      ISBN 0-85255-497-4 (James Currey paper)

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available on request

      ISBN 0-8214-1571-9 (Ohio University Press cloth)

      ISBN 0-8214-1572-7 (Ohio University Press paper)

      Typeset in 10-1/2/11-1/2 pt Monotype Ehrhardt

      by Long House Publishing Services, Cumbria, UK

      ISBN 978-1-78204-775-9 (James Currey ePub eISBN)

      ISBN 978-1-78204-976-0 (James Currey ePDF eISBN)

      ISBN 978-0-8214-4552-5 (Ohio University Press eISBN)

      To the memory of

      the more than one million enslaved Africans

      who passed through Ouidah

      on their way to slavery in the Americas

      or death in the Middle Passage

       Contents

       List of Maps & Tables

       Acknowledgements

       Abbreviations

       Introduction

       1. Origins: Ouidah before the Dahomian conquest

       2. The Dahomian Conquest of Ouidah