Da·ho·mey

(də-hō′mē, dä-ô-mā′)

Da·ho′me·an (də-hō′mē-ən), Da·ho′man (-mən) adj. & n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Dahomey

(dəˈhəʊmɪ)

(Placename) the former name (until 1975) of Benin

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Be•nin

(bɛˈnin)

n.

1. Formerly, Dahomey. a republic in W Africa: formerly part of French West Africa; gained independence in 1960. 6,305,567; 44,290 sq. mi. (114,711 sq. km). Cap.: Porto Novo.

2. Bight of, a bay in N Gulf of Guinea in W Africa.

3. a historic kingdom of W Africa centered in Edo-speaking regions W of the Niger River.

4. a river in S Nigeria flowing into the Bight of Benin.

Be•ni•nese (bəˈnin iz, -is, ˌbɛn əˈniz, -ˈnis) adj., n., pl. -nese.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Dahomey - a country on western coast of Africa; formerly under French control

Benin, Republic of Benin

capital of Benin, Porto Novo - the capital of Benin in southwestern part of country on a coastal lagoon

Cotonou - chief port of Benin on the Bight of Benin

Africa - the second largest continent; located to the south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean

Niger, Niger River - an African river; flows into the South Atlantic

Beninese - a native or inhabitant of Benin

Ewe - a member of a people living in southern Benin and Togo and southeastern Ghana

Translations

Dahome

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

And the actual direction of the wind was driving him along to the kingdom of Dahomey, among the most savage races, and into the power of a ruler who was in the habit of sacrificing thousands of human victims at his public orgies.

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In a corner, cased like the King of Dahomey's state umbrella, stood the regimental Colours.

View in context

She would have been queen in her own land--and it meant just as much to the cave woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory to be the wife a Dahomey chief.

View in context

A single farmhouse which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the dominions of the King of Dahomey. There is in fact a sort of harmony discoverable between the capabilities of the landscape within a circle of ten miles' radius, or the limits of an afternoon walk, and the threescore years and ten of human life.

View in context

Moreover, developing a debate on Benin's slave past was a complicated task because President Soglo claimed the historical heritage of the kings of Dahomey, who sent captives into slavery to the Americas.

Welcome the diaspora: slave trade heritage tourism and the public memory of slavery

* In 1960, 17 European colonies in Africa won independence: Benin (then Dahomey), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Belgian Congo, later Zaire), Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Gabon, Madagascar (Malagasy Republic), Mali (Mali Federation), Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo (Middle Congo), Senegal (Mali Federation), Somalia (Somaliland), and Togo (Togoland).

Cover story: Africa: 50 years of independence

In the 17th century, the black kings of Dahomey, as Benin was then called, had but one purpose, and that was the accumulation of wealth and power.

Ganvie: the Venice of Africa

"Is the present state of Dahomey [Benin] going to teach the slave trade when all the research shows the central role of the King of Dahomey in trading subjects as a commodity they were quite happy to sell to European traders in return for guns?"

Can a common history syllabus be developed for Africa?

Through extensive field research and interviews conducted in Benin and Nigeria over a period of several years, Robertson reveals that most, but not all, of the Clotilda captives came from Yoruba cultures in southwestern Nigeria and that they were captured in raids by Dahomey. Robertson skillfully traces individual survivors back to specific geographic regions and makes plausible arguments as to where they likely came from based on admittedly tenuous evidence.

Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America

They included Tomba, leader of the Baga inGuineas and Agaja Trudo, king of Dahomey.

Slave ship horrors; Maritime Tales by Stephen Guy from Merseyside Maritime Museum