Recognition of the Place of Women in19th-Century African Warfare: A Study of the Amazons of Dahomey

Abstract

The role of women in pre-colonial warfare in Africa has been grossly under researched. Extant literature on precolonial warfare tends to pay attention to the military exploits of men and therefore raises the question of gender bias in African precolonial military historiography. This paper studies the military organization of Dahomey and observes that the ‘Amazons’ who served as female warriors in battles and as bodyguards in the king’s household exhibited professionalism in their assigned responsibilities, and secured for themselves a high profile and significant position in African warfare. The paper further interrogates the notion that wars and warfare in 19th-century Africa was the exclusive preserve of men, that women were relegated to preparation of food, and singing war songs for combatants in the war front. The paper uses descriptive analysis and available literature such as books, journal articles, and internet sources to examine the place
of the Amazons in the reconstruction of precolonial African warfare. The paper found that the role of women in pre-colonial African warfare is understudied; this denies adequate representation of the female warriors in the historiography of African warfare. The study concludes that Amazon’s of Dahomey represent evidence of women’s participation in African warfare as combatants.