THE POLITICS OF COMMERCIAL TRANSITION - FACTIONAL CONFLICT IN DAHOMEYIN THE CONTEXT OF THE ENDING OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE-TRADE

This article examines the background and significance of the disputed royal succession in Dahomey following the death of King Gezo in 1858, when the accession of the designated heir apparent Badahun (Glele) was contested. This dispute reflected divisions over the practice of huma n sacrifice, which Gezo was seeking to curtail; Badahun was associated with a conservative opposition to Gezo's reforms and his accession ma rked the repudiation of his father's policies. It is argued that the c ontroversies over human sacrifice related to disagreements within the Dahomian ruling elite about how to respond to the decline of the Atlan tic slave trade. Gezo in the 1850s was seeking to promote the export o f palm oil as a substitute for slaves. This policy implied the demilit arization of the Dahomian state and this in turn implied an attack on human sacrifice, which in Dahomey was bound up with the culture of mil itarism. The case thus illustrates the ideological dimension of the 'c risis of adaptation' posed for West African rulers by the transition f rom the slave trade to commercial agriculture. The divisions arising f rom this crisis persisted beyond Glele's accession, into the late nine teenth century, when they undermined the solidarity of the Dahomian el ite in the face of European imperialism.