On the trails of the Amazons of the Dahomey Kingdom

The Institue of African Studies of the African School of Economics is in the process of conducting a studying focused on the history of the Amazons of the Kingdom, a unique institution in global military history.

Their brave exploits as warriors were celebrated in the box-office hit film "Black Panther."

But where do they really come from? How were they trained? How were they organized? Better yet, what is their social history? In particular, how have the impacted the status of women in the communities where they lived during their military service?

With a team of histories from ASE, Professor Léonard Wantchékon retraced the steps of one of their warriors who served the kinds Guézo (1818-1858), Glèlè (1858-1889) et Béhanzin (1889-1894).

So the first step. The passionate history of the Amazon of king Guézo, ESSEYI called Yayiya (the mother of mothers), after the end of her military service in 1858 she lived in DOGA VEDJI, the birth village of Professeur Léonard Wantchékon until her death in 1948.