The Kingdom of Dahomey emerged in the early 17th century on the Abomey Plateau in what is now south-central Benin. Houegbadja, who ruled from approximately 1645 to 1685, established the kingdom's capital at Abomey and began the construction of royal palaces that would expand over twelve successive reigns. The kingdom developed a centralized military state with a standing army that included the famous female warriors known as Mino or Dahomey Amazons, who served from the 18th century until French colonization. King Agaja, who ruled from 1718 to 1740, conquered the coastal kingdoms of Allada and Whydah, giving Dahomey direct access to European slave traders at the port of Ouidah. For nearly two centuries, Dahomey participated extensively in the Atlantic slave trade, selling captives to European traders who transported them primarily to Brazil and the Caribbean. The kingdom collected taxes on slave sales and maintained diplomatic relations with Portuguese, British, French, and Dutch trading posts along the coast. Ouidah became one of West Africa's most active slave ports, with an estimated one million enslaved people passing through between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Route des Esclaves in Ouidah traces the approximately four-kilometer path captives walked from the slave markets to the beach, ending at the Door of No Return memorial erected in 1995. King Ghezo, who ruled from 1818 to 1858, attempted to reduce dependence on the slave trade by promoting palm oil production, though the kingdom continued slave trading until the 1850s when European demand declined.
France established a protectorate over Porto-Novo in 1863 and gradually expanded control along the coast. King Béhanzin, who ruled from 1889 to 1894, led armed resistance against French expansion, conducting two wars between 1890 and 1894. French forces under Colonel Alfred Dodds defeated Dahomey's army in 1892, capturing Abomey in November of that year. Béhanzin burned the royal palaces before retreating but surrendered in January 1894 and was exiled to Martinique, where he died in 1906. France formally established the colony of Dahomey in 1904, incorporating it into French West Africa. The colonial administration centered on Porto-Novo as the capital and developed Cotonou as the primary port and economic center. France extracted palm oil, cotton, and agricultural products through forced labor systems and head taxes that compelled Dahomeyans into the cash economy. The colony developed a relatively high literacy rate compared to other French West African territories, with mission schools producing an educated class that staffed colonial administrations throughout the region. France granted limited voting rights to coastal urban residents in the 1940s, creating political competition among regional and ethnic factions that would shape post-independence politics.
Dahomey gained independence from France on August 1, 1960, with Hubert Maga as the first president. The country experienced extreme political instability over the next twelve years, with six successful coups, multiple attempted coups, and twelve different governments. Regional divisions between the north, center, and south produced competing political factions, each controlling different sectors of the civil service and military. Power alternated between three main figures: Hubert Maga from the north, Sourou-Migan Apithy from Porto-Novo, and Justin Ahomadégbé from Abomey. In 1970, these three leaders formed a Presidential Council that rotated the presidency every two years, but this arrangement collapsed in 1972. Major Mathieu Kérékou seized power in a coup on October 26, 1972, establishing military rule that would last nineteen years. In 1975, Kérékou declared Dahomey a Marxist-Leninist state and changed the country's name to the People's Republic of Benin, referencing the Bight of Benin rather than the Kingdom of Dahomey. The government nationalized banks, oil distribution, and major businesses, established single-party rule under the Party of the People's Revolution of Benin, and aligned with the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and Libya.