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Crowning of the King of Whydah, by Jacob van der Schley (1715-1779
King of Juida
The Kingdom of Whydah /ˈhwɪdə/, sometimes written Hueda, was a kingdom on the coast of West Africa in the boundaries of the modern nation of Benin. Between 1677 and 1681 it was conquered by the Akwamu a member of the Akan people.[1] It was a major slave trading post. Of 1700, it had a coastline of around 10 miles (16 km);[2] under King Haffon, this was expanded to 40 miles (64 km), and stretching 25 miles (40 km) inland.[3]
The kingdom, whose last ruler of this land was King Haffon, was centered in Savi
Name
The name Whydah (also spelt Whidah or Whidaw) is an anglicised form of Xwéda (pronounced o-wi-dah), from the Yoruba language of Benin. When the Portuguese first settled the southern coast of West Africa, they spelled the name Ajudá. Today the port city of Ouidah, in the far west of the former Popo Kingdom where most of the European slave traders lived and worked, bears the kingdom's name.
The area gives its name to the native whydah bird, and to pirate captain "Black Sam" Bellamy's Whydah Gally, a slave ship turned pirate ship, whose wreck has been explored in Massachusetts.
Life inside Whydah
According to one European account visiting in 1692–1700, Whydah exported some thousand slaves a month, mainly from the interior of Africa. For this reason, it has been considered a "principal market" for human beings. When the king could not supply the European traders with sufficient slaves, he would supplement them with his own wives. Robbery was common. Every thing in Whydah paid a toll to the king, but corruption amongst collectors was endemic. Despite this, the king was wealthy, and clothed in gold and silver—goods of which little was known in Whydah. He commanded great respect, and, unusually, was never seen to eat. The color red was reserved for the royal family. The king was considered immortal, despite successive kings dying of natural causes. Interregna, even of only a few days, were met by plundering and anarchy. Wives were isolated and protected by their husbands; fathers with more than two hundred children had been recorded. Three public objects were the subject of devotion: some lofty trees, the sea, and a type of snake. This snake was the subject of many stories and incidents; worshipped perhaps because it ate the rats who would otherwise ruin the harvest. Priests and priestesses were held in high regard, and immune from capital punishment. The king could field 200,000 men, but these were "so weak and cowardly" that they could easily be defeated.[2] In comparison, other estimates range upward from twenty thousand, although contemporary interpretation is generally that these armies were of "overwhelming size". Battles were normally won by strength of numbers alone, with the weaker side fleeing
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
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Haffon (1695-1727) was the last ruler of the Kingdom of Whydah before it was captured by the forces of Dahomey in 1727.
Born in 1695, Haffon became King of Whydah in 1708. He was not crowned in a formal ceremony at Savi until April 1725. His coronation party included 40 of his favorite wives. The 1725 date is that given by Chevalier des Marchais but some modern scholars argue it happened in 1717-1718
Map of west africa beyond the rivers of ethiopia.THE SLAVE COAST "THE KINGDOM OF JUDA
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Sorry, I do not admire Slave States. These people were evil and cruel and helped in the fall of Africa and terror for the people sold into slavery.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: Sorry, I do not admire Slave States. These people were evil and cruel and helped in the fall of Africa and terror for the people sold into slavery.
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I don't think they were evil and cruel, just too stupid to understand what they were doing, and the consequences of their actions.
I say that because evil and cruel leaders were usually smart, and built larger holdings. Those idiots were soon conquered by the people that they were selling slaves to.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I do not admire slavery either but unfortunately slavery was a legal economic and exploitation system that existed in large part of the world during the classical, renaissance and colonial era.
The African kingdoms were not the only slave trading kingdoms in world history, the Romania empire, Greek city states, the Papacy, the Spanish empire, the British empire, the Portuguese empire, Dutch empire, the Abbassid Empire, the Ottoman empire were all slave trading kingdoms and empires.
The European colonial empire genocide of the Native Americans, racist chattel enslavement of Africans and opium dealing to China never kept people from reading and learning European history. I don't think the African kingdoms involvement in the slave trade should keep black people from reading and learning about those African kingdoms
When you criticize the colonial era European monarchs and the USA founding fathers for their involvement in Native Americans genocide and the chattel racist enslavement of Africans the European scholars defend them by saying they were men of their time we cant judge them by using today morality and value. The same defense should be apply to the African Kings who participated in the slave trade, they were people of their time we cant judge them by using today morality. There was a white international Eastern European slave trade were white Slavic people were sold to Western Europe, West Asia and North Africa before the Atlantic African slave trade.
The same defense of being people of their time can be apply to the dictators of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. During the cold war the political system of the majority of countries in the world was dictatorship. The USA, Western Europe and the USSR supported right wing and leftist dictators all over the world. Today we see the Western media blaming the so call third world chief of states for being dictators. They didn't invent the dictatorship system, it was there when they took power.
I am speculating that The colossal occult power of the Pharaoh of Rome aka the Pope and his secret societies are maybe the real power behind the Atlantic slave trade. Pope Nicholas V Papal bull legalized and authorized the African slave trade. Rome rule Egypt for one thousand years during the Roman Empire. many West Africans and West Central Africans are the descendants of Egyptians who migrated to the West Coast of Africa. Maybe Roman secret societies and Roman agent families migrated to West Africa during that migration. Roman secret societies and agent families in the West Coast of Africa probably make the slave trade possible. The Roman and the Venetian probably had spies in the Americas long before Colombus so call discovery.
Using today morality I can see Slavery is humanity crime, it is not white people crime and black people crime alone. The Pope, European monarchs,European nobles, European bankers, some African monarchs(Many African Kings were force into the trade and many were not involved in the slave trade)are guilty for participating in the Atlantic slave trade. Without European colonization of America, European navies, European armies, European guns, European slave ships the Atlantic African slave trade wouldn't have been possible.
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
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