The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation

The Kingdom of Dahomey (ca.1625-1892), located in West Africa, was renown in the nineteenth century for its military might and economic power. Each king of Dahomey enlarged the kingdom’s royal palace until it ultimately covered more than 108 acres, housed several thousand people, and was surrounded by a wall over two miles long. This palace complex, located in the pre-colonial capital, Abomey, served as both the cultural and physical center of the city, as well as a legitimizing force of the monarch’s power throughout the kingdom. This dissertation examines the palace’s relationship to the national, cultural, and religious identity of colonial Dahomey and post-colonial Benin. It investigates the palace as a center for political struggle, as a symbol of non-European identity, as a museum and cultural center, and as a site for religious ceremonies. It both documents what physical transformations the palace complex has undergone in relation to its changing roles, and investigates what influence the palace and royal history have had on the local identity and domestic architecture.