Hangbe

Hangbe (or Hangbè, also Ahangbe or Na Hangbe) was a woman who served as the ruler of the Kingdom of Dahomey for a brief period before Agaja came to power in 1718. Oral traditions depict Hangbe variously as a regent or as a ruler in her own right. According to oral tradition, she became ruler upon the sudden death of King Akaba because his oldest son, Agbo Sassa, was not yet of age. The duration of her rule is unclear. She supported Agbo Sassa in a succession struggle against Agaja, who ultimately became king. In one version, after Akaba's death, Hangbe put on her brother's armor and continued leading the forces in the Ouémé River valley. Regardless, the struggle did not last long and Agaja became the King of Dahomey. Oral traditions disagree on what happened afterwards. One version recounts that her only son was put to death to prevent any claims to the throne, while Hangbe, disgusted with the choice of Agaja and the execution of her son, stripped naked in front of the council and washed her genitals in a show of contempt for their decision. Other versions have her son remaining alive but an angry speech by Hangbe directed at the council included a prediction that this would lead to the conquest of Dahomey by Europeans. Other oral traditions connected with her surviving lineage suggests that, while Agbo Sassa fled north to live with the Mahi people, she and her family remained in Abomey and, under King Ghezo in the early 1800s, the house and lineage was provided significant funds to maintain its presence.

Legacy Hangbe's descendants live to the current day in a compound next to the Royal Palaces of Abomey and have an oral tradition that lists seven descendants acting as head of the Hangbe lineage under the title of Queen Hangbe. In some versions, it is stated that Hangbe was the main person responsible for the creation of the Dahomey Amazons, a military unit composed entirely of women. Most scholars do not consider this likely. Hangbe is not included in any of the court king lists for the Kingdom of Dahomey due to a particularly thorough case of damnatio memoriae.