Kpengla

Kpengla was a King of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from 1774 until 1789. Kpengla followed his father Tegbessou to the throne and much of his administration was defined by the increasing Atlantic slave trade and regional rivalry over the profits from this trade. His attempts to control the slave trade generally failed, and when he died of smallpox in 1789, his son Agonglo came to the throne and ended many of his policies.

Rise to power The Kingdom of Dahomey had increased significantly in power since the 1720s. King Agaja (1718-1740) had expanded the kingdom to the key Atlantic ports of Whydah and Allada. Agaja's son King Tegbessou (1740-1774) had similarly expanded the kingdom. However, the kingdom remained a tributary to the Oyo Empire, owing yearly gifts to the Oyo Empire. The slave trade had increased substantially along the coast with European traders. During the last years of Tegbessou's reign, the Oyo Empire began restricting the slave trade through Dahomey and channeling slaves to other ports or to charge high prices through Dahomey. The shortage became so problematic that Tegbessou was forced to sell his own slaves to keep the trade going.

It is not entirely clear whether Kpengla was the named heir of Tegbessou; regardless, upon Tegbessou's death, he rushed with armed companions to the Royal Palace to make a claim to the throne. Large scale fighting occurred in the palace and it is reported that 285 women in the palace fighting died. Following this struggle, Kpengla was named king. Kpengla made attempts to improve relations with the Ashanti Empire. Diplomatic missions were exchanged between Asantehene Osei Kwadwo and Kpengla. It may have been through these missions that the Togo hills became recognized as the neutral zone between both states.

Slave trade policy Kpengla became king at a particularly difficult period of history for the kingdom. The slave trade was the major economic resource for the kingdom and the king's personal finances, but Oyo and other inland traders had begun raising rates and playing port cities against one another. Kpengla may have been the king to establish the royal road of Dahomey, a wide road from Whydah to Cana and then to Abomey. This width of this road and its maintenance were unique in West Africa for the time and the Cana to Abomey stretch was maintained and impressed European visitors for the next century. Lionel Abson, head of the English fort at Whydah, first reported of the project in the 18th century. According to Abson, in 1779 the king; quote|ordered all his subjects to set about clearing the paths, giving each caboceer (chief) a string, measuring ten yards, the intended width of roads. Thus a spacious communication was opened, not only between each town and the capital, but all the way down to the beach [at Why-dah]. With incredible labour and fatigue, a passage was cut through the wood at Apoy; the gullies were filled up, and the hurdle bridges, over the swamps, were widened. When this work was completed, the King said, with a vainglorious air, If any one be desirous of paying me a visit, he shall not have it to say, that thorns or briars impede his march....|Abson. Agonglo largely ended Kpengla's slave trade restrictions and allowed slave traders to set their own rate.