In the Fon language, there was no shortage of words to designate these fighters: Agogi, Agogi, Menu, Menon. However, according to the main account of their origins, the female warriors of Dahomey were formed into a regiment at the behest of Queen Hangpia, daughter of Hoigbadja, who came to power after the mysterious death of her brother Akaba at the beginning of the eighteenth century.e century.
For Hangbè to assemble a swarm of women willing to die to protect and protect her and her kingdom is quite an achievement, given that Dahomey was a deeply patriarchal society. (These seven legendary warriors recorded history.)
These warriors were neither concubines nor servants forced to submit to the whims of any man. Moreover, they did not come out of nowhere. Historians have long recognized the importance of women in certain African societies. Here is what Torild Skard writes about the Dahomey warriors in his book Africa women, Africa hopes :
” [Elles] They were famous for their zeal and ferocity. The most formidable were armed with carbines. But there were also archers, hunters, and spies. They exercised regularly to maintain their physical and mental fitness for combat. They sang: “Men, men stay! Let men stay! Let them plant corn and palm trees.” […] We go to war. When they were not fighting, they stood guard outside the royal palaces at Abomey and grew fruits and vegetables. It also happened sometimes that they organized expeditions to catch the people they had sold into slavery. »
The truth behind the legends
According to Pamela Toler, though, it’s tempting to imagine that the female warriors of Dahomey looked exactly like the elegant, dazzling female fighters in the movie. Black Panther, The reality is completely different.
According to direct testimony from 19e In the last century, their military uniform was so similar to that of their male counterparts that those who fought it only realized they were women when they found themselves in hand-to-hand combat, he says. They most likely wore shorts, long tunics, and a hood, not the kinds of sexual bathing suits seen in current depictions of female warriors. »
