# Land for the People, Land for the Gods Property and Appropriation of Urban Space in Porto-Novo between the 18th and 19th Century.

Pietro Repishti

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Pietro Repishti. Land for the People, Land for the Gods Property and Appropriation of Urban Space in Porto-Novo between the 18th and 19th Century. Africa. Rivista semestrale di studi e ricerche, 2023, 5 (1), pp.49-68. hal-05225505

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AFRICA

Rivista semestrale di studi e ricerche

N.S. V/1, 2023

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INDICE / TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICOLI / ARTICLES

Patrick Y. Whang, "We pray that they should never win elections":
*The Basutoland Congress Party as Opposition in the Late Colonial and Early Post-Independence Lesotho, 1960-1970*
5

Federica Toldo, *La danse de xinguilamento entre mise en scène patrimoniale et conceptions locales de la possession (Luanda, Angola)*
27

Pietro Repishti, *Land for the People, Land for the Gods: Property and Appropriation of Urban Space in Porto-Novo between the 18th and 19th Century*
49

Carolina Domina, Kutuku: *Anthropological Insights into the Nzema Gin*
69

Alessandra Brivio, *Domestic Slavery and Domestic Work in the Gold Coast (Ghana): The Invisibility of Women's Labour*
87

RECENSIONI / REVIEWS

Nicola Camilleri, *Staatsangehörigkeit und Rassismus. Rechtsdiskurse und Verwaltungspraxis in den Kolonien Eritrea und Deutsch-Ostafrika (Roberta Pergher)*
105

*'History of Ashanti' by Otumfuo, Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, edited by T.C. McCaskie (Richard Rathbone)*
111

Arrigo Pallotti, *La decolonizzazione dell'Africa australe. Il ruolo della Tanzania (1961-1980) (Giacomo Macola)*
115

AUTORI / CONTRIBUTORS

117
Pietro Repishti

LAND FOR THE PEOPLE, LAND FOR THE GODS:
PROPERTY AND APPROPRIATION OF URBAN SPACE IN PORTO-NOVO
BETWEEN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY

## Abstract

Land ownership in southern Benin in the 18th and 19th century is often considered an exclusive prerogative of the king. However, religious and political dimensions of land control are strictly intertwined and show us a more fragmented reality than what ancient sources describe. *Vodun* deities were used both as a way to justify control over the soil and as markers in urban space. The arrival of missionaries and colonisers in Porto-Novo fitted consequently into a system where land ownership was more articulated from what is generally claimed. They finally relied on the royal figure to introduce themselves into this context and justify their settlement.

KEYWORDS: PORTO-NOVO, LANDOWNERSHIP, VODUN, URBAN HISTORY, FOUNDATION MYTHS

## Introduction

At the beginning of the 19th century, the region that corresponds to nowadays south-Benin was still buffeted by the feverish climate of raids and conflicts that had marked the previous century. On the East, the old Oyo Empire was heeding towards a rapid decline caused by a series of military defeats that led some

* I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the Journal's Editorial Team for their criticism and comments, which certainly helped to refine the final version of the article. This article is based on PhD research in African History that I have been conducting since 2021 at the University of Pavia. For this work, several periods of research were carried out at Archivi della Società delle Missioni Africane (AMA), Roma; Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer (ANOM), Aix-en-Provence; Archives Nationales du Sénégal (ANS), Dakar; Archives Nationales du Bénin (ANB), Porto-Novo; Methodist Missionary Society Archives (AMS), School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS) as well as private family collection in Porto-Novo. The oral sources are part of a fieldwork conducted in Porto-Novo and South-Benin since 2019 to January 2023 and started during my Master of Arts in Anthropology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Structured and semi-structured interviews, as well as personal communications, have been conducted during fieldwork in the urban and peri-urban area of Porto-Novo as well as in villages in the departments of Ouemé and Atlantique, and in the towns of Allada and Ouidah. I would like to thank all the interlocutors I have worked with over the years, without whom this project would not have been possible.
of the tributary countries to be released from his yoke¹. In the North, the Mahi province still seemed to resist to the continuous incursions of the Dahomean army in search of slaves. On the South-West, the Kingdom of Dahomey, despite some internal struggles², attempted to assert itself as a unique partner to Brazilians and Europeans for the slave trade³.

In the middle of these troubles, small coastal kingdoms such as Badagry, Ekpe, Porto-Novo⁴, and Lagos, relied on commercial activity. After the arrival of the Alladanou population⁵ around 1730, the Kingdom of Porto-Novo rapidly evolved, taking advantage of an easily defendable area and a strategic position for commerce. This small state rapidly became one of the principal markets for the Oyo Empire, connected to the sea through the lagoon that goes down to Badagry and Apa up to Lagos. During the reign of Abiodun (1770-1789), who was a trader by profession before becoming *Alafin* (king of Oyo), the beach of Semé, called “Porto-Novo” in Portuguese, became the main Oyo port, establishing itself as the main competitor of the port of Ouidah in the slave trade⁶.

The ancient history of this city is often juxtaposed with that of its royal genealogies that arrived in the area from the first half of the 18th century and imposed their control over the territory. However, when the Alladanou arrived on the north-east bank of the Nokoué lake, this territory was not uninhabited. On the dryland area that rises between the delta of Ouemé river and the wetland on the East, two different groups were already installed. The first settlement, on the east side of the old town of Porto-Novo, overlooking the lagoon in the neighbourhood of Akron (Okoro), was populated by Holli people coming from the Yoruba kingdom of Egbado (or Awori)⁷. The second one, whose origin are still debated⁸ was on the west side, in the suburbs of Djassin.

1. A. Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708-1818*, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1967, 175-178.

2. C. Monroe, *The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey*, New York NY, Cambridge University Press, 2014.

3. R. Law, *Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving 'Port', 1727-1892*, Oxford, James Currey, 71-122.

4. In the 18th century as “Porto-Novo” was intended the coastal area corresponding at the actual beach of Semé. The city (or the kingdom) of Porto-Novo is quoted in sources after Dahomean conquest of Allada in 1724 as Ardra (or Ardrah), Ajase (Ajase Ipo or Adjatché), or even Little Ardrah and from the 19th century also Hogbonou (or Xogbonou). However, in this article I will use the term Porto-Novo to refer to the city, as in use since the 19th century.

5. Alladanou means “people from Allada”. Contemporary historians have stressed the direct consequence between the fall of Allada in 1724 and the rise of Porto-Novo. See Y. Person, “Chronologie du royaume gun de Hogbonu (Porto-Novo)”, *Cahiers d’Études Africaines*, 15, 58, 1975, 217-238, 231-233; Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 91-92.

6. Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 146.

7. Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 9.

8. Person, “Chronologie”, 231, claims they are of Holli origin, from the East; M. Videgla, “Un État Ouest-Africain: Le royaume Goun de Hogbonou (Porto-Novo) des origines à 1908”, PhD Thesis, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1999, 76-77, considers them to be of Aja origin; A. Akindélé, C. Aguessy, *Contribution à l’Étude de l’Histoire de l’ancien Royaume de Porto Novo*,
The arrival of Tè Agbanlin imposed his power on both these villages. The different tales and myths recounting this event and the origins of these settlements aim at justifying the takeover that the newcomer deploys to grab possession of the land.

This article is divided into three main sections. The first part will focus on the portrait of “the first occupant” in some foundation myths and on the relation with the ancestral deity of the place in the case of Porto-Novo. The relationship with the land has in the south-Benin area both a political and a religious dimension and the settlement of Aja (also Adja) populations in Abomey, Allada and Porto-Novo opens up a wider reflection concerning the role of *vodun* deities in defining power over the land. The second part will focus on legitimation strategies made by the new occupants in relation to the previous ones. The third will start from an ethno-graphic 19th-century case study to highlight the plurality of actors involved in land issues at the arrival of missionaries and colonisers and the role of the king of Porto-Novo in land possession.

*From the hunter to the landownership*

Anthropological and historical literature has been extensively devoted to analysing the relations between land access and group membership in West Africa⁹, and the conflicts generated by the translation of customary land into formal tenure¹⁰. Sara Berry has highlighted the dynamism and adaptability of African land tenure¹¹, in which customary relations are perpetually negotiated by various actors involved¹². In this context, the different systems of right often overlap and come into conflict, showing how different subjects may claim different rights on same portion of land¹³ referring to a mythical dimension of customary rights and on a legitimation based upon the “first” occupant of the soil¹⁴.

Relatively little has been written on Benin, where the analysis of land conflicts has been mainly focused on a judicial perspective concerning conflicts in

Dakar, IFAN, 1953, 18, supports the existence of two villages, an older one Djassin-Zoumé, of Youruba origin, and a more recent one Djassin-Dolou, of Aja descent.

9. J. Ubink, K. Amanor, eds., *Contesting Land and Custom in Ghana*, Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2008.

10. J. Chauveau, J. Colin, “Customary Transfers and Land Sales in Côte d’Ivoire: Revisiting the Embeddedness Issue”, *Africa: Journal of the International African Institute*, 80, 1, 2010, 81-103.

11. S. Berry, *No Condition is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa*, Madison WI, University of Wisconsin Press, 1993.

12. K. Juul, C. Lund, eds., *Negotiating Property in Africa*, Portsmouth, Heinemann, 2002.

13. R. Kuba, C. Lentz, eds., *Land and the Politics of Belonging in West Africa*, Leiden, Brill, 2006.

14. C. Lentz, *Land, Mobility, and Belonging in West Africa*, Bloomington IN, Indiana University Press, 2013 and C. Lentz, “First-comers and Late-comers: Indigenous Theories of Land Ownership in the West African Savanna” in Kuba, Lentz, eds., *Land and the Politics*, 35-56.
land inheritance<fnref n="15" /> or about migrants and rural quarrels in resource management<fnref n="16" />. However, the historical tales and foundation myths of the area dwell a great deal on land possession, handing down the strategies of the first occupant and giving attention to the role of its protagonists, their origin, and their kinship ties, as a way of legitimizing land ownership<fnref n="17" />.

One of the most common figures in the foundation myths is that of the hunter. This character assumes in his community the role of mediator between the social spaces of the village and the wild space of the forest, populated by spirits, animals, enemies and therefore potentially dangerous. It is possible to define at least two different situations<fnref n="18" />, based on the intentionality of the discovery of a new propitious place. In the first case, some hunters are sent by their people looking for new fertile lands that would be able to support the needs of community. Their mission is often characterized as sacred and is preceded by some propitious rituals to the divinities of the village. For this reason, the group of hunters/explorers is already focused on perceiving a divine sign that could confirm their discovery. According to Dominique Juhé-Beaulaton:

> La présence de certaines plantes, l'association d'un iroko et d'une termitière, la rapidité de germination de certaines graines étaient interprétées comme des signes de fertilité, confirmés ensuite par la divination. Une fois l'emplacement déterminé, le chasseur retournait auprès des siens leur rendre compte. Ces critères biologiques, fertilité des terres, présence d'eau, abondance de gibier et/ou de poisson, se trouvent dans un grand nombre de traditions orales et ils apparaissent complémentaires encore aujourd'hui<fnref n="19" />.

A foundation myth about the settlement of Houetomé people in Porto-Novo, in the neighborhood of Tossokomé<fnref n="20" />, tells us that these migrants chose the place due to the presence of a sacred tree, an Iroko<fnref n="21" />, that was “identical to that of their village of origin”<fnref n="22" />. According to another type of installation, hunters, during a hunt or in pursuit of a particularly strong animal, randomly found an extremely

<footnote n="15">15. S. Andreetta, “Affaires d’héritage à Cotonou: comment la loi a changé les familles”, *Ca-hier d’Études africaines*, 234, 2019, 377-404; T. Sero, “De l’unité au pluralisme des normes dans la transformation foncière au Bénin”, PhD Thesis, Aix-Marseille Université, 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">16. P.-Y. Le Meur, “Grandeurs villageoises. La politique des ressources et des appartenances au centre du Bénin”, *Cahiers d’Études africaines*, 4, 208, 2012, 877-903.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">17. M. Houseman, “Note sur les récits de fondation des royaumes Aja-Tado du Sud Bénin”, in D. Casajus, F. Viti, eds., *La terre et le pouvoir. A la mémoire de Michel Izard*, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2012, 223-248.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">18. D. Juhé-Beaulaton, “Organisation et contrôle de l'espace dans l'aire culturelle aja-fon (Sud-Togo et Bénin XVIIᵉ-XIXᵉ siècle)”, *Afriques. Débats, méthodes et terrain d'histoire*, 02, 2010, 1-25, 3-6.</footnote>

<footnote n="19">19. Juhé-Beaulaton, *Organisation et contrôle de l'espace*, 4.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">20. Probably the quartier of Tossounou people.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">21. See D. Juhé-Beaulaton, “Un patrimoine urbain méconnu: arbres mémoires, forêts sacrées et jardins des plantes de Porto Novo (Bénin)”, *Autrepart – Revue de sciences sociales au Sud*, 51, 2009, 75-98.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">22. Interview with Avé Tonvewa, Porto-Novo, 15 November 2022.</footnote>
fertile place and decided to settle there with their families. In both cases, the foundation myths are mostly linked to the meeting with an ancestral spirit of the place who, after impressing and frightening the foreigners with his power, turns out to be a good spirit that approves the installation of the new group in exchange for offers and the promise of devotion. These deities are a sort of natural genies that inhabit and represent the power of the land. They are generally called *tòvodun*<sup>23</sup> and “ils les [the lands] protègent et les rendent favorables au développement des collectivités humaines; ils associent leur existence à tout ce qui constitue un pays, mais ils prennent plus particulièrement pour résidence un arbre, des buissons, une pierre”<sup>24</sup>. The emphasis on the wildlife element is not fortuitous. The presence of these deities is often associated with a particular abundance of natural resources such as fruit or venison, water, or a fertile soil. The knowledge of the rituals and the words allowing the connection with these deities confers the control over the area and their natural resources.

The foundation myth of Porto-Novo contains many of the elements described above. The legend reported by Adolphe Akindélé and Cyrille Aguessy talks about three famous hunters<sup>25</sup>: Obagadjou, Anata and Akakpo-Agbon, coming from the Awori kingdom<sup>26</sup>. One day, tired of the long hunting trip in search of antelopes, they took a rest in the shade of a tree. A nine-headed monster emerged from a termite mound and frightened them. Obagadjou, the oldest, interrogated the monster, but it returned to the termite mound without a word. Once back in their village, the hunters consulted the Fa oracle<sup>27</sup>, who told them that the monster was a benign deity named Abori Messan (or Avessan).

The hunters asked what they could do to deserve the protection of Avessan. The Fa gave them three recommendations: to respect the place of the apparition, to erect a temple over the termite mound and to offer him some products of their hunt. The hunters strictly adhered to these prescriptions and their hunting became so abundant that they decided to settle near the place of the appearance founding the village of Akron. Even if some sources<sup>28</sup> suggest that the figure of a nine-head-monster was invented by the earlier habitants in order to strengthen the limitation of their presence through an even scarier entity, there is no doubt that

<footnote n="23">23. Composed by “tò” (country, village) and “vodún” (god), B. Segurola, J. Rassinoux, *Dictionnaire Fon-Français*, Cotonou, Editiones Selva y Sabana Sociedad de Missiones Africanas, 2009 [2000], 491.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">24. A. Le Hérissé, *L'ancien royaume du Dahomey, moeurs, religion, histoire*, Paris, Larose, 1911, 100.</footnote>

<footnote n="25">25. Akindélé, Aguessy, *Contribution à l'Étude*, 17-18. See also A. Sinou, B. Oloudé, *Porto-Novo. Ville d'Afrique Noire*, Marseille, Parenthèses/Orstom, 1988, 36.</footnote>

<footnote n="26">26. Currently Nigeria. See Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 9.</footnote>

<footnote n="27">27. Fa (Ifa in Youruba) is the oracle placed at the center of a complex system of divination, which connects men to all deities and supernatural forces. See B. Maupoil, *La Géomancie à l'ancienne Côte des Esclaves*, Paris, Institut d'ethnologie, 1943. See also A. Brivio, *Il vodu in Africa. Metamorfosi di un culto*, Viella, Rome, 2012, 227-229.</footnote>

<footnote n="28">28. Videgla, “Un État Ouest-Africain”, 74.</footnote>
the encounter with the god Avessan established a kind of pact of alliance between him and the new occupants, a sort of sacred bond between the soil and the men that the descendants are required to preserve. Adéothy Adegbinni argues that the very concept of “pact” in Youruba language, originates specifically from the ancestral agreement with the divinities of the soil. He writes: “L’appelation du mot pacte en Youruba est très parlante. Pacte signifie *Mou-ilé*, Mou veut dire boire et ilè la terre, donc Mou-ilé signifie ‘boire la terre’”<fnref n="29" />. This sacred bond gives to the men the title of “owner of land” that in Goougbé and Fongbé is called *Aïnon* (or *Ayinon*)<fnref n="30" /> and in Youruba *Onilè*. This sort of title must be distinguished from the possibility of accessing to a resource or from the use of the land.

According to Jacky Bouju<fnref n="31" />, it is possible to define two levels of “control” of the land: the “maîtrise de l’usage”, which includes the possibility to access and use a resource (land included), and the “maîtrise du contrôle” which defines the possession and management of the soil and its resources. By using these two levels it is possible to precisely describe the local forms of use and effective possession of a certain good. The *Ayinonvi*, “the descent that own the country”, hold the monopoly of ritual relations with local deities who control the fertility of the soil, the presence of water, and the abundance of fruit and game. Some authors argue for a sharp distinction between political and religious power in the title of *Ayinon* and possession of land in the region of south-Benin<fnref n="32" />. However, as will be argued below, this distinction seems to theoretically mark a boundary that, in reality, is very ambiguous.

*Autochthonous and foreigners, the gods as markers*

As Robin Law has largely emphasized, the exploitation of certain variants of the same tradition has been used for centuries for political propaganda in this area<fnref n="33" />. These tales of foundation, both those that have been recently collected and the oldest ones, are the result of a continuous transformation and reformulation of

<footnote n="29">29. A. Adegbinni, “Manger les terres sacrées”: les espaces du culte Vodoun, Paris, L’Har-mattan, 2019, 53.</footnote>

<footnote n="30">30. From *ayī* (soil, land) and *-nò* (owner, but also mother), thus *Ayīnònvī* can be translated literally as “the uterine siblings of the land” Segurola, Rassinoux, *Dictionnaire*, 91, 397. About *Ayinon*, see also Videgla, “Un État Ouest-Africain”, 72.</footnote>

<footnote n="31">31. J. Bouju, “La malédiction, l’honneur et la spéculation. Principes historiques de la propriété foncière en Afrique de l’Ouest”, *Bulletin de l’APAD*, 29-30, 2009, 71-91. See also S. Tassi, “Du dedans au dehors. Connexions à partir d’un espace public d’une ville multiple: Ajacé, Xógbonú, Porto-Novo (Sud-Benin)”, Ph D Thesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2020, 550-552.</footnote>

<footnote n="32">32. Among others, see: Videgla, “Un État Ouest-Africain”, 72.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">33. R. Law, “The Heritage of Oduduwa: Traditional History and Political Propaganda among the Yoruba”, *The Journal of African History*, 14, 02, 1973, 207-222. Concerning the political use of foundation myths of Porto-Novo, see Person, “Chronologie”, 234-236; J. Renaud, *Contribution à l’histoire du Royaume de Porto-Novo et trois siècles de légendes dahoméennes*, undated, typewritten, 27-30.</footnote>
traditions wrapped up to justify the presence and the role of a population in a certain territory or the relationship between some genealogies<fnref n="34" />. This process of “construction” of autochthony<fnref n="35" /> carried out in the historical tales is often necessary to legitimate a new power and a new control over a territory. The conflict between old inhabitants and newcomers are absorbed into the myth and transformed into an “ancestor tradition” from which the practices and the customs are acted out.

The recitations of the myth about the settlement of Aja groups between the 16th and 18th century in nowadays centre-south-Benin raises various questions about the ways through which the newcomer's population have justified their landownership, and appointed themselves with the title of *Avinon*, by merging politics of control over the territory with religious strategies. The different version of the historical tales that describes the arrival of Tè Agbanlin and Allada people to Porto-Novo seems to explain his dominance thanks to their cunning. According to the most widespread versions<fnref n="36" />, Atahoué (Atawé), the chief of Akron, granted to the newcomer a plot of land the size of an antelope skin<fnref n="37" />. Tè Agbanlin applied the same subterfuge used by Dido in the foundation of Carthage<fnref n="38" /> and cut the hide into very thin strips and laid them end to end to encircle a large area named Hogbonou (Xogbonou).

Even the creation of Dahomey seems to imply a subterfuge. Facing an increasing demand for land from foreigners, the local chief called Dan, that Mondjannagni said to be the landowner of the country<fnref n="39" />, provocatively answered: “Soon thou wilt build in my belly! [*xome* in Fongbé]<fnref n="40" />. So Wegbaja<fnref n="41" />, the newcomer, dug a pit where he trapped the chief and over there he built his palace. The Dan-ho-me (inside the Dan’s belly) was then created. The tales and foundation myths, even though functional to the glorification of the ingenious victors, also reveal interesting details regarding the religious sphere. In fact, the action of taking possession of the territory by trickery is not enough to settle the debt to the divine spirit that inhabits the territory. In the case of Porto-Novo, the myth relates that Té Agbanlin, after building the Palace and the marketplace – the two symbols

<footnote n="34">34. R. Law, “History and Legitimacy: Aspects of the Use of the Past in Precolonial Dahomey”, *History in Africa*, 15, 1988, 431-456, 448.</footnote>

<footnote n="35">35. Houseman, “Note sur les récits”, 244.</footnote>

<footnote n="36">36. J. Geay, “Origine, formation et historique du royaume de Porto-Novo”, *Bulletin du Comité Historique de l’A.O.F.*, VII, 4, 1924, 619-634; E. Dunglas, “Origine du royaume de Porto-Novo”, *Études Dahoméennes*, 9-10, 1967, 29-62.</footnote>

<footnote n="37">37. The antelope, called in Goungbè “agbanlín”, is an animal that recurs frequently in the legends of Porto-Novo.</footnote>

<footnote n="38">38. A similar example can be found in the Area of Agou mont (Togo). See M. Gardini, *La terra contesa. Conflitti fondiari e lavoro agricolo in Togo*, Milan-Udine, Mimesis, 2017, 101.</footnote>

<footnote n="39">39. A. Mondjannagni, *Campagnes et villes au sud de la République Populaire du Bénin*, Paris, Mouton, 1977, 164.</footnote>

<footnote n="40">40. R. Burton, *A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. Vol. 1*, London, Tinsley, 1864, 160.</footnote>

<footnote n="41">41. King of Dahomey (ca. 1650-1680).</footnote>
of political-military and economic power – on the new land, had to take care of
the spiritual side. So, he tried to gain the protection of the local deity with a hu-
man sacrifice⁴². Édouard Dunglas wrote:

Té-Agbanlin devenu puissant et envisageant sans crainte un conflit avec Atahoué, fit un jour saisir le lari [officer of the chief] Oga qui fut decapité. La tête de l'adversaire de Té-Agbanlin d'abord exposée sur le marché Takpenmedé⁴³, y fut finalement enterrée avec tous les rites magiques nécessaires, le marché était maintenant protégé⁴⁴.

Although not all sources are unanimous on the deification of Oga, the site
can still be seen today near the north entrance of the royal Palace⁴⁵ surrounded by
a wall and surmounted by a palm tree. The immolation of an indigenous chief to
his own land, as in the aforementioned case of Dahomey, could present, of course,
a multitude of symbolic interpretations.

The cult of Avessan, *tòvodun* of Akron, was finally integrated by Té Agban-
lin into the new Aja kingdom and the priest of this deity was granted a prestigious
place in the religious hierarchy⁴⁶. The relationship, more or less conflictual, with
the pre-existing deities of the land (*tòvodun*) was an issue for several cities of Aja
foundation and an opportunity for legitimation for the newcomers. In Abomey,
when the Aja people arrived⁴⁷, they found several people of Djinou, Dasas, Nag-
ots and Ghèdévi origin⁴⁸ who recognised a chief named Akpahè, who controlled
certain natural resources, like access to water⁴⁹. To avoid a conflict, the newcom-
ers bought from him the land. This ritual of purchase was, according to House-
man⁵⁰, repeated by the following rulers of Abomey that: “avant de monter sur le
trône, le nouveau roi devait «acheter le pays» en donnant deux cents cauris aux
représentants des villages des environs”. The symbolic sale of the land states the
disposal of the title of *Ayinon*. This ritual allows justifying the assignment of re-
ligious power over the soil through the symbolic staging of a political agreement.
Despite the different historical narratives, we can recognize a common agreement

42. About the sacrifice and the role of the blood in *vodun* religion see Brivio, *Il vodu in Africa*, 189-220.

43. An old market placed near the royal Palace, now disappeared. It is also known as *Odja Omon*, the “children’s market”.

44. Dunglas, “Origine du royaume de Porto-Novo”, 31. See also P. Brasseur-Marion, G. Brasseur, *Porto-Novo et sa palmeraie*, IFAN, Dakar, 1953, 18, and Geay, “Origine, formation”, 626-627.

45. Currently Homné Museum. For the use and history of this building see R. Cafuri "II pa-lazzo reale di Porto-Novo: il labirinto come simbolo del potere", *Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente*, 50, 1, 1995, 516-530.

46. Akindélé, Aguessy, *Contribution à l'Étude*, 117-118.

47. Even if the narration of a foundation of Abomey by Allada's descendants is still the most widespread, this thesis is not shared by all historians of the area.

48. Villages on the *plateau* of Abomey founded by Yoruba and Aja populations.

49. On the connection between landownership and control of resources see Juhé-Beaulaton "Organisation et control", 13, and Bouju, "La malédiction", 72-73.

50. Houseman, "Note sur les récits", 235fn.
about the central role played by *vodun* divinity – not necessarily *tòvodun* – to legitimize the authority of Dahomean kings over the plateau. According to J. Cameron Monroe:

> Following the conquest of towns and villages across the Abomey Plateau, for example, Wegbaja relocated local *vodun* to spaces directly opposite his palace at Abomey thereby redefining the relationship between local populations and their spiritual protectors vis-à-vis the emerging polity<fnref n="51" />.

On the one hand, this assimilationist strategy was necessary, as we said, to mark the possession of territory, on the other hand this secured the allegiance of the conquered populations. However, the boundaries between the religious and political dimensions often overlap, and the distinction between cults managed by royalty and by other families or groups is not always clear. Alfred C. Mondjannagni said that “le pouvoir politique reconnaît le pouvoir foncier qu’il essaye d’utiliser autant que possible à des fins purement spirituelles”<fnref n="52" />. In any case, the predisposition to embed new deities into one’s own pantheon is a typical feature of *vodun* religion. When a clash between two groups occurred, it is not uncommon for the winners to take possession of the enemy’s divinities. According to Auguste Le Hérissé:

> Cette adoption des fétiches étrangers fut due surtout, croyons-nous, au désir de fléchir le courroux d’une puissance occulte, à laquelle on pouvait avoir porté préjudice en détruisant soit un pays, où des honneurs lui étaient rendus, soit une famille qu’elle protégeait. Les Dahoméens achetaient alors – c’est l’expression consacrée – les fétiches du sol, ainsi que les grands fétiches de tribus des vaincus, afin de se les rendre favorables<fnref n="53" />.

One of the most famous cases of acquisition is that of Dangbé, the sacred python of Ouidah, that was incorporated by Agaja<fnref n="54" /> into the Dahomean state ritual sphere after the Savi destruction in 1720s<fnref n="55" />. This mechanism allowed an expansionist kingdom like Dahomey to import into the royal pantheon the major divinities of the area, such as Heviossou (Tchango), the god of thunderbolt, introduced by the mother of Tegbesu<fnref n="56" /> from Hèviè; Ogun, the god of iron and war, possibly taken from a Mahi country; Sakpata, the god of soil and smallpox, and several more<fnref n="57" />.

<footnote n="51">51. Monroe, *The Precolonial State*, 64.</footnote>

<footnote n="52">52. Mondjannagni, *Campagnes et villes*, 165.</footnote>

<footnote n="53">53. Le Hérissé, *L'ancien royaume*, 117.</footnote>

<footnote n="54">54. King of Dahomey (1708-1740).</footnote>

<footnote n="55">55. C. Merlo, P. Vidaud, “Dangbe et le peuplement houeda”, in F. de Medeiros, ed., *Peuples du Golfe du Benin*, Paris, Karthala, 1984, 269-304; Law, *Ouidah: The Social History*, 24.</footnote>

<footnote n="56">56. King of Dahomey (1740-1774).</footnote>

<footnote n="57">57. Le Hérissé, *L'ancien royaume*, 102-129. About the role played by the mothers of the kings of Abomey in the establishment of *vodun* and in the shaping of myths see S. Preston Blier, “The Path of the Leopard: Motherhood and Majesty in Early Danhomè”, *The Journal of African History*,</footnote>
A relationship with a pre-existing local deity is also reported in the narratives concerning the foundation of Allada. When the Aja people (Agasuvi) arrived from Tado<fnref n="58" /> in the second half of 16th century, they found a local *tòvodun* called Aïda/Aïzan, from which the country took its name. After their settlement on the territory, Yegu (also named Adjahuto), the chief that drove their migration, turns into a *vodun*.

L'appellation d'Ajahuto, attribuée au chef décédé des Agasuvi, serait l'expression de la volonté qu'auraient eu ces derniers de transformer leur ancêtre en "un fétiche du sol" (tovodun) à même de supplanter le vodun Aïda des Aïzo "dans la possession mythique du territoire"; Ajahuto serait une "sorte d'anagramme de Aja-to é hou Aîda, qui signifie 'le père des Aja est plus grand qu'Aïda'"<fnref n="59" />.

The deification of an ancestor emerges as an effective strategy for marking the territory. The mythical substitution of a local *tòvodun* with a divinised ancestor (*hennuvodun*) suggests much about the role the *vodun* played in Porto-Novo between the 18th and 19th century. In fact, this strategy was not only implemented by royal dynasties. Since the first groups of people arrived with Té Agbanlin, many other communities and family groups settled in Porto-Novo over the centuries, giving rise to new quarters. Marie-Josée Pineau-Jamous identifies at least four types of foundations<fnref n="60" />: neighborhoods founded by the direct descendants of the thirteen sons of Aholuho (the old mythical king of Tado), quarters founded by foreign ethnic groups (such as the Dravonu, Tori, Peda, Hevienu and others<fnref n="61" />), quarters created by *vodunnon* (*vodun* priests) installed by a king or other dignitaries, and finally, quarters created by kings or princes of blood. To this division one should also add other types of neighborhoods founded by Brazilian traders, Europeans and earlier installations such as Akron and Djassin. At the religious and social centre of these quarters are situated the temples of the *hennuvodun*. These deities, representing a deified mythical ancestor of a specific lineage (*hennu*), have a dual function: on the one hand, they define the relationships with the royalty, and on the other, they shape the urban space by calling the residential areas by the name of a specific descendant. The installation of a *hennuvodun*, or even more the transformation of an ancestor into a *vodun*, is one of the main strategies of construction of urban space by migrant communities in Porto-Novo. The territory of the city is marked by the presence of a deity belonging to the lineage who, similarly to a *tòvodun*, establishes a relationship between land ownership and the family group. Again, the management of urban space is embedded in the forms of the religious.

<footnote>36, 1995, 391-417; E. Bay, *Wifes of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey*, Charlottesville & London, University of Virginia Press, 1998.</footnote>

<footnote n="58">58. Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 11.</footnote>

<footnote n="59">59. Houseman, "Note sur les récits", 231, quoting Le Hérissé, *L'ancien royaume*, 276.</footnote>

<footnote n="60">60. M.J. Pineau-Jamous, "Porto-Novo: royauté, localité et parenté", *Cahiers d'études africaines*, 26, 104, 1986, 547-576.</footnote>

<footnote n="61">61. Populations coming from the areas on the West and North of Porto-Novo.</footnote>
*From the king to the land, from the land to the power*

On 28 May 1862, the Genoese Father Francesco Borghero of the Société des Missions Africains de Lyon (SMA) was received by the king of Porto-Novo, De Sodji (1848-1864), to discuss the establishment of a Catholic mission in the capital of his kingdom<fnref n="62" />. The SMA missionaries were already settled in Ouidah since 1861, when they had taken possession of the abandoned Portuguese fort. It would take another two years of continuous visits to king Sodji and his successor king Mikpon (1864-1872), on 7 April 1864, after some emblematic hesitations, to finally grant the missionaries all the land they requested<fnref n="63" />.

Father Borghero chose “un vaste espace à l’extrémité ouest de la ville à côté d’un bois fétiche”<fnref n="64" /> home to Tchango (Heviossou), the god of thunderbolt.

These sacred forests were and are quite widespread in the peri-urban areas. According to Cédric Tafuri: “chacune de ces forêts est dédiée au culte d’une divinité et aux initiations et remplace le couvent vodun lorsque les adeptes n’en posèdent pas”<fnref n="65" />. The location was not, as one can imagine, chosen by coincidence. The zeal employed by the first missionaries in their proselytising action and their intention to eradicate “fetishism” was one of the main reasons why they had to endure the physical and psychological hardships dictated by the climate and the difficulty in adapting<fnref n="66" />. The action of the first missionaries in Porto-Novo was based on the strategy of superimposing Christian elements on local deities, trying to replace them with figures of saints or angels. This tendency is well recounted by Father Nochè, who would die a couple of months later, while guarding the ground of the future Catholic mission in Porto-Novo.

J'avais fait préparer la veille une grande croix de 6 mètres de haut. [...] je suis toute la foule en ordre de procession à la suite de la Croix, et nous fîmes ainsi tout le tour du terrain en chantant l'Asperges me et autres motets divers. Le circuit se termina au pied d'un nid de coupins [termite mound] haut de 2 mètres et couvert d'un bouquet de bois magnifique. C'était un vieux fétiche. L'endroit était excellent pour y planter notre croix. Elle y fut hissée en un clin d'oeil et fixée solidement<fnref n="67" />.

<footnote n="62">62. The establishment of Catholic missionaries in Porto-Novo has been treated in several works. Among others, see: P. Bouche, *Sept ans en Afrique occidentale: la côte des esclaves et le Dahomey*, Paris, Plon & Co., 1885; R. Mandirola, ed., *Diario del primo missionario del Dahomey, 1860-1864*, Bologna, EMI, 2002; R. Giordano, “Azione evangelizzatrice e ruolo politico dei missionari della «Società delle Missioni Africane di Lione (S.M.A.)» nel regno di Porto-Novo (1864-1873)”, *Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente*, 51, 2, 1996, 203-224.</footnote>

<footnote n="63">63. AMA, 2E3-I, Borghero. Journal de la Mission du Dahomey, 6-8th April 1864.</footnote>

<footnote n="64">64. AMA, 2E3-I, Borghero. Journal de la Mission du Dahomey, 4 October 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="65">65. C. Tafuri, “Constructions territoriales et dynamiques patrimoniales dans le périurbain de Porto-Novo (Bénin)”, *Projets de paysage*, 21, 2019, 8.</footnote>

<footnote n="66">66. R. Giordano, *Europei e africani nel Dahomey e a Porto-Novo*, Torino, L'Harmattan, 2001, 23-36.</footnote>

<footnote n="67">67. AMA, 12/802-20025, Noché à confrères de Wydah, 25 April 1864.</footnote>
In this perspective, the link between the site and the religious dimension takes on a key value. The re-symbolization of religious power spaces becomes a proselytizing strategy systematically pursued by new missionaries. In 1903, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Ouidah was erected right in front of the Temple of the Pythons, one of the oldest and most important temples in Benin. In Adjarra, the local Catholic church was built in 1901 on the site of the Kpétou market, in a place strongly associated with the presence of *vodun* deities<fnref n="68" />. Many other examples could probably be found.

Moreover, the appropriation of places sacred to the “fetishist” religion took on a strong evocative charge and justified missionary activity in a theological way. Abbot Laffitte, who summarized the missionary experience in Dahomey for a European audience in his book, wrote about the Porto-Novo mission: “Là où le démon régnait en maître, Jésus-Christ a des autels, et sa croix s’élève sur le lieu même où depuis des siècles le fétichisme rendait ses oracles”<fnref n="69" />.

On returning to the events, the establishment of the missionaries in Porto-Novo on the site of the sacred forest immediately faced the resolute opposition of the Tchango priest. On 8 April 1864, Borghero wrote that while the priests were taking measurements of the land:

> Des personnes arrivent qui de la part du grand Féticheur [*vodun* priest] du bois voisin (bois sacré dans le pays) nous interdisent de nous emparer de certaines parties plus voisines du bois. Elles entrent cependant dans le terrain accordé<fnref n="70" />.

The following day, the missionaries go to the king to protest. In his diary, Borghero strongly insists on their legitimacy on the land, which comes directly from the king's assent. “La propriété du terrain dans ce pays est censée appartenir au roi”, he writes, so the *vodun* priest ““il n’a cependant aucun droit sur le terrain”<fnref n="71" />. However, King Mikpon does not seem very capable of asserting his authority as the owner of the place. First, he stalls, then, pressed by the insistent demands of the missionaries, he replies that he cannot deal with it for the time being. Laffitte describes the event as follows:

> Le féticheur arrive lui-même sur le terrain, criant, gesticulant, nous menaçant de tous les anathèmes de ses dieux. Forts de notre droit, nous recourons au monarque, qui assemble ses plus hauts dignitaires. Mais ce conseil, pas plus que le roi, n'ose affronter la colère du dieu de la foudre. Nous crûmes devoir céder pour le moment<fnref n="72" />.

These difficulties added to the question that had already been raised by the French, who in February 1863 had placed Porto-Novo under their protectorate.

<footnote n="68">68. Adegbinni, “Manger les terres sacrées”, 75-76.</footnote>

<footnote n="69">69. J. Laffitte, *Le pays de nègres et de la côte des esclaves*, Tours, Alfred Mame, 1876, 105.</footnote>

<footnote n="70">70. AMA, 2E3-I, Borghero. Journal de la Mission du Dahomey, 8 April 1864.</footnote>

<footnote n="71">71. AMA, 2E3-I, Borghero. Journal de la Mission du Dahomey, 5-7 October 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="72">72. Laffitte, *Le pays de nègres*, 107.</footnote>
In a letter dated 12 October 1863<sup>73</sup>, Marius Daumas, consular agent of France, who had initially supported the installation of the missionaries in Porto-Novo, informs them that the Admiral Didelot, commander-in-chief of the protectorate, not only does not allow them to occupy the land granted by the king, but also forbids them to settle in any form in Porto-Novo without a special authorization.

The French authorities had demanded that the missionaries align themselves with colonial interests, submit to French laws and, above all, use French – rather than Portuguese – as the official language in their settlements. This was not well accepted by the Fathers, who described it as “a very costly fee for an interested protection”<sup>74</sup>. Moreover, it seems that Admiral Didelot could not stand Borghero<sup>75</sup>.

The objections of the French were also about the land occupied. Borghero writes:

> Par des lettres de M. Daumas et par d'autres de M. Lafitte [sic], je viens à savoir que notre établissement de Porto-Novo est beaucoup contrarié à cause du Protectorat français. On nous conteste le terrain acquis, on va jusqu'à prétendre que pour en avoir une partie, il nous faudra faire une demande au ministère de Paris. C'est le comble de l'absurdité centralisatrice, comme si de Paris on pouvait y voir ou comprendre quelque chose à cette besogne<sup>76</sup>.

In the end, the SMA missionaries had to yield to the impositions of the French authority and received permission to operate in Porto-Novo about a year after the establishment of the protectorate<sup>77</sup> and two years after their first visit to the king. After the first failed attempt, three months later, on 12 August 1864, the missionaries tried again to delimitate the boundaries of the ground, this time with the help of some French officers. However, convincing the local workforce to cut down some sacred trees turned out to be difficult:

> Ce n'était qu'en tremblant qu'ils levaient la hache pour couper les broussailles. Afin de les rassurer et de leur faire voir que leur peur était imaginaire, je prends moi-même un de ces gros sabres qu'on emploie ici dans les travaux de ce genre, et je frappe impitoyablement les branches si redoutées. Les noirs, épouvantés, se disaient: La foudre va tomber sur ce téméraire. Je redouble mes coups, et quand on me voit sain et sauf, on conclut que si le féticheur blanc peut braver impunément la foudre, c'est que le Dieu des Européens est plus puissant que les fétiches des noirs<sup>78</sup>.

<footnote n="73">73. AMA, 12/802-19926, Daumas à Supérieur de la Mission, 12 October 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="74">74. Mandirola, *Diario del primo missionario*, 259. The original expression is: “uno scotto ben salato per una protezione interessata”, English translation is mine.</footnote>

<footnote n="75">75. AMA, 12/802-19930, Lafitte à Planque, 3 November 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="76">76. AMA, 2E3-I, Borghero. Journal de la Mission du Dahomey, 24-25 October 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="77">77. AMA, 12/802-20013, Daumas à Borghero, 9th February 1864.</footnote>

<footnote n="78">78. Lafitte, *Le pays de nègres*, 108.</footnote>
This action of land-clearing explicitly defined the act of taking possession over the ground<fnref n="79" />. In the end, beyond the Catholic propaganda<fnref n="80" />, the missionaries were obliged to pay compensation and gifts to the *vodunnon* more than once. On 2 September, Borghero writes in his diary: “le grand féticheur viens chez nous pour recevoir l’indemnité d’un morceau de terrain inculte. Je lui ai donné huit piastres, deux pagnes, dix bouteilles de liqueur”<fnref n="81" />. The *vodunnon* had already received compensations such as bottles of liquor and cowries and, in October, introduced Borghero to another *vodunnon*, who sold another strip of land to the missionaries<fnref n="82" />.

The settlement of missionaries is therefore only marginally a religious issue. The *vodunnon* does not seem to perceive the missionaries as a threat from a spiritual perspective. In fact, as already mentioned, the overlapping of places of worship is certainly not an unknown phenomenon. In *vodun*, the sacred is a transitory and negotiable dimension. According to Tafuri, this mobility principles also seem to apply to forests: “un sanctuaire sacré est avant tout fondé sur l’installation d’une divinité qui peut donc être déplacée, le site n’est donc pas une condition”<fnref n="83" />.

The case of the Catholic mission of Porto-Novo thus reveals a reality about land possession. Rosario Giordano highlights two elements regarding this event<fnref n="84" />: the limited role of king Sodji first, and Mikpon after, in establishing the Catholics and the exercise of an effective and exclusive power of the Thcango’s priest over the land.

Some authors have identified the exclusivity of landownership as one of the characteristic expressions of the power of the king<fnref n="85" />. The monarchy of Porto-Novo has been variously described by authors who visited the city at different times. A passage from Alfred Hagen, a French Colonial Navy doctor who was in Porto-Novo during the reign of Toffa (1874-1908), is given as an example:

> La royauté à Porto-Novo, est absolue dans la plus entière acception du terme. Tout au-dessous du roi, rien au-dessus. Le roi a droit de vie et de mort sur ses sujets; tous les biens de ces derniers lui appartiennent. Le sol n'a pas d'autre propriétaire que lui. Aujourd'hui il donne telle parcelle de terre à tel individu, demain il la lui enlèvera pour la donner à un autre. Son bon plaisir est sa seule règle, son unique loi<fnref n="86" />.

<footnote n="79">79. About the importance of the gesture of land-clearing as a fundamental act of taking possession of a space see Bouju, "La malédiction"; Gardini, *La terra contesa*, 55-65.</footnote>

<footnote n="80">80. Borghero's narration in his diaries is considerably less emphatic than Laffitte's.</footnote>

<footnote n="81">81. AMA, 2-E-3 (III), Cahier 1, f. 10.</footnote>

<footnote n="82">82. AMA, 2-E-3 (III), Cahier 3, f. 19.</footnote>

<footnote n="83">83. Tafuri, "Constructions territoriales", 8.</footnote>

<footnote n="84">84. Giordano, "Azione evangelizzatrice", 207.</footnote>

<footnote n="85">85. About Porto-Novo see Laffitte, *Le pays de nègres* pp. 90-91 and Bouche, *Sept ans en Afrique*, p. 344. See also E. Foà, *Le Dahomey*, Paris, Hennuyer, 1895, p. 185, about Abomey.</footnote>

<footnote n="86">86. A. Hagen, "La colonie de Porto-Novo et le roi Toffa", *Revue d'ethnographie*, t. 6, 1887, 81-116, 90.</footnote>
However, this description must be read in the light of its time. Just a dozen years earlier, in 1874, a report by the Father Natale Baudin defined Porto-Novo as “a sort of Republic, under the presidency of a Prince called Messi” where “*Cabécères* are the real owners of power”<fnref n="87" />. Also, John Adams, an English slave trader, who visited the city between 1786 and 1800, described the form of government in Porto-Novo (Ardrah) as republican<fnref n="88" />. The extreme variability of these descriptions reflects the complex balance of power in the monarchy of Porto-Novo, that can be ascribed to the framework of the systems of the Aja-Yoruba civilization area, characterized by dualistic logics (natives-immigrants)<fnref n="89" /> and segmental dynamics<fnref n="90" />. The monarchy of Porto-Novo is characterized by a system of election (called “Z-system”) in which the ruler was chosen in turn from among five branches of princes. Yves Person describes some features of this kind of system:

> La succession « en Z » entraîne l'avènement d'hommes âgés régnant peu de temps, ce qui n'est guère compatible avec un pouvoir fort et une grande continuité politique, mais convient très bien à un système marquant l'équilibre des différentes forces sociales<fnref n="91" />.

The Porto-Novo monarchy was therefore characterized – at least until the advent of King Toffa (1874-1908) who imposed a centralization of power, eliminated political opponents and finally abolished the “Z-system” of succession – by a dense network of counter-powers<fnref n="92" />. This counterweight was taken over by a numerous hierarchy of dignitaries<fnref n="93" /> (the main ones being: Gogan, Migan and Akplogan who transmitted their power by descent), chiefs of neighboring villages, princes (especially the powerful princes des mattez, in the countryside), lari or lalinon (servants and officials), merchants (African, Brazilian and European), missionaries and foreign officials and, not least, vodun priests. This very fluid framework of relationships compels the king to a policy of mediation between

<footnote n="87">87. N. Baudin “La guerra civile a Porto Nouvo”, *Le missioni cattoliche*, 9, IV, 1875, 106-109 continue in 10, IV, 1875, 117-118. From the portugaise *Cabeceiro*: chief. English translation is mine.</footnote>

<footnote n="88">88. J. Adams, *Remarks on the County Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo*, London, Whittaker, 1823, 82.</footnote>

<footnote n="89">89. See C.W. Newbury, *The Western Slave Coast and its Rulers*, Oxford, 1961.</footnote>

<footnote n="90">90. Among others, see: Akinjogbin, *Dahomey and Its Neighbours*, 14-17; R. Law, *The Oyo empire c. 1600-c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade*, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977.</footnote>

<footnote n="91">91. Y. Person, “Les monarchies africaines”, *Le mois en Afrique*, 17, 200, 1982, 161-176 (continues in 17, 200, 1982, 104-121), 163.</footnote>

<footnote n="92">92. Although the author neglects to make a diachronic analysis of how these counter-powers acted in the history of the monarchy, see: P. Adjivessode, “Contrepoids au pouvoir dans le royaume de Xogbonu (Porto-Novo)”, in A. Vido, P. Akogni, eds., *Regards croisés sur l’histoire et le patrimoine culturel africains à l’aube du 21ème siècle. Tome 2*, Saint-Denis, Edilivre, 2017.</footnote>

<footnote n="93">93. Despite the lack of an accurate historical reconstruction of the political transformation of the Porto-Novo monarchy between the 18th and the mid-19th century, it can be argued that the hierarchical order and the role of the various dignitaries (including the principal ones) was subject to constant change and never really assumed a stable and durable form.</footnote>
different forces and parties and pushes him into a policy of alliances, often muta-
ble, in order to maintain power and not plunge the country into civil war<fnref n="94" />.

The establishment of the Catholic missionaries was part of this complex sys-
tem of relations, as would be a few years later the exile of the Gogan Sotin<fnref n="95" /> and
the closure of the Protestant mission in September 1867. The management of land
ownership therefore reflects this fragmentation of political power.

The effective sale of the land to the missionaries by the *vodun* priest makes us realize not only that this land did not belong to the king, but also his difficulties in asserting his authority. In the case of Porto-Novo, the king is neither the only one who owns the land, nor the only one who can install other population groups<fnref n="96" />. The various oral sources that have been collected confirm the wide margin of authority given to dignitaries and *Houédouto*<fnref n="97" /> in land matters<fnref n="98" />. Additionally, the other princes (belonging to the branches not in power at the time) and their descendance could keep their *akamahô*<fnref n="99" /> and their properties in operation even when they were not reigning. These properties were not called into question when a ruler from a different branch was elected. This is attested by some documents concerning a land quarrel between the descendants of King Mikpon about the selling of some palm plantations<fnref n="100" />. Besides, the concept of private ownership of land existed at least since the 1850s, both in the urban Porto-Novo and in the peri-urban area where several merchants owned palm groves<fnref n="101" />.

Although less far-reaching compared to what is described by Mann<fnref n="102" /> about Lagos, the installation of Afro-Brazilians<fnref n="103" /> and Youruba<fnref n="104" /> Muslims in Porto-Novo also caused the development of a real estate market and the rise in prices<fnref n="105" />. In 1863, the Catholic missionaries, in search of a temporary place before their in-

<footnote n="94">94. Concerning relations between natives and Europeans in Porto-Novo, and the politics of alliances with actors inside and outside the kingdom particularly during *la période des troubles* see Giordano, *Europei e africani*, 141-260; E.A. Soumonni, “Porto-Novo, between the French and the British 1861-1884”, *Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria*, 12, 3/4, 1984-1985, 53-60.</footnote>

<footnote n="95">95. Among others, see: Akindélé, Aguessy, *Contribution à l'Étude*, 77-78, 131.</footnote>

<footnote n="96">96. Interview with Yovogan Guin Medji, Porto-Novo, Guevié Vekpa, 30 October 2022.</footnote>

<footnote n="97">97. The one at the head of the house and its lineage (*hennu*).</footnote>

<footnote n="98">98. This theory is also mentioned by Sinou, Oloudé, *Porto-Novo. Ville d'Afrique Noire*, 37.</footnote>

<footnote n="99">99. Sometimes translated in “private palace of the king”, but a better translation is “father’s quartier” for the descendant of a particular king. In fact, the *akamahô* did not have administrative functions and its structure did not differ from that of other neighbourhoods.</footnote>

<footnote n="100">100. ANOM, 14 MIOM 2160, Liste des biens de la famille Sohingbé, 19th Avril 1923. ANB, 2E18, Revendications d'une palmeraie, 5 Avril 1925.</footnote>

<footnote n="101">101. The influence of the Afro-Brazilian traders' ideas of land ownership and control probably helped to reinforce this concept. See D. Ross, “The Career of Domingo Martinez in the Bight of Benin 1833-64”, *The Journal of African History*, 6, 1, 1965, 79-90, 83.</footnote>

<footnote n="102">102. K. Mann, *Slavery and the Birth of an African City: Lagos, 1760-1900*, Bloomington IN, Indiana University Press, 2007, 246-276.</footnote>

<footnote n="103">103. On the role of ex-slaves from Brazil see P. Verger, *Flux et reflux de la traite des nègres entre le golfe de Bénin et Bahia de Todos os Santos*, Paris, Mouton, 1968.</footnote>

<footnote n="104">104. P. Marty, *Études sur l'Islam au Dahomey*, Paris, Leroux, 1926, 49-51.</footnote>

<footnote n="105">105. Giordano, “Azione evangelizzatrice”, 207.</footnote>
stallation, complained about the high cost of proprieties: “on nous offre une maisonette de rien composé de trois petites pieces et on en veut mille piastres”<fnref n="106" />. Fossangrives, the French Governor of Dahomey in 1899, wrote: “Il ne faut donc pas songer à accorder des concessions importantes près du littoral, la terre atteint partout un prix élevé et chaque palmier a un propriétaire”<fnref n="107" />.

In light of this, the question is about who took advantage of the idea of a central figure in Porto-Novo with full power over land ownership and economic arrangements.

Starting from the protectorate treaty of 1863, and even more explicitly from that of 1882, the French authorities pursued a dual policy with the king of Porto-Novo, in order to consolidate their interests in the area. On the one hand, through a series of treaties, they sought to remove an increasing number of responsibilities and benefits from the sovereign's management, on the other they worked to consolidate the prestige and power of his figure and supported him in his expansion of its territorial claims. This took place simultaneously on both a regional and urban level.

With the treaties of 23 February 1863 and 25 July 1883, French authorities persuaded the sovereign to concede important rights such as customs benefits<fnref n="108" />, the management of foreign policy and relations with England, going so far as to include in the treaties an ambiguous clause: “Le roi de Porto Novo, ses cabécères et chefs se soumettent d’avance et sans réserve ni restriction à toutes les conditions que le gouvernement de l’empereur jugera nécessaires à l’exercice de son autorité”<fnref n="109" />.

In the meantime, the French went to great lengths to ensure Toffa's subjuga-
tion of many surrounding village chiefs, consolidating the borders of his king-
dom. In the years immediately following the signing of the second protectorate,
French agents put under the protection of Toffa the chiefs of Dékamé, Ekpé, Yéva
and Pokea<fnref n="110" />.

In the city, after having secured the respect of the land properties and conces-
sions made to the French subjects before the establishment of the protectorate<fnref n="111" />,
the colonizers endeavored to wrest an increasing amount of land from the king<fnref n="112" />.
Following the treaty of 1883, the sovereign provides them with all the land nec-

<footnote n="106">106. AMA, 12/802-19921, Borghero à Planque, 19 September 1863.</footnote>

<footnote n="107">107. J. Fonssagrives, *Notice sur le Dahomey: publiée à l'occasion de l'Exposition Universelle*, Paris, Section du Dahomey et dépendances, 1900, 350.</footnote>

<footnote n="108">108. ANS, 8G-16, Note au sujet des douanes du Roi Toffa, 21 April 1904.</footnote>

<footnote n="109">109. *Traité du 25 février 1863 réglant provisoirement les rapports entre les agents du gouvernement protecteur et le roi de Porto Novo*, art. 3, quoted in Fonssagrives, *Notice sur le Dahomey*, 48-49.</footnote>

<footnote n="110">110. ANB, 1E-30, Déclaration des chefs de Dékame, 16th April 1887; Déclarations du Roi Soudo, des chefs des villages d'Ekpé et de Yevà, 12 May 1887.</footnote>

<footnote n="111">111. *Traité d'amitié avec le roi de Porto-Novo*, 23 February 1863, art. 3, 12, quoted in Fonssagrives, *Notice sur le Dahomey*, 46-48.</footnote>

<footnote n="112">112. ANS, 8G-16, Ratification d'une cession de terrains, 3 Mars 1876.</footnote>
essary for public buildings, and on 15 October 1900 a decree signed by French authorities established the complete alienation of all vacant properties<fnref n="113" />.

The centralization of power in the hands of Toffa, although part of a process that began before the second French protectorate, was particularly useful for the colonial authority, so as to implement a progressive transfer of powers and privi-leges of the king, not only in land matters.

As already mentioned, the colonizers fitted into a context where land owner-ship was already contested and articulated between a multiplicity of different subjects. However, the colonial authorities cunningly exploited some formal jus-tifications, such as certain consents and concessions from the sovereign, to seize privileges and land not directly dependent on Toffa. The complaints of the natives were certainly numerous and, although largely oral, there are traces of them in some letters sent to various ranks of the French colonial administration. The question of land requisitions in Porto-Novo was probably so evident that it led the Governor of Dahomey<fnref n="114" /> to mention the problem in a report of 1904 to the Gene-ral Governor of Dakar: "le droit de propriété semble si évident qu'on ne peut songer à le violer, sans se rendre manifestement coupable d'un monstrueux abus de pouvoir: or, rien de plus commun que les confiscation ou expropriations faites sans autres raisons que la simple volonté de l'administration"<fnref n="115" />.

Like the hunter with the deity of the soil, and the Aja migrants with their *hennuvodun*, the colonizers also had to justify their possession of the land with a higher-order reason: the bureaucratic one.

Conclusion

The strategies of land legitimation in southern Benin included several stages, not necessarily articulated in a chronological order. From the arrival of the first occupant to the struggles of the missionaries to settle in the city, it emerges that land ownership in ancient times was rooted in a series of intricate relationships<fnref n="116" />. Through the examination of some myths and tales of settlement, it has been shown how the concept of “first occupant” is ambiguous. This follows the idea of Lentz that “first-comers narratives are a particular widespread and attractive way

<footnote n="113">113. Videgla, “Un État Ouest-Africain”, 552-557.</footnote>

<footnote n="114">114. Probably Victor Liotard, Gouverneur du Dahomey between 1900 and 1906, but could also be written by Julien Penel that replaced Liotard for some moths in 1904.</footnote>

<footnote n="115">115. ANS, 8G-16, réclamation au ministère, 1904. The report is typewritten so it is not known if was sent or not and if the author changes his form.</footnote>

<footnote n="116">116. For a brief, though not extensive, comparison about land tenure and question arose with the English officers and the Protestant missionaries in other city of the coast see at least Mann, *Slavery and the Birth*, 237-276 about Lagos; C. Sorensen-Gilmour, “Badagry 1784-1863. The Po-litical and Commercial History of a Pre-Colonial Lagoonside Community in South West Nigeria”, PhD Thesis, University of Stirling, 1995,135-145 about Badagry.</footnote>
to assert property right because they are extremely malleable”<fnref n="117" />. In this multitude of meanings, deities occupy a key role, because they are able to connect the political and material dimension of the soil (*ayī*) with the ancestral and mythical dimension of the descendance and landownership (*nònvī*).

The several studies on religion in southern Benin, as Mondjannagni said, “n’ont pas toujours mis en relation ce phenomène [the religion] avec ses consequences sur les paysages geographiques”<fnref n="118" />. In this article, I have shown the importance of the relations between the *vodun* and the establishment of control over the land in ancient times by adopting religion as a privileged point of view for the political and social dynamics that shaped the processes of the transformation and legitimization of authority over land. *Vodun* deities are, as well as myths and historical tales<fnref n="119" />, equally part of the process of “construction of autochthony<fnref n="120" />” and contributes to defining the dichotomy between autochthon/newcomer that “structure les modes d’accès à la terre et aux ressources”<fnref n="121" />. The *vodun* deity ensures, justifying it with a tale, the transition between the earlier landowner and the “newly arrived”. From this perspective, deities represent therefore pivots through which we can observe the actions of various actors over the same territory.

As stressed by Berry<fnref n="122" />, the “traditional” system of land ownership is therefore not at all a closed system. The activities of missionaries, Brazilians and colonizers show us how they all play as actors in this intricate system, sharing existing local conceptions and customs and bringing in new ones. The issues emerged between the missionaries and the *vodun* priest reveal a plurality of overlapping trajectories: religious, economic, of prestige and power.

The evolution of the case regarding the land for the Catholic mission reveals how the monarchy of Porto-Novo passed through discordant phases and acted as part of a complex network of powers. Inside this framework, the missionaries and colonisers – and before them the merchants – were able to take advantage of this relation in order to justify their action.

In this sense, the limited literature available about Porto-Novo should not lead to the mistake of superimposing the sources concerning Dahomey to explain the state organisation of this kingdom.

However, it would be wrong to think of Porto-Novo rulers, especially Toffa, as passive elements in the hands of the colonisers. It has been shown how the rulers took advantage of the presence of the Europeans and missionaries in order to consolidate their authority and their prestige to fight political opponents in the

<footnote n="117">117. Lentz, *Land, Mobility, and Belonging*, 8.</footnote>

<footnote n="118">118. Mondjannagni, *Campagnes et villes*, 119.</footnote>

<footnote n="119">119. Law, “The Heritage of Oduduwa” and Law, “History and Legitimacy”.</footnote>

<footnote n="120">120. Houseman, “Note sur les récits”, 243-245.</footnote>

<footnote n="121">121. Le Meur, “Grandeurs villageoises”, 877.</footnote>

<footnote n="122">122. S. Berry, “Ancestral Property: Land, Politics and ‘The Deeds of the Ancestors’ in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire” in Ubink, Amanor, eds., *Contesting Land*, 27-53.</footnote>
internal struggles for power. Land issues, again, become the arena where this complexity emerges¹²³.

In conclusion, questioning landownership between the 18th and 19th century offers us a glimpse into the observation of how geographies of power are shaped by spaces, and at the same time of how spaces are defined by powers.

123. It is also interesting to see at the use of the argument that “the land belongs to the kings” in land conflicts, especially with slave descendants involved. See S. Lempereur, “The Land is Asking for History. Marriages, Land, and Post-Slavery in Southern Benin”, *Slavery & Abolition*, 43, 2, 2022, 394-413.