Black and white print illustrating the 1851 Battle of Abeokuta, during which Dahomey invaders attacked the Egba’s' capital of Abeokuta. The Egba’s, occupying higher ground, use hatchets, spears, and British firearms to fend off Dahomey forces who climb the great Egba Defense Wall.
Courtesy Internet Archive. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
If you have seen the movie, #KingWoman featuring Viola Davis and John Boyega, the film showed the exploits of the Dahomey amazons against the Oyo Army.
What many people didn’t know and what should be a sequel to the movie is that the same Dahomey Amazons raided Abeokuta Twice.
The 1st Invasion took place on Monday, the 3rd of March 1851 (The year Lagos was Bombarded by the British Naval forces), and the 2nd Invasion was on the 15th of March 1864.
A very fierce battle was fought during the 1st invasion at the gate of Aro in Abeokuta, the battle saw the best of the best of Egba warriors at play, it was so fierce that the Egba men didn’t know they were fighting with women until the 4th day of the battle when one of the Dahomey amazons was captured and it was custom to cut off the private parts of the captive and present it to the Baale, it was then they found out that they had been fighting the infamous Dahomey amazons all this while.
The battle also brought the legendary exploits of the great Ogunbona, the Balogun of Ikija into the history books. His display of undaunted courage and bravery saved the Egba people from their enemy.
Hopefully, we will do a live video session to explain how famous Dahomey Invaded Abeokuta fully.
#ASIRIMagazine #digitalarchivesproject #EgbaHistory #DahomeyAmazons #yoruba #historymatters #warriorspirit
Credit Arabirin Sola
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