Dahomean-Fon mythology

The Mythology Dahoméenne-Fon brings together the myths and legends of the following peoples, kingdoms and religions of Central Africa: Dahomean religion, Kingdom of Dahomey, Fons, Kingdom of Abomey, Vodoun

The Dahomean religion was practiced by the Fon people of the kingdom of Dahomey. The kingdom existed until 1898, in what is now the Republic of Benign. 

the kingdom of dahomey — or Danhomè in the Fon language — was an ancient African kingdom located in the south-west of present-day Benin between the 17th^e century and the end of the nineteenth^e century. Danhomè developed on the Abomey plateau in the early 1600s and became a regional power in the 18th^e century by conquering key cities on the Atlantic coast, in particular the port of Ouidah. 

According to local traditions, populations of Yoruba origin would have left xvi^e century the Ketou region in Yorubaland (western and southern Nigeria, eastern Benin) to settle in Tado, near the Mono River. Two groups formed there: The Ewe (or Ehvé) who headed west (today's Togo) and the Fons (Dauma or Dahomeans) who settled in the east.

The Ewe (or Ehvé) create Nuatja. But the advent of an authoritarian power pushes around 1700-1750 the ethnic group to divide into three groups: the Ehvés, the Anlos (or Anglo) to the east of the Volta (river towards the Gulf of Guinea) and the Ouatchis. They settled in the areas where they live today and formed chiefdoms or republics ruled by councils of elders.

The Fons themselves founded three kingdoms. Around 1600, they founded Allada (kingdom of the Ardres or Adra). Then wars of succession lead to the formation of two other kingdoms: Abomey and Adjatché (Porto Novo).

The kingdom of Abomey, later renamed 'Dahomey', probably due to poor European transcription, quickly gained the upper hand during wars of conquest against its neighbors and the Yoroubas.