King Bahanzin of Dahomey, West Africa, smoking a pipe. Wood engraving after a photograph taken aboard a French war vessel off Sierra Leone by Major Fairtlough. Behanzin ( 845-1906) is considered the eleventh and last King of Dahomey, the modern-day Republic of Benin. Upon taking the throne, he changed his name from Kondo. He led the resistance to French colonization of his kingdom during the Dahomey Wars, but the French ulitmately took over and he was deposed and went into exile. Colorized

---

Size: 2700px × 3698px
Location:
Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1886, africa, african, art, bahanzin, bath, benin, black, colonialism, colorized, dahomey, electric, engraving, enhanced, french, history, illustration, king, leader, male, man, person, portrait, republic, royalty, ruler, west, wood