"SEH-DONG-HONG-BEH, an amazon in the Dahoman army. " Forbes, Frederick, artist. "[Dahomey and the Dahomans, Being the Journals of Two Missions to the King of Dahomey, and Residence at his Capital, in the years 1849 and 1850, London, 1851.] "sketch.
Sketch of the Gbeto decapitating an enemy. USC Digital Library.
Origins: The Gbeto were first documented in the journals of European travelers in the early 1720s, but it is believed that their creation was much earlier. It is believed that the first unit of Gbeto had been elephant huntresses and guards of the King. As the slave trade became more in demand, cities fought each other and many men were either slaughtered or sold to the slave trade by their enemies. Dahomey, being located in an open space had to be protected, so women became the fighting force. As the slave trade advanced, the number of women warriors went from the hundreds to the thousands.
Who: Many of the women that served in the Gbeto were Dahomey civilians; some were volunteered by their families to serve. There were even women in the Gbeto who were taken from enemy cities of Dahomey; instead of being sold in the slave trade, the Dahomey Kingdom used them to their benefit. They looked for young, physically fit girls who could withstand the intense training.
Training: The Gbeto lived in the palace, and protected it. They were seperated from the rest of the society as a part of their training. In training they were taught to be merciless and became experts in decapitation. They were said to have been the most feared women in all of Africa. They were to remain celibate, unless the King took them as a wife; the punishment for this was often death. A reason for staying celibate could be because of a notion that a child would make a woman more empathetic towards the enemy; the Gbeto had to be focused on the protection of the Kingdom and its interests. They were trained in using machetes, and were experts in one on one combat, often sparing with one another.
Contributions: Through their military service, the Warrior Women of Dahomey not only protected the city but installed fear in their enemies; this kept Dahomey one of the most powerful Kingdoms in Africa. Theyhelped keep their own people out of the slave trade, and were successful in making sure Dahomey was a power not to bereckoned with. They would die to protect their city and their king. Because of the lack of men due to wars, raids, and the slave trade, the women warriors showed they were up to the task. They werepraised for being more effective than the men, and even outshined them in combat.
French Colonialism
Although the Gbeto were strong, powerful women who were very effective in combat, they were unable to stop the French from conquering Dahomey. The French had weapons that were more technologically advanced than the Dahomey people. Many Gbeto died fighting the French colonists.