Dahomey, kingdom in western Africa that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries in the region that is now southern Benin. According to tradition, at the beginning of the 17th century three brothers vied for the kingdom of Allada, which, like neighbouring Whydah (now Ouidah), had grown rich on the slave trade. When one of the brothers won control of Allada, the other two fled. One went southeast and founded Porto-Novo, on the coast east of Whydah. The other, Do-Aklin, went north to found the kingdom of Abomey, core of the future Dahomey. They all paid tribute to the powerful