Passion or Profession: Resistance leader

Period: 1844–1906

Gbehanzin became the leader of the Kingdom of Dahomey upon the death of his father, King Glélé, in 1889. His efforts to reassert control over lands ceded to the French led to fighting between Gbehanzin's forces and French troops the following year. The resistance lasted until Gbehanzin's defeat in December 1893. The French captured him in January 1894 and exiled him to the Caribbean island of Martinique. He remains a symbol of the fight against colonization.