Hueda (Whydah) Country and Town

On March 9, 1727, advance troops from the kingdom of Dahomey met little direct military resistance as they crossed the body of water- often glossed by European chroniclers as the River Euphrates and known in the region today as Lake Toho- located approximately one kilometer north and east of the Huedan palace complex at Savi (Figure I).1 Documentary accounts from European traders then living in the region suggest that Dahomean troops proceeded to first sack and burn the palace at Savi and thereafter to raze European trading lodges located therein.2 During these attacks, tens of thousands of Huedans were displaced, thousands killed, and thousands more removed to Abomey …