The Mino of Dahomey, now Benin, from the Fon tribal group

An all-woman fighting force who protected Dahomey from Colonial European Powers for 3 Centuries until they were finally defeated by overwhelming French Force backed by repeating weapons, artillery, cavalry, and for all I know machine guns, in 1892. They defeated the French repeatedly before the final overwhelming onslaught.

I was introduced to them by the Stieg Larsson Book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahomey_Amazons

"The Dahomey Amazons or Mino were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey in the present-day Republic of Benin which lasted until the end of the 19th century. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the semi-mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia and the Black Sea."

"King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto.[1](p20)

"Houegbadja's son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) established a female bodyguard armed with muskets. European merchants recorded their presence. According to tradition, Agadja developed the bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey's defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727.[2] The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning "Our Mothers" in the Fon language, by the male army of Dahomey."

"Ghezo recruited both men and women soldiers from foreign captives, though women soldiers were also recruited from free Dahomian women, some enrolled as young as 8 years old.[2] Other accounts indicate that the mino were recruited from among the ahosi ("king's wives") of which there were often hundreds.[1](p3 Some women in Fon society became soldiers voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the king about their behaviour."

"The women soldiers were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By the mid-19th century, they numbered between 1,000 and 6,000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army, according to reports written by visitors. The reports also noted variously that the women soldiers suffered several defeats, but that the women soldiers were consistently judged to be superior to the male soldiers in effectiveness and bravery."

Amazing story.

Rob