Savi
Savi is a town in Benin that was the capital of the Kingdom of Whydah prior to its capture by the forces of Dahomey in 1727.
An account of the city was given by Robert Norris in 1789:
Sabee, at that period the metropolis of the kingdom, the residence of their monarch, and seat of their commerce, was more than four miles in circumference. The houses, constructed with mud walls, were roofed with thatch. The factory houses of the European traders were spacious and airy, distributed into convenient apartments, and surrounded on the outside with a large gallery opening into balconies. The town swarmed with people, insomuch, that it was impossible to pass through the streets without great difficulty. Markets were held every day, at which were exposed to sale all sorts of merchandizes, European and African, besides abundance of provisions of every kind.[1][2]
There were British, French, Dutch and Portuguese factories in the city, adjacent to the Royal Palace. They were essentially involved in the slave trade.
References
- Monroe, Cameron. "Urbanism on West Africa's Slave Coast". American Scientist. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- Norris, Robert (1789). "Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahádee: King of Dahomy, an Inland Country of Guiney. To which are Added, the Author's Journey to Abomey, the Capital; and a Short Account of the African Slave Trade. By Robert Norris. Illustrated with a New Map".
- Norris, Robert (1789), Memoirs of the reign of Bossa Ahádee London: Printed for W. Lowndes.
- Ross, David. "Robert Norris, Agaja, and the Dahomean Conquest of Allada and Whydah" in History in Africa, 16 (1989), 311–324.
- Harms, Robert. The Diligent: A Journey through the Worlds of the Slave Trade. New York: Basic Books, 2002. p. 155-156.