Coronation of the King of Whidah, April 1725, from Marchais

Single page from "The Universal Traveller: Or, A Compleat Description Of the several Nations of the World" by Mr. Salmon, printed for Richard Baldwin, London, 1759. The Kingdom of Whydah, sometimes written Hueda, was a kingdom on the coast of West Africa in the boundaries of the modern nation of Benin. King Haffon is shown seated before large groups of drummers and armed warriors with a large contingent of white slavers and traders seated at his left. To his right are some of his favourite wives. Haffon was the last ruler of the kingdom before it was capture by the forces of Dahomey in 1727. The 1725 date was given by Chevalier des Marchais but some modern scholars believe this even was in 1717-8.