Also just a note to the article:

Don't confuse the Kingdom of Benin with the current Republic of Benin. The two are totally different entities, located in different lands, with different ethnic groups, and different histories. The only thing they share is the name.

The current Republic of Benin was the old Kingdom of Dahomey. This was a highly militaristic society, which even included a corps of female troops. Dahomey was a state whose economy had a high dependence on slave raiding and the selling of slaves.