names, in Bruce Chatwin's novel The Viceroy of Ouidah) portray him as extremely cruel: he is said to have raised hyenas to which he would throw live subjects for amusement; he is pictured slitting a pregnant woman's abdomen open on a bet to see whether he could predict the sex of the fetus. Many historians question the negative portrayal of Adandozan in the official history and common stories about the king and believe that it is the attempt to remove his claim to history. A similar process may have occurred earlier with Queen Hangbe who may have ruled for a brief period in the 1700s. Although tradition has not been kind to Adandozan, the letters he wrote to various outsiders, especially the kings and other officials of Portugal (who fled to Brazil following the conquest of Portugal by Napoleon) have shown a different picture of his rule. In these letters, Adandozan outlines substantial military campaigns, which he presents as victories, as well as detailing his negotiations with Europeans. Some of these letters were published in work by Pierre Verger in the 1960s. A large cache, found in the Instituto Historico e Geografico Brasileiro and Biblioteca Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, and several of the letters in this collection were examined in an article published by historian Ana Lucia Araujo in the British journal Slavery and Abolition. The full text of Adandozan's letters, both from the Institute cache and other repositories, as well as a few from his predecessor Agongolo and his successor Gezo were published in (the original) Portuguese in 2013. Bibliography La vie, le règne et l'œuvre de Dàdà Adàndozàn : Vingt-et-un ans effectifs de règne (1797-1818), deux cents ans d'ostracisme (1818-2018) : Actes du colloque tenu à l'Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Campus d'Abomey-Calavi, les 27, 28 et 29 mars 2014, pref. Brice A. Sinsin. Cotonou : Christon Editions, 2021, 9789998291577. References Kings of Dahomey 1861 deaths Year of birth unknown Damnatio memoriae 18th-century monarchs in Africa 19th-century monarchs in Africa 18th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey 19th century in the Kingdom of Dahomey Dethroned monarchs