Gangnihessou, or Ganye Hessou, is the first of the traditional "twelve king

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

s of Dahomey

Dahomey

Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...

." Dahomey was an Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n kingdom situated in what is now Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

.

Descent

According to the stories Gangnihessou came from a dynasty

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

 that in the 16th century had come, from Tado

Tado

Tado is a village in south east Togo, near the border with Benin.Tradition states that Tado was the birthplace of the Aja people at some point in the 12th or 13th century. Today the Aja populate the south part of Togo and Benin...

 on the river Moro

Moro

- Events :* Moro Crater massacre, an engagement in the Philippine-American War* Battle of the Moro, a World War II battle between mainly Canadian and German forces on the Moro river in Italy in 1943...

, a place that now lies in Togo

Togo

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...

, to Allada

Allada

Allada is a town, arrondissement, and commune located in the Atlantique Department of Benin.Allada was the capital of the most powerful king in Ajaland before it fell to the armies of Dahomey....

, and there became kings of Great Ardra. He was one of four brothers. One of them was king of Great Ardra, and after his death his territories were divided over his three brothers. This is how, besides Great Ardra and Little Ardra  Dahomey came into existence, even though that originally was no bigger than the Abomey

Abomey

When UNESCO designated the royal palaces of Abomey as a World Heritage Site in 1985 it statedFrom 1993, 50 of the 56 bas-reliefs that formerly decorated the walls of King Glèlè have been located and replaced on the rebuilt structure...

-plateau.

King

Ganye Hessou is said to have been king around 1620. He is supposed to have been dethroned by his brother Dakodonou

Dakodonou

Dakodonou was the second King of Dahomey. He ruled from 1620 to 1645. In traditional Abomey stories, Dakodonou overthrew his brother, the previous King Gangnihessou, when the ruler was absent from the capital on a tour of the kingdom. Dakodonou is portrayed as a brutal and violent man...

 while traveling through the kingdom. His symbols were the male gangnihessou-bird, a drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

, and a hunting stick with throwing stick

Throwing Stick

The throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...

. (The bird was a rebus

Rebus

A rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...

 for his name.)

Historical

It is not entirely clear whether historically he actually was a king. It would also be possible that he was a leader of importance, who managed the affairs of the society through his suggestions, with his brother Dakodonou being the first to assume the title of king. It is clear, however, that Dakodonou was considered King, in his time.

Great Ardra

If one were to follow the stories as strictly as possible, then the number of brothers points to Gangnihessou actually being the brother who, as king of Great Ardra, was king over all three lands. There are indeed also stories that name him in that function. In these, Dogbagrigenu is the brother that gets Dahomey, and Dakodonou is the son of Dogbagrigenu.