Battle of Atchoukpa

Battle context

At Atchoukpa on 20 April 1890, a French force of 350 troops under Colonel Terrillon, reinforced briefly by 500 warriors loyal to King Toffa I, repulsed a Dahomean force of approximately 9,000, including 2,000 Dahomey Amazons under King Béhanzin. The engagement inflicted an estimated 1,500 Dahomean casualties and halted an advance directed at Porto-Novo, the French-protected kingdom whose security was central to France's position in the region. By turning back a force many times its size, the French column demonstrated a capacity to hold the approaches to Porto-Novo, checking Béhanzin's immediate ambitions and shaping the terms on which the First Franco-Dahomean War would conclude later in 1890.