What is most noteworthy about this episode in Afro-Portuguese relations in the early sixteenth century is that Benin always remained firmly in control of the terms of engagement with the Europeans, obliging the outsiders to broadly conform to its customs and protocols, and ultimately shutting off the supply of slaves when it no longer perceived the trade to be in its interest. In fact, with the Portuguese playing the game of bilateral relations for the most part on Benin’s terms, successive obas may have imagined the foreigners as their vassals, even if the Europeans did not share this view.
