The Fon people founded the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1625, and King Houegbadja, who reigned from 1645 to 1685, founded the city and was the first to build palaces. Twelve kings reigned until 1900, and the article says the palaces functioned from 1695 to 1900.
A mud wall about 6 miles (10 km) around the town had six gates, with a ditch about 5 feet (1.5 m) deep filled with prickly acacia. The materials were earth, palm, bamboo, iroko and mahogany. Bas-reliefs were made of ant-hill earth mixed with palm oil and dyed with natural pigments.
UNESCO inscribed the site in 1985, and a tornado in 1984 damaged it. It was on the Danger list until 2007, and a bushfire on January 21, 2009 destroyed several buildings. The palaces of Guézo and Glèlè house a museum.
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