Over at Culture Trip:
More here...The Amazons were a myth, a terrifying evocation of female domination believed to derive from male fear of female empowerment. No equivalent has ever been seen in Western culture. Indeed in the majority of societies, women have only been permitted into army ranks very recently. But from the 18th to the early 20th century in Benin the armed forces were led by the Mino, a fierce all-female army tasked with guarding the palace, royalty and fighting for the territory of Benin, then known as Dahomey. When European colonialists and missionaries encountered these women, they swiftly gained the nickname ‘the Dahomey Amazons’. While they shared few of the traits of their mythical counterparts — no self-mutilation for better aim; nor ideological male infanticide — they remain the only known army corps in world history populated exclusively by women.
Mino Benin Dahomey Amazonians | © Wikicommons
