The Auction Square and the Chacha

Francisco Félix de Souza, a Luso-Brazilian merchant, settled in Ouidah in the early nineteenth century. In 1818 he backed the accession of Ghézo against his brother Adandozan. In return the new king granted him the title of Chacha and charge of the kingdom's external trade at Ouidah. That function must be distinguished from that of the Yovogan, the governor the king maintained in the town: two separate offices, at times rivals, one political, the other commercial.

On this square the auction was held. Captives brought from the interior were examined, appraised, bargained over with the ships' captains, then branded before being set on the road of deportation. These are the facts, they are documented, and they need no commentary to be understood.

The change of name is not an administrative detail. To name a place after a broker was to centre memory on the one who sold. To name it after the auction is to centre it on those who were sold. The official designation of Auction Square proceeds from that choice, and the visitor arriving today reads the function first, not the dynasty.

The story of this man cannot be told by halves, however, in either direction. De Souza built his fortune on one of the most destructive systems in human history. He also restructured the town, accompanied the transition towards the palm oil trade, and founded the Agouda community whose architecture, cooking and festivals still mark Ouidah. Both are true at once. That is precisely what makes this chapter difficult, and necessary.

The dynasty is not extinct: the title of Chacha is still transmitted, with its court and its customary obligations, and the de Souza family belongs to the living heritage of the town. To name what happened here in the nineteenth century is not to call into question those who live today. Our guides hold that distinction, and they hold it before descendants on both sides of the Atlantic.