The Kingdom of Benin is a still-active monarchy state in Africa and is where Olaudah Equiano claimed to be born in his slave narrative The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. While this claim has been contested, the Kingdom itself was an important entity during the period that the triangle trade was beginning, which was the period in time which it experienced the most development and gains economically. Since then, it has fallen off in general relevancy. Early European scholars from the 19^th century highlight a culture of cruel ritual and human sacrifice from Benin’s history, however later scholars have claimed that this culture was a narrow one that was blown out of proportion by the earlier scholars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Benin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interesting_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_O...