The Mino was an all-female military regiment in the Kingdom of Dahomey which is present-day Republic of Benin in West Africa. The Europeans called them the Dahomey Amazons. The regiment was established in the late 1600s and disbanded around 1900 when the area became a French protectorate.

The Mino were trained as traditional warriors with intense physical exercise, learning survival skills, and performing military exercises. There were different regiments with different weapons, uniforms, and commanders. The woman fought in many conflicts with neighboring kingdoms, often doing slave raids. They were married to the king, but only in a formal sense, so they couldn’t marry anyone else and were celibate.

They had privileges such as good tobacco and alcohol, and residing in the King’s palace after dark. They also had up to 50 slaves each. One slave would walk ahead of them ringing a bell to alert people giving them time to move out of the way and avert their eyes.

They were the inspiration for the Dora Milaje, the all-female warriors, in the Black Panther movie.