http://terencechoong.blogspot.no/2011/07/great-people-we-should-know-but-dont.html

The Dahomey Amazons, or Mino, were a Fon (a major West African
ethnic and linguistic group in the country of Benin, and southwest
Nigeria) all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey
(now Benin), which lasted until the end of the 19th century. They
were so named by Western observers and historians due to their
similarity to the semi-mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia and
the Black Sea. The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi
("king's wives"), of which there were often hundreds. They trained
with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasized. In the
latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and
knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into
the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated. The French army
lost several battles to them due to the female warriors’ skill in
battle that was “the equal of every contemporary body of male
elite soldiers from among the colonial powers”. The last surviving
Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.