BENIN

I. INTRODUCTION

Benin: Flag and Anthem


Benin, republic in western Africa, formerly known as Dahomey. It has a coastline of 121-km (75-mi) on the Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. This wedge-shaped land extends inland, to the north, about 670 km (about 415 mi), making it one of the smaller African countries.
Benin has a tropical climate. Its economy is based primarily on agriculture, and many of the country’s farmers work at a subsistence level. Although Benin experienced considerable economic growth during the 1990s, it remains one of the poorest countries in Africa.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Benin






Notre Dame Cathedral, Benin
Notre Dame Cathedral is in Cotonou, the largest city in Benin. Twenty percent of the people of Benin are Roman Catholic and 65 percent follow traditional African religions.








Many different ethnic groups live in Benin. The Fon, along with the closely related Adja, are by far the largest. French is the official language of the country, but Fon and other African languages are widely spoken.
Benin was a colony within French West Africa from 1899 until it gained independence in 1960 as Dahomey. Dahomey was the name of one of the great African kingdoms of the 1700s and 1800s. It was based in Benin.
A series of military leaders brought many changes of government between 1960 and 1972, when a Marxist regime took charge. The country was renamed The People’s Republic of Benin in 1975. Economic difficulties in the late 1980s led Benin to seek closer ties with the West, and in 1989 the government renounced Marxist ideology. A new constitution and democratic reforms were introduced in 1990. Today, the Republic of Benin is a democracy with a president elected by the people.
II. LAND AND RESOURCES
Geography of Benin

Area 112,622 sq km
43,484 sq mi
Coastline 121 km
75 mi
Highest point Mont Sokbaro
658 m/2,159 ft
Benin can be roughly divided into four geographic zones, from south to north. The coastal strip in the south is a flat sandbank with no natural harbors. Immediately north of the beach is a network of shallow lagoons and swamps. Farther north, the second region is a fertile lowland called the barre country. Valleys run north to south along the region’s rivers, and most of the land is intensively cultivated. The third region is a rocky plateau in northern Benin. Most of the plateau is sparsely covered with grass and shrubs, and the soil is generally infertile. The rugged Atakora Mountains rise in the northwest.

Thatched Houses






Thatched Houses
Many homes in Benin are thatched and within walled compounds.






Benin is bordered on the north by Burkina Faso and Niger, on the east by Nigeria, and on the west by Togo. It borders the Gulf of Guinea on the south.
A. Rivers and Lakes
The Ouémé and Kouffo rivers drain most of southern Benin, and the Mono River, which forms part of Benin’s western border with Togo, drains the southwest. The main rivers of northern Benin are the Niger, which forms part of the boundary with the republic of Niger, and its tributaries, the Sota, Mékrou, and Alibori rivers.
B. Climate
Benin's climate is hot and generally humid. It ranges from equatorial in the south to an increasingly arid tropical wet-and-dry climate in the north. The south receives about 1,300 mm (about 51 in) of rainfall a year, mostly from March to July and in October and November. The average monthly temperature in southern Benin ranges from 20° to 34°C (68° to 93°F). During much of the year, sea breezes temper the climate. In the north temperature variations become more marked, and humidity decreases. On average, about 890 mm (about 35 in) of rain falls yearly in northern Benin, mainly from May to September. A dry, dust-laden wind called a harmattan blows from the Sahara into northern Benin from December to March.
C. Plants and Animals
A dense tropical rain forest once covered much of the land close behind Benin’s coastal strip. The rain forest has largely been cleared, except near rivers, and palms now are the main trees of the region. Woodlands form a large part of central Benin, and grasslands predominate in the drier north. Among the various animals found in Benin are elephants, buffalo, antelope, panthers, monkeys, crocodiles, and wild ducks.
The Parc National de la Pendjari is a game reserve near Natitingou in northern Benin. Farther north, along the Niger River is another game reserve, the Parc National du W du Niger, which Benin shares with neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso. Visitors to these reserves can view elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, and monkeys.
D. Natural Resources
Small deposits of petroleum are found offshore near Cotonou. Other mineral resources of Benin include iron ore, phosphates, chromium, rutile, clay, marble, and limestone. The country has not yet fully exploited its mineral resources.
E. Environmental Issues
Deforestation rates in Benin are higher than the average for Africa, and only 20.9 percent (2005) of Benin’s land area remains forested. About 23 percent (2007) of the country is protected in national parks, but poaching continues to threaten wildlife populations. Droughts have severely affected marginal agriculture in the north.
III. PEOPLE
People of Benin

Population 8,294,941 (2008 estimate)
Population density 75 persons per sq km
194 persons per sq mi (2008 estimate)
Urban population distribution 46 percent (2005 estimate)
Rural population distribution 54 percent (2005 estimate)
Largest cities, with population Cotonou, 828,000 (2003 estimate)
Porto-Novo, 238,000 (2003 estimate)
Parakou, 144,627 (2000 estimate)
Official language French
Chief religious affiliations Indigenous beliefs, 52 percent
Roman Catholic, 21 percent
Muslim, 20 percent
Life expectancy 53.9 years (2008 estimate)
Infant mortality rate 76 deaths per 1,000 live births (2008 estimate)
Literacy rate 43.2 percent (2005 estimate)
Benin’s population (2008 estimate) is 8,294,941, and is growing at a rate of 2.6 percent per year. The main cities are Cotonou, the commercial center; Porto-Novo, the capital; and Parakou, a trade center. Two-thirds of Benin’s people live in the southern part of the country. More than half the country’s inhabitants live in rural areas.


Customs of Benin
“Custom, then, is the great guide of human life,” wrote Scottish philosopher David Hume. Knowing the customs of a country is, in effect, a guide to understanding the soul of that country and its people. The following Sidebar is intended to provide a glimpse into the unique world of this nation’s customs: how people marry, how families celebrate holidays and other occasions, what people eat, and how they socialize and have fun.
open sidebar
A number of stilt villages have been built on lagoons in the south. The land is flooded in rainy season, and the houses rest on wooden poles, which keeps them above the water line. The people in these villages live by fishing .

Fon Appliqué Cloth Makers








Fon Appliqué Cloth Makers
The Fon people of Benin are noted for their appliqué banners, made by sewing cut out pieces of cloth onto a fabric background to form designs. This display of Fon work is for sale in the city of Abomey in southern Benin.











Village on Stilts
Ganvié is a village in Lac Nokoué, one of the calm, shallow lagoons that lie just behind Benin’s narrow strip of coast. All houses, shops, and community buildings are built on stilts in Ganvié, to keep them above water during floods. The people in the village live by fishing.






People from 42 different ethnic groups are represented in Benin. The Fon, or Dahomeans, and the closely related Adja, together account for about three-fifths of the population. They are the main ethnic groups in southern Benin. The Bariba and Somba together make up about one-sixth of the population and are found primarily in the north. The Yoruba constitute one-tenth of the population and predominate in the southeast, near the border with Nigeria.
A. Language and Religion

Benin Tapestries






Benin Tapestries
These appliqué tapestries, made in Benin from pieces of fabric, represent spirits from the Vodun religion. Many people in the West African nation of Benin practice Vodun, a belief that spirits reside in all things in nature.






French is the official language of Benin, but most people speak an African language. Each of the country’s ethnic groups has its own language. Fon is the most widely spoken language.

Ice Vendor, Cotonou






Ice Vendor, Cotonou
Street vendors offer blocks of ice for sale in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city and main seaport. Benin was once part of the French colony known as French West Africa, and French—as seen on the vendor’s signs—is still the official language of the country.








About 52 percent of the population professes traditional religious beliefs, chiefly Vodun, a belief in spirits. Arab merchants introduced Islam to the region, and today it is the religion of some 20 percent of the people, most of whom live in the north. Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism, is the religion of about 25 percent, the great majority of whom live in the south. European missionaries brought Christianity to Benin.
B. Education
Legislation adopted in 1978 made education compulsory in Benin from age 6 to 12. As a result about 109 percent of eligible children were enrolled in primary school by the year 2000, and the literacy rate had increased to 43 percent in 2005. However, only 28 percent of those eligible were enrolled in secondary schools. The country’s two institutions of higher learning are the National University of Benin (founded in 1970) in Cotonou and the University of Parakou (2001).
C. Cultural Institutions and Communications

Traditional Fulani Music of Benin






Traditional Fulani Music of Benin
For the Fulani of Benin, the primary function of music is to provide entertainment and to bring the community together for celebrations. This example features a flute similar to the Turkish nāy (a reed flute played by blowing across its top opening), clapping hands, tinkling bracelets, and stomping feet. It accompanies the dance of young girls as part of a “Festival of Girls” celebration. Most of the instruments of the Fulani are portable, probably because the Fulani have a nomadic way of life.









The National Library of Benin is located in Porto-Novo, and the National Museum is in Cotonou. A vodou museum, the Musée d'Histoire de Ouidah, is located in the town of Ouidah, near the coast. Abomey, north of Porto Novo, was the capital of the kingdom of Dahomey until the French defeat of the kingdom in 1892. The kings built palaces there of mud brick and decorated them with brightly painted low reliefs. Today, the royal palace complex serves as a museum with relics from the kings. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Traditional Drum Music of Benin






Traditional Drum Music of Benin
Among the Fon people of Benin, drum ensembles accompany religious and social events such as birth celebrations, funeral rituals, and ancestor worship. An ancient tradition associated with drumming is praising kings and sacred deities. Skin drums are used to sound, or “talk,” the praise-names by reproducing the inflection of the language. This percussion example is played in honor of the vodun deity Dan, the serpent deity, on a sacred drum called dan hun, which means “Dan’s drum.”








The state-owned radio and television service operates from Cotonou. In 2003 the government opened the way for private, commercial radio and television stations. Benin has a number of daily newspapers, most of them based in Cotonou.
IV. ECONOMY
Economy of Benin

Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$) $4.77 billion (2006)
GDP per capita (U.S.$) $545.10 (2006)
Monetary unit 1 Communaut* Financière Africaine (CFA) franc, consisting of 100 centimes
Number of workers 3,431,396 (2006)
Unemployment rate Not available
In 2006 Benin had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $4.8 billion, or $545.10 a person. GDP is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in the country. By this measure Benin is one of the poorest countries in Africa.

Heavy Traffic on Cotonou Bridge






Heavy Traffic on Cotonou Bridge
Cotonou is a bustling commercial center and the largest city in Benin. This busy bridge crosses a lagoon that branches off the Benin coast.








Benin’s economy is dependent upon agriculture and remains underdeveloped. Many private enterprises were nationalized in the 1970s, but worsening economic conditions forced the government to sell most of them in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The economy picked up in the 1990s as economic reforms were instituted, but the improvements mainly benefited the southern part of Benin and increased the economic disparity between the south and the north. Benin is a member of the Economic Community of West African States, an organization designed to promote economic cooperation and development.
A. Agriculture

Millet Crop, Benin






Millet Crop, Benin
These Somba women sift millet, a chief food crop in Benin. About two-thirds of Benin’s labor force works in agriculture, mainly in subsistence farming. Farming is the chief economic activity in the country, although the government has taken steps to encourage industrial development.






In Benin 64 percent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, forestry, or fishing. The largest share are subsistence farmers. The principal food crops are beans, cassava, corn, millet, sorghum, and yams. Cash crops, produced mainly in the south, include cotton, palm kernels, peanuts, and sugarcane. The herding of cattle, sheep, and goats predominates in the grasslands of the north.
B. Forestry and Fishing
Commercial forestry and fishing are largely undeveloped in Benin. Almost all of the wood cut in the country is used for fuel. Similarly, most of the fish caught in inland rivers and in lagoons is eaten locally. Small amounts of shrimp are landed on a commercial basis.
C. Mining and Manufacturing

Extracting Palm Oil






Extracting Palm Oil
These women in Benin are cracking palm nuts to extract palm oil. Benin’s economy is based largely on agriculture. Manufacturing is generally small in scale, and much of it involves processing farm products such as palm nuts. Palm oil is used as a lubricant and in soaps, foods, and cosmetics.








Mining plays a minor role in Benin’s economy. The production of petroleum stopped in the late 1990s, but companies from other countries had begun oil exploration in Benin in the early 2000s. Some limestone is also produced for use in cement manufacturing, and gold is exploited and used by artisans. Most other mineral resources are undeveloped.
Manufacturing is generally small in scale. The chief manufacturing activities involve the processing of primary products, such as cotton and oil palms. Industry includes palm oil processing operations, textile mills, a cement plant, and a sugar-refining complex.
D. Energy
Small thermal electric power plants provide energy along the coast, but most of Benin’s electricity is supplied by Ghana’s Akosombo Dam. Benin produced 69 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003.
E. Transportation
Benin has 19,000 km (11,806 mi) of roads; the principal arteries run parallel to the coast in the south and from Cotonou to Parakou. The coastal road links Benin and its capital with Lagos, Nigeria, to the east, and Lome, Togo, to the west. The main line of the country’s approximately 579-km (approximately 360-mi) rail system runs from Cotonou to Parakou, and Benin also has rail connections along the coast to Togo and Nigeria. Cotonou is Benin’s chief seaport and contains the nation’s main international airport.
F. Currency and Banking
Benin is a member of the West African Monetary Union, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, and the country’s monetary unit is the CFA franc, which is subdivided into 100 centimes. An exchange rate of 1 French franc equal to 50 CFA francs remained in force from 1948 until 1994, when the CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent. The principal banks of Benin are in Cotonou.
G. Foreign Trade
Benin’s annual imports generally cost much more than its exports earn. In 2002 the country’s imports were valued at $727 million and its exports at only $304 million. Benin’s main exports are cotton and palm products; its chief imports are textiles, clothing, and machinery. Benin’s principal trading partners for exports are Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Thailand; chief partners for imports are France, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, China, and the United States.
V. GOVERNMENT
From 1977 through 1989, Benin was governed by an elected legislature, the National Revolutionary Assembly. This unicameral (single-chamber) body elected a president, who ruled as head of the National Executive Council. The People’s Revolutionary Party of Benin, a Marxist-Leninist group, was the sole political party. The government abandoned Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology in 1989.
A new constitution approved by popular referendum in 1990 provided for a democratic, multiparty system with an elected National Assembly and a popularly elected president. The 83 members of the unicameral National Assembly serve four-year terms, and the president, who is both head of state and government, serves a five-year term. Since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1990, dozens of political parties have formed. Benin is divided into six provinces (Atacora, Atlantique, Borgou, Mono, Ouémé, Zou) for administrative purposes.
VI. HISTORY
Some time before 1600 it is thought that the Adja people migrated from the town of Tado on the Mono River (in Togo). They settled about 32 km (20 mi) from the coast and founded the village of Allada, where they mixed with the Fon and founded a kingdom. Allada became the capital of the kingdom, which reached the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries.
A. The Kingdom of Dahomey
In the early 17th century a dispute over the succession to the throne led two rival princes to leave Allada with bands of followers and found their own kingdoms. One kingdom became known as Porto-Novo, because of a trading post established there by the Portuguese. The other prince moved inland and at Abomey founded the kingdom of Dahomey. This kingdom dominated the area until the 19th century.
By the late 17th century the Fon people were raiding and conquering small tribes to their north to have slaves to exchange for manufactures from Europe. The slaves were exported at coastal ports to plantations in the Americas. In the late 1720s Agaja, king of Dahomey, conquered the four southern kingdoms. His conquests brought him into conflict with the Yoruba people to the east, from which the defeated rulers sought assistance. After the Yoruba captured Abomey in 1738, Dahomey maintained its independence only by agreeing to pay an annual tribute. Dahomey then turned to expansion northward.
The abolition of the slave trade in the 1830s and after dealt a blow to Dahomey’s prosperity, but King Glélé, with the aid of European traders, found a remunerative substitute in the oil palm. A French firm started the oil palm industry in Dahomey, and the king signed a treaty of friendship and trade with France in 1851.
B. Colonization
Rivalry between France and Britain on the African coast was heightened in 1861, after British forces won the town of Lagos (now in Nigeria) from Dahomey. France had already established a trading post at Grand-Popo in 1857. By two treaties signed in 1868 and 1878, the Cotonou area, lying between Ouidah and Porto-Novo, was ceded to France. Glélé’s successor, Béhanzin, tried to regain the land, which was essential to continued participation in the slave trade, but was routed by the French in 1892. The Dahomey kingdom was then declared a French protectorate. After a brief period in which he led guerrilla bands against the French, Béhanzin was captured in January 1894 and exiled to Martinique.
In 1899 Dahomey was incorporated into French West Africa, with its exact boundaries defined through accords with Britain and Germany, colonizers of the neighboring areas to the east and west, respectively. At the end of World War I (1914-1918), the eastern part of the German colony of Togo was put under French mandate. Dahomey, as part of French West Africa, adhered to the cause of the Free French during World War II (1939-1945), and in 1946 it became one of the French overseas territories; from 1958 to 1960 it was an autonomous republic of the French Community. Independence was proclaimed on August 1, 1960, and the following month Dahomey was admitted to the United Nations (UN).
C. Independence








Mathieu Kérékou
Mathieu Kérékou controlled Benin from 1972 to 1991. He staffed the government with young army officers and made Marxism-Leninism the official ideology. After losing an election in 1991, Kérékou apologized for the abuses of his regime. In 1996 he was reelected president.









The country’s political history since independence has been checkered. The first president, Hubert Maga, was ousted in 1963 by the army commander, and a series of four coups followed in the next six years. In 1970 a three-member presidential commission took power and suspended the constitution. The members, including former president Maga, were to serve as president successively. Maga held office first, succeeded in 1972 by Justin Ahomadegbe.
Later in 1972 army major Mathieu Kérékou led a military coup, ending the commission form of government. He established a military government with himself as president. In 1974 Kérékou proclaimed his commitment to introducing revolutionary socialism and establishing what he called a Marxist-Leninist state. Many banks, industries, and other enterprises were soon nationalized. Ties with Communist countries, notably China, were greatly expanded. In November 1975 the country’s name was changed from Dahomey to Benin. A new constitution, making the People’s Revolutionary Party of Benin the sole political party, was promulgated in 1977. Three former presidents, detained since the coup of 1972, were released in 1981.
Elected president by the National Revolutionary Assembly in 1980 and reelected in 1984, Kérékou survived a military coup attempt four years later. Faced with economic problems and internal dissent, he abandoned Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology in late 1989. A new constitution, adopted in 1990, paved the way for the establishment of a multiparty democracy in Benin. The next year, in the country’s first free elections in 30 years, Kérékou was defeated by Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo. Soglo attacked Benin’s struggling economy by instituting austerity measures and promoting free-market economics. Relations with Western countries also improved. While the nation’s economy improved slowly, Soglo’s personal popularity sagged. In March 1996 elections Soglo was defeated by Kérékou.
Kérékou, who renounced his autocratic, Marxist-Leninist past, further liberalized Benin’s economy and secured economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). He was reelected in March 2001. Legislative elections in 2003 gave Kérékou a clear majority in the National Assembly.