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Motto:
"Fraternité, Justice, Travail" (French)
"Fraternity, Justice, Labour" |
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Benin officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north; its short coastline to the south leads to the Bight of Benin. Its size is just over 110,000 km˛ with a population of almost 8,500,000. Its capital is the Yoruba founded city of Porto Novo, but the seat of government is the Fon city of Cotonou. Benin was known as Dahomey until 1975. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
During the colonial period and at independence, the country was known as Dahomey. It was changed in 1975 to the People's Republic of Benin after the body of water on which the country lies, the Bight of Benin, which had in turn been named after the Benin Empire. Thus the country of Benin has no direct connection to Benin City in modern Nigeria, nor to the Benin bronzes.
The new name was chosen for its neutrality. Dahomey was the name of the former Kingdom of Dahomey, which covered only the southern third of the present country and therefore did not represent the northwestern Atakora nor the kingdom of Borgu, which covered the northeastern third.
Area: 43,484 sq mi (112,622 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 7,649,000. Capital: Porto-Novo (official), Cotonou (de facto). The Fon people and related groups constitute two-fifths of the population; minorities include the Yoruba, Fulani, and Adjara. Languages: French (official), Fon. Currency: CFA franc. Religions: traditional religions, Islam, Christianity. Extending about 420 mi (675 km) inland from the Gulf of Guinea, Benin includes a hilly region in the northwest, where the maximum elevation is 2,103 ft (641 m). There are plains in the east and north and a marshy region in the south, where the coastline extends about 75 mi (120 km). Benin’s longest river, the Ouémé, flows into the Porto-Novo Lagoon and is navigable for 125 mi (200 km) of its 280-mi (450-km) length. Benin has a developing mixed economy based largely on agriculture and operates an offshore oil field. It is a republic with one legislative house; the head of state and government is the president, assisted by the prime minister. In southern Benin the Fon established the Abomey kingdom in the early 17th century. In the 18th century the kingdom expanded to include Allada and Ouidah, where French forts had been established in the 17th century. By 1882 the French were firmly reestablished in the area, and conflict between the French and Africans ensued. In 1894 Dahomey became a French protectorate; it was incorporated into the federation of French West Africa in 1904. It achieved independence in 1960. Dahomey was renamed Benin in 1975. Its chronically weak economy created problems for the country into the 21st century.
Prior to colonial rule, part of the territory that is now Benin consisted of powerful, independent kingdoms, including various Bariba kingdoms in the north and in the south the kingdoms of Porto-Novo and Dahomey (Dan-ho-me, “on the belly of Dan;” Dan was a rival king on whose grave Dahomey’s royal compound was built). In the late 19th century French colonizers making inroads from the coastal region into the interior borrowed the name of the defeated Dahomey kingdom for the entire territory that is now Benin; the current name derives from the Bight of Benin.
Benin consists of five natural regions. The coastal region is low, flat, and sandy, backed by tidal marshes and lagoons. It is composed of, in effect, a long sandbar on which grow clumps of coconut palms; the lagoons are narrower in the western part of the country, where many have become marshes because of silting, and wider in the east, and some are interconnected. In the west the Grand-Popo Lagoon extends into neighbouring Togo, while in the east the Porto-Novo Lagoon provides a natural waterway to the port of Lagos
, Nigeria, although its use is discouraged by the political boundary. Only at Grand-Popo and at Cotonou do the lagoons have outlets to the sea.
Behind the coastal region extends the barre country—the word being a French adaptation of the Portuguese word barro (“clay”). A fertile plateau, the barre region contains the Lama Marsh, a vast swampy area stretching from Abomey to Allada. The landscape is generally flat, although occasional hills occur, rising to about 1,300 feet (400
metres).
The Benin plateaus, four in number, are to be found in the environs of Abomey, Kétou, Aplahoué (or Parahoué), and Zagnanado. The plateaus consist of clays on a crystalline base. The Abomey, Aplahoué, and Zagnanado plateaus are from 300 to 750 feet high, and the Kétou plateau is up to 500 feet in height.
The Atakora Mountains, in the northwest of the country, form a continuation of the Togo Mountains to the south. Running southwest to northeast and reaching an altitude of 2,103 feet (641 metres) at their highest point, they consist of a highly metamorphosed quartzite interior.
The kingdom of Dahomey formed from a mixture of ethnic groups on the Abomey plain. Historians theorized that the insecurity caused by slave trading may have contributed to mass migrations of groups to modern day Abomey, including some Aja, a Gbe people who are believed to have founded the city. Those Aja living in Abomey mingled with the local Fons, also a Gbe people, creating a new ethnic group known as "Dahomey". The Gbe peoples are said to be descendents of a number of migrants from Wyo. Gangnihessou, (a member of an Aja dynasty that in the 16th century along with the Ajay populace had come from Tadeo before settling and ruling separately in what is now Abominate, Allard, and Porto Novo), became the first ruler of the Dahomey Kingdom. Dahomey had a military culture aimed at securing and eventually expanding the borders of the small kingdom with its capital at modern day
Abomey.
The Dahomey kingdom was known for its culture and traditions. Boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers at a young age, and learned about the kingdom's military customs until they were old enough to join the navy. Dahomey was also famous for instituting an elite female soldier corps, called Ahosi or "our mothers" in the Fongbe language, and known by many Europeans as the Dahomean Amazons. This emphasis on military preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of "black Sparta" from European observers and 19th century explorers like Sir Richard Burton.
Though the leaders of Dahomey appeared initially to resist the slave trade, it flourished in the region of Dahomey for almost three hundred years, leading to the area being named "the Slave Coast". Court protocols, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the kingdom's many battles be decapitated, decreased the number of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 20,000 per year at the beginning of the seventeenth century to 12,000 at the beginning of the 1800s. The decline was partly due to the banning of the trans-Atlantic trade by Britain and other countries. This decline continued until 1885, when the last Portuguese slave ship departed from the coast of present-day Benin Republic.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Dahomey started to lose its status as the regional power. This enabled the French to take over the area in 1892. In 1899, the French included land called Dahomey within the French West Africa colony. In 1958, France granted autonomy to the Republic of Dahomey, and full independence as of August 1, 1960. The president who led them to independence was Hubert
Maga.
For the next 12 years, ethnic strife contributed to a period of turbulence. There were several coups and regime changes, with three figures dominating - Sourou Apithy, Hubert Maga, and Justin Ahomadegbé - each of them representing a different area and ethnicity of the country. These three agreed to form a presidential council after violence marred the 1970 elections.
In 1972, a military coup led by Mathieu Kérékou overthrew the council. Kérékou established a Marxist government under the control of Military Council of the Revolution (CNR). In 1975 he renamed the country the People's Republic of Benin. In 1979, the CNR was dissolved and elections took place. By the late 1980s, Kérékou abandoned Marxism after an economic crisis and decided to re-establish a parliamentary capitalist system.
In 1991 he was defeated by Nicéphore Soglo and became the first black African president to step down after an election. Kérékou returned to power after winning the 1996 vote. In 2001, a closely fought election resulted in Kérékou's winning another term. His opponents claimed election irregularities.
President Kérékou and former President Soglo did not run in the 2006 elections, as both were barred by the constitution's restricting age and total terms of candidates. President Kérékou is widely praised for making no effort to change the constitution so that he could remain in office or run again, unlike some African leaders.
On March 5, 2006, an election was held that was considered free and fair. It resulted in a runoff between Yayi Boni and Adrien Houngbédji. The runoff election was held on March 19 and was won by Yayi Boni, who assumed office on April 6. The success of the fair multi-party elections in Benin won praise internationally. Benin is widely considered a model democracy in Africa.
Two climatic zones may be distinguished—a southern and a northern. The southern zone has an equatorial type of climate with four seasons
two wet and two dry. The principal rainy season occurs between mid-March and mid-July; the shorter dry season lasts to mid-September; the shorter rainy season lasts to mid-November; and the principal dry season lasts until the rains begin again in March. The amount of rain increases toward the east. Grand-Popo receives only about 32 inches (800 millimetres) a year, whereas Cotonou and Porto-Novo both receive approximately 50 inches. Temperatures are fairly constant, varying between about 72° and 93° F (22° and 34° C), and the relative humidity is often uncomfortably high.
In the northern climatic zone, there are only two seasons, one dry and one rainy. The rainy season lasts from May to September, with most of the rainfall occurring in August. Rainfall amounts to about 53 inches a year in the Atakora Mountains and in central Benin; farther north it diminishes to about 38 inches. In the dry season the harmattan, a hot, dry wind, blows from the northeast from December to March. Temperatures average about 80° F (27° C), but the temperature range varies considerably from day to night. In March, the hottest month, diurnal temperatures may rise to 110° F (43° C).
The original rain forest, which covered most of the southern part of the country, has now largely been cleared, except near the rivers. In its place, many oil palms and rônier palms have been planted and food crops are cultivated. North of Abomey the vegetation is an intermixture of forest and savanna (grassy parkland), giving way farther north to savanna. Apart from the oil and rônier palms, trees include coconut palms, kapok, mahogany, and ebony.
In the extreme north is the “W” National Park (1,938 square miles), which extends into Burkina Faso and Niger. Its varied animal life includes elephants, leopards, lions, antelope, monkeys, wild pigs, crocodiles, and buffalo. There are many species of snakes, including pythons and puff adders. Birds include guinea fowl, wild duck, and partridge, as well as many tropical species. The Pendjari National Park (1,062 square miles) borders on Burkina Faso.
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