Benin

Benin
Official languages Capital	French Porto Novo
Area Government	112,622 km2 Republic
Population Religion	10,323,000 (in 2002) Christianity (42.8%), Islam (24.4%), Vodun, a traditional religion of Benin (17.3%), Other local traditional religions (6%), Other religious groups (1.9%), No religion (6.5%)
Time zone Currency	UTC+1 West African CFA franc
Demonym	Beninese
Monarch	Current Previous

Benin is a small country in Western Africa. It was called Republic of Dahomey from 1958 to 1975, and was a colony of France before (French Dahomey).

Etymology

The name Benin comes from the Bight of Benin, itself coming from the Benin kingdom.

Geography

Benin is a small country, eight times smaller than Nigeria but about twice as big as Togo.

It has a population of more than 10 million people living mostly in cities located near the Bight of Benin such as Cotonou, Abomey or Porto Novo (the capital of the country).

There are two seasons in Benin (like most countries in Africa): the dry season, where the temperature can rise up to 40 °C and the wet season, where the temperature drops to 15 °C.

It is a poor country, one of the poorest of the world.

Location

The location of Benin.

The country shares its borders with four countries: Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. Its southern coast belongs to the Bight of Benin.

Benin is situated in a tropical region. Only the region close to the sea has an equatorial climate and there is a semi-arid climate in the north-east.

Rivers

The rivers in Benin are wild rivers.

The Mekrou river

Benin has six major rivers:

• the Mékrou river (between Benin and Niger), the longest river of Benin (410 km long);
• the Mono river (between Togo and Benin), 100 km long;
• the Niger river (also between Niger and Benin);
• the Ouémé river and the Couffo river (at the Bight of Benin);
• the Pendjari river (between Benin and Burkina Faso);
• the Sota river, 250 km long (on the borders between Niger and Benin).

Natural regions

There are a lot of forests, national parks in Benin, especially in north (the south is more urban, and most of the cities are more next to the sea (Porto Novo or Cotonou).

National parks

The two most important national parks in Benin are:

• the W National Park (more than one million hectares), which is also in Burkina Faso and in Niger, and protected by the Ramsar convention;
• the Pendjari National Park.

Forests

The Pendjari National Park

There are many forests in Benin. These are the most important ones (coming from North and going to the sea):

1. the Goungoun Forest;
2. the Sota Forest;
3. the Superior Alibori Forest;
4. the Trois-rivières Forest;
5. the Quenou Benou Forest;
6. the Superior Ouémé Forest;
7. the Ouari Maro Forest;
8. the Kouffé mountains Forest;
9. the Toui-Kilibo Forest;
10. the Agoua Forest;
11. the Dogo Forest;

Hunting zones

There are three important hunting zones: the hunting zone of Djona, the hunting zone of Pendjari and the hunting zone of Latakora.

Departments

There are 12 departments in Benin:

1. Alibori
2. Atacora
3. Atlantique
4. Borgou
5. Collines
6. Couffo
7. Donga
8. Littoral
9. Mono
10. Ouémé
11. Plateau
12. Zou

Each department is administered by a prefect.

Cities

The capital of Benin is Porto Novo. It is situated near the sea.

The largest and most inhabited city is Cotonou. More than 800 thousand people live there. It is the economic center of Benin.

Here is the list of the cities in Benin (the ten most inhabited ones are in bold):

1. Abomey
2. Abomey-Calavi
3. Allada
4. Aplahoué
5. Athiémé
6. Banikoara
7. Bassila
8. Bembèrèkè
9. Bétérou
10. Bohicon
11. Bori
12. Boukoumbé
13. Comé
14. Cotonou
15. Cové
16. Dassa-Zoumé
17. Djougou
18. Dogbo-Tota
19. Ganvie
20. Godomey
21. Grand Popo
22. Kandi
23. Kérou
24. Kétou
25. Kouandé
26. Lokossa
27. Malanville
28. Natitingou
29. Ndali
30. Nikki
31. Ouidah
32. Parakou
33. Péhonko
34. Pobé
35. Porga
36. Porto Novo
37. Sakété
38. Savalou
39. Savé
40. Ségbana
41. Tanguiéta
42. Tchaourou

• 

  Abomey

• 

  The Mosque of Bohicon

• 

  Djougou

• 

  Porto Novo (the capital)

• 

  Natitingou

Languages

The official language of Benin is French.

There are also lots of other languages, such as Peul, Yoruba, and Fon.

Benin is the 41th most multilingual country in the world, before France and after UK.

Food

Acarajé (fried black-eyed peas)

The people of Benin often eat rice, corn (in southern Benin), tomatoes, beans and tropical fruits such as pineapples, kiwi, bananas, and oranges.

In Benin, they also eat fufu, a sort of dough made out of flour.

There are a lot of specialty foods from Benin, for example Wagasi cheese (made by the Fulani people in northern Benin), Acarajé, Moyo, Beye, Amiwo (red corn dough), Gari Dossi, Gari Pinnon, Féchouada (from Ouidah), but also red rice.

International politics

Benin is part of the African Union, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the Economic Community of West African States. It is also member of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

References

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