Benin, republic in western
Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. Known in full as the Republic of Benin, it
extends inland about 670 km (about 415 mi) from its 121-km (75-mi) long gulf
coast. Benin is bordered on the north by Burkina Faso and Niger, on the east by
Nigeria, and on the west by Togo. Formerly part of French West Africa, it gained
independence in 1960 as Dahomey; it was named Benin in 1975. It has an area of
112,622 sq km (43,484 sq mi). Porto-Novo is the capital and Cotonou is the
largest city.
II
LAND AND RESOURCES
The coast of Benin is a sandy
barrier beach with no natural harbors. Immediately north of the beach is a
network of shallow lagoons, and farther north is a fertile lowland called the
barre country, most of which is intensively cultivated. In northern Benin
the land rises to include the edge of a nearly 500-m (1,600-ft) high plateau of
ancient rocks and mostly infertile soils and, in the northwest, the rugged
Atakora Mountains.
A
Rivers and Lakes The
Ouémé and Kouffo rivers drain most of southern Benin, and the Mono River, which
forms part of the 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 ranges in type 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 during March to July and October to
November; the average monthly temperature ranges from 20° to 34° C (68° to 93°
F). Temperatures also are high in the north, and the annual rainfall of about
890 mm (about 35 in) occurs mainly from May to September.
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.
D
Natural Resources An
offshore petroleum field is located near Cotonou. Other mineral resources of
Benin include iron ore, phosphates, chromium, rutile, clay, marble, and
limestone.
III
POPULATION
Benin's population (1998 estimate)
is 6,100,799, and is growing at a rate of 3.3 percent per year. Overall density
is 54 persons per sq km (140 per sq mi), but is much higher in the south, where
two-thirds of the inhabitants live. Some 40 percent live in urban areas. The
main cities are Cotonou (population, 1992, 536,827); Porto-Novo (179,138), the
capital; and Parakou (103,577). Some 42 ethnic groups are represented in Benin.
The Fon, or Dahomeans, and the closely related Adja, who together account for
about three-fifths of the population, are the main ethnic groups in the south;
the Bariba and Somba (together about one-sixth of the population) are the
largest in the north; and the Yoruba (one-tenth of the population) predominate
in the southeast.
A
Language and Religion
French is the official language of
Benin, but most people speak an African language. About 65 percent of the
population professes traditional religious beliefs. Islam is the religion of
about 20 percent of the people, most of whom live in the north. Christianity,
especially Roman Catholicism, is the religion of about 15 percent, the great
majority of whom live in the south.
B
Education The
literacy rate increased to 37 percent in 1995 following the adoption of
legislation in 1975 making education free and compulsory. Still, only 76 percent
of eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and just 17 percent of
those eligible were enrolled in secondary schools. Higher education is provided
for about 14,100 students at the National University of Benin (founded in 1970),
in Cotonou, and at other institutions.
C
Cultural Institutions and
Communications The
National Library of Benin is located in Porto-Novo, and the National Museum is
in Cotonou. The state-owned radio and television service operates from Cotonou.
In 1996 Benin had 108 radios and 18 television sets in use for every 1,000
inhabitants; in 1997 there were 6 telephone mainlines for every 1,000 residents.
The only daily newspaper is the government-owned La Nation, with a daily
circulation of about 12,000, based in Cotonou.
IV
ECONOMY
Benin, one of the poorest
countries in Africa, has an economy dependent, as in colonial times, on
agriculture. 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 national budget in 1993 anticipated $272 million
in revenues and $375 million in spending. In 1997 the gross domestic product
(GDP), which measures the total value of goods and services produced in the
country, was $2.1 billion, or $370 a person. Benin is a member of the Economic
Community of West African States, an organization designed to promote economic
cooperation and development.
A
Agriculture
Some 64 percent of the workforce
in Benin is engaged in agriculture, forestry, or fishing. The largest share are
subsistence farmers. The principal food crops are corn, cassava, sorghum, yams,
millet, and beans. Cash crops, produced mainly in the south, include cotton,
palm kernels, peanuts, and cacao. 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
estimated 6.1 million cu m (215 million cu ft) of wood cut in 1997 was used for
fuel. Similarly, most of the 44,449 metric tons of fish produced annually are
caught in inland rivers and in lagoons for subsistence use. Relatively small
amounts of shrimp are landed on a commercial basis.
C
Mining and Manufacturing Benin's
chief mineral product is petroleum, although reserves are believed to be nearing
exhaustion. Some limestone is also produced for use in cement manufacturing, and
gold is exploited and used by artisans. Most other mineral resources are
undeveloped. The chief manufacturing activity is the processing of primary
products. Industry includes palm oil processing operations, textile mills, a
cement plant, and a sugar-refining complex. A wire and steel manufacturing plant
recently opened.
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 6
million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 1997.
E
Transportation Benin
has 6,787km (4,217 mi) of roads; the principal arteries run parallel to the
coast in the south and from Cotonou to Parakou. 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 (584 CFA francs equal U.S.$1;
1997 average), 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 1996 the
country's imports were valued at $665 million and its exports at only $424
million. Benin's main exports are crude petroleum, cotton, palm products, and
cacao; its chief imports are textiles, clothing, and machinery. Benin's
principal trading partners for exports are Brazil, Portugal, Morocco, Libya,
India, the United States, Italy, and France; chief partners for imports are
France, the United Kingdom, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.
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 draft 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), settling at Allada, where they mixed with the Fon and founded a
kingdom. In the early 17th century a dynastic dispute resulted in the
establishment of two rival states at Abomey and Porto-Novo. The first of these
grew into the Kingdom of Dahomey, which dominated the area until the 19th
century.
A
Colonization In
1851 France signed a treaty of friendship and trade with the ruler of
Porto-Novo, who was a vassal of Dahomey's King Glélé. In 1861 British forces won
the town of Lagos (now in Nigeria) from Dahomey. 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; his lands were 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).
B
Independence Benin'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 that year, however, Major
Mathieu (later Ahmed) Kérékou seized power, ending the commission form of
government (see Kérékou, Mathieu). In November 1975 the country was
renamed 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. While the nation's economy improved slowly,
Soglo's personal popularity sagged. In March 1996 elections Soglo was defeated
by Kérékou, who renounced his autocratic, Marxist-Leninist past.
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