Historical Overview |
Benin used to be Dahomey, which was a prominent West African kingdom in the 1600s that became a regional power because of its slave trade. The country was colonized by France by 1894, but in 1960 French Benin gained independence and in 1975 changed its name to the Republic of Benin. In 1972 Mathieu Kerekou rose to power as president with a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. The shift to a representative government took place in 1989 and two years later the country elected the former Prime Minister, Nicephore Soglo, as the first president in their democracy. Kerekou gained power again and became the following president until he stepped down in 2006. The next president was Thoman Yayi Boni who was succeeded by the current president, wealthy businessman Patrice Talon, in 2016.
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Benin is located in West Africa between Nigeria and Togo. In the north, it is bordered by Burkina Faso and Niger, and in the south by the Bight of Benin. The climate is tropical and hot with humidity in the south and more precipitation in the north. The terrain is mostly flat with a few hills and small mountains due to undulating plains. The population is 11,340,504, and it is most dense in the south around the cities on the Atlantic coast. There are concentrations of people in the west with a sparse number of residents in the north.
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Religion, Education, and LanguagesThere are multiple religions in Benin with 27.7 percent being Muslim, 25.5 percent Roman Catholic, 13.5 percent Protestant, 11.6 percent Vodoun, 9.5 percent Christian, 2.6 percent being traditional religions and 5.8 percent being agnostic.
In terms of education, 38.4 percent of the population over 15 years old are literate. However, 49.9 percent of males can read and write while only 27.3 percent of women in Benin can. The official language of Benin is French, but Fon and Yoruba are the most common vernaculars in the south and some tribal languages are spoken in the north. English is studied as a foreign language at many schools and there is still a high demand for English language teachers. It is an important language for trade since Benin’s neighbor, Nigeria, uses English as its official tongue. |