Benin
Benin (officially Republic of Benin) is a country in Western Africa, with its capital at Porto-Novo, and is home to roughly 14.5M people.
French is the official language; the currency in circulation is West African CFA franc (Fr); people from here are called Beninese.
- »The Kingdom of Dahomey, centred here, fielded an all-female regiment that European visitors called the Dahomey Amazons.
- »Vodun is a recognised official religion, and the country is widely regarded as its birthplace.
Benin touches four neighbours: Burkina Faso to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Nigeria to the east and Togo to the southwest. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Porto-Novo is the constitutional capital, but Cotonou holds the government and is far larger, a split that dates to the colonial period.
117,076 km² (45,203 sq mi), 100th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Malawi.
Population 14,462,724, 76th of 198 on file. That averages 124 per km² (320 per sq mi).
Green for hope and the palms of the south, red for the courage of the ancestors, yellow for the savannahs of the north, the pan-African colours arranged in Benin's own order.