BENIN

Detailed Analysis of Benin

Outline

Introduction

History

Culture of Benin

Language

Literacy Rate

Griots

Music and Dance

Sounds to plural

Traditional Festivals of Benin

Guèlèdè, traditional festival Fon and Yoruba populations in southern Benin

Egun, Traditional Festival Fon and Yoruba Populations in Southern Benin Zangbeto, Traditional Celebration of the Fon People of Southern Benin

Voodoo, Traditional Religion along with the Gulf Coast of Guinea

Emerging Sectors of Benin

Family farming and agribusiness

Structure of Government of Benin

Strategic Objectives

Strategic Objective 1

Strategic Objective 2

Strategic Objective 3

Strategic Objective 4

Strategic Objectives 5

Structure of Government of Benin

At State Institutions

The Environment in Benin

Recommendations

Detailed Analysis of Benin

Introduction

Bordering the Gulf of Guinea by 125 km of coastline on the Atlantic, Benin has an area of 112,622 km2, about 1/5th the size of France. It is bounded on the west by Togo to the east by Nigeria, north by Burkina Faso and Niger to the south, as said before, by the Atlantic Ocean. This country has an elongated shape of 700 km long from north to south and 325km, the longest distance between east and west (Joseph, 2008).

Benin offers an extremely low relief terrain. The highlight of the country lies in the chain of Atacora at an altitude of 658 m, the summit of Mount Sagboroa. The coastal plain is dotted with marshes, lakes and lagoons in the example of the lagoon of Porto Novo. There are three Parallel Rivers of water in the main north-south Benin and form a mouth at the coast before emptying into the Atlantic. These are: Ouémé, Couffo and Mono (Joseph, 2008).

The main towns are: Cotonou (administrative capital, 800,000 inhabitants), Porto Novo (200,000 inhabitant's political capital), Parakou (110,000 inhabitants), Natitingou (60,000 inhabitants) and Abomey (70,000 inhabitants) (Joseph, 2008).

From the perspective of climate in Benin is a tropical zone with a hot and humid climate. We can distinguish three main climatic zones: subtropical zone characterized by high rainfall and temperatures between 25 and 28 °, the northern area with higher temperatures and lower rainfall, and the area northwest of the country which enjoys a particular climate Atacorian called climate characterized by cooler temperatures and rainfall of the country's most important (Joseph, 2008). History The history of Benin, formerly Dahomey until 1975, is similar to many African countries: a multitude of small kingdoms followed by foreign colonization and independence of the country. Among the major kingdoms include the Porto Novo, Kétou of Tchabè and Abomey. These separate political entities were provided with well-structured functional urban centers. They had developed a local business based in the seventeenth century the slave trade until 1807, when the abolition of slavery. Beyond that date the business was then turned to the manufacture and sale to neighboring oil palm. These micro-kingdoms in constant conflict led some to seek foreign support including that of France (Porto Novo in 1863) which has gradually shown its dominance in the country in 1884 to reach a true colonization legally established by a decree transforming the territories into "a colony of Dahomey", then a protectorate in 1892 with a grant of ...