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Benin :: Overview
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Benin

The fabled kingdom of Dahomey, now Benin, has been ruled by some of the greatest kings of Africa. In the Middle Ages, the Edo people, under the leadership of their chieftains-by the 15th century the single ruler called the oba-established an extensive, flourishing and prosperous state. Great traders, the Edo people had a strong trade relationship with both Dutch and Portuguese, trading slaves among other commodities into the Western world. A famous export is the religion of Vodun, or voodoo, which spread from this part of the slave coast to the Caribbean, Brazil, and North America. Voudon is still the majority religion, practiced and intermingled with Christianity and Islam. The country is largely rolling savannah, rising on the west to the Atakora Mountains beyond the lagoons of the far south, which include Porto Novo (the capital, along with Cotonou), Nokoue, Ouidah and Grand Popo. The coast is fringed with coconut palms and sand dunes which prevent the country's having good ports. The French have been largely involved with the country's history and politics in the last few centuries, providing it with its national language, although indigenous languages, especially Fon and Yoruba, are commonly spoken. Benin was the first African country to have a pluralistic government system, which was established in the 1990s.
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