Dahomey to Benin
Dahomey was a kingdom whose name France spread over a whole colony. On 30 November 1975 Mathieu Kérékou’s Marxist government renamed the country the People’s Republic of Benin, after the Bight of Benin, the bay on its coast. It was actually the colony’s original name: France had called it Benin until 1894.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 28 September 2026Suggest a correction
- Beninthe French colony’s first name, after the Bight of Benin
- Dahomey1894–1975, after the conquered kingdom
- People’s Republic of Benin1975–
The kingdom of Dahomey
Dahomey, also called Abomey after its capital, was the state of the Fon people. A ruler called Wegbaja made it independent in the 17th century, and King Agaja took Allada in 1724 and the trading centre of Ouidah in 1727, making it the dominant power on the coast.[2] The name is said to mean “on the belly of Dan”: Dan was a rival king on whose grave the royal compound was built.[1]
France conquered Dahomey in 1892–94, deposed King Behanzin and made the kingdom a protectorate.[2]
From Benin to Dahomey
The French colony was at first called Benin, after the Bight of Benin, the bay on its coast, not the old kingdom of Benin, which lies in what is now Nigeria. In 1894 it was renamed Dahomey, after the kingdom it had just absorbed.[2] French colonisers moving inland borrowed the defeated kingdom’s name for the whole territory.[1]
From 1904 Dahomey was part of French West Africa. It became an overseas territory in 1946, an autonomous republic in 1959, and fully independent on 1 August 1960, still as Dahomey.[3]
A revolution and a new name
Independent Dahomey was split between three regional parties, and it saw six successful military coups between 1963 and 1972. The last, on 26 October 1972, brought Major Mathieu Kérékou to power. From 1974 he followed a Marxist-Leninist line of nationalisations and state planning.[3]
On 30 November 1975 Kérékou’s military government renamed the Republic of Dahomey the People’s Republic of Benin and declared for a Marxist-Leninist economy.[4] The new name came from the Bight of Benin.[1]
In 1989 Kérékou dropped Marxism-Leninism as the state ideology. A new constitution followed in 1990, and in the first multiparty elections in 1991 he was defeated by Nicéphore Soglo. The country kept the name Benin.[3]
Timeline
1724
Allada taken
Dahomey’s King Agaja conquers Allada, then Ouidah in 1727.[2]
1892–94
French conquest
France conquers Dahomey and exiles King Behanzin.[2]
1894
Benin becomes Dahomey
The colony, first named after the Bight of Benin, is renamed after the kingdom.[2]
19601 August 1960
Independence
Dahomey becomes independent.[3]
197226 October 1972
Kérékou’s coup
Major Mathieu Kérékou seizes power.[3]
197530 November 1975
People’s Republic of Benin
The country is renamed Benin.[4]
Sources
- [1]Benin · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [2]Benin: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [3]Benin: Decolonization, independence, and military coups · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [4]Benin – Militaro-Marxist · GlobalSecurity.org
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.