Benin

The information that can be useful for your travel.

Cities Benin  
Country information country code: BJ
continent: Africa
capital: Porto-Novo
languages: French, English

EU membership: no
NATO membership: no

GSM: 900/1800
GPS: 9 30 N, 2 15 E
electricity: 220V/50Hz

currency:
West African CFA Franc: XOF
1XOF = 0.002 USD
1XOF = 0.002 EUR

phone code: +229-21

Travel advices and warnings Benin
Tourism Tourism in Benin is a small industry. In 1996, Benin had approximately 150, 000 tourists. A small country with a high concentration of tourist attractions, Benin's national parks and culture are among its main tourist attractions. Abomey is one of Benin's main tourist attractions, with palaces that became a World Heritage Site in 1982. The capital city Porto Novo's attractions include its museums and architecture.
Cuisine Beninese cuisine is known in Africa for its and exotic ingredients and flavorful dishes. Beninese cuisine involves lots of fresh meals served with a variety of sauces. Meat is usually quite expensive, and meals are generally light on meat and generous on vegetable fat.
Language The official language of Benin is French. It is widely used in the doing business, government, universities, and media. Some of the indigenous and community languages spoken include Fon, Bariba, Gun, Pulaar/Fulfulde, Aizo, Yoruba, Tori, Sahou, Dendi/Songhay, Warna, and Sorn’ba. Beninese languages are usually transcribed with a separate letter for every speech sound (phoneme), instead of using diacritics as in French or digraphs as in English.
Climate Best time to visit:
The south has an equatorial climate with four seasons. It is hot and dry from January to April and during August, with rainy seasons through May to July and September to December. The north has more extreme temperatures, hot and dry between November and June, cooler and very wet between July and October.
Food Benin food can be categorized according to its two distinct regions of North and South. The staple food of Benin in the northern region is yam. People in this region also consume pork, chicken and beef. These are usually fried well with sauce to make it tasty. Sauce and peanuts accompany pounded yams. Fruits like mangoes can also be found in abundance during the seasons. Beans, rice and couscous are also taken besides cheese, which is a specialty of the region.

The people of the southern region consume corn as their staple food. The other Benin food of the south is chicken and fish. Many dishes of Benin are made with corn flour. The meat dishes are consumed after frying it in peanut or palm oil. People of the southern region also take meat of rabbit, bush rat, goat and beef. Oranges, pineapple, banana and mangoes are found in abundance in this region. Like the northern region people, people of the southern region also take beans, couscous and rice.

Porto-Novo, Benin

Tuesday 19, March

From wikipedia about Benin

Benin, (formerly, Dahomey) officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is located in the country's largest city of Cotonou. Benin covers an area of approximately 110, 000 square kilometers (42, 000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 9. 05 million. Benin is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.. United Nations, June 29th, 2010

The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Muslims, Vodun, and Protestants. Benin is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the African Petroleum Producers Association and the Niger Basin Authority.. Nation Encyclopedia, June 29th, 2010

From the 17th century to the 19th century, the land of current-day Benin was ruled by the Kingdom of Dahomey. The region became known as the Slave Coast during the early 17th century due to the prevalence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In 1892, with the slave trade banned and regional power diminishing, France took over the area and renamed it French Dahomey. In 1960, Dahomey gained full independence from France, bringing in a democratic government for the next 12 years.

Between 1972 and 1990, a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist dictatorship called the People's Republic of Benin existed, ushering in a period of repression which ultimately led to an economic collapse. Formation of the Republic of Benin occurred in 1991, bringing in multiparty elections.
Description above from the Wikipedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors here.
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Benin, Porto-Novo