Benin

Some time before 1600 it is thought that the Adja people migrated from the town of Tado on the Mono River (in Togo), settling at Allada, where they mixed with the Fon and founded a kingdom. In the early 17th century a dynastic dispute resulted in the establishment of two rival states at Abomey and Porto-Novo. The first of these grew into the Kingdom of Dahomey, which dominated the area until the 19th century. Colonization In 1851 France signed a treaty of friendship and trade with the ruler of Porto-Novo, who was a vassal of Dahomey's King Glélé. In 1861 British forces won the town of Lagos (now in Nigeria) from Dahomey. By two treaties signed in 1868 and 1878, the Cotonou area, lying between Ouidah and Porto-Novo, was ceded to France. Glélé's successor, Béhanzin, tried to regain the land, which was essential to continued participation in the slave trade, but was routed by the French in 1892; his lands were declared a French protectorate. After a brief period in which he led guerrilla bands against the French, Béhanzin was captured in January 1894 and exiled to Martinique. In 1899 Dahomey was incorporated into French West Africa, with its exact boundaries defined through accords with Great Britain and Germany, colonizers of the neighboring areas to the east and west, respectively. At the end of World War I (1914-1918), the eastern part of the German colony of Togo was put under French mandate. Dahomey, as part of French West Africa, adhered to the cause of the Free French during World War II (1939-1945), and in 1946 it became one of the French overseas territories; from 1958 to 1960 it was an autonomous republic of the French Community. Independence was proclaimed on August 1, 1960, and the following month Dahomey was admitted to the United Nations (UN). Independence Benin's political history since independence has been checkered. The first president, Hubert Maga, was ousted in 1963 by the army commander, and a series of four coups followed in the next six years. In 1970 a three-member presidential commission took power and suspended the constitution. The members, including former president Maga, were to serve as president successively. Maga held office first, succeeded in 1972 by Justin Ahomadegbe. Later that year, however, Major Mathieu (later Ahmed) Kérékou seized power, ending the commission form of government (see Kérékou, Mathieu). In November 1975 the country was renamed Benin. A new constitution, making the country a one-party state, was promulgated in 1977. Three former presidents, detained since the coup of 1972, were released in 1981. Elected president by the National Revolutionary Assembly in 1980 and reelected in 1984, Kérékou survived a military coup attempt four years later. In late 1989 he abandoned Marxism-Leninism, and a transitional government established in 1990 paved the way for the establishment of multiparty democracy. Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo defeated Kérékou in the presidential election of March 1991. Soglo attacked Benin's struggling economy by instituting austerity measures and promoting free market economics. While the nation's economy improved slowly, Soglo's personal popularity sagged. In March 1996 elections Soglo was defeated by Kérékou, who renounced his autocratic, Marxist past. Kérékou pledged to form a government of national unity, and to that end created the post of prime minister in April.