Porto-Novo, Benin

Porto-Novo is the capital of the Republic of Benin, a West African nation bordering Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The nation's third-largest city, Porto-Novo was founded in the seventeenth century and became an important hub in the West African slave industry. Though Porto-Novo is Benin's official capital, the more populous city of Cotonou is the nation's economic, cultural, and administrative center, and the seat of the national government. Porto-Novo is also known as Hogbonou and Adjacé.

Landscape

Porto-Novo sits roughly at sea level on the southern coast of Benin. Once known as the Slave Coast, Benin's southern coast stretches for approximately 124 kilometers (77 miles) along the Gulf of Guinea in a natural inlet known as the Bight of Benin. Porto-Novo is located in an area that was once a tropical, coastal lagoon and is still characterized by streams and other waterways. The city is approximately 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Cotonou.

Benin has a tropical climate with little annual variation in temperature and humidity. The southern coast experiences a long dry season from November to late March, a short rainy season from late March to July, a second dry period that lasts until August, and a second rainy period in September and October. The average temperature is 25 to 28 degrees Celsius (77 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit), and for most of the year, the temperature varies less than 5 degrees.

With average annual rainfall of more than 1,400 millimeters (55 inches) and humidity that generally exceeds 60 percent, Benin's southern coast is a productive zone in terms of vegetative growth. Tropical trees, bushes, and dense forested areas give way to water-adapted plants in the coastal lagoons in the areas surrounding Porto-Novo.

The urban area of Porto-Novo is a blend of native African, colonial French and Portuguese, and traditional Islamic architecture. The city serves as an important record of architectural traditions due to the diverse cultures that have shaped the city. There are a number of small towns and villages that function as a suburban extension of the city, and Porto-Novo is connected to nearby Cotonou by rail, boat, and air transport.

People

The population of Porto-Novo was estimated at 285,000 in 2018 and the population of Benin was estimated at 14,219,908 in 2023, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency. Approximately 38.4 percent of Beninese are members of the Fon ethnic group, which is the most common ethnicity in the nation. Most remaining Beninese are members of other African ethnic groups, including the Adja and the Yoruba. Around 1.9 percent of Beninese are members of non-African ethnic groups. In large cities such as Porto-Novo, European and mixed-European and African ethnicities compose a larger portion of the population than in rural Benin. The majority of the Europeans in Benin are of Portuguese and French descent.

More than 39 percent of the population of Benin practices some form of Christianity, and around 27.7 percent of the population is Muslim. Porto-Novo has a number of worship sites for both Muslims and Christians, many of which are remnants of the city's colonial heritage. A significant portion of Beninese practice Vodoun (or Vodun) or tribal and animist religious traditions. Vodoun cultural rituals exert a strong influence over both rural and urban life in Benin and play an important role in the nation's social fabric.

French is the official language of Benin, though nearly numerous tribal languages are also spoken. Along the southern coast, Yoruba and Fon are the most widely spoken dialects. Some residents of Porto-Novo also speak Portuguese and Spanish. Names of streets, buildings, and public facilities are generally listed in French, sometimes with African dialect translations.

The Benin Institute of Higher Learning is located in Porto-Novo, giving the city a small student population. A variety of traditional musical styles are performed in venues around Porto-Novo, and the music has served as an important source of tourism.

Porto-Novo, like many West African nations, has a social culture organized around the open markets held in city centers. The Adjara market, located close to urban Porto-Novo, provides a variety of cultural and artistic goods in addition to food, textiles, and other crafts. There are some nightspots in Porto-Novo, though the city is often described as quiet in comparison to Cotonou.

Economy

Like many West African nations, Benin has an underdeveloped economy, and most of the population is involved in subsistence agriculture. The largest contributor to Benin's economy is the services industry, which includes banking and tourism and accounts for more than half of the nation's annual revenues. In the 1990s, small offshore oil deposits were discovered in Beninese waters, and Porto-Novo has since become the center of a petroleum export business. Geological estimates indicate that Benin has deposits of limestone that are largely unexploited.

Porto-Novo, though located in a predominant agricultural area, is also the center of the nation's shipping industry, which focuses on agricultural exports. The agricultural regions around Porto-Novo produce palm oil and fruit, and there are plantations that produce cotton. Porto-Novo's shipping industry also distributes a variety of other products, including corn and cassava, as well as industrial materials, textiles, and stone products. Porto-Novo has a variety of public transportation options, including buses, taxis, and boats that travel along the coast, taking visitors to nearby towns and other cities.

Landmarks

Though Porto-Novo lacks many of the cultural and administrative landmarks of Cotonou, several of the city's museums attract a significant number of tourists each year. The Ethnography Museum of Porto-Novo (Musée Ethnographique de Porto-Novo) is a small museum dedicated to the cultural history of Benin and Porto-Novo in particular. Collections of masks, clothing, weapons and other artifacts are exhibited, accompanied by information, in French, describing the history of the city.

King Toffa's Palace (Palais Royal du Roi Toffa) is also a major tourist site. Often called the Royal Palace, the site has been maintained to provide a window into the daily lives of African royalty. African kings occupied Toffa's palace until the late nineteenth century, when King Toffa agreed to cede control of the nation to the French.

The da Silva Museum (Musée da Silva) is in a modern building located in the center of the city that contains exhibits and a small library with information about the history of Brazilian immigration into Porto-Novo. The museum also has a small, attached hotel and restaurant. The da Silva museum is the center of an Afro-Brazilian festival held annually in January.

Though the Adjarra Market is actually located approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the city, residents frequent the market, which is held every four days, regularly. There are a variety of products offered, from traditional African handicrafts and art to modern amenities such as video and music recordings. The Adjarra Market also caters to the local Vodoun practitioners by offering a variety of herbs and charms used in traditional ceremonies.

History

Benin is one of the smallest and most densely populated African nations. According to local history and legend, the city was founded in the late sixteenth century, but it was Portuguese explorers who brought the area to prominence in the seventeenth century when they began using the city as a port for their slave trade with the Oye people. In 1792, the Portuguese changed the name of the city to Porto-Novo, meaning "New Port." At that time, the nation was divided into small kingdoms that had little to do with each other.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a large number of Brazilians immigrated to Porto-Novo and other ports along the southern coast of Benin, leaving a permanent mark on the culture of the region. Brazilian culture has remained part of Benin society since that time, with everything from food to music showing elements of Brazilian influence.

As the slave trade diminished in the mid-nineteenth century, the African rulers of Porto-Novo were in conflict with Britain. In 1863, British forces bombarded Porto-Novo from the coast, destroying much of the city. The ruler of Porto-Novo, King Toffa, asked France for protection and allowed the French to establish administrative offices in the city. This angered the Yoruba king Abomey, who attacked the city in 1891 with an army that included a squadron of female warriors. A mixed army of French and African soldiers repulsed Abomey's army, and in 1894, Porto-Novo became a French protectorate.

In 1908, the French abolished the monarchic system, but the royal lineage remained, with former kings, now known by the title chef supérieur, serving as the local and direct leaders of the city. In 1976, after the death of Alohinto Gbeffa, the last king of the original lineage, the royal system ended and the city was administered directly by civil leaders.

In 1960, Benin gained its independence from France, and a period of political instability followed as the Beninese struggled to build a stable political system. At the time of independence, Porto-Novo was the seat of the government and the nation's largest city. During the 1970s, the city of Cotonou began to surpass Porto-Novo in cultural, economic, and political significance. Many of the nation's administrative and cultural buildings, such as the national archives and the national library, remained in Porto-Novo, but many of the other governmental and administrative buildings were moved to Cotonou.

In 1972, the elected government was overthrown in a coup, and an extended period of military control followed until the civilian government was reinstated in the 1991 elections. Benin was administered according to a Communist political system until the 1990s, when the civilian government was restored and the nation adopted a democratic political system. The discovery of petroleum deposits in the 1990s helped to invigorate the Beninese economy, but most of the population still lives in relative poverty. According to 2019 estimates by the CIA World Factbook, the poverty level in Benin was 38.5 percent.

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