African Kingdoms

Modern Benin (Dahomey)
AD 1960 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1960-2026)

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The modern African republic of Benin is a West African state which has its capital at Porto-Novo, originally developed as the 'Porto-Novo Protectorate' port for the slave trade. The government sits in Cotonou, the country's economic centre. Benin is bordered by Togo to the west, Burkina Faso to the north-west, Niger to the north-east, and Nigeria to the east. To the south is the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean, and the majority of the country's population live close to that coast.

Benin's shore includes what used to be known as the Slave Coast, the departure point for captives to be shipped across the Atlantic. The area came to the notice of trading Europeans around the time the coastal state of Allada was being superseded by its offspring, the inland kingdom of Dahomey, in the early seventeenth century. Both claimed territory which lies inside modern Benin's borders, unlike the Benin empire which largely lay in Nigeria.

The state of Dahomey was ended by French colonial occupation in 1894 as part of French West Africa, after they took control during the Dahomey War of 1892-1894. The state was only granted autonomy as the 'Republic of Dahomey' in 1958, followed by full independence in 1960.

A period of instability followed, mostly consisting of governmental musical chairs with various coups taking place and presidents being appointed by the military. Along the way Marxism-Leninism was adopted as the official ideology, but economic crisis at the end of the 1980s forced this experiment to be abandoned in favour of parliamentary democracy. Today this country of a little over fourteen million people (in 2025) is one of Africa's most stable democracies.

Despite that, it is also severely under-developed and corruption is rife. Elements of voodoo, which are still practised in countries such as Haiti, originated from the West African coast which includes Benin. The religion is celebrated on the country's annual Voodoo Day.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from the John De Cleene Archive, from History of West Africa, J F Ade Ajayi & Michael Crowder (Longman, 1985), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from African States and Rulers, John Stewart (McFarland, 2005), from The New Atlas of African History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1991), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), from All Africa: All Its Political Entities of Independent or Other Status, Elisa Daggs (Hastings House, 1970), from Historical Dictionary of Dahomey (People's Republic of Benin), Samuel Decalo (Scarecrow Press, 1976), from African Powder Keg: Revolt and Dissent in Six Emergent Nations, Ronald Matthews (The Bodley Head, 1966), and from External Links: BBC Country Profiles, and Atlas Monographique des Communes du Benin (dead link), and Wanderlust Travel Magazine, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and History of the Newly Elected / Appointed Oba of Benin (Daily Mail, dead link), and Genealogical Gleanings (dead link), and MFA receives rare West African art pieces, Geoff Edgers (Boston Globe, 29 June 2012, accessed 14 March 2023).)

1960

Dahomey gains independence from French West Africa following the colonial absorption of the old Dahomey state. Now Dahomey is admitted to the United Nations. Later in the year, elections are won by the 'Parti Dahomeen de L'Unite'. Party leader Hubert Maga becomes country's first president (and escapes an assassination attempt against him in the following year).

Coutougou Herbert Maga became the first president of the newly-independent republic of Dahomey in 1960, and was removed from office in 1963 as part of the first of a series of largely bloodless coups in the country

1960 - 1963

President. Removed from office by a coup.

1963 - 1964

President Maga is deposed by a coup which is led by the army's chief of staff, Colonel Christophe Soglo. The reason for the coup is stated as being the prevention of civil war between the new state's increasingly antagonistic opposing elements. The focus of recent rioting has turned towards Maga, meaning that Soglo feels justified in removing him from office.

1963 - 1964

Seized power in a coup. Allowed elections in 1964.

1964

Soglo has established a provisional government with himself as chairman. With the government reformed, Sourou-Migan Apithy is elected president in 1964, only to become locked in intense feuding over government policies.

1964 - 1965

President. Removed from office by Soglo.

1965

Soglo's advice to all feuding parties to engage in productive discourse falls on deaf ears so, in November 1965, he forces the president to step down and a fresh provisional government is formed. In December of the same year Soglo assumes power.

The ruling obas of the edo empire even today hold prestigious positions in Nigeria as government advisors, with this bas-relief of an oba in ceremonial dress and weapons having decorated the royal palace

1965 - 1967

Ran provisional government. Overthrown & left politics.

1967

Major Maurice Kouandété, one of a group of young army officers, leads a coup against Soglo. Two days later Kouandété is forced to hand power to Lieutenant-Colonel Alphonse Alley who assumes the position of head of state.

1967 - 1968

Appointed head of state following a coup. Force to retire.

1968

With President Alphonse Alley sidelined by Lieutenant-Colonel (formerly major) Kouandété, the military regime nominates Dr Emile-Derlin Zinsou as its next choice for a non-democratically-elected president.

1968 - 1969

President by military decree. Forced out of office.

1969 - 1970

Dr Emile-Derlin Zinsou is deposed, by Kouandété. Presidential elections are held in 1970 but are abandoned. Power is ceded to a presidential council which consists of Ahomadegbe, Apithy, and Herbert Maga (the former first president who now returns from exile).

President Christophe Soglo in 1967 undertook a tour through Dahomey, with film cameras on the spot to record events as he ceremoniously opened venues and progressed through the countryside

Maga had received almost equal support in the abandoned poll, and it is he who is the first of the three to serve as a military-appointed president with a two-year term of office.

1969 - 1970

Military head of a provisional government.

1970 - 1972

President for a second time, but military-appointed.

1972

The country has experienced almost continuous strife following independence, overseen by a semi-democratic government which has seen frequent changes in ruler, mostly at the hands of the military.

Now yet another military coup, this time led by Mathieu Kérékou, overthrows the ruling council and establishes a Marxist government. The council members (including President Maga) are imprisoned until 1981.

1972 - 1991

Dictator. Stood down after free elections.

1975

Shortly after adopting a Marxist-Leninist form of government for the state, Kérékou renames the country the 'People's Republic of Benin'. In the same year the 'Marxist People's Revolutionary Party' is made the country's sole political party.

In the tiny West African nation of Benin, Voodoo remains the state religion - enter a world of python temples, haystack cults, and oozing fetish shrines during the country's annual Voodoo Day

1979 - 1980

Kérékou's Marxist military council is dissolved and elections take place, albeit with Kérékou as the only candidate allowed. In 1980 he is confirmed as the country's elected president by the 'Revolutionary National Assembly'.

1989 - 1990

The country has undergone an economic crisis in a decade which forces Kérékou to abandon Marxism in favour of a parliamentary system. The following year the country's name is changed on 1 March to the 'Republic of Benin' (dropping the Marxist 'People's' prefix from the title), and Kérékou is largely stripped of power by the national conference.

1991

Kérékou loses free elections to Nicéphore Soglo (cousin of Christophe Soglo), and he steps down. He later stands for the 1996 elections, which he wins, and governs fairly without attempting to change the new 1990 constitution to allow him to remain in power.

1991 - 1996

President through democratic elections.

1996 - 2006

President for two terms (former dictator). Died 2015.

2006

Fully free and fair multi-party elections in the country draw international praise. Political newcomer Thomas Boni Yayi, running as an independent, wins the run-off vote in presidential elections. The incumbent since 2001, the re-elected Mathieu Kérékou, is barred from the poll under a constitutional age limit.

Mathieu Kérékou, dictator of Dahomey who oversaw its change of name to Benin, is seen here in 2006, after the conclusion of his successful term as the country's democratically-elected president

In the following month, April 2006, the World Bank and the African Development Bank approve debt relief for several countries which includes Benin.

2006 - 2016

President for two terms. Alleged coups against him.

2011

Having seen his coalition government partially desert him and having narrowly escaped impeachment for financial irregularities, Boni still wins free and fair elections to gain a second term of office. There are large-scale public protests, but the opposition largely fragments without landing a blow on the president.

2016 - 2026

President for two terms. Worked to decline democracy.

2021

Reforms which have been enacted by Talon have produced a decline in democratic standards. New voting regulations sees him win a second term of office with a margin of eighty-six percent, a figure which would be unachievable under normal circumstances.

Benin's President Patrice Talon earned a fortune in cotton before becoming president of Benin, diversifying into many fields and then gradually becoming increasingly involved in politics

Then comes the imprisonment of several opposition figures on various charges, everything from terrorism and money laundering to undermining state security. However, Talon twice affirms that he will not stand for re-election in 2026.