Population
Benin has a population of around 12 million, divided into various groups and subgroups. The capital is Porto Novo with about 300,000 inhabitants, but the most populous and seat of government is Cotonou with about 1,000,000 inhabitants. Benin is a presidential republic, divided into 12 departments.
Among the most populous ethnic groups are:
Adja-Fon
This is the majority group inhabiting the south of the country. Of Togolese origin, it also represents almost half of the entire Beninese population. The highest administrative and army posts are held by representatives of this ethnic group. They practise the Voodoo religion, often in syncretism with the Christian religion.
Yorouba
In the south-east and centre of the country, the most widespread ethnic group is that of the Yoruba, who arrived in successive waves from what is now Nigeria, starting in the 10th century AD. They follow the voodoo religion and their richly decorated masks and ritual costumes are particularly characteristic.
Baribas
The ancient horsemen, also of Nigerian origin, now predominantly occupy the north-east, in the Nikki and Parakou regions. They were the main resistance against the bloodthirsty Dahomey kingdoms and against French colonisation. They were mostly Islamised, but some follow their ancestral religion.
Peuhl or Fulani
7% of the population are the nomadic Peuhl herders, present throughout West Africa, concentrated mainly in the north of the country, in the districts of Djougou and Natitingou. Famous for their elegance and beauty and for the refinement of their ornaments and women’s hairstyles, they have been strongly Islamised since the time of the first Arab incursions and trans-Saharan trade.
Betammaribé
Another 7% are the Betammaribé (or Somba) in the Atakora Mountains. They migrated in the 11th century from Burkina Faso to escape raids and Islamisation, perching on the hills of the Atakora and building typical defensive-engineered dwellings. A farming people, they have remained very attached to their traditions and animist religion with the cult of fetishes. A characteristic feature is the female wedding headdress with bone horns.
Taneka
It is a minority group present in a cluster of traditional villages perched on the cliffs of the Djougou region. Thanks to their architecture camouflaged among the vegetation and the rocks, they preserved their animist traditions and were not Islamised like the rest of the region. Their social order is still guaranteed by a king and his wise councillors/healers, dressed in a single leather loincloth. In the last 10 years, they have been subjected to a campaign of Islamisation and some kings have converted to Islam, influencing even part of the population, which however seems to have remained practising ancestral rites.
Tofinou
They fled from the centre of the country to the marshy area of Lake Nokoué in the 17th century to escape the slave hunters of Dahomey, who were not allowed to go near the water because of a religious ban. A population of fishermen, they adopt a very particular technique to create artificial fish farms, planting branches on the muddy bottom of the lake that become excellent bait for the fish. Their typical bamboo dwellings, built on ebony piles, are characteristic.
Languages
The official language is French, which is also often used between ethnic groups with different languages. The most common local languages are Fon in the south, Bariba and Dendi in the north, Yoruba on the border with Nigeria and Ewe on the border with Togo in the south and central part of the country. Generally speaking, there are three language strains in Benin: the Kwa (or Guinean), Gour (or Voltaic) and Mandé languages. The first group includes the Adja-Fon, Gun, Hueda, Yoruba and Nagoya languages. To the second group belong the Betammaribé, Berba, Taneka and Bariba languages. To the Mandé group belong the Boussa, Boko and Tchinka languages.
The lesser represented languages are also Haoussa, Songhai and Fulani (peuhl).
Religion
In Benin it is not easy to identify all religious denominations and give statistics, partly because religious syncretism is widespread. It is the homeland of voodoo. It is from here that it originated and arrived in Caribbean America, through the slave trade. During the Marxist period it was abolished, but in 1996 it was reintroduced and recognised as an official religion. Since then, a big festival is celebrated every 10 January in Ouidah, with collective rites and ceremonies.
To sum up, there are four major religions in Benin: Christianity (Catholics, Protestants, Celestines, charismatics…) and Voodoo, especially in the south, while Islam and animism are widespread, especially in the north (Djougou and Natitingou are the two most Islamised cities in Benin).
Not infrequently, both Christianity and voodoo are practised in syncretism, just as professing Muslims often continue to worship animist fetishes in parallel.
Voodoo is a rather complex religion and most of its rituals, officiated by priests initiated into a specific deity, are secret and reserved only for those initiated into the deity.
All manifestations of indefinable forces, all phenomena that go beyond the limits of human imagination and intelligence, are regarded as voodoo, that is, as that which is ‘hidden’ or ‘mysterious’.
One thing is certain, voodoo is not the sad Hollywood stereotype of the little doll stuck with pins, but, according to the original conception, it symbolises and synthesises typically African values such as respect for nature and life, the profound sense of community and transcendental forces, conviviality, love, the symbiosis between cosmic energies, and the socio-political hierarchies of society and the individual.