Portal:Benin

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Coat of Arms of Benin Benin (bi-NIN), 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 short coastline to the south leads to the Bight of Benin. Its size is just over 110000 km2 with a population of almost 8,500,000. Its capital is the Yoruba founded city of Porto-Novo but the seat of government is the Fon city of Cotonou. A democratic government between 1960 and 1972 was followed by a self-proclaimed "Marxist-Leninist" dictatorship between 1972 and 1991, which was highly repressive and led to economic collapse. Multiparty elections have taken place since 1991. About a third of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. Main income sources are subsistence agriculture and cotton. Selected article Yoruba people (Yorùbá in Yoruba orthography) are one of the largest ethno-linguistic or ethnic groups in west Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language (Yoruba: èdèe Yorùbá; èdè). The Yoruba constitute around 30 million individuals throughout West Africa and are found predominantly in Nigeria with approximately 21 percent of its total population. The Yoruba share borders with the Borgu (variously called Bariba and Borgawa) in the northwest, the Nupe (whom they often call, 'Tapa') and Ebira in the north, the Edo who are also known as Bini or Benin people (unrelated to the people of the 'Republic of Benin'), and the Ẹsan and Afemai to the southeast. The Igala and other related groups are found in the northeast, and the Egun, Fon, and other Gbe-speaking peoples in the southwest. While the majority of the Yoruba live in western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in the Republic of Benin, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Puerto Rico, Ghana and Togo. (Read more...) Selected picture Credit: Ferdinand Reus Woman at a Celestial Church of Christ baptism ceremony in Cotonou, Benin WikiProject Benin WikiProject Africa Selected biography 120px Paulin Hountondji (b.1942) is a Beninese philosopher and politician. He was educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, graduating in 1966, and taking his doctorate in 1970 (his thesis was on Edmund Husserl). After two years teaching in France and in the Congo Republic, he accepted a post at the National University of Benin in Cotonou, where he still teaches as Professor of Philosophy. His academic career was interrupted, however, by a period spent in politics. Having been a prominent critic of the military dictatorship that had ruled his country, Hountondji became involved in Benin's return to democracy (in 1992), and served in the government as Minister of Education and Minister for Culture and Communications until his resignation and return to the University in 1994. He is currently director of the African Centre for Advanced Studies in Porto-Novo and is serving as the Bingham Professor of Humanities from 1 August 2008 to 31 December 2008 at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. (Read more...) The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject: What are portals? List of portals Featured portals