DESTINATION BENIN 2007
6-20 January 2007
Benin is a small country in West Africa with a turbulent past. In the early colonial period, the region was called 'Slave Coast' and the legacy of this evil trade is still to be seen today in modern Benin's building and culture. From the 17th through to the 19th century the kings of Dahomey became fantastically wealthy by raiding their neighbours and selling the resulting captives, through intermediaries, to be shipped to the West Indies, Brazil or the United States. Ouidah, on the coast, became a major slave trading port, and the Luso-Brazillian influence in many of its oldest buildings can still be seen.
The Portuguese Fort at Ouidah is the setting for the late Brice Chatwin's semi-factual novella The Viceroy of Ouidah, telling the story of the Brazillian slaver Francisco da Souza - a book that bears comparison with Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Nineteenth century attempts by the Royal Navy to put an end to the slave trade are recounted by some of those who were there in King Guezo of Dahomey 1850-52 in The Stationery Office Uncovered Editions series. Ouidah is also the burthplace of the Voodoo religion, which was exported with the slaves to the Americas.
 |
Originally built as a church for returned slaves from Brazil, the mosque at Porto Novo aptly demonstrates the variety of cultures that have come together to create the modern Benin.
|
 |
Fear of slavers led villagers in the southern region of Benin, where there are many lakes and lagoons, to build their homes on water, as seen here at the famous stilted village of Ganvie.
|
 |
Front porch,
Ganvie style.
|
 |
Fishing on Lake Aherne.
|
 |
Animal sacrifice occupies an important role in the voodoo religion, as this goat is finding out to its cost... |
 |
The Portuguese Fort at Ouidah remained in sovereign Portuguese hands until after Dahomey became independent in 1961, being for many years the smallest international territory in the world.
|
 |
Cannon in demi-lunes provided the Portuguese Fort with a field of fire covering the whole town of Ouidah.
|
 |
Voodoo practitioners in action, Ouidah.
|
 |
This year's International Festival of Voodoo, at Ouidah, saw the inauguration of a new Supreme Chief of Voodoo, the first time this had happened in 29 years. The new Chief is in the centre, in the black and white hat.
|
 |
Following the inauguration, the crowd proceeds along the 4km Route of Slaves - the path from Ouidah to the coast along which the slaves were forced before being deported to the Americas. (The Supreme Chief is under the umbrella.)
Video of the parade (4.5m)
|
 |
The Gate of No Return on the Ouidah shoreline symbolizes the place from which the slaves were carried out to the waiting ships.
|
 |
The remains of a once impressive 17th century Dahomian palace at Abomey. The Dahomian kings swore at their coronation oath to expand the boundary of their empire. They did this by attacking their neighbours and enslaving the population, becoming hugely wealthy in the process.
|
 |
An audience with HM King Gbehanzin II of Abomey. Although holding no formal power, the kings of Benin are recognized under the constitution and receive state funding under a civil list.
|
 |
HM King Gbehanzin II
of Abomey.
|
 |
Egungun are spirits of the dead who return to occupy the bodies of an elite corps of Yoroba-speaking priests. This pair are in Bohicon, near Abomey.
|
 |
An Egungun offers advice to a petitioner.
|
 |
In the north, the Tata Somba group of peoples adopted a different solution to the problem of resisting slavers. Each Tata Somba settlement is a miniature, self-contained fortress, with a defensible upper level. Each settlement is out of musket range of its neighbour, making capturing each fort a separate, and costly, business.
|
 |
Household goods on the upper level of a Tata Somba fort.
|
 |
Traditional flags of the kings of Dahomey.
|
