Abomey
Department
Abomey is a city in the Republic of Benin and the former capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey.
Geography
The city is located in the south of the country, in the department of Zou, whose capital it is.
Population
Abomey has 62 852 inhabitants ( 2005).
Population development:
History
Abomey was the capital of the kingdom of Dahomey, was founded in the early 17th century ( around 1615 /20) by the people of the Fon. It dominated the slave trade on the coast until the late 19th century.
The Royal Palaces of Abomey are a group of mud huts, built by the Fon between the mid-17th and the late 19th century.
The city was surrounded by a mud wall, with an estimated six miles in circumference, pierced by six gates. The upstream 1 ½ m deep ditch was overgrown with thorny acacia - a traditional measure of defense of West African strongholds.
Within the walls were separate villages through fields, several royal palaces, a market and a great place to barracks.
In November 1892 the last independent king of Dahomey, Behanzin was defeated by French colonial troops. He set fire to Abomey and fled northward. The French colonial administration built the city, and built a railway to the coast.
Abomey was conquered by the French in 1892-1894. Since 1960 it is part of the Independent State of Benin, the name " Dahomey " was until 1975.
Attractions
The ruins of the palaces of the former kings of Dahomey, on whose grounds also house the museum is located, are among the attractions of the city. As one of the most famous and most historic sites in West Africa include the palaces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the same time they had to be placed on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger, as in March 1984, a tornado had caused severe damage in Abomey. Inadequate arrangements for the protection and preservation of the palace ruins by the Government of Benin meant that they have been removed from the Red List in 2007. In particular, it was criticized that the reconstruction of the destroyed buildings too little thought has been given to fidelity, and that a long time two-thirds of the palaces were in acute danger of further destruction.
When UNESCO 1985, the palaces, declared a World Heritage Site, it noted:
Since 1993, 50 of the 56 reliefs that once adorned the walls of the king Glèlè ( now ' Salle des Bijoux ' called ), found and attached to the newly constructed building again. The reliefs show in iconographic representations of the history and power of the Fon people.
Today, the city is less important, but a tourist attraction and center of the traditional arts and crafts.
Economy
It is the trade center in an agricultural area, are processed in the cereal, peanuts and palm products.
Traffic
The city is connected by a railway with Cotonou.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Justin Ahomadegbé - Tomêtin, former President of Benin
- Wassiou Oladipupo, Beninese football player
- Arnaud Séka, Beninese football player
- Christophe Soglo, former President of Benin