Cotonou means by the river of death in Fon
Benin's largest city and working seat of government counted 679,012 residents in 2012, with over two million in the wider urban area. The legislature meets in the official capital, Porto-Novo, but most ministries and embassies sit in Cotonou, on the strip between Lake Nokoué and the Atlantic.
In the early nineteenth century Kutonou was a small fishing village, which Dahomey's King Ghezo is believed to have officially established in 1830. It grew on the slave trade, then on palm oil and cotton. An 1851 treaty with Ghezo let the French open a trading post, King Glele ceded the territory in 1878, and in 1883 the French navy occupied the town to keep the British out. Béhanzin, who took the throne after Glele died in 1889, failed to overturn the treaty. Growth took off after the harbour opened in 1908.
A canal dug by the French in 1855, the lagoon of Cotonou, cuts the city in two and is crossed by three bridges, while the Ouémé River meets the sea here. The coast has been retreating for decades, faster after the Nangbeto Dam and the deep-water port were built; a UN Environment Programme pilot found the shore east of the city had lost 400 metres in 40 years, forcing many families to move.
The Autonomous Port of Cotonou is among West Africa's largest, linked by rail to Parakou and by road to Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Togo, though Gulf of Guinea piracy had cut its trade sharply by 2012. Local industry covers palm oil, brewing, textiles, cement and vehicle assembly; Citroën once built 2CVs here. Motorcycle taxis called zémidjan fill the streets.
Two rainy seasons bring 1,000 to 1,300 millimetres a year, and harmattan winds blow in December and January. French is official, alongside Fon, Aja and Yoruba. A statue honouring the Dahomey Amazons, the second tallest in Africa, stands near the ocean, and the actor Djimon Hounsou was born in the city.
Source: Cotonou
