Carly+and+Alyssa+Benin+1A

BENIN



•**Size of country in square miles** Benin- 43,482 US- 3,826,675 •**Population density in people per square mile** (compare it to the United States) Benin- 208 people per sq. mile US- 88 people per sq. mile •**Gross Domestic Product per capita** (explain what “GDP per capita” means and how your country relates to the United States’ GDP per capita) Benin-$1,312 US- $45,592 GDP per capita is the measurement of the total output a country makes divided by the number of people in the country, when it increases that means the country’s economy is growing. The US’s GDP per capita is more than 34 time that of Benin. •**Political and physical map of your country**

•**Image of their flag** (and any significance of the symbols, colors, etc.) Image at top of page. Red symbolizes -courage, Green symbolizes - hope, Yellow symbolizes - prosperity •**Life expectancy** (compare it to the United States) Benin- Male: 60 female:62 US- Male:77 Female:81 ** •Birth rate ** (compare it to the United States) 38.67births /1000 popluation •**Infant mortality rate** (compare it to the United States) Benin-65/1000 USA- 6/1000 •**Language(s) spoken** French, adja-fon, Yoruba ** •Monetary Unit ** Communaute Financiere Africaine francs •**Type of Government** (and explain what this means and how it is different from the United States) Multiparty democracy is a government system with multiple political parties. Benin has five year terms, and a National Assembly with 83 members. Unlike the U.S. which has terms of 2, 4 and 6, years with a bicameral legislature called congress with 535 members. •**Political Leader** The current president is Thomas Yayi Boni •**Religions practiced** Christianity, animism, and voodoo. •**Literacy Rate** (compare it to the United States) Benin- Male:53% Female:28% US- Male:99% Female: 99% •**Economic Summary** (can include natural resources, trading partners, types of industry, etc.) Trading partner- Nigeria Major crops include corn, cassava and other tubers, groundnuts, sorghum, soy, and millet. Chief export is cotton. • **Brief history** The history of Benin is closely tied to the powerful Fon kingdom of Danhome (where it got its name, Dahomey, until it was changed it 1975). The Fon kingdom of Dahome was known for its army of women (the Amazons), slave trade, and production of palm oil. Dahome expanded north in the early 1800’s so that their slave trade could increase. In 1857 Dahomey also boldly resisted French incursions. In 1893 king Gbehanzin, the hero of the resistance, was defeated by the French, whose administrative control throughout the region. By 1904 Dahomey was fully integrated into French West Africa. In 1960 Dahomey gained independence, but the first 12 years contained trade union, student strike, regional strife, and six military coups. The nation was non-united until Major Mattieu Kerekou seized power, who eventually adopted Marxism-Leninism as the countries official ideology. He renamed the country People’s Republic of Benin and ruled until 1989. Kerekou sponsored a national conference, helping make the decision that Benin would become a multiparty democracy and have regularly scheduled elections. Elections were held on the scheduled date in1991 even though strikes and opposition activities. Soon after Nicephore Sogolo defeated Kerekou and became the new president of Benin, but the peaceful transfer of power was again transferred back to Kerekou in a 1996 elections. An age limit of 70 prevented Kerekou and Sogolo from running again in 2006. The current president, Thomas Yayi Boni, was elected due to the new age limit · ** Benin and US comparison table **
 * Nation || Region || Area (sq. miles) || Population || Population Density || Literacy rate (male) || Literacy rate (female) || Life Expectancy (male) || Life Expectancy (female) ||
 * Benin || Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa) || 43,482 || 9,056,010 || 208 ppl. Per sq. mile || 53% || 28% || 60 || 62 ||
 * United States of America || Americas (North America) || 3,794,100 || 310,232,863 || 88 ppl. Per sq. mile || 99% || 99% || 77 || 81 ||

· ** References ** Culture Grams CIA World Factbook African Maps from the University of Austin