Republic of Dahomey
| Republic of Dahomey | ||||||||||
| République du Dahomey | ||||||||||
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Anthem L'Aube Nouvelle (French) The Dawn of a New Day |
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| Capital | Porto-Novo | |||||||||
| Languages | French | |||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | |||||||||
| • | Self-governing colony | 11 December 1958 | ||||||||
| • | Independence | 1 August 1960 | ||||||||
| • | Renamed | 30 November 1975 | ||||||||
| Currency | CFA franc | |||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Benin
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The Republic of Dahomey (French: République du Dahomey pronounced: [daɔmɛ]) was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy it had been French Dahomey, part of the French Union. On August 1, 1960, it attained full independence from France.
In 1975, the country was renamed Benin after the Bight of Benin (which was in turn named after the Benin Empire which had its seat of power in Benin City, modern day Nigeria), since "Benin" was deemed politically neutral for all ethnic groups in the state, whereas "Dahomey" recalled the Fon-dominated Kingdom of Dahomey.
The Republic of Dahomey became independent of France on 1 August 1960. In the words of the historian Martin Meredith, the young country "was encumbered with every imaginable difficulty: a small strip of territory jutting inland from the coast, it was crowded, insolvent and beset by tribal divisions, huge debts, unemployment, frequent strikes and an unending struggle for power between three rival political leaders". These rivals were Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, who held sway in the southern and central regions of the country, Sourou-Migan Apithy, who dominated the southeast, and Hubert Maga, whose power base was located in the north.
Upon independence, Maga became the first president of Dahomey. A political crisis in 1958, prior to independence, had led to Maga's Dahomeyan Democratic Movement joining a coalition government, with a subsequent crisis leading to Maga becoming the head of government in April 1959. This compromise, however, was unable to solve Dahomey's problems, and an uprising broke out in October 1963, culminating in a coup d'état, and the replacement of Maga as president with Apithy. This also failed to bring about stability, and Apithy was removed in another coup, in December 1965.
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