Talk:Benin

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It would be a good idea to make some sort of distinction between the old Fon kingdom of Dahomey and the French-founded state which later took on that name, as the two states are by no means coterminous. Currently, Dahomey sends one to information about the Republic of Benin, which strikes me as inappropriate. Come to think of it, there also ought to be a distinction between Benin the republic and Benin the kingdom, as the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other, apart from the capriciousness of Mathieu Kerekou.

Contents

[edit] OtherUses template

whoa Please change the article to use Template:OtherUses instead of Template:otheruses it currently uses. The OtherUses template has information about the contents of the article.

{{OtherUses|info=information about the contents of the article}}

For a sample use of this template refer to the articles Alabama or Algiers--—The preceding unsigned comment was added by DuKot (talk • contribs) .

Note that that functionality is now at {{otheruses1}}. {{OtherUses}} redirects to {{otheruses}}, and is deprecated.--Srleffler 18:41, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Benin and Marxism

How long after the 1989 collapse of East European Communism did Kérékou abandon Marxism? And was it because of an economic crisis, or because the political winds had shifted? 192.195.66.45 14:07, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

By summer 1990 Marxist retoric had largely disappeared. The flag had been replaced, although people were obviously not very familiar with the new one (it would sometimes be seen flying upside down), and it was rare to hear anyone addressed as comrade - though I don't know if that was ever common. Bookshops continued to sell school textbook with revolutionary slogans in their introductions, but it would have been economically unfeasible to issue new editions just for that. Marxism doesn't seem to have been of much importance to many people even before 1989, except that it meant that some had the opportunity to go abroad for university education. kwami 22:07, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DeMOGRAPHY

as im readin the page now there is nothing under demography. can sum1 add sumthin.

How's that? kwami 22:08, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Well there wasnt before.....

[edit] sacrifice up, slavery down

"Due to the amount of Human sacrifices, the amount of slaves exported decreased from 20,000 in the end of the seventeenth century to 12,000 in the beginning of the 1800's; the decline is partly due to many colonial countries declaring slave trade illegal. This decline continued until 1885, when the last Portuguese trade vessel with slaves departed from the coast of present day Benin."

Is this really true? Why did sacrificing suddenly increase? --Gbleem 12:43, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Human blood.

sealed with human blood Are the walls of the palace really sealed with human blood? --Gbleem 12:55, 27 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Writing of the Edo

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/?p=939 hey, is there something about this on wiki? i am curious... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 160.114.144.150 (talk) 13:48, 20 January 2007 (UTC).

UGGGHHHH Why dont you guys have MAJOR RESOURCES!?!?!?! I NEED TO DO A PROJECT AND ITS DUE TOMARROW!!!!!!!

[edit] trade unions

I added a short bit about trade unions and the informal economy (and a copy in the main Economy of Benin). It doesn't begin to do the topic justice, but it's a start.--Bookandcoffee 21:37, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pres. George W. Bush visited Feb. 16, 2008, and received national honor

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080216-4.html

his comments at the NEWS section of the WHITE HOUSE website

President Bush Presented Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin Cadjehoun International Airport Cotonou, Benin White House News Africa Trip 2008 8:28 A.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you. Laura and I are honored to be with you -- and the First Lady. I gratefully accept this on behalf of the American people. I stand here by your side as a friend, a believer in your vision and a partner in your willingness to confront the disease and poverty and -- that affect mankind.

We would not be standing here if you and your government was not committed to your people. You mentioned some of the dollar money we're spending with you, but those dollars come with great compassion from the American people. We care when we see suffering. We believe we're all children of God. And so it's a great honor to accept this award, and the American people send their blessings. (Applause.)

END 8:40 A.M. (Local)

Timothyjshaw (talk) 22:19, 16 February 2008 (UTC)timothyjshaw

[edit] History Dates

The history section takes off and runs on and on with-out any dates until some-time well into the text a date finally turns up. This is ridiculous. Kdammers (talk) 02:43, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Capital

For years and years I thought the capital had been moved to Cotonou not long after the country was renamed Benin. From this article and the Cotonou and Porto Novo articles I gather that Porto Novo has always been the capital. But in what sense is it the capital if the government is in Cotonou? This seems to be something worth explaining in the article. —Largo Plazo (talk) 17:55, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Colony and independence

These sections should be expanded, as something must have happened during those years - government, education, economic changes, etc.--Parkwells (talk) 20:30, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Benin the king is called or reffered to the oba. Each clan in the tribe has one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.221.202.133 (talk) 00:12, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Talk page history

After some User:Grawp [1] page move vandalism, we don’t seem to have any talk page history (or archives) before April 29th repair of Seresin. Anybody an idea where its gone?--Van helsing (talk) 19:23, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

The page auto deleted when I moved it back. I've restored the history. What you wish to do with the content that was on this page before the move is up to you. It's in the history, so you can archive it or restore it here, or something else. seresin ( ¡? ) 19:32, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Let’s restore, not too big of a page to archive, thanks for your quick response seresin. --Van helsing (talk) 20:53, 31 May 2008 (UTC)