Bight of Benin

Bight of Benin Bay of Benin Golfe du Bénin
Gulf of Guinea map showing the Bight of Benin.
Coordinates	5°00′N 2°06′E / 5.0°N 2.1°E / 5.0; 2.1Coordinates: 5°00′N 2°06′E / 5.0°N 2.1°E / 5.0; 2.1
River sources	Niger
Ocean/sea sources	Gulf of Guinea Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria

Max. length	300 km (190 mi)
Max. width	640 km (400 mi)

Settlements	Cotonou

The coast of Benin with Cotonou port in the background

The Bight of Benin or Bay of Benin is a bight in the Gulf of Guinea area on the western African coast.

Geography

It extends eastward for about 640 kilometres (400 mi) from Cape St. Paul to the Nun outlet of the Niger River. To the east it is continued by the Bight of Bonny (formerly Bight of Biafra). The Republic of Benin and this bight were both named after the Benin Empire. On December 25, 2003, UTAGE Flight 141 crashed in the Bight.

Historical associations with the Atlantic slave trade led to the region becoming known as the Slave Coast. As in many other regions across Africa, powerful indigenous kingdoms along the Bight of Benin relied heavily on a long established slave trade that expanded greatly after the arrival of European powers and became a global trade with the colonization of the Americas.^[1]

Cultural references

The Bight of Benin has a long association with slavery, its shore being known as the Slave Coast. An old rhyme says:

Beware, beware the Bight of the Benin, for few come out though many go in.

A variation goes:

Beware beware, the Bight of Benin: one comes out, where fifty went in!

This is said to be a slavery jingle or sea shanty about the risk of malaria in the Bight.^[2] A third version of the couplet is:

Beware and take care of the Bight of Benin. There's one comes out for forty goes in."^[3]

The author Philip McCutchan has written a book titled Beware, beware the Bight of Benin.

A short story by Elizabeth Coatsworth, "The Forgotten Island" (1942), deals with a treasure from Benin. A variation of the rhyme is also mentioned.^[4]

Flash For Freedom!,^[5] George MacDonald Fraser's 1971 picaresque novel of Harry Flashman's misadventures in—among other places and situations—an English stately home, the 1840s slave trade, antebellum plantation life, and meeting with then-congressman Abraham Lincoln, quotes another variant of the couplet:

Oh, sailor beware of the Bight o' Benin.

There's one as comes out for a hundred goes in.

In Patrick O'Brian's novel The Commodore (1996), Dr. Maturin recites the rhyme when he learned of his ship's destination. Commodore Aubrey checks him, telling him it is bad luck to say that out loud on the way in.

The rhyme is also partially quoted in chapter Context(6) of John Brunner's novel Stand on Zanzibar. The Bight of Benin (as well as the fictional republic of Beninia) is mentioned throughout the novel.

David Bramhall's trilogy "The Greatest Cape" also mentions the rhyme, one of the characters in the first volume, The Black Joke, having been a pirate and a slaver.

In 2007, a collection of short stories entitled The Bight of Benin: Short Fiction by Kelly J. Morris was published by AtacoraPress.com. The stories are set in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

Avant-garde musician Buckethead's song "The Bight of Benin" off the album Albino Slug (2008) is named after this area.

History

On 1 February 1852 the British established the Bight of Benin British protectorate, under the authority of Consuls of the Bight of Benin: the republic of Benin and Bight of Benin were named after the Great Benin Empire extending eastward from cape st. Paul to the Nun outlet of River Niger.

Term	Protectorate
May 1852 – 1853	Louis Fraser
1853 – April 1859	Benjamin Campbell
April 1859 – 1860	George Brand
1860 – January 1861	Henry Hand
January 1861 – May 1861	Henry Grant Foote
May 1861 – 6 August 1861	William McCoskry (acting)

On 6 August 1861 the Bight of Biafra protectorate (see there for their common further history) and Bight of Benin protectorate was joined as a united British protectorate, ultimately to be merged into Nigeria

References and sources

References

↑ Edward Brynn, Slavery in the Sahel, University of North Carolina
↑ McKie, Robin (2001-12-02). "Bark for the bite". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
↑ Fiammetta, Rocco (2003). The Miraculous Fever-tree: Malaria and the Quest for a Cure that Changed the World. HarperCollins. p. 156. ISBN 0-06-019951-2.
↑ Hitchcock, Alfred (1961). Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful. New York: Random House. p. 83. ISBN 0-394-81224-7.
↑ "Flash for Freedom!". Wikipedia. 2016-08-21.

Sources

WorldStatesmen- Southern Nigeria

African seas
Oceans and seas	Alboran Sea Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Levantine Sea Mediterranean Sea Red Sea Southern Ocean
Gulfs and bays	Abu Qir Bay Acheïl Dakhlet Al Hoceima Bay Algiers Bay Algoa Bay Ambas Bay Ana Chaves Bay Angra de Cintra Antongil Bay Antsiranana Bay Arab's Gulf Baía Almeida Baía da Condúcia Baía da Corimba Baía de Mocambo Baía de Mossuril Baía de Namibe Baia de Porto Amboim Baía de Santa Marta Baía de Sucujaque Baía de Tombua Baía do Ambriz Baía do Bengo Baía do Dande Baía do Govuro Baía do Lúrio Baía do Nzeto Baía do Suto Baia dos Tigres Baie de Gorée Baie de Sangareya Baie de Yof Bandombaai Bay of Anfile Bay of Arguin Bay of Aseb Bay of Arzew Bight of Benin Bay of Beylul Bay of Edd Bay of Hawakil Bay of Langarano Bay of Saint-Augustin Bay of Tangier Benguela Bay Bera’esoli Betty’s Bay Bight of Biafra Bocock’s Bay Bombetoka Bay Bootbaai Bosluisbaai Cape Cross Bay Cape Negro Bay Chake-Chake Bay Chameis Bay Chwaka Bay Conception Bay Cuio Bay Dakhlet Nouadhibou Dalwakteah Bay Deurloopbaai Doringbaai Dungonab Bay Durissa Bay Elands Bay Enseada das Pombas Enseada de São Braz Enseada do Catumbo Enseada do Chalungo Enseada do Quicombo Enseada do Quitungo Enseada dos Três Irmãos Equimina Bay False Bay Farta Bay Fernao Veloso Bay Foul Bay Frederik se Baai Grosse Bucht Gulf of Aden Gulf of 'Agig Gulf of Gabès Gulf of Guinea Gulf of Hammamet Gulf of Sirte Gulf of Suez Gulf of Tadjoura Gulf of Tunis Gulf of Zula Hafun Bay South Hann Bay Harrison Cove Henties Bay Hirghīgo Bahir Selat’ē Horingbaai Hottentotsbaai Hurdiyo Hydra Bay Inhambane Bay Jammer Bucht John Owen Bay Kalawy Bay Kiwaiyu Bay Lambert Bay Lamu Bay Langbaai Loango Bay Lobito Bay Luanda Bay Lüderitz Bay McDougall Bay Manza Bay Maputo Bay Markusbaai Memba Bay Menai Bay Meob Bay Mietjie Frans se Baai Moraha Bahir Selat’ē Mossel Bay Möwebaai Noopbaai Oran Gulf Pemba Bay Pipas Bay Platbaai Plaatjieskraalbaai Plettenbergbaai Pointe-Noire Bay Port Alexander, Angola Prinzen Bucht Río de Oro Bay Rock Bay Roode Bay Rooiwalbaai Saint Francis Bay Saint Francis Bay (Eastern Cape) St Helena Bay Saint Sebastian Bay Saldanha Bay Sandwich Harbour Sierra Bay Skoonbergbaai Skurfbaai Slangbaai Sodwana Bay Sofala Bay Somnaasbaai Spencer Bay Struisbaai Spoegrivierbaai Swartstraat Table Bay Thysbaai Tietiesbaai Ungama Bay Walker Bay Walvis Bay (bay) Yawri Bay
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Historical seas	Aethiopian Sea Erythraean Sea Sea of Zanj

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