Allada is a town,

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'' ...

, and commune, located in the

Atlantique Department Atlantique is one of the twelve departments in Benin. The department is located in south-central Benin along the Atlantic coast, between Mono and Kouffo Department in the west, Zou in the north, and Ouémé in the east. The department of Atlan ...

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

. The current town of Allada corresponds to Great Ardra (also called Grand Ardra, or Arda), which was the capital of a Fon kingdom also called Allada (the '' kingdom of Ardra'' or ''kingdom of Allada''), which existed as a sovereign kingdom from around the 13th or 14th century (date of the initial settlements by

Aja Aja or AJA may refer to: Acronyms *AJ Auxerre, a French football club *Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport's IATA airport code *Al Jazeera America, an American news channel *American Jewish Archives *''American Journal of Archaeology'' *, a Germa ...

people, reorganized as a kingdom c. 1600) until 1724, when it fell to the armies of neighbour Kingdom of Dahomey. The present-day commune of Allada covers an area of 381 square kilometres and as of 2013 had a population of 127,512 people.

History

In the mid-sixteenth century, Allada (then called Grand Ardra, or Arda) had a population of about 30,000 people. The original inhabitants of Ardra were ethnic

. According to oral tradition, the Aja migrated to southern Benin around the 12th or 13th century, coming from

Tado Tado (formerly Ezame) is a village in south east Togo, near the border with Benin. Tradition states that Tado was the birthplace of the Aja people at some point in the 12th or 13th century. Today the Aja populate the south part of Togo and Ben ...

, on the

Mono River The Mono River is the major river of eastern Togo. Approximately long, and draining a basin of about , it rises between the town of Sokodé and the border with Benin, and flows south. Along the southern portion of the river towards its mouth, ...

in modern

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its ...

. They established themselves in the area that currently corresponds to southern Benin, until c. 1600, when three brothers – Kokpon, Do-Aklin, and Te-Agdanlin – split the rule of the region amongst themselves: Kokpon took the capital city of Great Ardra, reigning over the Allada kingdom, while his brother Do-Aklin founded

Abomey Abomey is the capital of the Zou Department of Benin. The commune of Abomey covers an area of 142 square kilometres and, as of 2012, had a population of 90,195 people. Abomey houses the Royal Palaces of Abomey, a collection of small traditional ...

(which would become capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey) and their brother Te-Agdanlin founded Little Ardra, also known as Ajatche, later called

Porto Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Gu ...

(literally, "New Port") by Portuguese traders (which is the current capital city of Benin).

Notable citizens and residents

The Haitian revolutionary

Toussaint L'Ouverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

, who was the grandson of the Allada prince Gaou Guinou, was the

founding father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

of the

Republic of Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and so ...

. There is a statue of L'Ouverture in the north of the town.Butler, Stuart (2019) ''Bradt Travel Guide - Benin'', pgs. 100

Demographics

The main town demographics:

History

Notable citizens and residents

Demographics

References

Further reading