Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

, a narrow, key-shaped, north–south strip of land in West

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, lies between the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

and the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...

. Its latitude ranges from 6°30 N to 12°30 N and its longitude from 1° E to 3°40 E. It is bounded by

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

to the west,

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

and

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

to the north,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

to the east, and the

Bight of Benin The Bight of Benin, or Bay of Benin, is a bight in the Gulf of Guinea area on the western African coast that derives its name from the historical Kingdom of Benin. Geography The Bight of Benin was named after the Kingdom of Benin. It extends ea ...

to the south. With an area of , it is slightly bigger than the nation of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It extends from the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south, a distance of . Although the coastline measures , the country measures about at its widest point. It is one of the smaller countries in West Africa, about one eighth the size of Nigeria, its neighbor to the east. It is, however, twice as large as Togo, its neighbor to the west. A relief map of Benin shows that it has little variation in elevation, averaging in elevation.

Biogeography

The country can be divided into four main areas from the south to the north. The low-lying, sandy, coastal plain, which has a highest elevation of is, at most, wide. It is

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

y and dotted with lakes and

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s connected to the ocean. The plateaus of southern Benin, with an altitude ranging between , are split by valleys running north to south along the Couffo, Zou, and Oueme Rivers, an area that has been categorised by the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

as part of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. Then an area of flat lands dotted with rocky hills whose altitude seldom reaches extends around Nikki and Savé. Finally, the Atacora mountain range extends along the northwest border and into Togo with the highest point,

Mont Sokbaro Mont Sokbaro (also spelled as SagbaraoTchaboue, B.I. (2015) ''Tourisme et developpement socio-economique dans la commune de Bassila (Benin)''. Université d'Abomey-Calavi) is a hill that is mostly cited as the highest point of Benin, with an elev ...

, at . Benin has fields lying fallow, mangroves, and remnants of large sacred forests.

Forest cover Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...

is around 28.% of the total land area, equivalent to 3,135,150 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 4,835,150 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 3,112,150 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 23,000 hectares (ha). In the rest of the country, the

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

is covered with thorny scrubs and dotted with huge

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

trees. Some forests line the banks of rivers. In the north and the northwest of Benin the Reserve du W du Niger and

Pendjari National Park The Pendjari National Park () lies in north-western Benin, adjoining the Arli National Park in Burkina Faso. Named for the Pendjari River, the national park is known for its wildlife and is home to some of the last populations of big game like ...

attract tourists eager to see elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos and monkeys. The country formerly offered habitat for the endangered

painted hunting dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called painted dog and Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lycaon'', which is disti ...

, ''Lycaon pictus'', although this canid is considered to have been

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

from Benin due to human population expansion. Woodlands comprise approximately 31 percent of Benin's land area.Rebecca Kormos and Christophe Boesch. 2003 Location: Western

, bordering the North

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, between

and

Geographic coordinates: Continent: Africa Area:
''total:'' 112 622 km²
''country comparison to the world:'' 102
''land:'' 110 622 km²
''water:'' 2 000 km² Area comparative *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

comparative: slightly less than the size of Victoria *

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

comparative: approximately 1 times the size of

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

comparative: approximately smaller than

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

*United States comparative: slightly larger than

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

* EU comparative: slightly larger than

Land boundaries:
''total:'' 2 123 km
''border countries:''

386 km,

277 km,

809 km,

651 km Coastline: 121 km Maritime claims:
''

territorial sea Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

:'' 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains Elevation extremes:
''lowest point:'' Atlantic Ocean 0 m
''highest point:''

658 m Natural resources: small offshore

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

deposits,

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

Land use:
''arable land:'' 23.94%
''permanent crops:'' 3.99%
''other:'' 72.06% (2012) Irrigated land: 230.4 km² (2012) Total renewable water resources:'' 26.39 km³ (2011) Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
''total:'' 0.13 km³/a (32%/23%/45%)
''per capita:'' 18.74 m³/a (2001) Natural hazards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north in December to March Environment – current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification Environment – international agreements:
''party to:''

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

Climate Change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occ ...

Desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...

Endangered Species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,

Law of the Sea Law of the sea (or ocean law) is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of State (polity), states in Ocean, maritime environments. It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters juris ...

, Ozone Layer Protection,

Ship Pollution A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

Wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

Whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

Sandbanks create difficult access to a coast with no natural harbors, river mouths, or islands.

Climate

Benin's climate is hot and humid. Annual rainfall in the coastal area averages , not particularly high for coastal West Africa. Benin has two rainy and two dry seasons. The principal rainy season is from April to late July, with a shorter less intense rainy period from late September to November. The main dry season is from December to April, with a short cooler dry season from late July to early September. Temperatures and humidity are high along the tropical coast. In Cotonou, the average maximum temperature is ; the minimum is . Variations in temperature increase when moving north through a savanna and plateau toward the Sahel. A dry wind from the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

called the

harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into th ...

blows from December to March. Grass dries up, the vegetation turns reddish brown, and a veil of fine dust hangs over the country, causing the skies to be overcast. It is also the season when farmers burn brush in the fields.

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of

, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. * Northernmost point – the confluence of the

Mékrou River The Mékrou River is a river of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. It flows through the W National Park. A tributary of the Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. ...

and the

river Niger The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

on the border with

Alibori Department Alibori is the largest and northernmost department (French: ''département'') of Benin. Externally the department borders the countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and internally the departments of Atakora and Borgou. The department ...

* Easternmost point – unnamed location on the border with

immediately east of the town of Néganzi,

Borgou Department Borgou is one of the twelve departments of Benin. Borgou borders the country of Nigeria and the departments of Alibori Department, Alibori, Atakora Department, Atakora, Collines Department, Collines and Donga Department, Donga. The capital of B ...

* Southernmost point – the point at which the border with

enters the

Mono Department Mono is one of the twelve departments of Benin, with its capital at Lokossa. It is named for the Mono River which forms much of the Benin-Togo border, border with Togo. The northern areas of the department were split off to create the newly form ...

* Westernmost point – unnamed location on the border with Togo immediately south-west of Tiokossi in Datori,

Atakora Department Atakora (also spelled Atacora, named for the Atakora Mountains) is the northwesternmost department of Benin. Externally it borders Togo to the west and Burkina Faso to the north; internally it borders the departments of Alibori, Borgou and ...

References

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
*Rebecca Kormos and Christophe Boesch. 2003. ''West African chimpanzees: status survey and conservation action plan'', International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, 219 pages , * *

Line notes

External links

* Soil Maps of Beni

{{Africa topic, Climate of