History of Cotonou, Benin: The City's Story in Its Monuments

Most histories of Cotonou read like a list of treaties. Dates, kings, a port, then independence. You finish reading and you still cannot see the city.

There is a better way to learn it. Cotonou wrote its history into its streets: a cathedral where the first trading post stood, a red star from the Marxist years, an empty plinth where Lenin used to be, a bronze Amazon from 2022. Read the chapters below, then go and stand in front of each one. The Ceety Boy guide to Cotonou's monuments and statues shows where they are and how to get there.

Before Cotonou existed, the land it stands on was a narrow strip of sand between Lake Nokoué and the Atlantic: thick bush, swamps and floods. The kingdoms inland saw it as a margin, not a place to live. From the seventeenth century, small villages appeared along the lagoon, and the Xwla and Tofinu peoples who lived there are seen today as the city's first inhabitants.

The name comes from the Fon language. It is usually given as "by the river of death" or "lagoon of death", and the exact meaning is debated. Many neighbourhood names carry the same history. Agla means roughly "if you are bold, come", Gbégamey "in the big bush", Dantokpa "near the river of Dan", and Ganhi comes from Ganhitô, "near the iron market".

In the early nineteenth century, Britain was moving to end the slave trade. King Ghezo of Dahomey looked for a new route to the sea, away from the big trading posts. A trading post was set up where the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Miséricorde stands today, and the village of Kutònu was founded around 1830. It grew first on the slave trade, then, under British pressure, on palm oil and other crops.

Where to see it today: the cathedral, with its burgundy-and-white striped tiles, near the Ancien Pont. The city began here.

In 1851 France obtained trading rights from Dahomey. A treaty signed on 19 May 1868 with a representative of King Glèlè, renewed on 19 April 1878, was read by the French as handing them the territory of Cotonou. In 1885 they dug a permanent channel through the marsh.

When Béhanzin succeeded Glèlè, he rejected that reading of the treaty. In February 1890 France occupied the village by force, which marked the start of the first Franco-Dahomean war. Dahomey's army attacked the French positions around the town in March 1890 without success. An agreement in October 1890 let France occupy Cotonou, and by 1892 French troops had pushed Béhanzin's army north. Cotonou was now a colonial town.

The women soldiers who fought in these wars are the reason for a landmark on the seafront. The Amazon statue, inaugurated on 30 July 2022 on Boulevard de la Marina, honours the Agoodjiés, the all-female military corps of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The government gives its height as 30 metres without the base.

The decisive building was the wharf, built from 1891 to 1899. It turned Cotonou into the trading gateway of the colony of Dahomey. A town hall followed in 1902, a railway ran from the wharf, and in 1912 the mixed commune of Cotonou was created. The colonial administration drew the streets on a grid. The channel split the town in two: shops and offices on the west bank, older villages such as Akpakpa on the east. A bridge joined the two banks in 1930. Today three bridges cross the channel.

Porto-Novo stayed the capital, but trade kept moving to Cotonou. By independence in 1960, Cotonou had about 70,000 people.

Where to see it today: the old commercial streets of Ganhi and Xwlacodji, where Ceety Boy lists colonial houses and old trading-company warehouses. Ganhi's rebuilt market reopened on 7 December 2024.

After independence, the institutions of government gathered in Cotonou, while Porto-Novo kept the title of official capital, where the national legislature sits. The port changed the city again: the Port Autonome de Cotonou was created on 31 December 1964. It is Benin's only seaport and carries around 90 % of the country's trade with the outside world.

Mathieu Kérékou took power in 1972 and made Marxism-Leninism the official ideology, renaming Dahomey the People's Republic of Benin. He left monuments behind.

Place de l'Étoile Rouge is the biggest of them: a giant circle with a red five-pointed star and a column topped by a man carrying a gun, a bundle of firewood and a hoe. Beninese call him "Jacob". The gun stood for compulsory military service, the firewood for the energy most households used, the hoe for farming.

Place Lénine in Akpakpa had a statue of Lenin. A few months after the democratic transition around 1990 it was taken down. The stepped plinth stayed behind, empty. An empty plinth is still a monument: it records the moment a system ended.

Place du Souvenir, once Place des Martyrs, remembers the attack of January 1977, when French-led mercenaries under Bob Denard attacked Cotonou in a failed attempt to overthrow Kérékou's government.

See it on the map: Place de l'Étoile Rouge on Ceety Boy, with the road route from Fondation Zinsou, Cadjèhoun and Marché Saint-Michel.

The 2013 census counted 679,012 people in Cotonou, and 1,720,105 in the wider urban area with Abomey-Calavi, Sèmè-Kpodji and Ouidah. Cotonou has no room left to grow, so the neighbouring towns grow instead.

The city has also been rewriting its symbols. On 30 July 2022 new monuments were inaugurated, among them the Amazon statue and the statue of Bio Guéra, the Wassangari warrior prince from the north (1856–1916) who resisted French rule. His statue first stood at the airport roundabout and now stands at Carrefour Erevan. The markets are changing too: the rebuilt Ganhi market opened in December 2024, and from 2026 part of Dantokpa's trade began moving to new sites in Kouhounou and Akassato.

For the national story beyond Cotonou, read Benin Republic: history, map, flag, capital and population. To plan a visit to these places, use our guide to tourist attraction sites in Cotonou.

• c. 1830: Kutònu founded around a trading post (today's cathedral site).

• 1851: France obtains trading rights from Dahomey.

• 1868, renewed 1878: treaties the French read as ceding Cotonou.

• 1890: French military occupation; first Franco-Dahomean war.

• 1891–1899: the wharf is built.

• 1912: the mixed commune of Cotonou is created.

• 1930: a bridge joins the two banks.

• 1960: independence; about 70,000 people.

• 31 December 1964: the Port Autonome de Cotonou is created.

• 1972: Kérékou takes power; the Marxist period begins.

• January 1977: mercenary attack on Cotonou fails.

• 2013: census counts 679,012 people.

• 30 July 2022: new monuments inaugurated, including the Amazon statue.

• 7 December 2024: rebuilt Ganhi market opens.

What does the name Cotonou mean?
It comes from Fon and is usually translated as "by the river of death" or "lagoon of death". The exact meaning is debated.

Who founded Cotonou?
The village of Kutònu was founded around 1830, when King Ghezo of Dahomey moved trade to this part of the coast. Xwla and Tofinu communities already lived around the lagoon.

Is Cotonou the capital of Benin?
No. Porto-Novo is the official capital. Cotonou is the seat of government and the economic capital.

Why is there a red star in the middle of Cotonou?
Place de l'Étoile Rouge was built in the 1970s, during Benin's Marxist-Leninist period under Mathieu Kérékou.

When was the port of Cotonou built?
The wharf dates from 1891–1899. The Port Autonome de Cotonou was created on 31 December 1964.

Drive there in 3D: Ceety Boy lets you preview the drive past these monuments before you go. The phone version is a tester build and a heavy download, so open it on Wi-Fi.