DAHOMEY (see 7.734). An estimate made in 1918 put the population at slightly over 900,000, of whom 65% lived in the coast and adjacent regions. Upper Dahomey, two-thirds in area of the whole colony, has no more than 12 inhabitants per sq. m., compared with 50 per sq. m. in Lower Dahomey. Porto Novo (seat of Government and chief business centre) had about 25,000 inhabitants, including some 400 Europeans. Whydah and Abomey each had a population of 12,000 odd. In all there were over 700 Europeans in Dahomey. There arc large numbers of mulattoes in the coast towns, chiefly employed as clerks.
Trade and Communications.—The French devoted much attention to the development of the natural resources of the country and in opening communications. The metre gauge railway from Kotonu (the ocean port of Porto Novo) which runs parallel to the Nigerian frontier reached Save, 162 m. inland, in 1912. Thence a metalled road (nearly 300 m. long), with substantial bridges was built to the Niger at Madekali, just W. of the British (Nigerian) frontier. Along this Route de l'Est a motor wagon service for passengers, mails and goods was opened in 1012. From Pahu, 16 m. from Kotonu, a branch line (20 m. long) runs W. to Whydah and Segborue. The line from Porto Novo to Sakete, near the Nigerian border, was in 1914 extended to Pobe (total length 47 m.). On the Togoland side there is a good metalled road connecting with the middle Niger regions. In the coast region a mail steamer service was opened in 1912 along the lagoons between Porto Novo and Lagos.
Cocoa plantations were largely developed from 1912, and the coconut palm—for the copra trade—introduced in the lagoon districts, while in central Dahomey cotton plantations met with success. Maize is largely grown for export, and there are considerable herds of cattle in the north. But palm oil remains the chief source of wealth of the country; oil palms cover about 600,000 ac. The volume of trade increased during 1905–12 from 1,075,000 to 2,530,000. The trade for 1916 was valued at 1,446,000; in 1918 at 2,332,000 (evenly distributed between imports and exports). The increase in 1918 was largely due to higher prices. Palm kernels and palm oil are the chief exports; maize, cotton, dried fish, copra, shea nuts and shea butter rank next in value. Cotton goods, gin and trade spirits are the chief imports.
Before the war Hamburg took nearly all the palm kernels; during and since the war the kernels have gone mainly to Liverpool. In 1913 Germany had 49.28% of the total trade, France 26.47, the United Kingdom 23.74; the elimination of Germany told mostly in favour of the United Kingdom. The colony is self-supporting; in 1919 the budget balanced at 237,000. Nearly half the revenue is derived from a poll tax on the natives.
History.—In 1911 the French deposed the chief, a member of the old royal family, whom they had installed at Abomey. He had been intriguing against French rule. His territory was divided among a number of petty chiefs placed under the direct control of the resident at Abomey, and the whole country became the colony of Dahomey and its dependencies. From that time little trouble was experienced in the native administration. In Sept. 1912 a Franco-German convention approved the delimitation of the Dahomey-Togoland frontier which had been made by boundary commissions. Less than two years later, on the outbreak of the World War (Aug. 1914), small columns of French troops entered Togoland and cooperated with the British in its conquest. The energetic action of M. C. Noufflard (the Lt.-Gov.) and of Commandant Mariox (senior military officer) and Capt. Costaing helped to bring the conflict to a speedy close and to keep Dahomey itself peaceful. The natives of Dahomey furnished contingents for the Cameroon campaign and for Europe.
See Dahomey (1920), a useful handbook issued by the British Foreign Office; A. Le Herisse, L'Ancien royaume du Dahomey (1911); P. Sprigade, "Die franzosische Kolonie Dahome" in Mitt. deutschen Schutzgebieten (1918); L'Afrique Française (Paris, monthly). (F. R. C.)