COVER N. 211 - BENIN

Postmark: Cotonou RP - Rep.du Benin - 30.01.2023

Posted on the 30th January; Received on the 9th February 2023

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Benin.. What a surprise,  It never ceases to amaze me the generosity that the ever growing  list of countries covered by my blog is proof of. How on earth would I get a cover from Benin? Thanks a great lot Eric and Mathias for  helping me run the highlighter over another country in the map.

S. João Batista de Ajudá. All throughout my primary and high school years I don't recall I ever heard of it, although the fort built by the Portuguese on the coast of what used to be called Dahomey for use as an entrepot in the slave trade was to remain under Portuguese administration until it was claimed and taken by the authorities of the Republic of Dahomey, upon its independence from France in 1961.

This was probably because the sad dictatorship that ruled my country till 1974 abhorred the winds of change that had started to blow over  the empire, which in 1961 suffered three major setbacks, since to the occupation of the S. João Batista de Ajudá Fort  (which he governor set on fire on order from the dictator Salazar) history would add the annexation, by military force, of the colonies of Goa, Damão and Diu by the Republic of India and the beginning of the armed struggle for independence in Angola, which would later  spread to Mozambique and Guiné (now Guiné-Bissau). 

The fort, when it was claimed by Dahomey, had but two occupants, I read. Upon orders from Salazar, they set it on fire and fled the country. The last governor of the fort, though, would fall out of grace with the dictator (was he thinking the 2 people should have resisted, commit suicide???) since the abandon of the fort was perceived as an humiliation by the dictator, and he was later exiled for life in Mavinga, in the Southwest of Angola, in a semi-deserted area close to Zambia, as I gathered from here.

The Republic of Dahomey would change its official designation to its current formulation as Republic of Benim, in 1975, following the ascension to power of a Marxist-leninist regime in 1972.  As many a state in Africa issued out of the ashes of empires, it has not been a smooth ride all along the way, but Benim is now considered to be a democracy and its economy is showing  sustained and considerable growth (GDP rose by 7.16% in 2021).

In 1990,  the Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation supported the costs of the recuperation of the S. João Batista de Ajudá Fort which now harbours a museum devoted to the history of Ouidah (or Ajudá as the Portuguese would call the city).  

I wonder if kids, these days, at school hear about our connection to Benin…. At last I hope so.

Stamps 

- On the 1st January 2008, La Poste du Benin issued a set of 8 definitive stamps illustrated with the national Coat of Arms: 4  2X1,5 cm with 25, 50, 75 and 100 CFA denominations and another 4 much larger - 4 x 3 cm - with face values of 200, 250, 500 and 5000 CFA. The 50  and 500 CFA stamps can be seen on my cover.

- The 10th January is an holiday in Benin since 1992. The day celebrates the designation of Voodoo as an official national Religion in the country where it was born and from where it would not only irradiate to other African geographies but  would also cross the Atlantic to land in Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and the US, as probably the sole possession the unfortunate victims of the slave trade carried with them.

Honouring the 20th anniversary of this celebratory day, la Poste Benin issued on 19DEC2012a set of 3 three stamps dedicated to the theme, with 250, 300 and 1000 CFA denominations , illustrated with a map of Benin filled with images associated wih the Voodoo cult.

The postmark informs that the cover was posted in Cotonou, the political capital of the country and siege of the Government, the constitutional capital being Porto-Novo.