50 free Benin trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Benin is a thin slice of West Africa between Togo and Nigeria that most quiz-takers would struggle to place, yet its history is enormous. This was Dahomey, the "Black Sparta" whose all-female army inspired The Woman King, and Ouidah, one of the busiest slave ports on the whole Atlantic coast. It is the homeland of Vodun (voodoo), a lake village of 20,000 people on stilts, and the country whose president was the first on mainland Africa to lose power at the ballot box. This quiz covers geography (why does the country have a capital and a separate seat of government?), history (Dahomey's kings, the French conquest, the Marxist years, the 1990 return to democracy), symbols and culture (the flag, Vodun Day, Zangbeto night guardians, Angélique Kidjo), wildlife (elephants and cheetahs in Pendjari) and daily life (zemidjan motorbike taxis, corn dough and peanut sauce). Questions range from easy to expert. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference pages before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the official capital of Benin?
Porto-Novo
The larger coastal city to its west is the seat of government where most ministries and embassies actually sit.
Q 02Which city is Benin's largest and its seat of government, though not its official capital?
Cotonou
Its name means "by the river of death" in Fon; it has the country's only seaport and international airport.
Q 03In which year was Dahomey renamed Benin, after the Bight of Benin?
1975
The Marxist regime chose the new name because "Dahomey" was tied only to the Fon people of the south.
Q 04Which two countries border Benin to the west and east?
Togo and Nigeria
Burkina Faso and Niger lie to the north; the whole country is only 121 km wide at the coast.
Q 05Benin celebrates its Independence Day on which date?
1 August
Full independence came in 1960 after two years of autonomy within the French community.
Q 06The Bight of Benin was named after a kingdom in which modern country?
Nigeria
The famous Benin Bronzes come from that Nigerian kingdom of the Edo people, not from the Republic of Benin.
Q 07The Kingdom of Dahomey's all-female army unit was nicknamed what by European observers?
Amazons
Known locally as Mino or Agojie, they were the only female army in modern history.
Q 08What nickname did Dahomey's military obsession earn it from explorers such as Richard Burton?
Black Sparta
Boys were apprenticed to older soldiers until old enough to join the army.
Q 09Which 2022 film starring Viola Davis dramatised Dahomey's Agojie female warriors?
The Woman King
It was set in the 1820s under King Ghezo and shot in South Africa.
Q 10Which king of Dahomey seized the throne in 1818 with a Brazilian slave trader's help and ended tribute to Oyo?
Ghezo
Francisco Félix de Sousa, the trader, became the "Chacha" of Ouidah; Ghezo was assassinated in 1858.
Q 11Béhanzin, last independent king of Dahomey, was exiled by the French to which Caribbean island?
Martinique
He later died in Algeria in 1906; he had led the resistance in two Franco-Dahomean wars.
Q 12Ouidah was the chief port of which coastal kingdom, annexed by Dahomey in 1727?
Whydah
Its King Haffon had received his crown as a gift from Portugal; the town has a python temple and a Brazilian slavers' mansion.
Q 13The Door of No Return in Ouidah is a memorial arch to what?
Enslaved Africans shipped from the port to the Americas
Q 21In 1999, President Kérékou made a national apology for what?
Africans' role in the Atlantic slave trade
Dahomey's kings had earned some £250,000 a year from selling captives by 1750.
Q 22Which crop accounts for roughly 80% of Benin's official export receipts?
Cotton
The president who took office in 2016 made his fortune ginning it.
Q 23Which UNESCO World Heritage Site in Benin preserves the earthen residences of the kings of Dahomey?
Royal Palaces of Abomey
Twelve kings ruled from there between 1625 and 1900; a 1984 tornado put it on the World Heritage in Danger list until 2007.
Ouidah shipped the last recorded slave cargo to the United States in 1860, long after the US banned the trade.
Q 14Vodun, the traditional religion of southern Benin, gave rise to which religion in Haiti?
Haitian Vodou
Enslaved Fon, Ewe and Aja people carried it across the Atlantic; it also shaped Louisiana Voodoo and Brazilian Candomblé Jejé.
Q 15Ganvie, a village of some 20,000 people on Lake Nokoué, is built how?
On stilts over the water
The Tofinu founded it to escape Fon slave raiders, since Fon warriors would not fight on water; it is called the "Venice of Africa".
Q 16Ganvie's founders, the Tofinu, took to the lake in the 16th or 17th century to escape whom?
Fon warriors taking captives to sell as slaves
The name Ganvie means "I was rescued here" in Fon.
Q 17Which Beninese singer, born in Ouidah, has won five Grammy Awards?
Angélique Kidjo
Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2021; she sings in Fon, French, Yoruba, Mina and English.
Q 18Benin's flag has yellow and red horizontal bands beside a vertical band of which colour at the hoist?
Green
Adopted in 1959, it was replaced by a green flag with a red star from 1975 to 1990, then restored.
Q 19Between 1975 and 1990, what did the flag of the People's Republic of Benin look like?
A green field with a red star in the canton
The old tricolour was restored when multi-party democracy returned in 1990.
Q 20Mathieu Kérékou, who ruled Benin under Marxism-Leninism from 1972, achieved what distinction in 1991?
First mainland African president voted out of office
He lost to Nicéphore Soglo, then won back the presidency at the ballot box in 1996.
Q 24The WAP complex, including Benin's Pendjari National Park, holds West Africa's largest population of which animal?
Elephants
More than 3,800 elephants roam the W-Arly-Pendjari complex shared with Burkina Faso and Niger; it also shelters rare Northwest African cheetahs.
Q 25W National Park, shared by Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso, is named after what?
A W-shaped river meander
The Beninese section, over 8,000 km2, has been managed by African Parks since 2020.
Q 26Benin's highest point, Mont Sokbaro, in the Atakora range, is only about how high?
658 m
The Atakora continue into Togo, where they are called the Togo Mountains.
Q 27Which people of the Atakora Mountains build two-storey fortified mud houses called tata?
The Somba
Livestock sleep on the ground floor and grain dries on the rooftop terrace; the tata of Togo and Benin are a World Heritage Site.
Q 28A "zemidjan", of which the largest city has an estimated 72,000, is what?
A motorcycle taxi
The Fon name means "take me quickly"; drivers wear yellow shirts.
Q 29What is traditionally believed to be under the whirling costume of Benin's Zangbeto night guardians?
No human, only spirits
They act as an unofficial night police, tracking down criminals and presenting them to the community.
Q 30Which is the largest ethnic group in Benin, founders of the Dahomey kingdom?
Fon
They make up about a third of the population and speak Fongbe, one of the Gbe languages.