Come In, Come In, to Benin, to Benin Quiz

Answer: Gabon

The photo shows the coat of arms of Gabon, another former French colony on the west coast of Africa, but further south than Benin.
Benin is bordered to the east by Nigeria, to the north by Burkina Faso and Niger, and by Togo to the west. It also has a short southern coastline on the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea, itself part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Answer: Cotonou

Porto-Novo is home to around a quarter of a million people (2009 estimate). The country's largest city and the seat of government is Cotonou, which houses more than three times that number, around 7.5% of Benin's people.
Benin has more than 1.7 million speakers of the Fon language, and in that tongue 'Cotonou' means "by the river of death". The country's major port, it stands on the Oueme River, between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Nokoué.
The alternatives round out Benin's five largest cities. Abomey-Calavi, not much smaller than Cotonou, is also in the southeast of the country, near to Cotonou and Porto-Novo. Djougou, the country's third-largest city, is the major population centre in the northwest, near the Togo border. Parakou, situated near to the Nigerian border, is the largest city in eastern Benin.

Answer: Bulgaria

Although about ten times the size of Gambia, the smallest nation in mainland Africa, Benin is certainly not large by African standards -- it would fit more than 20 times into Algeria.
In European terms, Benin would be a mid-sized country with a land area close to that of Bulgaria. Both Benin and Bulgaria and of similar size to the U.S. state of Tennessee, whose flag is pictured.
Romania is just over twice the size of Benin, Croatia about half of its size, whereas Belgium would fit almost four times into Benin.

Answer: France

The photograph shows the French, led by Senegalese mulatto Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds, invading Dahomey in 1892.
The leaders of the Kingdom of Dahomey came to an agreement with the Portuguese in 1472 to sell their war captives for the slave trade. This arrangement lasted more than three centuries, the last slave ship departing for the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1885. The French invaded the area in 1892 and, in 1899, then incorporated the land they called French Dahomey into French West Africa, a colony that included the modern-day countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Mali (French Sudan), Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Niger and Benin (Dahomey).
The French granted autonomy to the Republic of Dahomey in 1958 and full independence in 1960. In 1975, the country was renamed the People's Republic of Benin. It became the Republic of Benin in 1990.

Answer: Alibori

With an area of 10,132 square miles, about the size of Rwanda, Alibori is the largest of Benin's twelve departments. Sub-divided into six communes, it borders Burkina Faso to the west, Niger to the north and Nigeria to the east. Until 1999, Alibori was part of the much larger Borgou department (now the second-largest department) to the south.
The farming centre of Kandi, a former market town, became the departmental capital in 2008.

Answer: Between Equator and Tropic of Cancer

Benin is situated on the south coast of the land mass protruding from the west coast in the northern half of the continent. The Equator passes through six African countries, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia. The Tropic of Cancer passes through four countries on the continent; Algeria, Niger, Libya and Egypt.
Benin lies just to the north of the Equator, in the band between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer.

Answer: Niger River

The Niger river rises in the Djallon Mountains in southeastern Guinea and runs first northeast and then southeast to form a crescent through west Africa on its way to the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria. On its route 2,600 mile journey, the longest of any river in west Africa, it passes first through Mali and western Niger.

It then forms the border between Niger and Benin before traveling on into Nigeria. Major cities standing on the banks of the Niger include Bamako, the capital and largest city in Mali, Timbuktu (Mali), Niamey, the capital and largest city in Niger, Lokoja (Nigeria) and Onitsha (Nigeria).

The photograph shows the China-Niger Friendship Bridge, often called simply the "Chinese Bridge". Located in the Niger capital, Niamey, this is just a few miles north of where the river forms the border between Niger and northeastern Benin.

Answer: Pendjari National Park

Covering an area of 1,050 square miles, which is slightly larger than Luxembourg, the Pendjari National Park in northwestern Benin is home to some of the last populations of big game in West Africa and is also particularly known for its wide variety of bird life.
The Northwest African cheetah, one of the world's rarest mammals, can be seen here although as few as a dozen known individuals remained in the park as recently as 2007. Pendjari and the neighbouring 'W National Park' (on the Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso border) is home to around 100 rare West African lions, the largest population of lions anywhere in western or central Africa. The painted hunting dog is another rare species that can also be seen in Pendjari. With more than 800 elephants living in Pendjari, and another 3,000 in neighboring areas, this region boasts the largest concentration anywhere in west Africa.

Of the alternatives, the Belezma National Park established in 1984 is a major wildlife reserve in Algeria. Established in 1975, Mont Sângbé National Park in Ivory Coast is a major sanctuary for chimpanzees and is considered one of the world's principal national parks. Bui National Park in Ghana, founded in 1971, is notable for its hippo population.

Answer: United Buddy Bears

The first "Buddy Bear" was created by a German sculptor in 2001. The first exhibition of the "United Buddy Bears" was held in Berlin in 2002, with 140 fibreglass bears, each one around six feet tall and each one decorated to represent a different country.

At an exhibition in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, the bears stood hand-in-hand in a massive circle of peace. This circle has become a feature of the exhibitions, with the bears rearranged to stand next to 'new friends' at each stop on the tour -- they are always arranged alphabetically in the language of the host country, which can produce some interesting political partnerships. Other stops on the tour so far include Hong Kong, Istanbul, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Vienna, Cairo, Jerusalem, Warsaw, Pyongyang, Buenos Aries, Montevideo and Delhi.

Answer: Plantain

Often served with chili peppers and onions, alloco is fried plantain. It's a popular dish wherever plantains grow, from Central America, through west and east Africa, to southeast Asia. Called alloco in Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast, similar dishes are known as 'dodo' in Nigeria, 'kelewele' in Ghana and 'gorengan' in Indonesia. It is also often served as a side dish with meats and stews. It can be presented as 'fingers' (as in the photo), 'ears' or diced.
Plantains are sometimes known as "little bananas" although, unlike their larger cousins, they are rarely eaten raw.