Current Time in Porto-Novo, Benin

Porto-Novo stands in the south-east of Benin, on the northern shore of a coastal lagoon that runs parallel to the Atlantic, about thirty kilometres east of Cotonou and close to the Nigerian border. The town spreads over low hills above the water, with red earth roads, palm trees and a skyline of old tiled roofs and modern concrete. The climate is tropical, warm all year, with two rainy seasons and a dry period when the harmattan carries dust from the Sahara.

With a population of around three hundred thousand, Porto-Novo is the official capital of Benin, home to the national assembly and to government institutions, although Cotonou has become the larger commercial city and the seat of most economic activity. Its own economy rests on administration, education, crafts, palm oil, fishing in the lagoon and a busy cross-border trade with Nigeria, which lies only a short drive away.

The town began as Hogbonu, a settlement of the Gun people founded in the sixteenth or seventeenth century by a prince from the Yoruba kingdom of Allada or Oyo, and it became the capital of a small but wealthy kingdom. Portuguese traders arriving in the eighteenth century named it the new port and used it in the slave trade, and later Afro-Brazilian families, descendants of formerly enslaved people who returned from Bahia, settled here and left an unmistakable architectural mark. In 1863 the king accepted a French protectorate, and Porto-Novo became the capital of the colony of Dahomey, gaining administrative buildings, boulevards and schools that shaped the city that exists today.

Its most striking landmark is the great mosque, a building that began life as a church constructed in Afro-Brazilian style and was later converted, its baroque towers and facade painted in vivid yellow, brown and blue. The royal palace of King Toffa now houses the Honme Museum, preserving thrones, ceremonial objects and courtyards of the old kingdom, while the ethnographic museum displays masks, drums and vodun sculpture from across the country. The Da Silva Museum records the history of the Brazilian returnees, and the town centre retains colonial houses, a cathedral and a shaded public garden. Nearby Adjarra is famous for its drum market, and the stilt village of Ganvie on Lake Nokoue lies within reach.

Culture here is deeply rooted in vodun, which originated in this region and remains a living religion celebrated in festivals of masked dancers, drumming and processions, practised alongside Christianity and Islam. French is the official language, with Gun, Yoruba and Fon widely spoken, and local food features maize porridge, cassava, grilled fish, peanut sauces and spicy pepper stews.

Roads and a lagoon route connect the city to Cotonou and its port and international airport, and taxis and motorcycle taxis known as zemidjan carry most local traffic. The University of Porto-Novo and several teacher training and research institutes give the city an academic role.

Porto-Novo is valued for its layered history, its unusual architecture and its position as the cultural and political capital of Benin.