State · 1960 – present
Benin
A state of 1960 – present — 66 years, still standing in sub-Saharan Africa. It replaced French West Africa. The atlas records 11 things within it — unrest and atrocity 2 · famine and plague 1 · natural disasters 1 · treaties 1 · people 6. Its line of rulers holds 7 people, 5 with dated terms.
- Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 66 years
- and still standing
- Rulers
- 7
- the President of the Republic of Benin
- Most ground
- 118,200 km²
- in 1969
- Within it
- 11
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 2
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- French West Africa · replaces
Rulers
The line of President of the Republic of Benin - the office this state names as its head of state.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathieu Kérékou | 1980 – 1991 | 11 years | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Nicéphore Soglo | 1991 – 1996 | 5 years | ending not on record | |
| Mathieu Kérékou | 1996 – 2006 | 10 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Thomas Boni Yayi | 2006 – 2016 | 10 years | ending not on record | |
| Patrice Talon | 2016 – 2026 | 10 years | ending not on record | |
| Romuald Wadagni | 2026 – in office | in office since 2026 | still in office |
7 rulers, 5 with terms dated as terms, covering 1980 – 2026. Only 46 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. 1 of 5 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.70, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Heads of government
The line of head of government, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.
| Pascal Koupaki | 2011 – 2013 |
| Lionel Zinsou | 2015 – 2016 |
| Patrice Talon | 2016 – … |
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
118,200 km² in 1970, 118,200 km² in 2020; at its largest 118,200 km² in 1970. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
flag, from 1959Flag of Benin · Public domain 
coat of arms, from 1990Coat of arms of Benin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tinynanorobots , Fenn-O-maniC
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 19997 rows · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Patrice Talon · ruler · 1958 – present
- Thomas Boni Yayi · ruler · 1952 – present
- Mathieu Kérékou · ruler · 1933 – 2015
- Nicéphore Soglo · ruler · 1934 – present
- Romuald Wadagni · ruler · 1976 – present
- Paul-Émile de Souza · ruler · 1930 – 1999
- 1977 Beninese coup attempt · unrest · 1977
2000 – 20994 rows · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Cotonou Agreement · treaty · 2000
- COVID-19 pandemic in Benin · plague · 2020
- 2025 Beninese coup attempt · unrest · 2025
- 2008 Benin floods · disaster · 2008
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood66 years
stood longer than 38% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held118,200 km²
held more ground at its peak than 49% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- Rulers on record7
has more rulers on record than 73% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 9 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1950 – 2036, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1969, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q962 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.