Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Typical of the Gulf of Guinea coastal zone west of Nigeria is neighboring Benin, with a population of 11 million and growing cultural and economic ties with northeastern Brazil’s Bahía State, where many of its people were taken in bondage and where elements of West African culture survive. Benin’s internal geography is comparable to that of neighboring Togo (population: 7.5 million): both are markedly elongated, narrow political units with savannas in the north and humid tropical lowlands near the coast, but without usable rivers." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 306]
"Many coups were accomplished without violence. Some countries even established a tradition of peaceful coups. In Dahomey – later renamed Benin – all six coups after independence were bloodless." [The Fate of Africa, p. 218]