Flag: Benin Emoji

The flag of Benin. A vertical green band at the hoist alongside two horizontal bands (yellow above, red below) on the fly side. Ratio 2:3. An unusual asymmetrical layout that breaks the standard vertical or horizontal tricolor convention.

Adopted November 16, 1959 when the country was still called the Republic of Dahomey, replaced in 1975 under Mathieu Kérékou's Marxist-Leninist People's Republic of Benin with a green flag and red star, then restored in its original form on August 1, 1990 during the transition back to multi-party democracy. The palette is the Ethiopian pan-African standard. Green stands for hope and the palm-grove south, yellow for the northern savanna and mineral wealth, red for the blood of ancestors who defended the homeland.

Benin sits between Nigeria and Togo on the Gulf of Guinea, a 14 million-person republic with an outsized cultural footprint. It's the birthplace of Vodun (the religious tradition that crossed the Atlantic and became Voodoo in Haiti and New Orleans). It's home to the Kingdom of Dahomey (1600 to 1904), whose all-female Agojie warrior corps inspired the 2022 Viola Davis film The Woman King. And it's the home of Angélique Kidjo, a four-time Grammy winner who has become one of African music's most decorated global ambassadors.

Emoji 2.0 (2015), regional indicator pair U+1F1E7U+1F1E7 + U+1F1EFU+1F1EF (B + J). Platforms without flag support fall back to BJBJ.

'The Woman King' and the Agojie revival. The 2022 film *The Woman King*, starring Viola Davis as a Dahomey Agojie general, pushed 🇧🇯 into mainstream Hollywood conversations. The film earned over $100M at the box office; searches for "Agojie," "Dahomey," and "Benin" spiked for months. Benin's tourism ministry used the momentum to push Abomey (the Dahomey royal capital) as a cultural-heritage destination.

Angélique Kidjo at the Grammys. Angélique Kidjo has won four Grammy awards (2008, 2015, 2020, 2022) for Best World Music Album, more than any other African artist in that category. Her collaborations with Philip Glass, Youssou N'Dour, and Burna Boy keep Benin on world-music radio. Every Grammy night triggers a 🇧🇯 wave.

Vodun Day (January 10). The annual Fête du Vodoun at Ouidah is a state-recognized national holiday and the country's biggest tourism event. Tens of thousands of practitioners, diaspora visitors, and travelers gather on the beach. Haitian, Brazilian, Cuban, and Louisianian Vodou/Candomblé practitioners return for the pilgrimage; 🇧🇯 pairs with 🇭🇹 🇧🇷 and New Orleans iconography in diaspora feeds.

Djimon Hounsou and Hollywood. Djimon Hounsou (born in Cotonou in 1964, now a US citizen) has received two Academy Award nominations (In America, Blood Diamond) and appeared in Gladiator, Captain Marvel, and the Guardians of the Galaxy films. He regularly posts about Beninese culture and has made 🇧🇯 a recurring sight on Hollywood red-carpet social feeds.

Diaspora. Benin's diaspora is smaller than Nigeria's or Ghana's (roughly 4 million ethnic Fon, Yoruba, and related peoples live across the Yoruba-speaking Nigeria-Benin-Togo belt). Significant communities in France, the US (Brooklyn, Atlanta), and Gabon. Beyond formal migration, the Afro-diaspora connection through Vodun, Candomblé, and Santería makes 🇧🇯 culturally relevant far beyond the number of Beninese abroad.

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  Capital: Porto-Novo (constitutional; 6.50°N, 2.63°E). Cotonou is the economic capital and seat of government.
• 👥
  Population: ~14 million (2025)
• 🗺️
  Area: 114,763 km²
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  Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF, CFA); pegged 655.957 to 1 EUR
• 🗣️
  Languages: French (official); Fon most spoken, Yoruba, Bariba, and ~55 other languages
• 🕯️
  Religions: ~48% Christian, ~28% Muslim, ~12% Vodun (official state religion)
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  Calling code: +229
• ⏰
  Time zone: WAT (UTC+1), no DST
• 🌐
  Internet TLD: .bj

Foods that show up next to 🇧🇯

Landmarks and cultural sites

Kingdom of Dahomey. The region was home to the Kingdom of Dahomey from roughly 1600 to 1904. Dahomey was one of West Africa's most militarized pre-colonial states, with a standing army that included the all-female Agojie corps (European accounts called them 'Amazons'). The kingdom was deeply involved in the Atlantic slave trade through the port of Ouidah; slaves were marched down a road that still ends at the 'Door of No Return' memorial on the beach.

French conquest. France conquered Dahomey in the 1890 and 1892 to 1894 Franco-Dahomean Wars. The last king, Béhanzin, was exiled to Martinique; Dahomey became a French colony until independence on August 1, 1960.

The 1959 flag. The current tricolor was adopted on November 16, 1959, replacing the French tricolor, as the country prepared for independence. The asymmetrical design (green hoist band + two horizontal bands) reflects a distinctive post-colonial modernism; only Madagascar and a few others have similar split layouts.

The Marxist interlude. On October 26, 1972, Major Mathieu Kérékou led a military coup. In 1975 he renamed the country the People's Republic of Benin (after the historical Bight of Benin, not the related Kingdom of Benin in modern Nigeria) and adopted Marxism-Leninism as state ideology. The flag changed to a plain green field with a red star in the upper hoist canton.

Democratic transition. After the 1989 Soviet collapse, Benin became the first African country to peacefully transition from a Marxist one-party state to multi-party democracy. The National Conference of Active Forces in 1990 produced a new constitution; the original 1959 tricolor was restored on August 1, 1990. Mathieu Kérékou, remarkably, was re-elected democratically in 1996 and 2001.

Vodun recognition. In 1996, President Nicéphore Soglo declared Vodun an official religion of Benin, making it the only country in the world with Vodun as a state-recognized faith at the time. The annual January 10 Vodun Day became a national public holiday.

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  January 10: Vodun Day (Fête du Vodoun): Official Vodun festival at Ouidah. The country's biggest tourism event; Haitian, Brazilian, Cuban, and African-American pilgrims gather on the beach with drummers and dancers.
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  August 1: Independence Day: The biggest civic day. Commemorates Benin's 1960 independence from France. Military and cultural parade in Cotonou.
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  October 26: Armed Forces Day: Also marks the anniversary of the 1972 Kérékou coup that led to the Marxist People's Republic of Benin.
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  Biennial Ouidah International Vodun Festival: Every two years, this larger version of Vodun Day draws tens of thousands of diaspora visitors and scholars.

• •Benin's flag has an unusual asymmetric design: a green vertical band at the hoist next to two horizontal bands (yellow top, red bottom). Only a handful of national flags worldwide (Madagascar, Czech Republic, Guinea-Bissau) use this split layout.
• •Benin is the birthplace of Vodun (Voodoo). In 1996, it became the only country in the world to formally recognize Vodun as an official state religion. January 10 Vodun Day is a national public holiday.
• •The Kingdom of Dahomey (1600 to 1904) had an all-female military unit, the Agojie, who fought in every major war. The 2022 Viola Davis film *The Woman King* was inspired by them.
• •Angélique Kidjo has won four Grammy Awards (2008, 2015, 2020, 2022), more than any other African artist in the Best World Music Album category. She is Benin's most internationally famous living person.
• •Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou in 1964. He earned two Academy Award nominations (In America 2003, Blood Diamond 2006) and has appeared in Gladiator, Captain Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy, and dozens of other Hollywood films.
• •In November 2021, France returned 26 looted Dahomey royal treasures to Benin, including King Béhanzin's throne. One of the most significant post-colonial restitution moments of the decade.
• •Ganvié, a village of about 30,000 people on stilts in Lake Nokoué, was founded by the Tofinu people in the 17th century as a refuge from Dahomey slave-raiders who refused to enter water on religious grounds.
• •Benin's transition from Marxist-Leninist one-party state to multi-party democracy in 1990 was the first such transition in Africa. The 1990 National Conference of Active Forces model was later copied across the continent.

• •🇧🇯 is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1E7U+1F1E7 (B) + U+1F1EFU+1F1EF (J). ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code: BJBJ.
• •Unsupported platforms render it as the letters BJBJ. Common in older Windows chat clients.
• •Shortcode: :flag_bj::flag_bj: or :benin::benin: on most messaging platforms.

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