Benin

Benin is where Voodoo was born. Not the Hollywood version with dolls and pins, but a complex, living religion called Vodun that has been practiced here for centuries and spread to Haiti, Brazil, and Louisiana through the slave trade. Every January 10th, Benin celebrates National Voodoo Day with ceremonies, dances, and animal sacrifices in the coastal city of Ouidah. It is one of the few places in the world where a traditional African religion has official recognition and a public holiday.

But Benin's history runs deeper than spirituality. The Kingdom of Dahomey, which flourished from the 17th to 19th century, was one of the most powerful states in West Africa. Its all-female military regiment, the Dahomey Amazons, were so fierce they terrified French colonial troops. Today Benin is a narrow strip of land wedged between Togo and Nigeria, with stilt villages built over Lake Nokoue, crumbling colonial forts along the Slave Coast, and one of the most stable democracies in West Africa - a quiet achiever in a turbulent region.