Ouidah

Ouidah, town in southern Benin, western Africa. It lies along the Gulf of Guinea.

The town was the main port of the Kingdom of Abomey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish, British, and Americans all vied for a share of the slave and palm-oil trade made available through Ouidah by the efficiently organized and centralized kingdom. The town was an intellectual hub in part because of the number of “Brazilians”—as individuals of mixed Afro-European heritage and enslaved people or their descendants returning from Brazil were known—who settled there and served as cultural intermediaries. In 1893 the area came under French control.

Some of the old forts, a cathedral, and a temple of the Abomey traditional religion remain. The town is considered to be the spiritual capital of the Vodou (Voodoo) religion and holds an annual Vodou festival in January. Coconut, palm, and coffee are grown in the area. Ouidah is connected by road and railway to Cotonou, 20 miles (32 km) east, the major port and commercial center of Benin. Pop. (2002) 37,647; (2013) 47,616.