Benin is a slither of a country wedged between Niger, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Atlantic Ocean. It ranks as one of the world’s poorest countries, but after a dozens or so changes of government it is also one of Africa’s most stable. The French colonised the country in the late 1900s, effectively putting an end to the ancient and powerful Dahomey Kingdom, renaming it French Dahomey. When independence, came in 1960 it was followed by a decade of strife and coups. In 1975 the country became a People’s Republic of Benin, a Marxist state. In 1989 the economy collapsed, riots broke out and Marxism was renounced, resulting in yet another name change to the Republic of Benin.