Bight of Benin

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Bight of Benin

The Bight of Benin is a bight

Bight (geography)

In geography, bight has two meanings.A bight can be simply a bend or curve in any geographical feature—usually a bend or curve in the line between land and water....
(a type of bay) on the western African coast that extends eastward for about 400 miles (640 km) from Cape St. Paul to the Nun outlet of the Niger River

Niger River

The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4180 km . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea....
. To the east it is continued by the Bight of Bonny

Bight of Bonny

The Bight of Bonny is a bight off the West African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea. It extends from the Niger Delta of the Niger river in the north till Cape Lopez in Gabon....
(formerly Bight of Biafra).

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Encyclopedia

The Bight of Benin is a bight

Bight (geography)

Niger River

Bight of Bonny

Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is the part of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Africa. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf. According to the International Hydrographic Organization, the Gulf's oceanic border is the rhumb line that runs from Cape Palmas in Liberia to Cape Lopez in Gabon ....
.

On December 25, 2003, UTA Flight 141

UTA Flight 141

UTA Flight 141 was a Charter airline flight operated by Union des Transports A?riens de Guin?e.On 25 December, 2003, the airplane crashed in the Bight of Benin, killing 151 of the 163 occupants, most of them Lebanon....
crashed in the Bight.

Historical connotation of the region with both the African

African slave trade

The slave trade in Africa existed for thousands of years. The first main route passed through the Sahara, tying in to the Arab slave trade. After the European Age of Exploration, African slaves became part of the Atlantic slave trade, from which comes the modern, Western conception of slavery as an institution of African-descended slaves and...
and the Atlantic slave trade

Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trade of primarily African people supplied to the colonies of the New World that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean....
, was high to the point of the region become known as the Slave Coast

Slave Coast

The Slave Coast is the name of the coastal areas of present Togo, Benin and western Nigeria, a fertile region of coastal Western Africa along the Bight of Benin....
. Like in many other regions across Africa, powerful indigenous kingdoms along the Bight of Benin relied heavily on a long established slave trade

African slave trade

Cultural references

The Bight of Benin is known for its fearsome tides and has a long association with slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
, its shore being known as the Slave coast

Slave Coast

The Slave Coast is the name of the coastal areas of present Togo, Benin and western Nigeria, a fertile region of coastal Western Africa along the Bight of Benin....
.

An old rhyme says:

Beware, beware the Bight of the Benin, for few come out though many go in.

A variation goes:

Beware beware, the Bight of Benin: one comes out, where fifty went in!

This is said to be a slavery jingle or sea shanty

Sea shanty

Sea shanties were shipboard work songs. Some speculate that shanties may have been sung as early as the 15th century though there is little evidence to support this claim....
about the risk of malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
in the Bight. A third version of the couplet is

Beware and take care of the Bight of Benin. There's one comes out for forty goes in."

The author Philip McCutchan has written a book titled "Beware, beware the Bight of Benin."

A short story

Short story

The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books....
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Elizabeth Coatsworth

Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth was an United States of America author of children's fiction and poetry. Her novel The Cat Who Went to Heaven won the 1931 Newbery Medal....
, "The Forgotten Island" (1942), deals with a treasure from Benin. A variation of the rhyme is also mentioned.

In Patrick O'Brian's

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire was an England novelist and translation, best known for his Aubrey?Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen Maturin....
novel The Commodore

The Commodore (novel)

The Commodore is a further historical novel entry in the Aubrey-Maturin series of naval stories by Patrick O'Brian. Set in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian takes the narrative further across the globe than other in this genre....
(1996), Dr. Maturin recites the rhyme when he learned of his ship's destination. Commodore Aubrey checks him, telling him it is bad luck to say that out loud on the way in.

In 2007, a collection of short stories entitled The Bight of Benin: Short Fiction by Kelly J. Morris was published by AtacoraPress.com. The stories are set in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

Avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
musician Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Patrick Carroll, better known as Buckethead, is an American musician and songwriter. He has released 25 solo albums and performed on over 50 more....
's song "The Bight of Benin" off the album Albino Slug
Albino Slug

Albino Slug is the twenty-fourth studio album by guitarist Buckethead. It is also the fifth album originally only being sold on tour. It is now available for purchase online through TDRS Music....
(2008) is named after this area.

History

On 1 February 1852 the British established the Bight of Benin British protectorate

Protectorate

A protectorate, in international law, is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity, in exchange for which the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship....
, under the authority of Consul

Consul (representative)

The title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the country to whom he or she is accredited and the country of which he or she is a...
s of the Bight of Benin:

Term	Protectorate
May 1852 – 1853	Louis Fraser
1853 – April 1859	Benjamin Campbell
April 1859 – 1860	George Brand
1860 – January 1861	Henry Hand
January 1861 – May 1861	Henry Grant Foote
May 1861 – 6 August 1861	William McCoskry (acting)

On 6 August 1861 the Bight of Biafra protectorate (see there for their common further history) and Bight of Benin protectorate were joined as a united British protectorate, ultimately to be merged into Nigeria