West Africa sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland, but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The Benin Empire was a pre-colonial empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire
Republican Party of Dahomey which was to be the Dahomeyan branch of the African Regroupment Party. However, internal disagreements led to the parties splitting back into their original forms in 1959. The PRD also won the 1959 elections, despite receiving fewer votes than the Dahomeyan Democratic Union (UDD). Due to accusations of fraud, it later agreed to give nine seats to the UDD, but remained the largest party in the Assembly. In February 1960 it was transformed into the Dahomey Nationalist Party ("Parti des Nationalistes du Dahomey", PND) after admitting federalists led by Émile Derlin Zinsou. In November 1960 the PND agreed to merge