Republic of Dahomey Republic of Dahomey The Republic of Dahomey ( ) was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy it had been French Dahomey, part of the French Union. On August 1, 1960, it attained full independence from France. In 1975, the country was renamed Benin after the Bight of Benin (which was in turn named after the Benin Empire which had its seat of power in Benin City, modern-day Nigeria), since "Benin" was deemed politically neutral for all ethnic groups in the state, whereas "Dahomey" recalled the Fon-dominated Kingdom of Dahomey.
In Dahomey and Arthur Pryor's popular cakewalk number, "A Coon Band Contest". In this tribute to contemporary African-American music, the clash of the two tunes creates what has been called "a page of almost Ivesian dissonance". Grainger may have seen Cook's "In Dahomey" on stage in London in 1903. He started composing his rag that year, completing the score some six years later, in 1909). In 1894 the comedian Bert Williams was hired to play an African "native" at the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, when the Dahomey natives who had been in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair were late reaching