History of the Kingdom of Dahomey and the French took over the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1894. The throne was vacated by the French in 1900, but the royal families and key administrative positions of the administration continued to have a large impact in the politics of the French administration and the post-independence Republic of Dahomey, renamed Benin in 1975. Historiography of the kingdom has had a significant impact on work far beyond African history and the history of the kingdom forms the backdrop for a number of novels and plays. Prior to the centralization of the kingdom of Dahomey, the evidence suggests that the Abomey
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