History of the Kingdom of Dahomey Fon ancestor worship and ceremonies. He was not allowed to reside in Abomey or travel freely, but was allowed to visit Abomey to perform ceremonial functions during the Annual Customs by the French administration. French Dahomey administration remained over the area from 1900 until 1960 when the country gained independence and took the name Republic of Dahomey. In 1975, the name of the country was changed from Republic of Dahomey to Benin. The King of Dahomey remains an important ceremonial position and continued through both French administration and independence. Since 2000, there has been a struggle over the position with
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