The Republic of Dahomey formally became independent from France, one of more than a dozen African nations to gain sovereignty during 1960's wave of decolonization. Hubert Maga became the country's first president. The nation would later rename itself Benin in 1975 and endure years of political instability and multiple coups before establishing multiparty democracy in the 1990s.
Dahomey's independence came as part of the extraordinary cascade of 1960, sometimes called the 'Year of Africa,' when seventeen African nations threw off colonial rule within a matter of months. France, having already granted its West African territories internal autonomy two years earlier, formally transferred sovereignty to Dahomey on August 20, with Hubert Maga installed as the country's first president.
The new nation inherited artificial borders drawn by French colonizers that lumped together diverse ethnic groups, including the Fon in the south and various northern communities, a recipe for the political fragmentation that followed. Between 1960 and 1972, Dahomey cycled through a dizzying series of coups and short-lived governments, earning a reputation as one of the least stable states in the region.
In 1975, following a Marxist-Leninist military takeover led by Mathieu Kérékou, the country renamed itself Benin, after the historic Bight of Benin, distancing itself from the old Kingdom of Dahomey's colonial associations. Kérékou eventually abandoned Marxism and, in 1991, presided over one of Africa's earliest peaceful transfers of power to an opposition candidate, making Benin an early model for the continent's democratic transitions.