Kandi is a town,

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

and

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Alibori Department Alibori is the largest and northernmost department (French: ''département'') of Benin. Externally the department borders the countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and internally the departments of Atakora and Borgou. The department o ...

of eastern

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

. Originally a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

, Kandi is now primarily a

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

centre. It lies on the nation's main north-south highway, from Cotonou and north of

Porto-Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...

. The town is the capital of the department of

Alibori Alibori is the largest and northernmost department (French: ''département'') of Benin. Externally the department borders the countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and internally the departments of Atakora and Borgou. The department of ...

. The commune covers an area of and as of 2013 had a population of 177,683 people. The town itself had a population of 27,227 in 2002.

History

Kandi was founded by the Bariba Kingdom, an offshoot of the Borgu Confederation. The surrounded villages are

Bariba people The Bariba people, self designation ''Baatonu'' (plural ''Baatombu),'' are the principal inhabitants of Borgou and Alibori Departments, Benin, and cofounders of the Borgu kingdom of what is now northeast Benin and west-central Nigeria. In Niger ...

in south and west, and the Mokole Yoruba in the north, who fled the wars of the foundation of the

Oyo Empire The Oyo Empire was a powerful Yoruba empire of West Africa made up of parts of present-day eastern Benin and western Nigeria (including Southwest zone and the western half of Northcentral zone). It grew to become the largest Yoruba-speaking s ...

. The surrounding countryside is Bariba.

Geography

The commune of Kandi is located from Cotonou. Communally it is bounded to the north by Malanville, south by Gogounou, west by

Banikoara Banikoara is a town, Arrondissements of Benin, arrondissement and Communes of Benin, commune located in the Alibori Department of Benin. It lies 69 kilometers west of Kandi, Benin, Kandi at the heart of the most productive cotton-growing region i ...

and to the east by Ségbana.

Climate

Kandi has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Aw'').

Administrative divisions

Kandi is subdivided into 10 arrondissements: Kandi I, Kandi II,

Kandi III Kandi III is an arrondissement of the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Kandi and forms part of the area of the city itself. According to the population census condu ...

, Angaradébou, Bensékou, Donwari,

Kassakou Kassakou or Kassako is a town and arrondissement in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Kandi. According to the population census conducted by the Institut Nationa ...

, Saah, Sam and Sonsoro. They contain 39 villages and 9 urban districts.

Economy

Most of the population are engaged in agricultural activities, followed by trade, transportation and handicrafts. The main crops grown are

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

, kapok, millet and

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

s. There are notable

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

deposits of high quality in the vicinity.

Transport

The town is situated on the

RNIE 2 RNIE 2 is a national highway of Benin. It is Benin's main north–south highway which runs the entire 785 km down the centre of the country from the Niger River to Cotonou. The RNIE 2 crosses the RNIE 4 at Bohicon east of Abomey. Cities and t ...

highway and is served by Kandi Airport, which is located north of the main town.

References

External links

Plan de Développement Communal de Kandi
{{Authority control Communes of Benin Populated places in the Alibori Department Communes in Yorubaland