Timeline: Benin

A chronology of key events:

1946 - Dahomey becomes an overseas territory of France.

LONG-TERM LEADER Mathieu Kerekou served as president for most of the 34 years between 1972 and 2006 Seized power in 1972 Nationalised key industries Restored multiparty politics in 1991 and lost elections Re-elected in 1996 polls Retired at end of term in 2006 'Magical' leader

1958 - Dahomey becomes self-governing, within the French Community.

Independence

1960 - Dahomey gains independence and is admitted to the UN.

1960 - Elections won by the Parti Dahomeen de L'Unite. Party leader Hubert Maga becomes country's first president.

1963 - President Maga is deposed in a coup led by the army's Chief of Staff, Colonel Christophe Soglo.

1963 - Dahomey joins the IMF.

1964 - Sourou-Migan Apithy is elected president.

1965 - General Soglo forces the president to step down and a provisional government is formed. In December he assumes power.

1967 - Major Maurice Kouandete leads a coup. Lt Col Alphonse Alley replaces Gen Soglo as head of state.

1968 - The military regime nominates Dr Emile-Derlin Zinsou as president.

1969 - Lt Col Kouandete deposes President Zinsou.

1970 - Presidential elections are held but abandoned. Power is ceded to a presidential council consisting of Ahomadegbe, Apithy and Maga, who received almost equal support in the abandoned poll. Maga is the first of the three to serve as president with a two-year term.

1972 - Ahomadegbe assumes the presidency from Maga for the next two-year term.

1972 - Major Mathieu Kerekou seizes power; the presidential council members are detained.

1973 - The Conseil National Revolutionnaire (CNR) is created. Representatives are taken from across the country.

Dahomey becomes Benin

1975 - November - Dahomey is renamed the People's Republic of Benin.

1975 - The Parti de la Revolution Populaire du Benin (PRPB) is established as the country's only political party.

1977 - The CNR adopts a "Loi Fondamentale", setting out new government structures.

Nicephore Soglo, president from 1991-96

1979 - Elections are held to the new Assemblee Nationale Revolutionnaire (ANR). The list of people's commissioners is resoundingly approved. The Comite Executif National (CEN) replaces the CNR.

1980 - ANR unanimously elects Kerekou as president. Kerekou is the sole contender.

1981 - Members of the former presidential council are released from house arrest.

1984 - ANR increases the terms of the president and people's commissioners from three to five years. The number of people's commissioners is reduced from 336 to 196.

1984 - ANR re-elects Kerekou; no other candidates contest the election.

1987 - Kerekou resigns from the military.

1988 - Two unsuccessful coup attempts.

1989 - Elections are held; a list of 206 people's commissioners is approved. Benin agrees to IMF and World Bank economic adjustment measures.

1989 - President Kerekou re-elected for a third term. Marxism-Leninism is abandoned as Benin's official ideology. Anti-government strikes and demonstrations take place.

Constitutional changes

1990 - Unrest continues. President Kerekou meets dissident leaders. Agreement on constitutional reform and multi-candidate presidential elections is reached.

Benin's Angelique Kidjo - a powerful performer BBC Music Review: Angelique Kidjo - Oyaya

1990 March - Implementation of agreed reforms begins. Benin drops "people's" from its official title and becomes the Republic of Benin.

1990 December - In a referendum, the constitutional changes are approved by a majority of voters.

1991 February - Legislative elections: No party secures an overall majority. The largest grouping is an alliance of pro-Soglo parties.

1991 March - President Kerekou is beaten by Nicephore Soglo in the first multi-candidate presidential elections. Kerekou is granted immunity from prosecution over actions taken since October 1972.

1992 - The Parti de la Renaissance du Benin is formed by Soglo's wife.

1995 - Legislative elections: Parti de la Renaissance du Benin forms the new government.

1996 - Following accusations of irregularities in presidential elections, the constitutional court announces that Kerekou has received the majority of valid votes cast.

1999 - Legislative elections: New government is formed of representatives of 10 parties.

Kerekou re-elected

2001 March - Presidential elections: none of 17 candidates receives an overall majority. Kerekou is declared re-elected in second round.

Festival time in Abomey, former capital of Kingdom of Dahomey

2002 - Benin joins the Community of Sahel-Saharan States.

2002 December - First local elections since the end of the single-party regime more than 10 years ago.

2003 March - Legislative elections: Parties supporting President Kerekou win 52 of the 83 elective seats.

2003 December - Lebanese charter plane crashes after taking off from Cotonou, killing some 140 people. French investigators subsequently find that the plane was overloaded.

2004 July - Benin, Nigeria agree to redraw their mutual border.

2005 March - US telecommunications company is fined after it admits to bribery in Benin. The company was accused of funnelling millions of dollars into President Kerekou's 2001 election campaign.

2005 July - International Court of Justice awards most of the river islands along the disputed Benin-Niger border to Niger.

Around 60% of the population practise voodoo

2006 March - Political newcomer Yayi Boni, running as an independent, wins the run-off vote in presidential elections. The incumbent, Mathieu Kerekou, is barred from the poll under a constitutional age limit.

2006 March, April - World Bank and the African Development Bank approve debt relief for several countries including Benin, as part of measures agreed at a G8 nations summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005.

May - Students protest against visit by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who introduced a bill making it more difficult for unskilled workers to migrate to France.

2007 April - President Yayi's coalition wins control of parliament in elections.

2007 July - President Yayi leads thousands of supporters on a march against corruption.

2008 April - Local elections held. Nation-wide, parties allied with President Yayi win a majority of local council seats, but the major cities in the south are all won by opposition parties.

2009 February - Benin announces discovery of "significant quantities" of oil offshore near Seme, a town on the Nigeria-Benin border.

2009 April - European Union bans all of Benin's air carriers from flying to the EU in a regular update of its air safety blacklist.