Ganvie

Also known as Ganvié

Ganvie is a lake village in Benin, Africa, lying in Lake Nokoué, near Cotonou. With a population of around 20,000 people, it is probably the largest lake village in Africa and is very popular with tourists.

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Place details

Locality: Akassato
Region: Atlantique
Country: Bénin
Population: 20,000
Timezone: Africa/Porto-Novo

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Key facts

Settlement.name: Ganvie
Settlement.settlement_type: Village
Settlement.image_skyline: File:Ganvié fishing village on stilts in Benin (10282059623) (2).jpg
Settlement.imagesize: 300px
Settlement.pushpin_map: Benin
Settlement.pushpin_label_position: bottom
Settlement.pushpin_mapsize: 200
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption: Location in Benin
Settlement.subdivision_type: Country
Settlement.subdivision_type1: Department
Settlement.subdivision_name1: Atlantique Department
Settlement.unit_pref: Imperial
Settlement.population_blank1_title: Ethnicities
Settlement.timezone: WAT
Settlement.utc_offset: +1

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human settlement
Official name: Ganvié
Country: Benin
Located in: Sô-Ava
Image: Ganvie2.jpg

Show 3 more facts

Commons category: Ganvié
heritage designation: Tentative World Heritage Site
native label: Ganvié

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

5 sections

Contents

Etymology
Gallery
See also
Notes
External links

The village was created in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries by the Tofinu people who took to the lake to avoid Fon warriors who were taking people hostage to sell them to European enslavers. Making the shallow waters and islands of Lake Nokoue a haven, the Ganvie villagers are often referred to as "water men" and the area itself is often called the "Venice of Africa."

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ganvie” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.