BJ — Benin

Benin is a narrow West African country stretching from the Bight of Benin in the south to the Niger River in the north. Formerly known as Dahomey, it was the seat of one of Africa's most powerful pre-colonial kingdoms. Porto-Novo is the official capital, though Cotonou serves as the economic center and seat of government. Benin shares the West African CFA franc (XOF) with seven other nations, an important consideration for developers building payment systems in the region. The BJ country code is used in locale configurations for French-speaking West African applications, and the .bj domain serves Beninese web presence. The +229 dialing code follows the standard international format for Beninese phone numbers. Benin is part of the growing West African tech ecosystem, with increasing internet penetration making proper locale support for fr-BJ essential for applications serving this market.