Bight of Benin

The Bight of Benin is a bight on the western African coast that extends eastward for about 400 miles (640 km) from Cape St. Paul to the Nun outlet of the Niger River. To the east it is continued by the Bight of Bonny (formerly Bight of Biafra). The bight is part of the Gulf of Guinea. The Republic of Benin and this bight were both named after the Benin Empire.

On December 25, 2003, UTA Flight 141 crashed in the Bight.

Historical connotation of the region with both the African and the Atlantic slave trade, was high to the point of the region becoming known as the Slave Coast. Like in many other regions across Africa, powerful indigenous kingdoms along the Bight of Benin relied heavily on a long established slave trade, which expanded greatly after the arrival of European powers and turned into a global trade with the colonization of the Americas.