Ganvie (meaning: 'the collectivity of those who found peace at last') is a lake village in Benin, lying in Lake Nokoué, near Cotonou. The village has a population of around 20-30,000, contains around 3,000 stilted buildings and is probably the largest lake village in Africa.
The village dates back to the sixteenth or seventeenth century [source] and was built to save people from slavery.
When the Dan-Homey kings armies were capturing people in the countryside to sell in the Portuguese slave trade, the people of Ganvie were saved from slavery by the Dan-Homey religious traditions...they were forbidden to attack communities on the water. Link
The people in this unique fishing village live exclusively from fishing (along with a little tourism), use pirogues (canoes) and have a system of underwater plantings that form fences to trap and breed fish.
According to this site there are only 'one and a half bits' of dry land in Ganvie. The full bit of land is the site of the school and the half bit will be a cemetery once enough dry ground has been laid to start burying people in it. The site has more information as well as photos.
What a wonderful place.
But where do they bury the people now, if there is no cemetery?
Posted by: curious | Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 10:23 AM
they eat them
Posted by: manapple | Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 03:02 AM
like taste really good
Posted by: likechicken | Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 05:30 AM
Gah, what a beautiful place. Just one more interesting spot in the world that I'll have to file away under "things to do if I ever go to this country."
I don't care if they do eat people like African sus
Posted by: Orin Zebest | Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 09:13 AM