Grand-Popo is a town, arrondissement

Arrondissements of Benin

The Arrondissements of Benin refer to the third-level administrative units of Benin, after Departments and communes. In turn they contain villages and may often have several quartiers or city districts/urban neighborhoods:...

, and commune

Communes of Benin

The departments of Benin are subdivided into 77 communes, which in turn are divided into arrondissements and finally into villages or city districts. Prior to 1999 provinces were broken down into 84 districts, titled either urban or rural...

 in the Mono Department

Mono Department

Mono is one of the twelve departments of Benin. The capital of this department is Lokossa. The department of Kouffo was part of Mono until 1999 when the Benin government split up some of the departments and made new departments. The Gen language is only spoken in this department in Benin...

 of south-western Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

. The commune covers an area of 289 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 40,335 people.

The Finno

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

-African culture centre Villa Karo has been situated in Grand-Popo since 1999.

It grew around the slave trade, but coastal erosion

Coastal erosion

Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage...

 has now destroyed most of the old town. The town is now a centre for voodoo and home to a Finnish

Culture of Finland

The culture of Finland combines indigenous heritage, as represented for example by the country's Uralic national language Finnish, and the sauna, with common Nordic and European culture. Because of its history and geographic location Finland has been influenced by the adjacent areas' various...

 – African

Culture of Africa

The culture of Africa encompasses and includes all cultures within the continent of Africa. There is a political or racial split between North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, which is in turn divided into a great number of ethnic cultures...

 cultural centre, Villa Karo. The town’s main industry is fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

.

The town inspired the name of the French electronic music duo Grand Popo Football Club

Grand Popo Football Club

Grand Popo Football Club are a French electronic music group of a DJ/book-loving television presenter/chat show host and producer/classically-trained pianist who studied at the National Conservatory in Paris, respectively....

.