Zongo settlements

[2] Common features of the zongo communities are their use of Hausa language as lingua franca and their shared religion: Islam.

[3] The designation of these wards of migrants as zongos derives from the Hausa word zango which literally means "a camping place for trading caravans".

[8][9] The largest and one of the oldest zongos close to the coastal belt started in 1810 at Ushertown (Zangon Mallam or present-day Zongo-Lane) before they were resettled at Sabon Zango followed by Nima (1836).

The early settlers constructed makeshift houses with the intention to work hard, raise some capital and return to their locality.

[11] Zongo Communities are common in Benin with large settlements found in Parakou, Ganou and the port city of Cotonou.