Perhaps the most famous historical ruler in the area now known as Benin was Béhanzin (d.1906), who was king of Abomey from 1889 until he was defeated by the French in 1894. The best known modern Beninese are the political leaders Hubert Maga (1916–2000); Sourou-Migan Apithy (1913–1989); Justin T. Ahomadegbé (b.1917); and Brig. Gen. Ahmed Mathieu Kérékou (b.1933). Nicephore Soglo (b.1935), a former World Bank economist, was elected president in 1991 in Benin's first multiparty presidential election. In 1996, he lost his bid for reelection to Kérékou in a runoff.