The Ivory Coast/Côte d'Ivoire

Podcast Transcript

The Ivory Coast, or as it is officially known, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, is a country located in West Africa. Geographically, it is a small nation known for its agricultural production.

Despite its small size, the Ivory Coast is one of the most populous countries in West Africa, with a population of 31.5 million, and roughly 78 different languages are spoken.

Despite recent political upheaval, it has become one of the economic bright spots in Africa.

Learn more about the Ivory Coast, its fascinating history, and what makes the country unique on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Any discussion of the Ivory Coast should start with its geography.

The Ivory Coast is located in western Sub-Saharan Africa. It is bordered by Guinea and Liberia in the west, Ghana in the east, Burkina Faso and Mali in the north, and the Atlantic Ocean in the south.

The majority of the land is agricultural, with about 65% of the country being dedicated to farming. Its biggest crops are yams, cassava, and rice, with its biggest export being cacao, of which it is the world’s largest producer.

Despite the emphasis on agriculture, Côte d’Ivoire is the most biodiverse country in West Africa with over 1,200 animal species and 4,700 different types of plants.

The majority of the country is a large plateau, with its lowest point being in the south at sea level, and it slowly rises to its highest point in the north at 1,752 meters or 5750 feet.

The southern part of the country is covered in tropical rainforests, transitioning into savannah in the center.

Because of the large amount of rainforest, the Ivory Coast has a large timber industry. However, the country is considered to have one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world.

The earliest recorded history in the Ivory Coast comes from writings from North Africa, which conducted trade with the Romans about 2000 years ago. However, information on this is very limited beyond the fact that it existed.

From what we do know, the Ivory Coast was a part of the trans-Saharan trade route, which helped make the region into both a commercial center and formed the Sudanic empires, which included the Ghana Empire and the Mali Empire.

Sudanic refers to the Western Sudan, which should not be confused with the modern nation of Sudan. This is the region of West Africa, which is part of the Sahel.

Modern-day Côte d’Ivoire was influenced and part of the various Sudanic Empires, which was a vehicle for neighboring states and religions to enter the country, specifically, Islam.

As time passed, the Sudanic Empires started declining, and new empires began to form.

There is a lot I’m glossing over here that will be covered in future episodes on West African Empires.

In the early modern period, before European colonization, the Ivory Coast was home to five different states.

One of these was the Kong Empire.

The Kong Empire was established in the 18th century by Seku Watara and was mostly located in the northeast of the Ivory Coast, and modern-day Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Mali.

The empire was Islamic and was considered to be a center for Islamic studies within West Africa.

The empire itself was decentralized and weak, as its foundation was built on military alliances, with most of its power based on trade and mercantilism.

Another key nation was the Kingdom of Gyaman, which was also a major Islamic state.

Gyaman held significant power over different regions within modern-day Côte d’Ivoire, as it was considered to be a crossroad between different linguistic areas. Gyaaman helped foster diplomacy, trade, and cultural exchange between them.

Because of this, the kingdom became a hub for Islamic learning, with people from all around West Africa moving to Gyaaman to study.

Another major kingdom was Baoulé, which had a more centralized power structure compared to the previous two states. The Baoulé people formed the state after fleeing what is modern-day Ghana.

This kingdom has major remnants within the Ivory Coast today, and is one of the largest ethnic groups within the country.

The first recorded voyage into West Africa by Europeans was in 1482 by the Portuguese.

The French developed a greater interest in the Ivory Coast in the mid-nineteenth century, which began with French naval officers making deals with local kings and tribes for protection.

The French established trading companies and sent out explorers and missionaries, allowing their sphere of influence over the region to grow, albeit rather slowly.

This presence led to more treaties being made with local tribes, which allowed the French to set up forts and trading posts in exchange for fees being paid to the local Chiefs.

The Franco-Prussian War in 1871 caused issues with French colonization. As the French had to defend the homeland from the Prussian threat, it led to most of their soldiers being recalled from West Africa, including those in the Ivory Coast. This left the territory in the hands of the merchants, who continued to try to establish more claims in the region.

After the Franco-Prussian War, France returned to their ports in West Africa and accelerated their expeditions further into the land. While doing this, the French made more treaties with tribes, furthering their influence within the region.

By 1893, the Ivory Coast had formally become a French Colony after the British officially recognized the area as being under French rule.

The French named Captain Louis-Gustave Binger as governor. As the governor, he helped make territorial agreements with Britain and Liberia, creating the modern-day eastern and western boundaries of the country.

The northern boundary wasn’t established until 1947, as the French sought to annex parts of present-day Burkina Faso and Mali into the colony for administrative purposes.

The French wanted to use the colony for agriculture, and it quickly became a major producer of cacao, palm oil, and coffee. This brought many European settlers to the region, which was unique when compared to the rest of West and Central Africa.

Most of these settlers were bureaucrats who quickly became plantation owners and adopted a forced-labor system. Additionally, the military worked to make new trading posts and forts.

Colonial rule did not go over well with the local population. Many of the indigenous peoples resisted the French, including those in tribes who signed treaties with them.

The most notable resistance came from the Wassoulou Empire. This empire existed for only twenty years in the late 19th century, and was mostly located in Mali and Guinea, but had expanded into Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.

This empire posed a significant threat to the French due to its large army, which was equipped with its own firearms. Both the French and the Wassoulou engaged in fierce battles multiple times until the French ultimately came out on top.

One of the major issues the people of the region had with the French was a head tax the French placed on them. For the native people, the French were violating their earlier treaties, as they had initially been paying the Ivorians for the territory.

Another issue many Ivoirians had was with the French colonial policy of assimilation and association.

Assimilation was implemented because the French considered their own culture superior, leading them to impose French laws, customs, and language on the colony.

As for the policy of association, they aimed to affirm French superiority by enacting different laws based on their position. With this, they allowed the people of the Ivory Coast to retain some of their own culture, provided it didn’t harm French interests.

This resulted in the majority of native Ivoirians being classified as subjects of the French, not citizens of the French Republic. As subjects, they would have no political rights and would be forced into positions in mines, on plantations, doing public work, or serving in the military.

A significant era of reform came for the Ivory Coast after World War II. As the Ivoirians had remained loyal to France during the war, the people were rewarded.

This led to governmental reforms, including the right to organize politically, the abolition of forced labor, and the granting of French citizenship to the people.

However, despite remaining loyal during WW2, the Ivoirians still struggled with the French Colonial System. Despite being granted more freedoms, the Ivoirians were still discriminated against. This led to greater calls for independence.

The father of Ivorian Independence is considered to be Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

Houphouët-Boigny formed the country’s first agricultural trade union. This union was for cocoa farmers who were angry that the colony favored plantation owners rather than the workers.

This movement gained significant popularity, propelling Houphouët-Boigny to prominence, as he was elected to the French parliament within the first year of the union’s establishment.

Houphouët-Boigny used this connection to foster a relationship with the French government and, in return, was appointed as a minister within the French government.

The French relationship with West Africa fundamentally changed in 1956 when the Overseas Reform Act was passed. This act granted the colonies within West Africa their own territorial governments, eliminating any remaining voting restrictions.

Ivorians used these new freedoms to hold an independence referendum. This passed, and the Ivoirians drafted a new Constitution and declared their independence from France on August 7, 1960.

The Ivorians elected their first president, Houphouët-Boigny.

The Ivory Coast kept a good relationship with the French and joined the greater French-speaking community. This helped them become an important ally and trade partner to their former colonizers.

President Houphouët-Boigny worked to boost agricultural production by giving farmers better prices. This allowed the Ivory Coast to attract immigrants, further boosting production, and to become a powerhouse within West Africa. 40% of the region’s exports came from the Ivory Coast.

This led to the growth of important industries, such as coffee and cacao, becoming one of the world’s largest producers of coffee and the world’s largest cacao producer.

This can be attributed to maintaining their relationship with the French, as many other former colonies forced Europeans out of their territory. The Ivoirians did the opposite, welcoming Europeans in.

The French community moving to the Ivory Coast was mostly managers, advisors, and teachers, and these expats helped contribute to the country’s economic development.

The economic rise in the Ivory Coast became known as the “Ivoirian Miracle,” and the country had an annual growth rate of 10% for twenty years.

However, Houphouët-Boigny’s rule was not all sunshine and rainbows.

During his presidential reign, the Ivory Coast was a one-party state, with the suppression of all political opposition. Nonetheless, he was still widely popular as the economy was doing well, and his vision for peace and education appealed to the masses.

However, after decades in power, an economic recession in the 1980s, combined with a drought, led to massive civilian unrest. This was followed by Houphouët-Boigny’s death in 1993, leading the country into a period of uncertainty.

A new president was elected in 1993, Henri Konan Bédié.

Bédié was coming into power with workers’ strikes and student protests, which forced a new multi-party government to be in place. Bédié attempted to tighten his power by imprisoning many of his opposition.

He also established an ethnic policy that worked to exclude people originally from foreign countries from the Ivory Coast.

Bédié’s policies caught up to him in 1999 when the military staged a coup. This forced Bédié to flee to France and left the Ivory Coast up for grabs.

The 2000 Presidential election led to Laurent Gbagbo being elected. This election was marked with violent protests, as the laws forbade non-citizens from running, and anyone of non-Ivoirian ethnicity was no longer a citizen.

This led to the First Ivoirian Civil War.

From 2002 to 2007, the war saw the government of the Ivory Coast, backed by France, fight against the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d’Ivoire or the New Forces.

The war started with an attempted coup by the New Forces. The coup failed, but the rebels did manage to take control over the North, which mostly held a lower-class muslim population.

Throughout the war, there were many attempts to negotiate peace, which eventually resulted in the Ouagadougou Agreement of 2007. This deal made the rebel leader, Guillaume Soro, the prime minister, while keeping Gbagbo as president. However, the North still felt many of its issues were unsolved.

This takes us to the Second Ivorian Civil War.

This war was fought from 2010 to 2011 between President Gbagbo’s central government and the New Forces backed by his main political rival, Alassane Ouattara.

This time, the French backed the New Forces and Ouattara. This was because the popular election within the Ivory Coast said that Gbagbo had lost, but was refusing to cede power.

Though this war was short, there were brutal massacres committed by both sides, including one where 1000 civilians were killed.

The war ended when pro-Ouattara forces captured Gbagbo and placed him under arrest, leading to Ouattara being sworn in as President.

Ouattara has maintained his position as President of the Ivory Coast to the present day.

After the two Civil Wars, the country has been working on economic recovery and ethnic reintegration programs.

This has given the Ivory Coast one of the fastest-growing economies in all of Africa as well as political stability.

Despite the two civil wars, the Ivory Coast has arguably been better off than its neighbors since independence. That isn’t to say things are perfect, only that many countries have had it worse.