Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire, also called Ivory Coast, is a country on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, between Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. Its land runs from mangroves and lowland forest near the sea to savanna in the north.

Yamoussoukro has been the capital since 1983, while the port of Abidjan is the largest city and economic center. French is the official language, and about 78 languages are spoken, among them Baoulé, Dyula, Bété and Senufo. Before French rule several states flourished here: the Abron kingdom of Gyaaman from the 17th century, the Kong Empire founded by the Dyula in the early 18th century, and the kingdom of the Baoulé. France signed treaties with the kings of Grand-Bassam and Assinie in 1843–44 and in 1893 made the territory a colony, with Grand-Bassam as its first capital. Félix Houphouët-Boigny, son of a Baoulé chief, formed the first union of African cocoa farmers in 1944, led the country to independence in 1960 and governed it until 1993.

The republic gives strong powers to its president, its parliament has a Senate and a National Assembly, and the present constitution dates from 2016. Coffee and cocoa made the country an economic leader of West Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, and they remain its primary crops, while some 100,000 farmers grow rubber. The country also handles transit trade for its landlocked neighbors. More than 1,200 animal species live in its forests and savannas, protected in nine national parks.

Yamoussoukro is home to the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, the largest church building in the world. Music across the many ethnic groups shows strong vocal polyphony and talking drums, and zoblazo, zouglou and coupé-décalé are popular modern styles. Attiéké, made from grated cassava, and kedjenou, chicken slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot, are served in small open-air restaurants called maquis. Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré came out of Ivorian football, and the national team won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992, 2015 and as host of the 2023 edition, while Gabriel Tiacoh won Olympic silver in the 400 meters in 1984.