Introduction

The official name is République of Côte d’Ivoire, and in English-speaking countries it is called Ivory Coast. It borders Burkina Faso and Mali to the north, Ghana to the east, Guinea and Liberia to the west, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. In connection with the implementation of the peace process following the civil war between government forces and rebels in September 2002, approximately 4,000 French troops and approximately 7,400 UN peacekeepers are stationed there. The country’s name means ‘Ivory Coast’ in French and comes from the fact that ivory has been produced on this coast since the late 15th century. The administrative district is made up of 19 provinces (regions).

Citizens of the State

The birth rate per 1,000 people is 34.26, the death rate is 14.65, and the infant mortality rate is 85.71. Despite the high birth rate, the infant mortality rate is high, and life expectancy (49.18 years) is extremely short. This is due to the relatively high rate of AIDS infection (7%) and excessive malnutrition.

The residents of Côte d’Ivoire, comprised of numerous tribes, are largely divided into five tribal groups. The largest tribal group is the eastern Akan, accounting for 17.2% of the total population. The next most numerous tribes are the various tribal groups living in the coastal plain, and the third are the tribes of the western region who speak the Kru language. The fourth tribe is the Gur group, which includes the Senufo and Krango people who live in the northern center, and the fifth is the Mande language-speaking tribe, which is distributed throughout the northwest. It is the country with the highest proportion of foreigners in the world, with about 5 million foreigners living there. Looking at the distribution of residents, 44% are urban and 56% are rural.

The official language is French, and about 60 indigenous languages are also used. Islam accounts for 35–40% of the population, Christianity (mainly Roman Catholicism) accounts for 20–30%, and indigenous religions account for 25–40% (2001). Most of the residents of the northern region and foreign immigrants from Africa are Muslims (70%), and there is a latent sense of conflict between Muslims (20%) and Christians (20%). The illiteracy rate is 51.4% (2000 estimate).

History

Côte d’Ivoire is located on the west coast of Africa, vaguely called Guinea. Starting in the late 15th century, place names began to be distinguished according to major products produced, and the coastal area where ivory was produced was named the Ivory Coast. At the end of the 17th century, France established a trading base on the Ivory Coast, and in the 19th century, it built forts to fight against British power and focused on the slave trade.

In 1842-1843, part of the land was transferred from the chief of the surrounding region. When the French army withdrew due to the Franco-German War in 1870, traders maintained a base and resisted British forces on the Gold Coast. One of their leaders at the time, Marcel Trecy Laflen, expanded their sphere of influence by signing a treaty with the chiefs of the surrounding regions, and based on this, the French army again made the inland region a protectorate between 1887 and 1892. In 1893, Ivory Coast became a French colony separate from Senegal.

France built a railway connecting the coast and the inland in 1903, and a 315km railway to Bouake in 1912, but was unable to completely dominate the entire Ivory Coast due to yellow fever in the rainforest and strong resistance from the tribes. . In 1933, part of Haute-Volta was annexed to Côte d’Ivoire, and in 1934, France designated Abidjan, on the coast, the starting point of the railway, as its capital.

In 1946, Côte d’Ivoire became a colony of French West Africa, forming the French Union. In 1947, it separated from the former Haute-Volta in the north and established an autonomous government in 1957. The following year, French West Africa was dissolved and became an autonomous republic as part of the French Community. Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who was the representative of African coffee producers at the time, formed the ‘Democratic Association of Africa (RDA)’ and fought for independence in the French Parliament, and achieved complete independence by breaking away from the French Community in August 1960. did. Houpouët-Boigny, who took office as president, remained in power for more than 30 years.

Houpouet-Boigny died in 1993, and Henri Conan Bedier took office as president in 1995. In 1999, former Chief of Staff Robert Guei seized power in a coup and established a provisional government in January 2000. In the presidential election held in October of the same year, Laurent Gbagbo of the opposition party was elected president, defeating Robert Gouey, but even then, a military coup led by Robert Gouey, who fled the country, continued. There was political and social chaos. As part of the peace implementation process to end the ongoing civil war, about 4,000 French troops and about 7,400 United Nations peacekeeping forces (ONUCI) were stationed in the country as of 2002. Even after the end of his term in 2005, the fourth president, Gbagbo, postponed the presidential election six times and did not relinquish the presidency until 2010. In the 2010 presidential election, Alassane Ouattara won, but Laurent Gbagbo declared his dissent and refused to hand over the presidency, making it difficult to form a new government. With Gbagbo’s arrest in 2011, Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated as the fifth president, effectively ending the civil war.

Economy

The GDP composition ratio by industry is agriculture 27.5%, mining 22.2%, and forestry 50.2% (2007 estimate), with 68% of the total labor force being agricultural labor. Côte d’Ivoire is a model case of capitalist economic development among many developing countries, and has maintained a liberal economic development policy by continuing to accept aid and private investment from Western European countries after independence. For the 20 years since independence in 1960, the country achieved the highest economic growth in Africa, recording an average annual economic growth rate of 7%. However, due to the slump in the international prices of cocoa and coffee, which are major export products, and excessive investment in social infrastructure facilities during the period of high growth, the country ended up with a large amount of external debt (USD 13.2 billion at the end of 1999). As a result, it fell into an economic crisis after the 1980s, and from September 1989, it came under the management of the IMF and IBRD. In early 1999, IMF loans were suspended due to insufficient economic improvement measures, and aid from the EU and many Western countries was suspended after the military coup that occurred in the same year, so the recent economic situation is very bad.

Agriculture and forestry, the main industries, account for 31% of gross national product and most of exports. The main agricultural products are cocoa (the world’s largest producer) and coffee (the world’s third largest producer), but the overall performance is poor due to lack of agricultural technology, insufficient rainfall, lack of capital, and soil erosion. Mining produces diamonds, gold, nickel, and manganese, and in the 1970s, two oil fields were discovered 40km south of Abidjan under the sea. The manufacturing industry showed rapid growth until the mid-1980s thanks to the boom in the agricultural and fishery product processing industry, and recently, the mining, chemical, and construction industries have been active. It also has the largest tuna port in Africa, with an annual catch of 90,000 tons.

Foreign trade had a surplus of more than $10 billion in 2007, with total exports estimated at $17.5 billion and total imports at $6.137 billion. Major export products include cocoa, coffee, logs, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, and marine products, while major import products include fuel, capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, and lubricants. The proportion of major exporting countries is Germany 9.7%, Nigeria 9.1%, Netherlands 8.4%, France 7.3%, United States 7%, and Burkina Faso 4.4%, and the major importing countries are Nigeria 30.5%, France 16.4%, and China 6.7% ( 2006), etc.

Transportation includes 65 km of railway operated by a joint state enterprise with Burkina Faso, approximately 1,400 km of paved roads centered on the city, and approximately 16,600 km of major roads. Abidjan, the actual capital, has an international airport and the largest port in Côte d’Ivoire.

Conclusion

It is a country on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa. It became a French colony in 1893 and was incorporated into French West Africa, which forms the French Union, in 1946. An autonomous government was established in 1957, and the following year it became an autonomous republic as a member of the French Community and became fully independent in 1960.