Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 different languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Christianity, Islam and indigenous faiths such as Animism.
The Catholic Church in Ivory Coast is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Catholicism arrived in Ivory Coast through the arrival of French settlers.
The Rally of the Republicans is a liberal party in Ivory Coast. The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory Coast.
Grand-Bassam is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial capital of Ivory Coast. Because of its outstanding examples of colonial architecture and town-planning, and the juxtaposition of the colonial town with a traditional Nzema village, the historic center of Grand-Bassam was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
Bernard Binlin Dadié was an Ivorian novelist, playwright, poet, and administrator. Among many other senior positions, starting in 1957, he held the post of Minister of Culture in the government of Côte d'Ivoire from 1977 to 1986.
Henriette Dagri Diabaté is an Ivorian politician and writer. A member of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), Diabaté was Minister of Culture in Côte d'Ivoire from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2000; later, she was Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2005. She became Secretary-General of the RDR in 1999 and has been President of the RDR since 2017.
Simone Ehivet Gbagbo is an Ivorian politician. She is the President of the Parliamentary Group of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and is a Vice-President of the FPI. As the wife of Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 to 2011, she was also First Lady of Ivory Coast prior to their arrest by pro-Ouattara forces.
Women in Ivory Coast formed less than half the country's population in 2003. Their social roles and opportunities have changed since the time of French colonialism.
Abidjan is the largest city in and the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city proper in Africa, after Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, and Johannesburg. A cultural crossroads of West Africa, Abidjan is characterised by a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation. It also is one of the most populous French-speaking cities in Africa.
Assinie-Mafia is a coastal resort town in south-eastern Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of Adiaké Department in Sud-Comoé Region, Comoé District.
The 2010–11 Ivorian crisis was a political crisis in Ivory Coast which began after Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Ivory Coast since 2000, was proclaimed the winner of the Ivorian election of 2010, the first election in the country in 10 years. The opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, and a number of countries, organisations and leaders worldwide claimed Ouattara had won the election. After months of attempted negotiation and sporadic violence, the crisis entered a decisive stage as Ouattara's forces began a military offensive in which they quickly gained control of most of the country and besieged key targets in Abidjan, the country's largest city. At the time, international organizations reported numerous human rights violations, and the UN undertook its own military action with the stated objective to protect itself and civilians.
Aya Virginie Touré, born Aya Virginie Kouamé, is a peace activist and politician in Côte d'Ivoire. She became known for organizing women in nonviolent resistance against President Laurent Gbagbo who refused to step down since he lost the presidential election to Alassane Ouattara. Touré worked to mobilize women as the Deputy Director for Ouattara's 2010 Ivorian presidential election. In 2016, she was elected as a deputy in the 72nd circonscription which includes the cities of Guépahouo and Oumé. Since at least 2014, she has been the Executive Director of the Petroci Foundation, the caritative organization of the Ivorian oil and gas company.
The Autonomous Port of Abidjan is a commercial port at Treichville, in southern Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is a transshipment and intermodal facility and is managed as a public industrial and commercial establishment; the Director-General is Hien Sié.
Makoukou Célestine Ouezzin Coulibaly-Traoré, née Macoucou Traoré, was an anti-colonial leader in French West Africa. She helped to set up the women's section of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain in Côte d'Ivoire and Upper Volta, becoming its secretary general in 1948. In 1958, she was appointed Upper Volta's Minister of Social Affairs, probably making her the first woman to join a cabinet in any of the French-speaking West African governments.
On 13 March 2016, three Islamist gunmen opened fire at a beach resort in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast, killing at least 19 people and injuring 33 others.
The International University of Grand-Bassam (IUGB) is an independent and nonprofit institution of higher education located in Grand-Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire. In cooperation with Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta, Georgia, and the government of Côte d'Ivoire, IUGB opened in January 2005 and was formally established as an accredited institution of higher education in May 2007. Its main objective is to provide an American-style curriculum to students from Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the first university in French-speaking Côte d'Ivoire that uses English as the primary language of instruction.
Events in the year 2020 in Ivory Coast.
France–Ivory Coast relations are the diplomatic relations between the French Republic and the Republic of Ivory Coast. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the United Nations.
Events in the year 2022 in Ivory Coast.
Marie Koré born Zogbo Céza Galo Marie was an Ivory Coast independence fighter. She was arrested while leading the Women's march on Grand-Bassam on 24 December 1949. She died young and she has appeared on her country's banknotes. One poll said that she was the most well known woman in the Ivory Coast.
