Our heritage

Côte d’Ivoire is a West African country and a member of the African Union. With a surface area of 322,462 km2, it is bordered to the north by Mali and Burkina Faso, to the west by Liberia and Guinea, to the east by Ghana and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The population is estimated at 28 million in 2022.

The political and administrative capital of Côte d’Ivoire is Yamoussoukro (Abidjan remains the economic capital), the official language is French and the currency is the CFA franc.

The country is a member of ECOWAS. Initially a French protectorate in 1843 and a French colony in 1893, the country gained independence on 7 August 1960 under the leadership of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first President of the Republic.

The economy, essentially based on coffee and cocoa production, experienced exceptional growth over the first two decades, making Côte d’Ivoire a leading country in the West African sub-region. French is the country’s official language. Around 70% of the country’s inhabitants understand and speak it. Located between 4° and 10° north latitude, Côte d’Ivoire is approximately 400 km from the equator on its southern margins and approximately 1,400 km from the Tropic of Cancer on its northern borders. The climate, which is generally hot and humid, is therefore a transition between equatorial and tropical.

Equatorial along the coasts, it is semi-arid in the far north. Temperatures fluctuate around 28°C on average. There are two main climatic zones: the equatorial climate and the tropical savannah climate, which is itself more or less dry. The short dry season covers the months of August and September. The rainy season lasts from May to July and the short season from October to November.

The tropical humid savannah climate covers the north of the southern forest zone and the south of the savannah region. Temperatures range from 14°C to 33°C, with humidity of 60% to 70% and annual rainfall of 1,200 mm3 in Bouaké. This climatic region also has four seasons: two dry seasons, from November to March and July to August, and two rainy seasons, from June to October and March to May. The dry savannah climate is found mainly in the Savanes region.

Daily and annual temperature variations are relatively wide, around 20°C, and the humidity level, lower than in the south of the country, varies from 40% to 50%. The area is characterised by the intermittent presence of a cool, dry harmattan wind between December and February. There are two seasons: a dry season from November to June, punctuated by a few rains in April, and a rainy season from July to October.

The average rainfall recorded in Korhogo is 1,203 mm3. Physical geography Côte d’Ivoire is shaped like a quadrilateral, with 520 km of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean to the south, in the western part of the Gulf of Guinea. The country has a low relief. Most of the land is made up of plateaux and plains.

The western part of the country is mountainous, but there are a few peaks above a thousand metres (Mount Nimba rises to 1,752 m). Outside this region, altitudes generally vary between 100 and 500 m, with most plateaux at around 200-350 m. The dominant feature of these plateaux is a ferruginous cuirass visible on the surface in the form of rust-coloured slabs, but sometimes veiled by sand, gravel or finer products.

With a population of almost 29 million, Côte d’Ivoire has more than sixty ethnic groups. An ethnic group can be defined as a community with a common ancestry, traditions, beliefs and language. On this basis, there are five main groups: the Malinké, the Gurs, the Mandés-Sud, the Krous and the Akans. The Malinké, who come from the banks of the Niger, have divided into two groups, one in the north-west, occupying the region from Odienné to the borders of Mali and Guinea. The other extends east of the Niakaramandougou-Ferkessédougou road. They are known as the “Dioula group” (pronounced “djoula”), which does not indicate their origin, but their profession. The word dioula means “trader”. These were Malinke merchants who spread throughout the Centre and around Bondoukou in the north-east. The Gur group includes the Sénoufos, who lie between the two Malinké groups, the Koulangos and the Lobis, who succeed one another or live side by side in the north-east, along the borders with Burkina Faso and Ghana.

In the west, to the south of the Malinké group, are the Mandés-Sud. They include the Dans (or Yacoubas), the Gouros or Kouenis and the Gagous. The name Mandé, sometimes given to the Malinké, suggests a vague kinship between them. However, they have nothing in common, neither their physical appearance, nor their religion, nor even their origin. Many specialists now consider the South-Mande to be probably indigenous.

The Krous, in the South West, come from English-speaking Liberia. In fact, in the Tabou region, on the coast, some people are called Krumens. They include the Guérés, the Wobés, the Niabouas, the Neyos, the Bétés, the Godiés and the Didas. But the origin of the Didas seems rather mysterious. They are very different from the other Krous in their beliefs and customs. The Adioukrous, who claim to have come from the west, consider themselves to be cousins of the Didas, although ethnologists believe them to be indigenous. The Lagoon Akans arrived in several waves from south-east Ghana. This group includes Abés, Attiés, Abourés, Tchamans (Ebriés), Brignans, Alladians, Nzimas (Appolonians), Abis and Fantis. Finally, also from Ghana, other Akans came later, such as the Abrons and the Agnis (or Anyis), who spread out along the Ghanaian border from Bondoukou to Aboisso. The Baoulés, who belong to the Akan group of Ashantis, live mainly in central Côte d’Ivoire, where they are in contact with the Gouros to the west and the Gagous to the south. Apart from this classification, which is very schematic, other ethnic groups have mixed with the previous ones or still exist in very small nuclei, particularly in the mountains of the west or in the forests. It is clear that there has been a major mixing of populations, especially in recent decades and in the large towns. The creation of the Kossou dam led to an exodus of farmers displaced by the waters to the sparsely populated south-west region. However, customs and traditions have survived to the present day, forming an immensely rich cultural heritage.