The early history of Cote d'Ivoire is virtually unknown, although it is thought that a neolithic culture existed there. France made its initial contact with Cote d'Ivoire in 1637, when missionaries landed at Assinie near the Gold Coast (now Ghana) border. Early contacts were limited a few missionaries because of the inhospitable coastline and settlers' fear of the inhabitants.
In the 18th century, the country was invaded by two related ethnic groups--the Agnis, who occupied the southeast, and the Baoules, who settled in the central section. In 1843-44, Adm. Bouet-Williaumez signed treaties with the kings of the Grand Bassam and Assinie regions, placing their territories under a French protectorate. French explorers, missionaries, trading companies, and soldiers gradually extended the area under French control inland from the lagoon region. However, pacification was not accomplished until 1915.
French Period
Cote d'Ivoire officially became a French colony in 1893. Captain Binger, who had explored the Gold Coast frontier, was named the first governor. He negotiated boundary treaties with Liberia and the United Kingdom (for the Gold Coast) and later started the campaign against Almany Samory, a Malinke chief, who waged war against the French until 1898.
From 1904 to 1958, Cote d'Ivoire was a constituent unit of the Federation of French West Africa (now Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina, and Cote d'Ivoire). It was a colony under the Third French Republic and an overseas territory under the Fourth Republic. Until the period following World War II, governmental affairs in French West Africa was administered from Paris through governors general and territorial governors. France's policy in West Africa was reflected mainly in its philosophy of "association," meaning that all Africans in Cote d'Ivoire were officially French "subjects" without rights to representation in Africa or France.
A harsh and racially conscious Vichy regime remained in control until 1943, when members of Gen. Charles de Gaulle's provisional government assumed control of all French West Africa. The Brazzaville conference in 1944, the first Constituent Assembly of the Fourth Republic in 1946, and France's gratitude for African loyalty to Free France during World War II, led to far-reaching governmental reforms in 1946. French citizenship was granted to all African "subjects," the right to organize politically was recognized, and various forms of forced labor were abolished.
A turning point in relation with France was reached with the 1956 Overseas Reform Act (Loi Cadre), which transferred a number of powers previously reserved for metropolitan administrators to elected territorial governments in French West Africa and removed remaining voting inequalities.
Independence
In December 1958, Cote d'Ivoire became an autonomous republic within the French community as a result of a referendum that brought community status to all members of the old Federation of French West Africa except Guinea, which had voted against association. Cote d'Ivoire became independent on August 7, 1960, and permitted its community membership to lapse.
Cote d'Ivoire's contemporary political history is closely associated with the career of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, president of the republic and leader of the Parti Democratique de la Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI). He was one of the founders of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), the leading preindependence interterritorial political party in French West Africa. The RDA established constituent units in all French West African territories except Mauritania, as well as in the Congo (Brazzaville), Chad, Gabon, and Cameroon.
Houphouet-Boigny first came to national political prominence in 1944 as founder of the Syndicat Agricole Africain, an organization that won improved labor conditions for African farmers and formed a nucleus for the PDCI. After World War II, he was elected by a narrow margin to the first Constituent Assembly. Representing Cote d'Ivoire in the French National Assembly from 1946 to 1959, he devoted much of his effort to interterritorial political organization and further amelioration of labor conditions. After his 13-year service in the French National Assembly, including almost 3 years as a minister in the French Government, he became Cote d'Ivoire's first prime minister in April 1959, and the following year was elected its first president.
In May 1959, Houphouet-Boigny reinforced his position as a dominant figure in West Africa by leading Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Upper Volta (Burkina), and Dahomey (Benin) into the Council of the Entente, a regional organization promoting economic development. (Togo joined in 1966.) He has maintained that the only true road to African solidarity is through step-by-step economic and political cooperation, recognizing the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of other African states.
Political Conditions
Cote d'Ivoire has enjoyed relative political stability since independence. President Houphouet-Boigny, a moderate leader of considerable stature in Africa, uses direct personal dialogue wit representatives of various segments of Ivorian society.
The PDCI, the single ruling party, includes most elements of the country's political life and serves as a form for policy decisions and as an instrument for ensuring the application of government policies. More open discussion of government policies has occurred since the country's first competitive elections for legislative, municipal, and local par positions in 1980. National elections have been held at regular 5-year intervals since independence, and are next scheduled for 1990.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, April 1990.