Sub Saharan Africa

Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)
Last reviewed: 04 June 2009

Country information

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HISTORY

Cote d'Ivoire was part of French colonial West Africa. It was a major area of agricultural development under French rule, attracting immigrant workers from throughout the French African Empire. It gained independence from France in 1960, retaining close ties with the former colonial power through a number of bilateral agreements including membership of the Franc Zone, a defence pact, and provision for a French military base in the country.

Felix Houphouet-Boigny became the first President and ruled for 33 years until his death in 1993. His party, the PDCI, was the sole legal party until 1990 when multipartyism was introduced. During his time in office, Cote d'Ivoire was renowned as the most prosperous and most stable country in the West African region. It also hosted the largest French community in francophone Africa. But his rule was shaken by economic recession in the 1980s, when prices of the main exports, cocoa and coffee, plunged.

The first multi-party elections since independence were held in 1990, which Houphouet-Boigny easily won against veteran opposition leader Laurent Gbagbo. At his death in 1993, he was succeeded by Henri Konan Bedie, the speaker of the National Assembly. The careful ethnic and regional balance which Houphouet-Biogny had nurtured, together with his welcoming of immigrant workers, was soon compromised by the concept of 'Ivoirite' (Ivorian nationalism), which quickly acquired xenophobic connotations. This began a sequence of events which was to deprive the country of its long record of stability and prosperity.