It was from these empires that Islam spread to the northern regions of the Ivory Coast. After the collapse of the Sudanic empires , the Juula or Dyula people in the north began to reassert themselves and established the Kong kingdom. The Akan people also established their Abron kingdom that later dominated the Kong people. Another Akan kingdoms were the Bauole, and two Agni kingdoms.
By the end of the s, France had established what passed for control over the coastal regions of Ivory Coast, and in Britain recognized French sovereignty in the area. Agreements with Liberia in and with Britain in determined the eastern and western boundaries of the colony, but the northern boundary was not fixed until because of efforts by the French government to attach parts of Upper Volta present-day Burkina Faso and French Sudan present-day Mali to Ivory Coast for economic and administrative reasons.
France's main goal was to stimulate the production of exports. Coffee, cocoa and palm oil crops were soon planted along the coast. Ivory Coast stood out as the only West African country with a sizeable population of settlers; elsewhere in West and Central Africa, the French and British were largely bureaucrats.
Throughout the early years of French rule, French military contingents were sent inland to establish new posts. The African population resisted French penetration and settlement. Among those offering greatest resistance was Samori Ture, who in the s and s was establishing the Wassoulou Empire, which extended over large parts of present-day Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. Samori Ture's large, well-equipped army, which could manufacture and repair its own firearms, attracted strong support throughout the region.
The French responded to Samori Ture's expansion of regional control with military pressure. French campaigns against Samori Ture, which were met with fierce resistance, intensified in the mids until he was captured in France's imposition of a head tax in to support the colony in a public works program, provoked a number of revolts.
Ivoirians viewed the tax as a violation of the terms of the protectorate treaties, because they thought that France was demanding the equivalent of a coutume from the local kings, rather than the reverse. Much of the population, especially in the interior, considered the tax a humiliating symbol of submission. In , the French abolished slavery in most of French West Africa. It was a colony and an overseas territory under the Third Republic.
France's policy in West Africa was reflected mainly in its philosophy of "association", meaning that all Africans in Ivory Coast were officially French "subjects", but without rights to representation in Africa or France.
French colonial policy incorporated concepts of assimilation and association. Based on an assumption of the superiority of French culture over all others, in practice the assimilation policy meant extension of the French language, institutions, laws, and customs in the colonies. The policy of association also affirmed the superiority of the French in the colonies, but it entailed different institutions and systems of laws for the colonizer and the colonized.
Under this policy, the Africans in Ivory Coast were allowed to preserve their own customs insofar as they were compatible with French interests.
An indigenous elite trained in French administrative practice formed an intermediary group between the French and the Africans. Assimilation was practiced in Ivory Coast to the extent that after , a small number of Westernized Ivoirians were granted the right to apply for French citizenship.
Most Ivoirians, however, were classified as French subjects and were governed under the principle of association. As subjects of France, they had no political rights. They were drafted for work in mines, on plantations, as porters, and on public projects as part of their tax responsibility. French citizenship was granted to all African "subjects," the right to organize politically was recognized, and various forms of forced labour were abolished.
Until , governors appointed in Paris administered the colony of Ivory Coast, using a system of direct, centralized administration that left little room for Ivoirian participation in policy making. Whereas British colonial administration adopted divide-and-rule policies elsewhere, applying ideas of assimilation only to the educated elite, the French were interested in ensuring that the small but influential elite was sufficiently satisfied with the status quo to refrain from any anti-French sentiment.
Although strongly opposed to the practices of association, educated Ivoirians believed that they would achieve equality with their French peers through assimilation rather than through complete independence from France. But, after the assimilation doctrine was implemented entirely through the postwar reforms, Ivoirian leaders realized that even assimilation implied the superiority of the French over the Ivoirians, and that discrimination and political inequality would end only with independence.
In he formed the country's first agricultural trade union for African cocoa farmers like himself. Angered that colonial policy favoured French plantation owners, they united to recruit migrant workers for their own farms.
A year later the French abolished forced labour. France appointed him as the first African to become a minister in a European government. A turning point in relations with France was reached with the Overseas Reform Act Loi Cadre , which transferred a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa and also removed remaining voting inequalities.
This was further boosted by a significant immigration of workers from surrounding countries. Coffee production increased significantly, catapulting Ivory Coast into third place in world output behind Brazil and Colombia.
By , the country was the world's leading producer of cocoa. It also became Africa's leading exporter of pineapples and palm oil. French technicians contributed to the 'Ivoirian miracle'. In other African nations, the people drove out the Europeans following independence; but in Ivory Coast, they poured in.
The French community grew from only 30, prior to independence to 60, in , most of them teachers, managers and advisors. He was also criticized for his emphasis on developing large scale projects. Many felt the millions of dollars spent transforming his home village, Yamoussoukro, into the new capital that it became, were wasted; others support his vision to develop a centre for peace, education and religion in the heart of the country.
But in the early s, the world recession and a local drought sent shock waves through the Ivoirian economy. Due to the overcutting of timber and collapsing sugar prices, the country's external debt increased threefold. Crime rose dramatically in Abidjan.
In , hundreds of civil servants went on strike, joined by students protesting institutional corruption. The unrest forced the government to support multi-party democracy. He tightened his hold over political life, jailing several hundred opposition supporters. In contrast, the economic outlook improved, at least superficially, with decreasing inflation and an attempt to remove foreign debt.
As people originating from foreign countries are a large part of the Ivoirian population, this policy excluded many people from Ivoirian nationality, and the relationship between various ethnic groups became strained which resulted in two civil wars in the following decades.
The new leadership reduced crime and corruption, and the generals pressed for austerity and openly campaigned in the streets for a less wasteful society. The lead-up to the election was marked by military and civil unrest.
This sparked violent protests in which his supporters, mainly from the country's north, battled riot police in the capital, Yamoussoukro. In the early hours of 19 September , while the President was in Italy, there was an armed uprising. Troops who were to be demobilised mutinied, launching attacks in several cities. The battle for the main gendarmerie barracks in Abidjan lasted until mid-morning, but by lunchtime the government forces had secured the main city, Abidjan.
They had lost control of the north of the country, and the rebel forces made their strong-hold in the northern city of Bouake. The rebels threatened to move on Abidjan again and France deployed troops from its base in the country to stop any rebel advance. The French said they were protecting their own citizens from danger, but their deployment also aided the government forces.
It was not established as a fact that the French were helping either side but each side accused them of being on the opposite side. President Ouattara takes over. Mr Gbagbo refuses to accept result, and dispute between the two camps soon escalates into violence. President Ouattara and his allies secure a majority. Followers of Laurent Gbagbo boycott the vote. Al-Qaeda attacks. The attack follows similar assaults on hotels in the capitals of Mali and Burkina Faso in recent months.
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