During the Roman times along the gold trade routs items made
their way through Ivory Coast
to Ghana
and up to the north African coast. However, during this time it is unlikely
many European traders ventured this deeply into Africa
and instead preferred African merchants to transit this part for them. Even
during the Arab invasions very few Arabs came along the Silk Road into Cote d’Ivoire .
Those who did were Mediterranean traders and Islamic Clerics seeking converts.
They were so far away the Ottoman and preceding Arab empires had limited yet long
lasting affects on the area.
During the 1500’s when trade began to pick up substantially
along the West African coast one Ivory Coast location stood out in importance -
Abidjon’s deep harbor. Cote d’Ivoire has few ports, so those that were
navigable by Europe ’s larger vessels grew into
influential trade centers. Even with this deep harbor the Europeans settlements
were first established in neighboring Ghana
and only later in Cote
d’Ivoire . During this time the pulling of
trade from Ivory Coast to Ghana began.
The first Europeans to visit the coast were naturally the
Portuguese as they sailed along and mapped the entire coastline. Limited trade
might have been established at this point; however few if any outposts were
established permanently within the Ivory Coast Region. During the 1500s Dutch
and French ships traded on occasion in the region, however they still preferred
the more plenteous harbors of Ghana .
In 1657 the French Catholics started their first mission along the coast. The
missions and eventual French trade inland spread the colonial influence and
French language through the region. It was not until the mid 1800s that
treaties were signed with local kings establishing French as the official head
of the nation. Ivory Coast
was a valuable territory to the French, however the cost of both World War I
and II motivated them to place French loyal leaders in place and grant
independence in 1960 on August 7th.
Compared to many neighboring nations Cote d’Ivoire
experience many decades of peace and prosperity due to a stable government.
Today many of the new comers are immigrant workers from other African nations
seeking the higher pay and more readily available food and water resources.
Arrival of the Europeans, and History. Ivory Coast
Table of Contents. Accessed June 10th 2015.
http://countrystudies.us/ivory-coast/5.htm
http://countrystudies.us/ivory-coast/3.htm
Logran & Fraise. The Coming of Age in the Ivory Coast .
Ethics of Development in a Global Environment. July 29th, 1999. Accessed June
9th 2015.
http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/africa/hage.html
http://www.sim.org/index.php/country/ci
Hill, Margari. The Spread of Islam in West
Africa : Containment, Mixing, and Reform from the Eighth to the
Twentieth Century. Stanford Univercity. January 2009. Accessed June 8th, 2015
http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/the_spread_of_islam_in_west_africa_containment_mixing_and_reform_from_the_eighth_to_the_twentieth_century
Handloff, Robert. The West Sudanic Empires. Cote d”ivoire/Ivory Coast: a Country Study. 1988.
Accessed June 9th 2015
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/WestSu
