While African traditional religions still dominate Cote d’Ivoire ’s
religious landscape, it has become ever more diverse since colonial days.
Before the Dutch arrived the only missionaries to the area were Muslim who came
to the area with traders from the north east of Africa .
While many nations in Africa had embraced
Islamic beliefs almost in entirety, the local beliefs proved much more tight
nit than many others. Today it is estimated between thirty to forty percent of
the populations are followers of the profit Mohammed.
Christianty arrived in the region were Catholic missionaries
in 1637. This was shortly after the French took control of the area. The
mission set up by this first group was short lived, but later missions did take
hold but not till 1843 when great colonial interest in the region propelled
missionaries and traders to the region in increased number. Though
Catholicism’s portion of the population is much smaller than other religious
groups the nation has the worlds largest
worlds largest cathedral- the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro the
nations capital. This was not built by missionaries or even commissioned by the
church, but was a pet project of former president of Cote d’Ivoire Félix
Houphouët-Boigny.
Because the French were predominantly Catholic, protestant
missionaries did not find a very welcoming environment in the ports of Ivory Coast .
They did not establish missions in the country until Methodists arrived in 1924.
They were followed by all types and colors of evangelical denominations. After
independence in 1960 however a door closed to most foreign missionaries. Some
found entrence to the region only for a day or two at a time by crossing the
boarders to witness and minister to established churches. All of a sudden in
1975 missionary visa’s started being permitted as many mission boards list this
year as their first entrance into Cote d’Ivoire .
There are small presences of other religions like Buddhism
and Bahia, through missionary efforts to the region, primarily in the large
cities of Abidjan
and the capital. The largest obstacle modern missionaries have had to overcome
has been the unrest result from the regions civil wars. These political
upheavals have caused many missionaries to leave the region suddenly, and the
current number of protestant missionaries in some denominations is much smaller
due to fear of its repeating.
Lewis, Martin. Religious Complexity in Ivory Coast .
GeoCurrents. April 26, 2011. Accessed June 15, 2015
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro. Sacred
Destinations. 2015. Accessed June 16, 2015.
