Côte d'Ivoire's Colonial History
Côte d'Ivoire's experience with French colonial occupation was comparitively easy. They were not initially exploited because their ports were not as good as those of their neighbors and were thus less useful to the settlers, explorers, merchants, and so on. During the 1840s, France focused in on the region and established an exclusively French area along the coast. Naval bases discouraged rival nations or merchants from venturing too close, and France reached into the interior.
Although the entire country was proclaimed a protectorate in 1893 and incorporated into the Federation of French West Africa, the colonial power met with resistance from Mandinka and Baoulé froces until the end of World War I. Their primary goal was to increase the region.s exports of such goods as coffee, cocoa, palm oil, and bananas, most of which were cultivated in plantations often owned by French settlers. This property distribution caused great dissatisfaction in the native population, as the French plantation owners implemented a forced-labor system that was not repealed until the 1940s.
The power and laws discriminating in favor of the French were not effectively challenged until the young and radical Félix Houphouët-Boigny formed the nation.s first agricultral trade union. He went on to form the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), an organization that fought for indigenous rights throughout the Federation, and the Parti Démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) within his country. He gained power and influence, and was elected to the French Parliament in Paris, where he successfully worked toward the abolishment of the forced-labor system. The radiaclism of his youth faded to a level more tolerable for the French, and he was active in the French consitutioanl referendum of 1958, when Côte d'Ivoire chose autonomy within the French community. It became fully independent in 1960.
LINKS
Some further sources of information:
Country Studies~SW