Visit Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (French: République de Côte d'Ivoire), is a country in West Africa. Ivory Coast's capital is Yamoussoukro, and its biggest city is the port of Abidjan. Prior to its colonization by Europeans, Ivory Coast was home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoulé. Visit Ivory Coast 

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Two Anyi kingdoms, Indéniéand Sanwi, attempted to retain their separate identity through the French colonial period and after independence.

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Ivory Coast became a protectorate of France in 1843–44 and was later formed into a French colony in 1893 amid the European scramble for Africa. Ivory Coast achieved independence in 1960, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who ruled the country until 1993. It maintained close political and economic association with its West African neighbors while at the same time maintaining close ties to the West, especially France. Since the end of Houphouët-Boigny's rule in 1993, Ivory Coast has experienced one coup d'état, in 1999, and two religion-grounded civil wars. The first took placebetween 2002 and 2007 and the second during 2010-2011.
Ivory Coast is a republic with a strong executive power invested in its president. Through the production of coffee and cocoa, the country was an economic powerhouse in West Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. Ivory Coast went through an economic crisis in the 1980s, contributing to a period of political and social turmoil. The 21st-century Ivorian economy is largely market-based and still relies heavily on agriculture, with smallholder cash-crop production being dominant.
The official language is French, with local indigenous languages also widely used, including Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. The main religions are Islam, Christianity (primarily Roman Catholicism), and variousindigenous religions.
Portuguese and French merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa, very roughly, into five "coasts" reflecting local economies. The coast that the French named the Côte d'Ivoire and the Portuguese named the Costa do Marfim—both, literally, being "Ivory Coast"—lay between what was known as the Guiné de Cabo Verde, so-called "Upper Guinea" at Cabo Verde, and Lower Guinea. There was also a "Grain Coast", a "Gold Coast", and a "Slave Coast". Like those three, the name "Ivory Coast" reflected the major trade that occurred on that particular stretch of the coast, the export of ivory.
Other names for the coast of ivory included the Côte de Dents, literally "Teeth Coast", again reflecting the trade in ivory; the Côte de Quaqua, after the people whom the Dutch named the Quaqua (alternatively Kwa Kwa); the Coast of the Five and Six Stripes, after a type of cotton fabric also traded there; and the Côte du Vent, the Windward Coast, after perennial local off-shore weather conditions. One can find the name Cote de(s) Dents regularly used in older works. It was used in Duckett's Dictionnaire (Duckett 1853) and by Nicolas Villault de Bellefond, for examples, although Antoine François Prévost used Côte d'Ivoire.

In the 19th century, it died out in favor ofCôte d'Ivoire.
The coastline of the modern state is not quite coterminous with what the 15th- and 16th-century merchants knew as the "Teeth" or "Ivory" coast, which was considered to stretch from Cape Palmas to Cape Three Points and which is thus now divided between the modern states of Ghana and Ivory Coast (with a minute portion of Liberia). It retained the name through French rule, though, and independence in 1960.

The name had long since been translated literally into other languages, which the postindependence government considered to be increasingly troublesome whenever its international dealings extended beyond the Francophone sphere. Therefore, in April 1986, the government declared Côte d'Ivoire (or, more fully, République de Côte d'Ivoire) to be its formal name for the purposes of diplomatic protocol, and officially refuses to recognize or accept any translation from French to another language in its international dealings.
Despite the Ivorian government's request, the English translation "Ivory Coast" (often "the Ivory Coast") is still frequently used in English, by various media outlets and publications.
French, the official language, is taught in schools and serves as a lingua franca in the country. An estimated 65 languages are spoken in Ivory Coast. One of the most common is Dyula, which acts as a trade language, as well as a language commonly spoken by the Muslim population.
The native-born population is roughly split into three groups of Muslim, Christian (primarily Roman Catholic), and animist.
Religion in Ivory Coast remains very heterogeneous, with Islam (almost allSunni Muslims, with some Ahmadi Muslims) and Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic with smaller numbers of Protestants, primarily Methodists) being the major religions. Muslims dominate the north, while Christians dominate the south. In 2009, according to U.S. Department of State estimates, Christians and Muslims each made up 35 to 40% of the population, while an estimated 25% of the population practiced traditional religions.
Ivory Coast's capital, Yamoussoukro, is home to the largest church building in the world, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro.
The traditional cuisine of Ivory Coast is very similar to that of neighboring countries in West Africa in its reliance on grains and tubers. Cassava and plantains are significant parts of Ivorian cuisine. A type of corn paste called aitiu is used to prepare corn balls, and peanuts are widely used in many dishes. Attiéké is a popular side dish in Ivory Coast made with grated cassava and is a vegetable-basedcouscous.

A common street food is aloko, which is ripe banana fried in palm oil, spiced with steamed onions and chili and eaten alone or with grilled fish. Chicken is commonly consumed and has a unique flavor due to its lean, low-fat mass in this region. Seafood includes tuna, sardines, shrimp, and bonito, which is similar to tuna.Mafé is a common dish consisting of meat in a peanut sauce. Visit Ivory Coast
Slow-simmered stews with various ingredients are another common food staple in Ivory Coast. Kedjenou is a dish consisting of chicken and vegetables that are slow-cooked in a sealed pot with little or no added liquid, which concentrates the flavors of the chicken and vegetables and tenderizes the chicken. It is usually cooked in a pottery jar called a canary, over a slight fire, or cooked in an oven. Bangui is a local palm wine. Visit Ivory Coast
Ivorians have a particular kind of small, open-air restaurant called a maquis, which is unique to the region. A maquisnormally features braised chicken and fish covered in onions and tomatoes, served with attiéké or kedjenou. Visit Ivory Coast
Each of the ethnic groups in Ivory Coast has its own music genres, most showing strong vocal polyphony. Talking drums are also common, especially among the Appolo, and polyrhythms, another African characteristic, are found throughout Ivory Coast and are especially common in the southwest. Visit Ivory Coast
Popular music genres from Ivory Coast include zoblazo, zouglou, and Coupé-Décalé. A few Ivorian artists who have known international success are Magic Système, Alpha Blondy, Meiway, Dobet Gnahore, Tiken Dja Fakoly, and Christina Goh from Ivorian descent. Visit Ivory Coast
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