History of West Africa 1919-1939






The History of Cote d'Ivoire prior to 1842



The Portuguese had underheld fortified trading posts since the 15th century. In 1637 a group of 5 French Capuchin monks arrived at ASSINIE, but found the native population hostile; the survivors sought refuge with the Portuguese at Axim. The first French merchant on record to visit the area was DE BELLEFOND in 1666, a captain sailing for the Compagnie des Indes. In 1667 his colleague DU CASSE signed a treaty with the King of Komenda, a treaty the French did not act upon. In 1687 two Dominican monks arrived at Assinie and were well-treated. The French built a fort at Assinie in 1701, which was attacked by the Dutch the same year, but successfully defended. In 1704 the French withdrew their garrison.
Between 1704 and 1842 no European nation underheld trading forts on the coast; trade was undertaking by ships passing by irregularily. In 1787 the French obtained treaties for factories at Sassandra and Grand Lahou, but again they did not act upon them.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of the Ivory Coast, from Infoplease , and from Library of Congress, Country Studies
Les manilles de Grand-Bassam, numismatic article on the precolonial coinage of the Ivory Coast, first published in 1892, from Numismatique - Monnaie, in French
African Alphabets, by Saki Mafundikwa, the Bete syllabary, the Guro alphabet (CIV)
L'Histoire du Prince Aniaba, from Basilique Notre Dame de la Paix, at Yamoussoukro (CIV)
Chronologie : Afrique Occidentale, 1441-1975, from BNF
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Naval Intelligence Division : French West Africa, Vol.II : the Colonies, London, Dec. 1944, Ivory Coast : History, pp.257-269



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 6th 2004

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