Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation

to Colonial Legacy

Jean-Claude Meledje
Wibarex Consulting, Sydney

ABSTRACT
With the exceptions of Ethiopia and Liberia, the nations of Black Afri-
ca share a common history of colonialism, despite their diversity. Co-
lonialism lasted for about hundred years, having a great impact on
African people. This article will focus specifically on Côte d'Ivoire
also known as Ivory Coast, a former French colonial country in West
Africa. Côte d'Ivoire has experienced a tumultuous regime history
under the French colonial power. C ôte has also experienced several
civil wars, and multiple regime transitions. Over fifty years after the
end of French colonialism, the negative effects of French colonialism
are persisting or escalating. More importantly, it will demonstrate
how the presence of French colonial power in Côte d'Ivoire has left a
long-lasting legacy that has severely impacted the development trajec-
tories of contemporary Côte d'Ivoire.
INTRODUCTION
This article aims to examine Côte d'Ivoire's historical trajectories.
First it explores the pre-colonial era, showing how colonialism began
with Portugal's pursuit of trade and expanded into a rush for territory
that peaked in the nineteenth century, with French ruling over a vast
territory, claiming they were bringing ‘civilization’ to this ancient
land. The French imposed their culture on every aspect of the Ivorian
society. France was set to take advantage of Côte d'Ivoire, as there
was already a potential to exploit its rich agricultural economy
(McNamara 1989: 87). This article argues that despite the former
French colony being independent for 58 years, Côte d'Ivoire is still fac-
ing the challenges of the colonial years. It demonstrates how the locals
were subjugated, oppressed, manipulated, and killed for the needs of
Social Evolution & History, Vol. 17 No. 1, March 2018 16–33
 2018 ‘Uchitel’ Publishing House DOI: 10.30884/seh/2018.01.02
16
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 17

French trade, commerce, and colonialism. This article also discusses

the key issue of colonial legacy that helps to understand how it still
impacts various aspects of the social, cultural, economic, and political
development of independent Côte d'Ivoire today.
Côte d'Or (known today as Côte d'Ivoire) has moved through a
pre-colonial period to a colonial period and then on to a period of
struggle for independence. Côte d'Ivoire had been inhabited since Ne-
olithic times, by people living in primitive and independent farming
lives. However, little is known about Côte d'Ivoire's indigenous people
and their history prior to France's involvement in colonialism. It is
believed that there are records of the first evidence of the existence of
humans in Côte d'Ivoire, which dates back to the Palaeolithic era
(Zouande 2011).
The historians explain that these people were either displaced by
force or willingly absorbed by the ancestors of the contemporary inhab-
itants of Côte d'Ivoire. The Portuguese, who arrived in Côte d'Ivoire in
the fifteenth century, were the first European explorers. France made its
initial contact with Côte d'Ivoire at the time, and missionaries landed at
the coast of Assinie in 1637 near the Gold Coast, now Ghana. They es-
tablished a mission in 1687 and built a fort at Assinie in 1701. Although
various treaties were signed between French missionaries and local
Kings, the interior remained predominantly untouched by Europeans
until the nineteenth century.
CÔTE D'IVOIRE'S PRE-COLONIAL HISTORY
Centuries before European arrival, West Africa was composed of vast
regions, of both savannah and forest. The land as well as the people
went through key changes as trade links between north and west were
established, and the indigenous people were needed to make use of their
organizational skills in order to be successful as traders. Islam was also
a force of change. Islam was founded in Arabia in the seventh century,
and then it quickly spread west. By 750, Islam was well-established in
North Africa. As Muslims traders promoted Islam throughout the south,
the number of people who adopted Islam significantly increased (Hatt
2003: 6).
There were many states, empires, and kingdoms in early West Af-
rica. Perhaps, the greatest Islamic states were the Mali, Songhai, and
Kanem-Bornu Empires. The rain forest kingdoms of Bénin and Kongo
were created in the southern areas as non-Islamic states. By the time
the Europeans landed in West Africa, many of the residents were citi-
zens of Empires and Kingdoms (Hatt 2003: 7).
18 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

Before the French colonisation, Côte d'Ivoire was a land where

property boundaries did not exist. Scholars know only a little about
the inhabitants who lived in concentrated communities with distinct
practices and traditions. For example, in the savannah regions, trade
was dominated by the Dioula who had fled Muslim conversion under
the Mali Empire. They were trading gold and kola nuts by the thir-
teenth century, making Kong in the north a trading as well as an Is-
lamic centre. Small kingdoms held power across the land. Under the
leadership of the Ouattara dynasty in the sixteenth century, the Dioula
acted as powerbrokers between the rich people from the south and the
Mali and Ghana Empires. These pre-colonial empires were part of
the Sudanic Empires of West Africa that introduced and disseminated
new traditions into Côte d'Ivoire via trade. When the Mali Empire col-
lapsed, Dioula traders were forced to move south in search of new
trading opportunities, which also forced southerners to assimilate the
Dioula life style (Broussalian 2011).
The Empire of Kong was formed in the early eighteenth century,
but their rival Samory Touré destroyed the empire because of Kong's
connection with the French. Born in 1830 in Kankan in the south-east
(present-day Guinea), Samory was a trader before becoming a soldier.
Between 1852 and 1882, he formed the Madinka Empire which eventu-
ally stretched as far east as Sakasou (present-day Mali), as far west as
Fouta Djalon (present-day Guinea), and, most predominantly, as far
north as of (present-day Côte d'Ivoire), where he conquered huge terri-
tories between 1893 and 1898 (Beck 2010).
From the late seventeenth to the nineteenth century, the Asante Em-
pire dominated Africa, inflicting wars on neighbouring communities. As
a result, many the Akan people from (Ghana) moved to Côte d'Ivoire.
Nonetheless, the death of the well-known Asante leader Asantehene
Opoku Ware in 1750 triggered a leadership battle that forced Queen
Abla Pokou and her allies to abandon their Kingdom and move to
the north-central area of today's Côte d'Ivoire, where they formed the
Baoulé kingdom. Other groups such as the Mandé and Krou were also
forced to migrate from neighbouring countries to Côte d'Ivoire in fear of
prosecution and conflicts from the opposing communities and King-
doms (Zouande 2011).
The exodus of Abla Pokou is such a well-known piece of history
of the immigration of the Baoulé people to Côte d'Ivoire that it has
been incorporated into Ivorian primary education curriculum. Accord-
ing to the legend, when the Queen and her people reached the shores of
the Comoé River, they faced difficulties in their attempt to cross the
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 19

river to reach their destination, Côte d'Ivoire. In order to cross the river,
the Queen sacrificed her only son, the Prince, not by killing, but by trib-
al baptism. This sacrifice was the root of the name ‘Baoulé,’ originally
baouli, meaning ‘the child has died.’
During the time that the Asante Empire gained popularity towards
the end of the seventeenth century, the Bouna Kingdom emerged as a
new power. The Bouna Kingdom was created by Bounkani migrants
from the Gold Coast who moved into Côte d'Ivoire. They created a
new regional Islamic education centre. Under the watch of the Bouna
Kingdom, the social structure was organized in the following order:
first, there were the aristocrats involved in slave trade and farm taxes;
second, there were the Koulango (modern-day lobi) peasants; and fi-
nally, there were the Dioula traders (Conroy 2010).
Until the late nineteeth century, the residents of what was to be-
come Côte d'Ivoire lived a traditional lifestyle, primarily relying on ag-
ricultural production. It is important to emphasize that prior to coloniza-
tion, rich traditional structures existed, Ivorians villagers lived inde-
pendently, and political life was naturally and internally organized.
Despite this, Europeans often assumed the West African forest regions
including Côte d'Ivoire had no history, because from the exterior, they
became non-organized (Calvocoressi 1991: 496).
THE FRENCH DESIRE FOR COLONIES AND INFLUENCE
For decades, through a number of theories, scholars have attempted to
determine why Europeans had to colonize Africa, asking whether col-
onization was sparked by a mission to civilize, as the French colonial
administrators claimed, or if it occurred for trade reasons, for other
economic reasons or simply to benefit European capitalism (Tordoff
2002: 25–26).
For example, a group of scholars such as Vladimir Lenin put for-
ward an economic reason and argued that since many Europeans could
not afford to buy goods from the shelves, it became essential for capital-
ists to look for new buyers in Africa (Lenin 1917). Other scholars, like
Ronald Robinson and John Gallengher, took a geopolitical approach,
arguing, for example, that in order to maintain its economic status,
Great Britain had to seek colonies and dominate trading (Robinson and
Gallengher 1961). On the other hand, Henri Brunshwig argued that
France was not interested in economic benefit (Brunshwig 1964). As
they say in France, les colonies avaient été créées par le métropole et
pour le métropole, the colonies have been created by the metropolis and
for the metropolis (Tordoff 2002: 26).
20 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

Despite this common belief, Brunshwig insists that France's colo-

nization of Africa was solely based on status. France needed to be
seen as a key player at the international level; consequently, it needed
to colonize (Brunshwig 1964). Lori Liane Long has also argued that
while economic factors might be taken into account, national pride was
one of the most important reasons why European colonial rulers em-
braced colonization. Once the race to colonize begun, the state that
‘could obtain the most colonies, convert most people to its enlightened,
cosmopolitan culture was seen as the best’ (Brunshwig 1964). As has
been succinctly observed ‘in order to remain/become a great nation,
they had to colonize’ (Long 1998).
According to Wayne Walker, given the challenges on the European
ground, France utilized colonialism to regain its pride. Towards 1890,
a colonial lobby group was established in France with the aim to mobi-
lize Europeans' opinions regarding the roots of the colonial conquest
(cited in Ahipeaud 2009: 21).
Peter Calvocoressi argued that Europeans were interested in Afri-
ca long before occupation occurred (Calvocoressi 1991: 493). In the
case of Côte d'Ivoire, keeping in mind the idea of national pride, gran-
deur, and power, France decided to send explorers sailing into the un-
known land to explore and claim Côte d'Ivoire as a new colony in or-
der to appear grander (Long 1998).
During the seventeenth century, ivory was one of the most desired
commodities in Europe. Côte d'Ivoire was rich in ivory due to its large
number of African elephants. Although the locals were strongly de-
termined to protect elephants, and opposed the presence of European
powers in their territories, the French managed to establish and partic-
ipated in the ivory trade. As a result, ‘by the early 18th century, hunters
had virtually wiped out the entire elephant population’ in Côte d'Ivoire
(Conroy 2010). This suggested that France wanted to colonize Côte
d'Ivoire to have access to ivory.
Côte d'Ivoire's wealth of exotic and rare material goods also at-
tracted the French. From the French perspective, the potential profita-
bility of the colony served as a main motivator, and profitability re-
quired the development of natural and human resources (what the
French colonialists later called the policy of la mise en valeur). When
the French planters found cocoa, coffee, banana and palm oil in Côte
d'Ivoire, they began cultivating and exporting them back home, which
raised French interest in colonization.
As Peter Calvocoressi pointed out, contemporary Africa provided
Europeans with things they needed. This included, among others,
slaves for plantations in the West and raw materials (Calvocoressi
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 21

1991: 493). In Côte d'Ivoire, France's strategic plan was to transform

the territory into the focal point of its political activities in the region,
and to receive agricultural produce (Ahipeaud 2009: 23).
Former American Ambassador Francis McNamara argued that,
although France expanded its colonial empire in West Africa from the
nineteenth century, at the beginning, the French were not interested in
colonialism or overseas involvement. It was only when national pride
anxiety aroused that the French began their colonial adventures. Like
others, McNamara indicated that the French were not in West Africa for
financial reasons. From the outset, the primary reasons why the French
were dragged into West Africa were politics and national ego.
McNamara also argued that France became interested in territorial ex-
pansion because as a rising industrial power, it needed ensured markets
and raw materials under its own control (McNamara 1989: xiii–xv).
Like other colonized countries in sub-Saharan Africa that served
as sources of raw materials for the colonial ruler, Côte d'Ivoire provid-
ed most of the low-cost raw materials to France. A French geograph-
ical society sums up the point succinctly the following way: ‘the new
colonies offer markets for raw materials; the means of production,
the products lacking in the mother-country,’ while prohibiting the col-
onies from producing or purchasing products from other European
powers (Long 1998).
However, as Carlene Edie has persuasively argued, like its Euro-
pean counterparts, France's colonization of Africa including Côte
d'Ivoire was constructed on a political basis as well as an economic
one. Confronted with chauvinistic competitions and balance-of-power
policy, France expressed its political intention to colonize Côte d'Iv-
oire. Also, faced with massive industrial challenge, France was re-
quired to colonize many other African nations like Côte d'Ivoire in
order to obtain and manage new markets and sources of raw materials
(Edie 2003: 52). In line with the industrial argument, William Tordoff
has pointed out that like many European countries, after the industrial
revolution France was concerned about how and where to get raw ma-
terial required for the manufacturing industry (Tordoff 2002: 26).
As anyone who studied the history of France and Côte d'Ivoire
would tell, cultural supremacy also provided justification for France's
colonization of Africa in general, in order to teach Christianity and
French ‘civilization’. In return, France planned to take advantage of
the colonies including Côte d'Ivoire, as there was already a potential to
exploit their rich agricultural economy (McNamara 1989: 87). Simi-
larly, Peter Schaeder argued that France's pronouncement of its mis-
sion civilisatrice (civilizing mission) was its justification for the necessi-
22 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

ty for colonialism in Francophone West Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire,

over people who were seen as ‘backward,’ ‘ignorant,’ ‘uncivilized,’
‘barbaric,’ ‘savage’ and ‘godless heathens’ (Schaeder 2004: 58).
FRENCH COLONIAL RULE AND STYLE
The French Governor Gabriel-Louis Angoulvand commented that coloni-
zation ‘was not just about exploring the country in order to know it better,
but it was about completely conquering the territory in order to contribute
to its economic and social development’ (Ahipeaud 2009: 23).
Grah Mel describes colonialism as the racism of the colon, colo-
nialist, a term which expresses the Europeans unjustifiable hatred of
Africans (Grah Mel 2003: 216). Michael Watts describes colonialism
as ‘The establishment and maintenance of rule, for an extended period
of time by a sovereign power over a subordinate or alien of people
who are separate from the ruling power’ (Watts 2000). However, oth-
ers emphasize space and territory to define colonialism.
During the colonial era, African territories were first colonized,
and then Europeans exploited them. Although the colonial rule period
lasted a relatively short time in Africa, Africans were subjected to or-
ganized repression. In Côte d'Ivoire, France ruled as a sovereign and
political power via the specific mechanisms of colonialism. France
profoundly reorganized Côte d'Ivoire's political environment, mode of
economic development and social hierarchies (Conroy 2010). In addi-
tion, France forced unnatural boundaries in Côte d'Ivoire and required
people to live in new environments without taking into account their
life styles (Conroy 2010). Initially, the country's north which includes
Odiénné, Kong, Touba and Dabakala was considered as part of French
Sudan (which is now called Mali); by January 1900, this segment be-
longed to Côte d'Ivoire (Ahipeaud 2009: 21–57).
Soon after the Berlin conference of 1885, France sought to politi-
cally control West Africa including Côte d'Ivoire and Equatorial Africa.
As Tordoff pointed out, the French divided each colony into cercles for
better management, based on the ‘direct rule’ system. A political officer
managed each cercle, firing traditional rulers, and replacing them with
soldiers or retired government clerks (Tordoff 2002: 27).
By 1916 the French fully controlled Côte d'Ivoire. To further con-
solidate its power, the French organized the land into districts. French
Commanders controlled the districts under the colonial government.
Although subjects of the French government, the Ivorians were denied
French citizenship. Thus, the French expected them to do public la-
bour, and to join the French military, but denied them fair judicial
rights and frequently subjected them to unfair trials. In this way,
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 23

the French marked the beginning of the transformation of Ivorian poli-

tics and society (Schaeder 2004: 50).
Furthermore, colonial administrators used the principles of forced
labour during the colonization era, insisting on applying pressure, co-
ercion, and the use of force. As Conklin stated:
Colonization rule rests on an act of violence. Its only justi-
fication lies in the intention to substitute a more enlightened
authority for the one in place, one capable of bringing the
conquered peoples to a better existence… The result can
only be achieved by applying pressure to individual actions.
Such pressure is legitimate, on the sole condition that it is
in the best general interests as well as in that of the natives
(Conklin 1998: 419–442).
Modern Côte d'Ivoire was born after French colonization. Shortly
after the Berlin conference, attended by all the European superpowers,
France acquired the West African territories. Côte d'Ivoire became a
French colony in 1893 due to the work of Gustave Binger, who was
supported by a French trader by the name of Marcel Treich-Laplène,
with whom he met secretly to plot colonization. During their mission,
the two men travelled from Kong, now northern Côte d'Ivoire, to the
south where they signed treaties. In recognition, Paris appointed
Binger the first Governor of Côte d'Ivoire.
The project of civilizing the natives, by carrying out the mission
civilisatrice, became a key aspect of the colonial era. Indeed, for the
colonial master, French culture was universalistic, the French civiliza-
tion was exportable and the savages should be prepared to embrace it.
Like most of the European great powers, the French Colonialists be-
came convinced of the political as well commercial need for expan-
sion. They also remained convinced of their right to rule and share the
benefits of civilization to those whom they civilized. In Côte d'Ivoire,
that was not the case (Aldrich 2008). The Ivorians paid a high price
for France's civilizing work.
THE RESISTANCE TO COLONISATION
France, which was present at the coast in 1843, returned with a mis-
sion: to conquer the interior area. To achieve this mission, Arthur
Verdier, Marcel Treich-Laplène who was a French trader and Louis-
Gustave Binger, a military officer, were sent as representatives.
Actual colonization, including establishing a new political, admin-
istrative and economic system of management, proved to be a hard
exercise. From the beginning when the first measures of the colonial
24 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

administration, namely the establishment of the taxation system was

introduced, many locals felt considerable anger towards the French.
In 1852, the people of Akapless in the south, who opposed French
accumulation of territories and taxation, rebelled. This uprising met
with defeat so severe that it allowed Captain Faidherbe to build forts
in the south both at Dabou and Grand-Bassam. In an ultimate irony,
recruited local chiefs worked alongside the French colonialists with-
in the colonial bureaucracy. Like their twentieth-century counter-
parts, they also held positions of lower ranks and were tasked to do
the dirty work of collecting taxes across the land, following the rules
of the colonialists (Edie 2003: 51).
The first real confrontation between the colonial power and the
natives started in 1898. When France, one of the world's most ad-
vanced democracies with its liberal regime, attempted to forcibly con-
quer, pacify and administer the land, the natives resisted (Ahipeaud
2009: 23; Conklin 1998: 419–442; Gordon A. and Gordon D. 2001:
32). People from the south of Côte d'Ivoire who opposed the taxation
system and genuinely believed in the idea of independence rebelled.
For example, in 1910, the Abé people rebelled against the French
and in 1915, local resistance intensified when people from the Bété
and Baoulé ethnic groups joined the rebellion against the French au-
thorities which caused a devastating conflict. The Baoulé played an
important role in the twentieth-century history of Côte d'Ivoire, wag-
ing the longest resistance war to French colonization. I conducted in-
terviews in Côte d'Ivoire in 2012. Some respondents suggested that
many Africans strongly supported Baoulé due to their strong opposi-
tion to colonialism. This likely, explains a long Baoulé dominance of
Côte d'Ivoire's politics.
Harrism, a large protestant religion begun by Liberian preacher Wil-
liam Wade Harris, also served as a form of resistance (Ahipeaud 2003).
Harris walked bare foot from his native Liberia to Côte d'Ivoire and Gha-
na between 1910 and 1914, preaching his extremely effective evangelical
revival based on prophecy, healing and miracles. Harris' first mission
landed in Côte d'Ivoire in 1895 and he was particularly successful due to
strong presence of Christianity in the area. Harris was arrested and beaten
in Kraffy, Côte d'Ivoire on his way back from Ghana with three women
assistants, and they were expelled from Côte d'Ivoire towards the end of
1914. The French imprisoned Harris at Cape Palmas ‘out of fear of un-
controlled charisma’. Nonetheless, his arrest did not prevent many of his
supporters from visiting him. The French empire believed because of
his power over the people, Harris might foment rebellion. They extra-
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 25

dited Harris to Liberia in 1915 as a potential ‘instigator of revolt’ and he

died there in 1929 (Ducan and Bakuzufu 2013).
As Ahipeaud (2003) indicated, for imposition of colonial rule, the
colonial forces of governor Angoulvand used violent repression against
indigenous opponents of French colonialism in order to join their colo-
nies from the north to the coast. Consequently, Angoulvand denied
them the opportunity to enjoy their freedom, but there was resistance.
Although resistance occurred, France took advantage of regional
conflicts to implement its policy of divide – and – conquer (Schaeder
2004: 59). France used the same divide – and – conquer tactic to inter-
fere with the traditional leadership. For example, France gave em-
ployment preference to specific groups, aiming to create competition
among them and increase insecurity and conflict. It must be noted that
groups from the coast where French originally settled and where the
first schools were built were more likely to be chosen for employment
(Edie 2003: 48–50).
GOVERNOR ANGOULVAND'S METHOD OF COLONIAL
CONTROL
Realizing that its military method was failing, Paris deployed Gover-
nor Angoulvand a civilian with a better colonial ideology. Angoul-
vand applied his method of ‘burnt land’ (which became the norm later
on [Ahipeaud 2009: 23]). This method consisted of destroying every-
thing where resistance was occurring and imposing heavy taxes to
force the local population to join the colonial state (Ahipeaud 2009:
26). When Angoulvand took command of the colony, he made it clear
that the new regime would not tolerate the resistance of the locals. For
Angoulvand, the country was called la côte des mal gens, the coast of
the bad people. This meant that they were unfriendly to foreigners.
From Angoulvand's perspective, to administer a territory meant: im-
posing a few rules, limiting particular privileges for everyone's benefit
and collecting more taxes (Angoulvand 1916: 395).
Angoulvand argued that the territory did not exist and insisted
the French administration should be received without conflict. He
claimed that colonial domination should be achieved through total
submission of the indigenous people to a military regime headed by
a senior and strong officer or general with the necessary skills
(Ahipeaud 2009: 24).
This suggested that France intended to stay forever. Moreover,
according to Angoulvand, brutal repression represented the best way
to convince those who were les plus dubitatifs, more dubious about
France's objective. Angoulvand imposed French rule by burning hous-
26 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

es, and when necessary, destroying entire villages, successfully using

state violence and terror against resisters. Thus, French colonial rule in
Côte d'Ivoire was based on coercion, not consent. Under Governor
Angoulvand, during ‘the pacification’ process of Côte d'Ivoire, power-
ful and huge military striking forces were deployed on the ground to
break-up any resistance (Broussalian 2011). As a further weapon
against resisters, local leaders' heads were cut off, ridiculed and dis-
played on poles in public places as real war trophies (Ahipeaud 2009:
24). Despite the large number of Ivorians who died unnecessarily and
painfully due to French colonization, the French reportedly utilized
less brutal tactics than the Belgian and German colonials (Cal-
vocoressi 1991: 493).
THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL LEGACY
Colonial legacy in Africa can be described as a combination of political
and cultural structures, including a broad range of policies inherited by
African founding fathers or whatever was left by the colonial masters,
which are still affecting African states and politics.
The 1789 French Revolution emphasized the notions of equality
and egalitarianism. Therefore, the French introduced an assimilation
policy toward their colonies including Côte d'Ivoire. The key French
colonial policy of ‘assimilation’ facilitated integration of colonial
‘subjects’ into the French nation through indoctrination into French
culture via ‘an acculturation system’. As long as the non-citizen Afri-
can subjects willingly and fully embraced French culture, including
achieving fluency in French langue – abandoning Indigenous fetish-
worship or animism and converting to Christianity or obtaining higher
education, they were entitled to fully achieve the status of French citi-
zens (Tordoff 2002: 61). Shockingly, though, by 1936, only 80, 509
Indigenes Citoyens Français (French Citizens of African origin) exist-
ed in the entire AOF (McNamara 1989: 36).
In French, these ‘converts’ were called évolués, literally meaning
‘civilized persons, or even forward-looking évolués. Under the policy
of assimilation, education was ‘the main currency’ (Thomson 2004:
16). Houphouët-Boigny and others, for example, graduated from a
very limited number of grandes écoles or the most prestigious institu-
tions such as the medical school at Dakar or the federal Ecole Nor-
male William Ponty. Less illustrious institutions such as the teachers
colleges in Sudan and Côte d'Ivoire or alma mater of Côte d'Ivoire as
well as the veterinary school at Bamako also provided French educa-
tion. In addition, there were two lycées in Dakar, which granted the
equivalent of a Baccalauréat (McNamara 1989: 36).
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 27

Some of the graduates from those institutions continued their politi-

cal and professional careers in significant decision-making positions.
Indeed, William Ponty College and those institutions played a crucial
role in the education of some first-generation West African leaders of
the inter-war era, such as Houphouët-Boigny. Ponty explained that edu-
cation represented the most efficient instrument of the civilizing work of
the colonial state. He went on to say it imposed on the subjects the no-
tion that they could and must improve their living conditions to have
access to key resources. However, was the colonial education helpful?
It is fair to say that the concept of assimilation through education
applied only to a select group of state elites (Schaeder 2004). For
example, in Côte d'Ivoire in 1947, only twenty-one Ponty graduates,
or ‘Pontins’ were elected to the new territorial assembly, not an ex-
traordinary number. Moreover, opportunities were only available in
areas that held French economic interest.
The second systematic problem was Pontins found themselves to
be à cheval sur deux civilisations, trapped between the African and the
French world. One English commentator named the proud graduates
who considered themselves elites ‘Black Frenchmen’ (Chafer 2007:
437–458).
As one of its chief functions, Ponty College introduced its stu-
dents to a French lifestyle. One well known ex-Pontin, Mamadou Dia
summarised the impact of Ponty on himself, where he tasted modern
life for the first time the following way:
The time at Ponty was very important… It was at Ponty that
I really came into contact with western life, modern life.
Before that, I even did not know how to wear a jacket, trou-
ser or a tie. It was at Ponty that, as part of the school's uni-
form, I wore a European suit, jacket, tunic and a shirt for
the first time… I ate at table for the first time… All those
things were new to me (Chafer 2007: 437–458).
Although they made considerable efforts to adopt western culture,
most Ponty students were rejected by their French counterparts, and
were aware that their peers never recognised them as equals (Tordoff
2002: 61). Therefore, despite assimilation being France's official poli-
cy, in actuality the French only pretended to assimilate the indigenous
people to the métropole. Indeed, for all its apparent generosity, true
assimilation rarely occurred. Instead, the indigenous people remained
in inferior positions because their French compatriots would never
accept or treat them as full and equal citizens, although the French
stated that Africans including Ivorians were of equal worth to them as
28 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

long as they were cultured as the French were (Schaeder 2004: 61).
Despite the assumption of culture superiority, McNamara has argued
that the French longstanding commitment to assimilate local popula-
tions was a reflection of their inclination to accept them as equals,
people who were fluent in French (McNamara 1989: 127).
During the 1879 French Revolution, missionaries were encour-
aged to spread their language, culture, and political philosophy to the
less fortunate non-francophone. This suggested that French civiliza-
tion missionaries were ethnocentric and automatically assumed French
superiority (McNamara 1989: 34). Under the assimilation policy,
the French presumed the superiority of the French culture and civilisa-
tion. The French project of ‘civilising the savages’ served as a key
justification for the colonial enterprise, and thus the French believed
they had a duty to civilise African ‘barbarians and turn them into
French.’
One can argue that the assimilation policy was purely for the
elites who were forced to deny their ‘Ivorianness’ while embracing a
new French culture which was irrelevant to the challenges of leader-
ship and development in Côte d'Ivoire during the post-colonial era.
Colonial education did not prepare those who received it for leader-
ship. It is true, in addition to this that it failed to target the solution of
economic and social problems of newly independent French African
countries including Côte d'Ivoire.
According to Juan Linz, ‘authoritarian regimes are political sys-
tems with limited, not irresponsible political pluralism with neither
intensive nor extensive political mobilisation, and in which a leader or
a small group exercises power, within formally ill-defined limits but
actually predictable ones’ (Ezrow and Frantz 2011: 2). Similarly,
Samuel Huntington has indicated that ‘authoritarian regimes are char-
acterized by a single leader or small group of leaders with either no
party or a weak party, little mass mobilisation, and limited pluralism’.
As A. Gordon and D. Gordon (2001: 48) argued ‘Whenever and
wherever colonial rule was established, it was essentially a paternal-
istic, bureaucratic dictatorship’. Based upon his controversial ap-
proach to leadership, Governor Angoulvand helped to insure a tradi-
tion of civilian authoritarian regime in Côte d'Ivoire that went un-
checked for many years because of the conditions he created. The co-
lonial state that was born and developed under Angoulvand became
more and more repressive over the years (White 2007: 663).
After independence from France on 7 August, 1960, Houphouët-
Boigny became the country's first President. He also insured a tradition
of civilian authoritarian regime in Côte d'Ivoire. Until the 1990 election,
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 29

Houphouët-Boigny was the sole candidate at every election held in Côte

d'Ivoire. His political party, the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire was
the only legal political party until 1990. According to Ahipeaud, the
sole political objective of Houphouët-Boigny was to make himself
the absolute master of the Ivorian political system (Ahipeaud 2009: 43–
55). Although from the onset, Houphouët-Boigny had symbolized the
politique d'ouverture, an inclusive political process, he suppressed all
types of opponents under the firm grip of the one-party state through
the PDCI.
As a result, Houphouët-Boigny's presidency largely ‘contributed
to the weakening of existing fragile structures within the military, the
judiciary as well as the civil service’ (Bratton and van de Walle 1997:
61–66). However, in today's crisis the successors of Houphouët-
Boigny (Henri Konan Bédié, Robert Guëi, Laurent Gbagbo and Alas-
sane Ouattara) have carried on the ‘Big Man’ tradition, as their respec-
tive governments had the reputation of suffering from problems of
poor governance and corruption.
Like many post-independent countries of sub-Saharan Africa,
Côte d'Ivoire under the leadership of Ivorian elites is still character-
ized by some form of neo-patrimonialism and personal rule. Although
in theory respective regimes were expected to go ahead with the full
development of the Ivorian institutions, in practice, they manipulated
Ivorian resources, accumulated their fortunes, and consolidated their
powers. However, the nation's trajectory of development would have
been more positive if the French were not involved in disseminating
institutions aimed to encourage, sustain, and protect French economic
and political interests.
It should be noted that the French colonizers contributed to the
change of the Ivorian economy, which was initially based on subsist-
ence with each village being self-sufficient. However, influenced by
the French colonizers, the Ivorian farmers who were denied the right
to use free labor began to grow huge crops such as cocoa and coffee.
For example, one should also point that in the economic sphere France
failed to build any sort of infrastructure or provide the Ivorians with
an economic strategy which would sustain them after gaining inde-
pendence; meanwhile, three French banks shared this important Ivori-
an market.
Firstly, the Société Générale, renamed Société Générale de
Banques de Côte d'Ivoire (SGBCI), the Crédit Lyonnais. Secondly, its
subsidiary Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB) controlled the Ivorian
economy in the 1960s. Finally, there was the Banque Nationale de
30 Social Evolution & History / March 2018

Paris, a subsidiary of Banque Internationale pour l'Industrie et le

Commerce de la Côte d'Ivoire (BICICI). At the same time, the French
enterprises controlled the bulk of the Ivorian assets.
Moreover, France was the major provider of senior managers to
Côte d'Ivoire, both in the government and private sector. However, after
independence most French assets in the industrial sector decreased by
half within 15 years shifting from 100 per cent in 1960 to 41 per cent in
1976 due to the policy of ‘Ivoirisation’, designed to provide work for
the Ivorians (Ahua 2005: 85). As a result, French influence became less
and less important. In the 1980s, the continuing decline in the prices
of commodities such as cocoa and coffee caused a massive departure
of French entrepreneurs.
However, the devaluation of the CFA Franc in 1994, which was
pushed by the French government, and the SAPs imposed by the IMF
and the World Bank in the 1990s enabled French investors to restart
capital investments in Côte d'Ivoire. Companies, which were national-
ized after the independence, were privatized. This was due to the
opening up of capital in paragovermental sectors such as water, elec-
tricity and telecommunications, allowing French companies to retain
numerous and important stakes in the Ivorian economy and reinforce
their presence in Côte d'Ivoire.
This neo-colonial system is a mighty obstacle preventing Côte
d'Ivoire from experiencing meaningful development. Even today, the
effect of French post-colonial rule on Côte d'Ivoire's politics, econom-
ics, and social life is still notable. For example, while the France-Côte
d'Ivoire economic relationship mainly contributed to the increase of
the number of individual French entrepreneurs as well as the French
economy, Côte d'Ivoire suffers from underdevelopment and lack of
resources. In addition, the nation lacks good governance and faces
corrupt institutions and ethnic violence.
CONCLUSION
This article has outlined Côte d'Ivoire's pre-colonial history and
France's acquisition and administration of one of its West African col-
onies. It has argued that France justified its colonization of Côte d'Iv-
oire by its desire to civilize its people whom it considered as uncivi-
lized. It has also traced Côte d'Ivoire's path to independence. Drawing
upon the background, this article has examined the impact of colonial
legacy. Despite the nation being independent since 1960, Côte d'Ivoire
is still dealing with the colonial legacy such as the dissemination of
French institutions aimed to encourage, sustain, and protect French
economic and political interests.
 Meledje / Côte D'Ivoire: From Pre-Colonisation to Colonial Legacy 31

In 1960, France finally granted independence to Côte d'Ivoire but

intended to retain influence. Through a series of deals signed with this
newly independent nation, based upon close relations formed during
the colonial era, France successfully managed to preserve its strong
position in Côte d'Ivoire for decades.
The current state of almost all French West African countries is es-
sentially determined by the history of their occupation. In the case of
Côte d'Ivoire, colonization processes such as the ‘colonial direct rule’
was cleverly used to control everything from administration, to econom-
ic, to culture. French colonization′s objective was to make the Ivorian a
Black French through the politics of domination and assimilation. These
politics left a permanent mark on the minds of the colonized.
Many francophone countries including Côte d'Ivoire have been
using the monetary unit (CFA) since 1945. From the outset, one insti-
tut d'émission was created for the AOF in order to issue and control
the money, led by the Bank of France and the French treasury. An
operation account was opened for the region. In 1959, taking into ac-
count the political, social and economic changes that occurred in the
region due to the move from overseas territories to autonomous repub-
lics, the institut d'émission was upgraded to a regional bank, called
Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO), but the
central banking function for this institution was essentially limited
(McNamara 1989: 110–127).
Today, this operation account continues to play the role of a cen-
tral mechanism system; all CFA financial transactions must pass
through it. In addition, despite ‘full sovereignty’ in 1960, this opera-
tion account based at the French treasury in Paris remains the reposi-
tory of all French West African franc zone foreign exchange reserves,
guaranteeing the unlimited convertibility of the CFA into the Euro
(formerly the French franc). However, for most foreigners these mon-
etary arrangements constitute the most valuable aspect of the French
colonial legacy for West Africa (McNamara 1989: 11).
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