Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0030/00301.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob00301}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Cote d'Ivoire
Chapter 3B.   People}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{T.D. Roberts, Donald M. Bouton, Irving Kaplan, Barbara Lent, Charles Townsend, Neda A. Walpole}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{population
abidjan
coast
country
center
central
french
north
towns
urban
see
tables
}
$Date{1973}
$Log{See Table 1.*0030101.tab
}
Title:       Cote d'Ivoire
Book:        Area Handbook for Ivory Coast
Author:      T.D. Roberts, Donald M. Bouton, Irving Kaplan, Barbara Lent, Charles Townsend, Neda A. Walpole
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 3B.   People

     Since no national census has ever been taken in the Ivory Coast,
demographic statistics are fragmentary, and the estimates based upon them have
to be treated with caution. Before the end of World War II, local
administrators were required to report annually on the population of their
areas, but their findings were rough estimates and subject to gross error in
most cases. The introduction of a statistical center and the use of sampling
censuses in conjunction with improved population registers after World War II
were a significant advance and made the estimates much more meaningful and
reliable. Nevertheless, the statistics available in 1960, although valuable as
indicators, were still matters of estimate when applied to the country as a
whole.

Population Structure

     The most complete data available in 1960, which cover the entire country
and are based on sampling, are the result of a series of studies made during
1957 and 1958. Evaluation gave a total native population of 3,088,000 as of
June 1958 (see table 1). A special census of foreign residents taken in late
1956 showed a total of 14,456 domiciled in the country, of whom slightly more
than half were  born in metropolitan France. The special census excluded all
persons from other parts of French West Africa and from Ghana and Liberia. The
official estimate for 1960 set the total population at 3,200,000 of whom
approximately 15,000 were non-Africans. Figures on population change indicate
a moderate rate of growth, estimated in 1958 as about 2.5 percent per year.

[See Table 1.: Principal Results of Demographic Studies in the Ivory Coast,
1956 and 1958]

     Although a number of approximations have been made by individual
investigators, no official numerical estimate of the ethnic components of the
population are available. However, the Agni-Baoule in the southeast and
center, the Mande, Senoufo and Lobi of the north, and the Krou of the
southwest are the most prominent (see ch.4, Ethnic Groups and Languages).

Distribution and Settlement Patterns

     In 1960 the overall population density was estimated to be approximately
25 persons per square mile, but they were very unevenly distributed (see fig.
6). The general pattern of population, with the possible exception of the
dense forest west of the Sassandra River, is more the result of cultural and
historical factors than of the physical environment. Before the French came,
hostilities which divided the peoples and the practice of shifting cultivation
inhibited the growth of large population centers. The few towns that existed
were north of the dense forest and served the ancient trade routes, wherever
the local conditions made them reasonably secure from attack. Outside of the
towns, the people were bound in small groups to areas of the land more by
tradition and avocation than by advantages of soil and climate. In the
northern third of the country, however,this pattern was disrupted toward the
end of the nineteenth century by warfare between the French and their
opponents from the Niger River basin. The latter razed so many of the
settlements and killed or dispersed so many of the people that the population
has not yet recovered from the effects.

     Establishment of the French along the coast had a significant effect
on the pattern of population. Trade routes were reoriented to and from the
coast instead of the sub-Saharan north, creating clusters of mixed population
along the lagoons and new towns farther inland. As communications penetrated
the forest and the interior, economic development followed. Land formerly
useful only for subsistence became valuable for export crops or timber.
Migrants were attracted from the north, either as transient labor or as
permanent settlers. The result was to tie the people more closely to specific
areas of the land as they were developed and to encourage the growth of
permanent settlements and towns with urban characteristics.

     In addition to the economic factors, administrative measures taken by
the French affected the distribution of population. When the remnants of the
peoples of the north returned to their lands after peace and security had been
established, local French officials sometimes selected arbitrary new sites for
villages. In some areas, widely scattered villages were moved and consolidated
merely for ease of control and administration. Administrative centers, which
inevitably became focal points of population, frequently originated as army
posts, sited for purely military purposes. Abidjan itself became a center of
urban and industrial development because of administrative decisions.
Population pressures, however, have never been a problem, and neither the
French nor the Ivory Coast Government has sponsored or required mass movements
of the people for such a reason.

     Excluding foreigners, most of whom live in the towns, the great bulk
of the people live on the land in small family groups, settlements or
villages. Only a dozen or so towns exceed 10,000 in population, and few
of these have urban attributes in a Western sense. Including Abidjan,
roughly 10 to 15 percent of the people live in communities of over 3,000
population. In comparison, urban dwellers comprised 70 percent of the
population of the United States in 1960. Restrictions separating African
from European quarters never existed officially under the French.
Nevertheless, in communities where there was a sizable European population,
differences in wealth and occupation resulted in a form of segregation which
still persists.

     In 1962 a country-wide program of modern housing construction was in
progress, but little had been accomplished in comparison with the needs of
the whole country. Most of the villages are clusters of single-story huts,
with roofs of thatch or corrugated iron. Walls are ordinarily of clay (banco),
when it is available, or of bamboo, reeds, or rough timber. Public buildings
and some of the better dwellings in the larger villages and the towns are
frequently of stucco or concrete block construction. Family groups live
in dwellings which may form a compound with a central courtyard and common
facilities for storage, cooking and bathing. Different ethnic groups
normally build their houses together to form separate neighborhoods. Most
villages of any size have central market area, but practically all of them
are unsheltered. Water supply is a general problem, and the availability of
a perennial stream often dictates the location of a village. Only a few of the
larger towns have a central water works, most of which merely deliver to
public fountains. Drinking water practically never meets Western health
standards. Electric power is available to the public only in the largest
urban areas. Temporary settlements, known as campements, are characteristic
of many of the less-developed areas. Small collections of crude huts are
occupied by transient plantation or timber workers or by families who are away
from their home villages to open up new cultivation, harvest, fish, hunt or
collect the natural products of the countryside. The campements sometimes grow
into permanent villages.

Movement

     The introduction of export crops in the early years of the century
created a demand for labor which could not or would not be met by the local
people. The result was a well-defined pattern of migration which eventually
drew on the poorer, more crowded population of the Niger River basin. Urban
and industrial development offered additional incentives to come to the Ivory
Coast to seek employment. In 1962 most of the migrants were Mossi from Upper
Volta. Their movement is circular in pattern. In the main, they are young
unmarried men or heads of families who leave their wives and children at home.
In addition to the economic incentive of ready cash, the prospects of
adventure and travel appear to be an attraction. The great majority of the
migrants are seasonal, seeking gainful work during the unproductive dry season
in their homeland. However, some remain for several years, and a few settle
permanently. Since the movement is largely uncontrolled, estimates of the
number entering the Ivory Coast each year vary considerably. As many as
150,000 to 300,000 may be involved.

     Members of the Krou tribes along the southwest coast furnish a
distinctive type of migrant worker of some importance to their local
communities. Ships arriving from the north call at Tabou and Sassandra to
sign on cargo handlers who remain aboard as members of the crews while the
ships ply the ports farther to the east and south. During 1958 about 20,000
permits were issued for this type of employment. Except for the kroomen, as
they are known, there are no significant migrations by Ivory Coast citizens to
other countries for either temporary or permanent residence.

     Abidjan and its commercial and industrial surroundings have an increasing
attraction for migrants, both temporary and permanent, from other parts of the
country. From a town of 10,000 in 1931, the nation's capital and metropolis
grew to an estimated 200,000 in 1960. Only about 5 percent of the inhabitants
are reported as having other than West African origins, and most of the growth
is attributable to Ivory Coast nationals. Although there appeared to be no
unusual problems of unemployment or crowding in the urban complex in 1962, the
government was encouraging the people of the interior to remain on the land in
order to increase food production and develop their own communities. Most of
the other larger towns doubled or trebled in size during the last 15 years,
indicating that a movement from rural to urban communities is not confined to
Abidjan alone.

Cities and Towns

     Abidjan, with an estimated population in 1961 of 200,000 Africans and
12,000 from overseas, is the capital and metropolitan center of the nation and
capital of the Departement de Sud-Est. A sleepy fishing village of only a few
hundred inhabitants in 1910, it grew increasingly important as the terminus of
the Abidjan-Niger Railway and in 1934 became the capital of the colony.
Opening of the Vridi Canal to the sea in 1950 provided a sheltered, deepwater
port, and by 1962 the city had grown to be one of the largest and most
important urban areas in West Africa. Its development was brought under strict
zoning control in 1952, and as a consequence the later growth of the city has
been along carefully planned lines.

     The city proper occupies an elevated plateau about a mile square that
juts as a peninsula into the north of the Ebrie Lagoon. More French than
African in appearance, the central part of the city is completely European
in style, with handsome buildings, graceful modernistic apartments, tree-lined
boulevards, well-kept parks and streets, and imposing government offices.
Inland on the north are the residential subdivisions of Adjame, Adjame Nord,
Marcory and Abidjan Nord. The most attractive of the residential suburbs is
Cocody, whose villas and gardens face Abidjan from the east across Cocody Bay.

     The industrial zone, main port installations and railway yards and the
model residential area of Treichville, which is the site of the largest
hospital in the country, are on Petit Bassam Island, directly south of
Abidjan proper. Access is by the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Bridge, an imposing
double-decked structure which carries both rail and motor traffic. Petit
Bassam Island is connected by a fill with the barrier island to the south,
which shelters the lagoon from the open sea and which is the site of the
Abidjan international airport and the unloading and storage facilities for
petroleum products.

     The city and its surrounding developments are served by electric power
from a thermal plant on Petit Bassam Island and from the hydroelectric plant
on the Bia River near Aboisso. The central water supply is pumped from deep
wells and collected in reservoirs north of the city for distribution.

     Bouake is the second largest city and the administrative capital of the
Departement du Centre. Roughly midway between the northern and southern
borders of the country, it is on the main all-weather road from the coast to
Mali and Upper Volta, a way-point on the Abidjan-Niger Railway and in the
center of a subsidiary network of roads to the east and west. In 1961 its
population was estimated at 45,000, of whom 1,500 were from overseas. The
advantages of a central location have promoted rapid growth. By 1962 it had
become a growing industrial center and an important collection and
distribution point for the livestock and agricultural products of the rich
central part of the country. The city is served by a thermal electric plant
and a central water supply system. In addition to departmental offices and
installations, it is the site of one of the main French military posts. Its
airfield, suitable for four-engine, propeller-type airplanes, is a regular
stop for Air France and other scheduled airlines.

     Although it is not a departmental capital, Man was the largest town in
the western half of the country 1960, with an estimated population of 20,000.
Located on the little river Ko, where it issues from the picturesque Man
Mountains, it is the center of a rich agricultural region, particularly
well-suited for coffee. Although it is remote from any railway, Man is on the
main road from Abidjan to Nzerekore in Guinea and is the center of a fairly
good road net connecting with Odienne on the north and all of the country west
and south to the Liberian border. It has scheduled air service at a secondary
gravel airfield; has central water supply and electricity; and is the site of
a small army garrison.

     Situated in a cleared area of the closed forest, Daloa is the capital of
the Departement del' Ouest and the urban center for one of the richest
coffee-and cocoa-producing regions in the country. Its 1960 estimated
population of 18,000 people is very mixed ethnically because of immigration
for farming and the processing of farm products. An important road center, it
is 250 miles from Abidjan on the international road from Guinea. Main,
all-weather roads also connect it with Seguela on the north and with Sassandra
and Abidjan on the south, via Gagnoa. A secondary airfield permits scheduled
air travel to Abidjan and Man. The town has a central electric and water
supply and is the site of two large saw mills.

     Korhogo, the capital of the Departement du Nord, has a traditional
history dating back to the fourteenth century. The town escaped serious
damage during Samory's campaigns against the French, but its people suffered
very heavy losses. Nestled against a large hill of the same name, Korhogo had
an estimated population of 15,000 in 1960, most of whom were Senoufo. It is a
center for food-crop production and cattle raising. It has good road
connections to points about 30 miles east on the Abidjan-Niger Railway and the
main north-south road serving Mali, Upper Volta and the coastal region. A
secondary airfield permits scheduled flights to Bouake and Abidjan. Although
it had a good central water supply, public electric power was not installed
until 1960.