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$Unique_ID{bob00302}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Cote d'Ivoire
Chapter 4A.   Ethnic Groups and Languages}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{T.D. Roberts, Donald M. Bouton, Irving Kaplan, Barbara Lent, Charles Townsend, Neda A. Walpole}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{coast
agni
peoples
groups
ivory
group
baoule
lagoon
forest
live
see
tables
}
$Date{1973}
$Log{See Table 1.*0030201.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 4A.   Ethnic Groups and Languages

     It is commonplace to observe that African boundaries are artificial in
that they do not correspond to ethnohistorical divisions. In few parts of
Africa is this as true as in the Ivory Coast. As a broad generalization, the
Ivory Coast may be thought of as a square, in each quarter of which resides
several related ethnic groups. These related groups are parts of larger
entities which cut across national boundaries. In each case, the Ivory Coast
segment of the larger entity is but a small part of it, an extension away from
its cultural and spiritual center. Furthermore, none of these four culture
provinces can be said clearly to predominate in Ivory Coast life, and probably
no single ethnic group comprises more than 15 percent of the total population.
The Ivory Coast is thus, ethnically speaking, a total accident.

     Ethnic differences are, in part, related to geographic regions. The
eighth parallel, which lies about midway in the country, roughly divides the
country between the savanna woodland region (and the savanna peoples) and the
dense forest region (and the forest peoples). The forest, in turn, is split
about midway by the Bandama River, west of which lies the densest forest. The
river serves to some extent as an ethnic boundary. These geographic correlates
of ethnic differences should not be overstressed, as some "forest peoples"
live in the southern tips of the savanna woodland region (Baoule, Yacouba,
Bete Gouro) (See fig. 7).

     In the southeast the indigenous population belongs to the East Atlantic
or Eburneo-Beninian Family. The two principal branches to be found in the
Ivory Coast are the Lagoon Cluster and the Agni-Baoule subbranch of the Akan
peoples. In the southwest is a series of small groups belonging to the West
Atlantic Family. The two main groupings are the Krou peoples and the
Peripheral Mande (or Mandefou) peoples. In the northwest to peoples belong the
Mandingo (Nuclear Mande or Soudanese) Family. Most of those in the northwest
Ivory Coast are Malinke; a few are Bambara; and further east there is a
concentration of Dioula. In the northeast and north-center the peoples belong
to the Voltaic Family. The two largest groups are the Senoufo, in the center,
and the Koulango, in the northeast.

     There has never been a census for the whole of the Ivory Coast. Hence the
sizes of the various ethnic groups represent estimates only (see table 1). As
a general rule, the indigenous population is vastly outnumbered in the towns
by the stranger population. In Abidjan, for instance, the indigenous Ebrie are
less than 10 percent and are not even the single largest group.

     To speak of an indigenous population, however, is subject to much
confusion, for originally almost no group in the Ivory Coast lived in their
principal present location. According to one hypothesis, the populations of
the Ivory Coast in the stone age were Negrillos, a race of short men, perhaps
related to the Pygmies of equatorial Africa. They disappeared, perhaps
intermingling with some of the earliest arrivals among the West Atlantic
peoples, who were true Negroes and came from the east. In the last 1,000 years
there have been a series of migratory movements. The Lagoon Cluster peoples
came from the east, followed by the Agni-Baoule groups, the last of whom came
to the Ivory Coast only 200 years ago. The Voltaic peoples came from the
north, absorbing some groups and pushing others into the forest, which became
an effective refuge for many. The Dioula came from the northwest in the
sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the wars of conquest of the
Malinke Islamic leader Samory further reshuffled the ethnic pattern of the
north.

[See Table 1.: Ethnic Groups of the Ivory Coast]

     A reference to the indigenous location of an ethnic group in the Ivory
Coast usually means the area in which, at the time of the French conquest
about 1900, the group had established land rights, if only by the payment of
some annual tribute to a group considered the true owners. This ethnic picture
was considerably complicated during French colonial rule by the partial
transformation of vast areas of the forest from subsistence into export crop
farming for cash (principally, coffee and cocoa). Almost the entire southern
half of the Ivory Coast has been thus transformed, except the extreme
southwest tip beyond the Sassandra River where the Krou peoples live.

     Cash-crop farming required additional labor, especially in areas where
the local population spurned work for wages on another's farm. A new migratory
wave began in the twentieth century, partially bringing savanna peoples to the
forest, but also moving forest peoples about, to obtain work as laborers. Some
of these immigrants have been able in some regions to acquire such de facto
land rights as would make it difficult to distinguish their status as
indigenous from others whose ancestors had migrated to the same region 200
years before, although they may, and often do, maintain their cultural
identity.

     The four major culture provinces do not coincide with significant
physical differences among their populations. Some small people such as the
Gagou are found in the southwest, and some tall, thin and fine-featured ones
in the north, but the vast majority in all provinces are typically Negroid, of
medium height and somewhat heavily built. The four provinces are more easily
distinguished in terms of general differences in culture and social and
political organization.

     The differences in culture are more marked. The economic and political
structures of the southwestern peoples were largely similar. Although some
were fishermen, most were farmers. There was no centralized state structure,
ultimate authority being vested in a gerontocracy at the village level. Above
the village level, political organization in the traditional society was
tenuous. Relations between villages of the same tribe are governed by a
network of mutual obligations, and they may have cooperated historically for
purposes of mutual defense.

     The impact of modern life is felt in two ways. One is by emigration: in
teams of seamen, as among the Krou; as laborers on plantations, as among the
Dan (or Yacouba); as unskilled workers in urban centers, as among the Ouobe or
Bete. The second is by the introduction of export crop farming for cash, which
has had a highly disruptive effect on the social structure of this region.

     In the southeast the groups are more homogeneous, the density of
population much greater. The Agni-Baoule groups are branches of the Akan
peoples, known for their hierarchical political organization with dynastic
kings and their matrilineal regime in family and social life (see ch. 5,
Family). They were farmers but conquerors as well. The Lagoon Cluster peoples
are more scattered and anarchic but bear traces of the influence of their
links with the Akan. Many have a matrilineal structure. They are both farmers
and fishermen. The southeast is the area of the Ivory Coast first reached by
France and where the greatest concentration of modern administration, industry
and cash-crop farming is found. Hence, the impact of the modern world and its
educational system has been heaviest, but the resiliency of some of the
traditional systems, especially that of the Agni, has been shown in their
relative ability to adapt to modern conditions. There is less rural migration
than in the southwest, although some Baoule have come to live among the Agni
and the Bete. There is, however, a strong drift to the towns and to posts in
administration.

     The savanna areas are the least populated and the least touched by modern
life. The state-structures vary in complexity, the groups in the northeast
being the least hierarchical. The impact of modern life has been much less
among these farmers remote from the money economy, with the exception of the
Malinke and the Dioula, whose traditional bent for commerce has involved them
in modern transport and the rice trade.

     Historically the peoples of the southwest dense forest area and the
northeast savanna had the least complex social structures and cultures. In
dress, they could be distinguished by traditionally having the scantiest. When
they were first contacted by Europeans, some of the southwest forest peoples
had a reputation for cannibalism, which led early voyagers to refer to the
coast as the Cote des Malgens.

     By contrast, in the southeast, northwest and center, six great states
existed before the French colonial era: in the region of Odienne, the Malinke
empire of the Toure; in Kong, that of the Ouattara (Dioula); and in the
southeast, the states of the Abron of Bondoukou, the Agni of Indenie, the Agni
of Krinjabo, and the Baoule of Sakasso. This cultural distinction between
hierarchical and anarchic peoples is crosscut to some extent by modern
religious distinctions. Christianity has taken most root among the
hierarchical southeast peoples and has spread from there to the anarchic
southwest. Islam is concentrated among the hierarchic Mandingo family of the
northwest and was spread, largely by the Dioula, to the north-center and east,
and more recently, by emigrants and traders, to a slight degree to the south.

     Considering the social relations and attitudes among these groups, some
general patterns may be discerned. The man of the savanna, particularly if he
is Moslem, tends to look down upon the man of the forest as culturally and
physically inferior. The man of the forest who comes from the hierarchical
societies of the Agni-Baoule tends to look down upon those forest men coming
from "anarchic" tribes, especially if he is educated and Christianized, and
also despises those men of the savanna who are willing to be his laborers. In
general, the forest men of "anarchic" tribes feel somewhat inferior to other
groups. Often they accuse one another of having traditionally engaged in
assassination, human sacrifice, cannibalism, or the slave trade. Many of the
savanna migrants in the south do not merely believe in their own superiority,
but believe as well that one of theirs who is raised in the forest will
lack good qualities, which explains their strong impulse to send children back
to the savanna to be educated amidst their own group. Although these
traditional attitudes are to some extent being replaced by the evolving class
and national distinctions, they still underlie many personal relations even in
the cities.

Major Groups of the Southeast

     Two major groups can be differentiated in the southeast: the Agni-Baoule
peoples, an offshot of the Akan, located principally in Ghana, who migrated
to their present homes in the Ivory Coast around 200-300 years ago; and the
Lagoon cluster, consisting of scattered peoples who came in an earlier wave
of migration from the east and who may include some groups surviving from a
still earlier period. In the past two or three centuries the Lagoon Cluster
peoples have absorbed many cultural patterns, particularly from the Agni who
were often their political or military superiors.

Akan

     Although they are now distinct ethnic groups, the Agni and Baoule were
closely linked historically and are still linguistically and culturally
similar in many respects. About 1740, some Akan groups quarreled with the
rulers of Ashanti. A number of these groups moved westward, eventually
reaching the Ivory Coast. By 1823 these groups had become firmly settled in
their present locations. They were originally called the Brafe, a name still
given to the Agni of Sanwi. In the course of their migrations and conquests,
the groups split, the Agni and the Baoule separating. Two other Akan-speaking
peoples, the Abron and the Nzima, concentrated in Ghana, are also represented
in the Ivory Coast.

Agni

     The Agni formed at least four distinct kingdoms (Sanwi or Krinjabo,
Indenie, Moronou, Comoenou). The Agni domains are situated, with few
exceptions, to the east of the Comoe River. At the height of Agni hegemony in
the southeast, King Amon Ndoffou of Sanwi was led to place his kingdom under
French suzerainty in 1843.

     The Agni are deeply attached to the concept of a kingdom. With each
partial detachment of a group from the mother-tribe, the new group takes on a
monarchic structure, retaining ties of fealty to the former group in a feudal
type of relationship. Each king possesses a stool which is the incarnation of
the dignity of his people. His position is inherited within his lineage, but
appointments must be approved by the elders and the people. The king may be
unseated or destooled by the elders. Authority is centralized in the court and
is administratively devolved on a strictly hierarchical basis. Thus, heads of
families are responsible to village chiefs, who are responsible to the king's
lieutenants, who are in turn responsible to the king or paramount chief. The
lineage structure is matrilineal (see ch. 5, Family). Political authority
nonetheless remains in the hands of men, but a special role is assigned to the
queen mother, who is the sister or the mother of the king. The social and
occupational structure is pyramidal, as well, and in the old days slaves
from other tribes were the artisans and did other work considered degrading.

     Of the Agni kingdoms, that of Sanwi has shown the most cohesion,
adherence to tradition and the strongest sense of the inalienable rights of
king and people. A Sanwi, when asked why a certain practice is followed,
would usually refer to an edict from Krinjabo, the traditional capital of
Sanwi. This sense of solidarity was expressed most spectacularly in the
abortive 1959 attempt of the king and some of his advisers, both traditional
and educated, to declare the independence of Sanwi from the Ivory Coast
(see ch. 23, Public Order and Internal Security).

     The Agni have either strongly influenced or assimilated neighboring
peoples, who were their predecessors in the area. They absorbed the Agoua,
assimilated the Essouma and the Nzima, and repelled the Mekyibo and Aboure
so that no trace of recognition of their ancient sovereignty is left.

     Many members of other ethnic groups-from the Ivory Coast and
elsewhere-have come to Agni country as laborers and tenants in connection with
cash-crop farming. The Agni tend to regard these outsiders with an attitude of
superiority. They realize that their own standard of living and educational
level is higher than the strangers', and they are proud of their traditional
culture (see ch. 11, Social Values and Patterns of Living). Although the
immigrants are still a minority in the rural areas, they tend to dominate the
towns, since few Agni become merchants. Of the immigrants, the Agni seems to
hold the Baoule at the greatest distance, despite their being the closest in
customs. An Agni considers a Mossi the best laborer because of his endurance,
tenacity and docility, although he scorns his poor clothing, lack of
sophistication, simple food and apparent submissiveness. The Dioula he holds
in comparative esteem, partly because of the warrior feats of Samory, partly
out of respect for their skill in commercial transactions.

Baoule

     The Baoule are found in both the forest region and the adjacent savanna
woodland, where the majority live. It seems that on their arrival in the
Ivory Coast they were grouped in a single hierarchical structure, but that, as
a result of political quarrels, they split into separate tribes. The
mother-tribe of Sakasso (or Ouarebos) is still respected as the bearer of the
royal stool. Most of the Baoule tribes are matrilineal.

     The well-known legend of the origin of the Baoule claims there was a
queen named Abra-Pokou who was the most celebrated queen of the land. She
watched particularly over agriculture. In the times when her people lived in
present-day Ghana, she made her subjects grow a surplus of cereals and stored
it against famine. When famine did come, various neighboring tribes attacked
to get the surplus. The Queen ordered her people to flee to the west, for "it
is sometimes wise to cede to force." In the course of their flight, they came
to the Comoe River, which they found difficult to cross. The priests insisted
that the gods demanded a sacrifice. The Queen offered herself, but the priests
said a male was required. She then offered Kakou, her son. After his
sacrifice, the trees on both banks bent down to form a bridge (or in an
alternate version, the hippopotamuses lined up to form a bridge). The people
were saved, and it is said that their present name Baoule means "the little
one died."

     The legend underlines the great concern with and wisdom about agriculture
which is a trait of the Baoule, who, together with the Senoufo, have the
reputation of being the best farmers in the Ivory Coast. Although the Baoule
were able to conquer the indigenous groups whose land they took because of
their quasi-feudal tradition and their greater homogeneity, they seemed to
have settled rather quickly as peaceful farmers and passionate hunters, very
permeable to outside influences. Many observers believe that only the ruling
families migrated 200 years ago and most of the population are admixtures
from local groups, which helps to explain some of the weakening of Akan
traditions. Nevertheless, the Baoule had a great influence over their
neighbors, reaching to the lagoon area. One of the proofs is the widespread
adoption of the Baoule myth of origin by other groups, such as the Dida and
the Avikam.

     In recent years, the Baoule have migrated in considerable numbers toward
the south, into Agni and Bete country in particular. One of the motives was
the attempt before and during World War II to escape forced labor. Since that
time, they have been attracted by the lure of better land for agriculture, to
which they are devoted. A Baoule, as a migrant farmer, shuns the towns, which
is unusual, and becomes very attached to his new soil. But, precisely because
he is even more attached to his old soil, he remains always a hesitant
immigrant, investing little in material improvements. He tends to move by
families or villages to a location where he has a "brother" already settled.
Once installed, the Baoule form a solid community, showing strong signs of
cultural conservatism. They are for this reason called the "Baoule bloc."

Abron

     Most of the Abron are located in Ghana, where they are called the Brong,
a more accurate rendering of the name they give themselves. They are called
Ton by the Dioula who live among them. They too are an Akan-speaking people,
although they are not as closely related to the Agni and Baoule as the latter
are to each other. They first infiltrated their present region, which is near
the center of the eastern border of the Ivory Coast, perhaps as early as the
late fifteenth century. Later, when more of their people came fleeing the
Ashanti, they conquered Bondoukou which, however, remained a vassal of
Ashanti. They are a matrilineal people with a social structure and culture
similar to that of the Agni but with much less centralized power.

Nzima (also Zema)

     The Nzima, who are also of the Akan group are found along the coast in
both the Ivory Coast and Ghana. President Nkrumah of Ghana is an Nzima. They
are also known in the Ivory Coast as Apolloniens, allegedly because some
ancient authors thought they had harmonious bodies. They are a small group
(3,000-5,000) associated with the Agni only by virtue of common Akan descent.
They tend to be heterogeneous in their way of life, engaging in sea and lagoon
fishing, farming and commerce.

Lagoon Cluster

     The coast of the Ivory Coast from its eastern boundary to the mouth of
the Bandama River, halfway across, where the port of Grand-Lahou lies, is a
series of lagoons, where men fish and ply the lagoon in small boats for trade.
Along the lagoon a series of small tribes have settled. Historically they not
only lived separately from each other, but relations of villages within the
same tribe were tenuous and sometimes antagonistic. Some of the tribes in
this cluster live inland and engage principally in farming. Today, the tribes
of the Lagoon Cluster peoples, both fishermen and farmers, have shifted
heavily to cash-crop farming, without abandoning completely their traditional
occupations. Although they are not Akan, they belong with the latter to a
wider grouping speaking Kwa languages and sometimes referred to as the
Akan-East Atlantic Complex. As the Agni and the Baoule are in the tradition of
warrior-farmers (whose best-known representatives are, perhaps, the Ashanti
of Ghana), so some of the Lagoon Cluster tribes represent the tradition of
sailor-fishermen, as do, in part, the Fanti of Ghana and the Ewe of Togo.
In fact, many of the Lagoon Cluster fishermen venture forth to shores farther
east, while Fanti and Ewe fishermen try their luck in Ivory Coast waters.

     Inland, where the Lagoon Cluster peoples have established plantations,
they have attracted and invited labor from the north, as have the Agni; the
laborers are principally Mossi, but farmers include Dioula, Baoule and various
West Atlantic groups (Gouro, Ouobe, Bete). Here, as in Agni country, relations
of strangers and indigenous population are sometimes difficult. Even more
perhaps than in Agni country, the indigenous groups here feel a sentiment of
dispossession, since the strangers have assumed posts of command and, in
recent time, have become teachers, civil servants, landowners and big
merchants rather than remain laborers and petty traders.

     The Lagoon Cluster tribes have been little studied and present a complex
and confusing picture of names. They seem to have a social system close to
that of the Akan peoples. Most, but not all, are matrilineal in descent,
inheritance and succession. Slavery and debt slavery once prevailed throughout
the area, but hereditary castes are unknown. Village affairs are in the hands
of a chief and a council of elders. There are district political organizations
under chiefs, but the number of their subjects is quite limited.

Mekyibo

     They are known by many names. The principal alternate versions are
Vetere, Eotile and Ewotre. They are also called Vetre, Ewuture, Byetri and
Papaire. One author asserts that the Agni of Sanwi call them Agoua. They
consider themselves, along with the Agoua (completely absorbed by the Agni),
the true indigenous population of Sanwi. Both peoples were probably small,
very early breakoffs from the Akan complex, who lost contact. In the
seventeenth century, they alone occupied the corner of the Ivory Coast east
of the Comoe River-the Agoua inland and the Mekyibo on the coast. At that
time some Nzima and Essouma groups, fleeing westward, came to ask asylum and
eventually to disturb their peace. A small group called the Eie, who were
the last pre-Agni wave, are fresh-water navigators and fishers and are
probably today assimilated to the Mekyibo whom they resemble.

     The Mekyibo, numbering about 3,000 to 5,000, live mostly in villages
along the Aby Lagoon, but they consider their patrimony to be a much larger
region which has been taken from them. There is also a dependent
group-refugees from an ancient battle with the Agni-living on the Ebrie
Lagoon.

     The Mekyibo, predominantly a fishing people, have little taste for the
land. They maintain their Akan-derived organized state structure.

Aboure

     They are also known as the Essouma, the Akapless, the Issinois. Some
authors consider the Essouma and Aboure similar but related groupings. Their
neighbors call them Ehounua, which means "men without land." They also are of
Akan origin and speak an Akan dialect. They live on the lands of the Mekyibo,
with whom they are in a state of chronic animosity, even to disagreeing on
the basis of the quarrel which as usual, however, includes land rights
questions. Historically, they created a great state, Issiny, with which France
had dealings, including the establishment of an outpost on its territory, in
the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Mbato

     They are a small group living along the coast just west of the Comoe
River. Some authors suggest they are the same as the Agoua. Mbato seems to be
their Agni name. They are said by some to be close to the Ebrie and by others
to the Attie. The French came in contact with them in the middle of the
nineteenth century.

Ebrie

     They are the tribe indigenous to Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast.
They call themselves the Kyama, but the Aboure and Nzima gave them the name
Ebrie, which has now been widely accepted. About two centuries ago, they lived
in the forest, about 50 miles from their present lagoon. Around 1750, pushed
back by the Agni, they reached the lagoon and became fishermen. They once
possessed an age-grade system of considerable complexity, today are
practically entirely Christianized and, living in close proximity to the
capital, quite absorbed in the modern economy and ways of living.

Attie

     They are a little-known group whose social structure has much in common
with the Agni-Baoule and whose language is Akan. One author classes them with
the Agni-Baoule rather than with the Lagoon Cluster. They are probably one of
the oldest waves coming from the east. The political structure has unity only
at the level of the village. Like the Ebrie, they are heavily Christianized.
Today they are largely involved in coffee and cocoa production. They live to
the north of Abidjan, bordering the Agni on the west of the Comoe.

Abidji

     They are also called the Ari, which is their name for themselves. Abidji,
the Agni and Adioukrou name for them, is now accepted. Most Abidji speak Agni.
They live slightly to the northwest of Abidjan, whose name probably derives
from this group. Little is known of their social structure, but they are
patrilineal. They do not fish, being primarily farmers.

Adioukrou

     To the west of the Ebrie and south of the Abidji live the Adioukrou, who
are also known as the Dabu by the Agni, or as the Bubari. They are much
involved in the commercial exploitation of palm trees. They include among
themselves the Aizi, an intrusive Krou people and number about 30,000.

Alladian

     They are also known as the Jack-Jack, a name given them by English
sailors, and their chief center is Jacqueville, on the coast to the west of
Abidjan. They originated in Ashanti country, but are now located just to the
south of the Adioukrou. They number about 10,000. They are divided into three
tribes (Aware, Kovou, and Agrou or Akouri) who speak slightly different
dialects, but share the same matrilineal social organization.

Avikam

     The Avikam, the westernmost of the Lagoon Cluster, live at the mouth of
the Bandama River and are also known as the Brignan by the Agni or as the
Gbanda or the Kouakoua. They number about 5,000. Many also speak Agni.

Abbe

     The Abbe live to the west of the Attie, to the north of the Abidji and
the Ebrie. Their main urban center is Agboville. They are in reality four
tribes which, though autonomous, recognize the religious suzerainty of the
earth cult of the tribe which came first to their present area 150 years ago,
the tribe of Morieru. Each village was occupied by a patrilineal lineage and
owned the land. They engaged in a common defense of the various villages by
uniting through an oath or a fetish, but their political framework was
fragile. The Abbe had age-classes only to provide warriors. They recognized
no superior political authority and were not even well aware of their common
history. In the past the Abbe and the Agni engaged in constant war. Most of
the Abbe understand Agni.

Major Groups of the Southwest Forest

     The two major groups in the southwest forest region of the Ivory Coast
are the Peripheral Mande (or Mande-fou) and the Krou. They are distinguished
linguistically, as each represents a separate subfamily of the Niger-Congo
languages, but they are culturally quite similar, having social structures
of a less complex nature than their neighbors to the east and north. The
Peripheral Mande show none of the cultural complexity of the Mandingo peoples,
but they speak related languages. It is probable, therefore, that they
detached themselves from the Mandingo group at an early period, long before
the rise of the Malinke Empire of Mali and moved toward the coast, pushing and
displacing the various peoples they found there. Among those displaced was the
Krou group, still a major group in this region, but now found farther south.

     The Krou peoples are found along the coast from Monrovia, the capital
of Liberia, to the Bandama River in the Ivory Coast. Linguistically, they seem
to belong to the group Kwa, which ties them to groups further east, but
culturally they are part of the West Atlantic peoples. Little is known of
their history, but they seem to have come from west of the Cavally River,
which is the western border of the Ivory Coast.

     Among both the Krou and the Peripheral Mande peoples, descent is
patrilineal exclusively, and the residence is patrilocal. Political power is
vested in the village chief, who has a council of elders. Most groups (but not
the Gagou, Dan and Bete) have small paramount chiefs for groupings larger than
villages. Among some interior groups, the chief has a special relationship to
the land similar to that found among the Mandingo and Voltaic peoples. All
groups practiced slavery, but other social stratification is almost
nonexistent. Formerly, the Dan, Guere, Ouobe and some Bete practiced
cannibalism. The Krou peoples in particular are fiercely individualistic.
Their relative isolation and divisions among themselves led to a sort of
institutionalized anarchy wherein the authority of the chief was more nominal
than real.

The Peripheral Mande

Gagou

     The Gagou, who call themselves G'ban, are probably the oldest native
group in the Ivory Coast. Shorter than most Negroes, they are thought to be a
mixture of the aboriginal Negrillos and some later immigrants. Gagou means
"go away" in Gouro, the language of the people among whom they now live. The
Gagou are divided into four tribes, each of which is composed of kin groups
called guiriba. Originally, one guiriba lived in a village, but by the time
the French arrived, one village could have several guiriba. The Gagou have
chiefs of the land separate from chiefs of the village.

Gouro

     The Gouro seem to have come from the north or northwest at an early
period. They call themselves Koueni or Kouene. Gouro is the name given them by
the Agni-Baoule. They are also called Dipa by the Gagou and Lo or Gourumbo by
the Dioula. They resemble the Gagou in social structure, except that they have
a chief over each tribe and are much more numerous.

Dan

     This group is also known as the Yacouba. Other names include Diafoba,
Diafouba, Yaboufa, Yafouba, Diaboula. The Dan are associated with the Toura.
The two groups may have been separate originally but are now intermingled,
claim to be related, and their languages overlap. They are located on the
western border of the Ivory Coast at the southern edge of the savanna
woodland.

Krou Complex

Bete

     Numbering over 150,000, they are the largest people among the Krou
complex. They originally lived in the savanna woodland but, as a result of
wars, were pushed to the southwest forest. Their two major centers are Daloa
and Gagnoa. The Bete are divided into a large number of tribes, each forming
several villages and claiming a common ancestor. The Bete have begun to engage
extensively in cash-crop production and have attracted many strangers to their
region, particularly Baoule, Dioula and Mossi. Many of the immigrant farmers
are well-established and in turn employ an external work force. The Bete are
Christianized and have shown a strong ethnic consciousness which, in recent
years, has taken on a political expression. The Kouadia are a related group
to the south. Some authors include the Neyo, a small coastal group, within
this same family. Some also include the Niaboua, a small group located between
the Bete and the Guere to the west. The Niaboua seem to have originated in the
neighborhood of Daloa itself. If by origin and dialect they are nearer to the
Guere, later evolution seems to have brought them closer to the Bete.

Dida

     Numbering under 100,000, including the Godie, they are located to the
southeast of the Bete, toward Abidjan, and their main centers are Divo and
Lakota. They appear to have adopted a legend of origin similar to that of the
Baoule, who are their neighbors on the north. To the southeast are located the
Abidji and the Adioukrou. It is believed that they are partially descended
from Negrillos, but they seem to have infusions of Baoule, and Lagoon Cluster
elements as well. In general, they are influenced culturally by the Baoule.
Here, too, strangers, mainly Dioula and Mossi, have come in recent years to
work the farms. The Godie live further west and are less influenced by the
Baoule. They have several groups, with differences in dialect but similar
social organization.

Guere

     Estimated to number about 100,000, they live on the western frontier
south of the Dan. Uncertain of their own origins, they believe they came from
farther east. They have a legend about "little reddish men" whom they found
there, probably the Negrillos. The Guere have certain physical characteristics
similar to the Gagou, which tends to reinforce this legend. Many of the Guere
emigrate to other parts of the Ivory Coast and are particularly reputed as
recruits for police duties.

Ouobe (or Wobe)

     They are a small group of about 30,000 living to the northeast of the
Guere between the Dan and the Gouro. The languages of the Ouobe and the Guere
are close to each other and are mutually understandable. Outside of their
home area, they often form a single group. The Guere often refuse their own
name, preferring to be called Ouobe, since Guere seems to have a pejorative
meaning. There is some discussion as to whether both the Guere and the Ouobe
might better be placed with the Peripheral Mande peoples than with the Krou
complex, but the bulk of opinion seems to lie against this hypothesis.

Krou of Bas Cavally

     Little is known of these peoples. They include the Bakoue, which is the
name sometimes given to the whole group. They are also sometimes called the
Kroumen. The following groups in the Ivory Coast, in addition to the Bakoue,
belong to this group: Triboue, Tahou, Ourouboue, Touyo, Tabou, Bapo, Tepo,
Trepo and Oubi. By and large, they are not yet engaged in cash-crop farming,
although the Oubi have recently begun to grow coffee. Those on the coast are
fishermen.