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Founding
Founding of Abidjan
major city and economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire
- 1898
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Founding
major city and economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Abidjan ( AB-ih-JAHN, French: [abidʒɑ̃] ⓘ; N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the seat of government, largest city and former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city proper in Africa, after Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, and Johannesburg. A cultural crossroads of West Africa, Abidjan is characterised by a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation. It is the most populous French-speaking city in West Africa.
The city expanded quickly after the construction of a new wharf in 1931, followed by its designation as the capital city of the then-French colony in 1933. The completion of the Vridi Canal in 1951 enabled Abidjan to become an important sea port. Abidjan remained the capital of Ivory Coast after its independence from France in 1960. In 1983, the city of Yamoussoukro was designated as the official political capital of Ivory Coast. However, Abidjan has officially been designated as the "economic capital" of the country, because it is the largest city in the country and the centre of its economic activity. Many political institutions and all foreign embassies continue to be located in Abidjan as well. The Abidjan Autonomous District, which encompasses the city and some of its suburbs, is one of the 14 districts of Ivory Coast.
According to oral tradition of the Tchaman as reported in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Côte d'Ivoire, the name "Abidjan" results from a misunderstanding. Legend states that an old man carrying branches to repair the roof of his house met a European explorer who asked him the name of the nearest village. The old man did not speak the language of the explorer, and thought that he was being asked to justify his presence in that place. Terrified by this unexpected meeting, he fled shouting "min-chan m'bidjan", which means in the Ebrié language: "I just cut the leaves." The explorer, thinking that his question had been answered, recorded the name of the locale as Abidjan.
A slightly different and less elaborate version of the legend: When the first colonists asked a native man the name of the place, the man misunderstood and replied "M'bi min djan": "I've just been cutting leaves".
Abidjan was originally a small Atchan fishing village. In 1896, following a series of deadly yellow fever epidemics, French colonists who had initially settled in Grand-Bassam decided to move to a safer place and in 1898 chose the current location of Abidjan. In 1903 it officially became a town. The settlers were followed by the colonial government, created in 1899. But then nearby Bingerville became the capital of the French colony, from 1900 until 1934.
The future Abidjan, situated on the edge of the lagoon n'doupé ("the lagoon in hot water"), offered more land and greater opportunities for trade expansion. The wharf in Petit Bassam (now Port-Bouët) south of town quickly overtook the wharf of Grand-Bassam in importance, and became the main point of economic access to the colony. In 1904, the rail terminus was located in the Port-Bouët area of Abidjan. Starting in 1904, when Bingerville was not yet complete, Abidjan became the main economic hub of the colony of Ivory Coast and a prime channel for distributing products to the European hinterland, particularly through the Lebanese community, which was increasing in importance.
Henri de Fougères became governor of French Sudan in 1924, and remained governor until his death in 1931. One of the main streets of Abidjan still bears his name.
In 1931, Plateau and what would become Treichville were connected by a floating bridge, more or less where the Houphouët-Boigny Bridge stands today. The year 1931 also saw addresses begin to be assigned to the streets of Abidjan for the first time. The addressing project was temporarily concluded in 1964, under the leadership of Mayor Konan Kanga, then badly redone American-style in 1993.
Abidjan became the third capital of Ivory Coast by a 1934 decree, following Grand-Bassam and Bingerville. The decision to designate Abidjan as the capital spurred from its railroad that would connect the North and South regions of the Ivorian colony. Several villages in Tchaman were then deserted. The leader of the Tchaman community can still be found in Adjame ("center" or "meeting" in Tchaman), north of the Plateau.
South of the Plateau district (the current central district of the city of Abidjan), the village of Dugbeo was moved across the lagoon to Anoumabo, "the forest of fruit bats", which became the neighborhood of Treichville (now known as Commikro, city of clerks). Treichville was renamed in 1934, in honour of Marcel Treich-Laplène (1860–1890), the first explorer of the Ivory Coast and its first colonial administrator, considered its founder. Instead of Dugbeyo, is the current Treich-Laplénie Avenue, the bus station and water lagoon buses in Plateau, and the Avenue Charles de Gaulle (commonly called Rue du Commerce).
The city was laid out like most colonial towns, on a grid plan. Le Plateau ("m'brato" in Tchaman) were inhabited by settlers. In the north, the city was inhabited by the colonized. The two zones were separated by the Gallieni Military Barracks, where now there is the current courthouse. City spaces were often segregated between French colonists and Ivorian natives.
Near the port, originally named Boulevard de Marseille, settlers became defensive and stole a street sign of a famous street of Marseille renamed the street Canebière, a sand track. This is the legend behind the first Blohorn oil mills, in Cocody and a racetrack was built in the south of the city.
In Le Plateau in the 1940s, the Bardon Park Hotel was built, the first air-conditioned hotel working in francophone Africa.
Under the Pacte Colonial (Colonial Pact), Abidjan served as a port city that would connect the colonial hinterlands that produced raw materials to the industrial centers of France. The construction of the 15m-deep Vridi Canal in 1950 aided in this endeavor by connecting the Ebrié Lagoon to the sea. By the late 1950s, Abidjan became the financial center of West Africa, challenging the dominance of Dakar. In 1958, the first bridge to connect Petit-Bassam Island with the mainland was completed.
During World War II, France's Vichy government completed construction of the Port in Abidjan to counter British influence. After the war, France competed with other harbors in the Gulf of Guinea, and due to increased foreign interest in the capital city, placed protectionist policies on imports, foreign consulates, and U.S. building contracts. The Abidjan city council elections of 1945 sparked the beginnings of the nationalist movement that challenged France's authority.
When Ivory Coast became independent in 1960, Abidjan became the new country's administrative and economic center. The axis south of Treichville, towards the international airport and the beaches, became the heart of European and middle-class Abidjan. The city saw considerable population growth in the decades following independence, expanding from 180,000 inhabitants in 1960 to 1,269,000 in 1978. Abidjan's skyline dates back to the economic prosperity of this period.
New districts such as the upmarket Cocody were founded during this period; built to a large extent in a colonial style, Cocody has since become home to Ivory Coast's wealthy classes as well as expatriates and foreign diplomats. The district is home to the embassy of France, Hotel Ivoire (which for a long time, was the only African hotel to have a skating rink), and, since 2009, the largest U.S. embassy in West Africa.
Construction on St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Italian architect Aldo Spirito, began with the 1980 groundbreaking by Pope John Paul II and was completed in 1985. From the 1980s, Abidjan's fortunes declined as a result of negligence on the part of officials as well as corruption and general degradation. In 1983, the village of Yamoussoukro became the new political capital of Ivory Coast under the leadership of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who was born in Yamoussoukro.
From 2002 to 2007 and especially from 2010 to 2011, Abidjan suffered from the consequences of the First and Second Ivorian Civil Wars. In November 2004, armed conflict broke out between French forces and Ivorian forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo after the Ivorian Air Force attacked French peacekeepers in northern Ivory Coast. After France destroyed Ivory Coast's air capabilities in retaliation, pro-Gbagbo groups staged riots and looting in Abidjan and targeted French homes, schools, and businesses. French peacekeepers moved into the city to calm the situation. Other crises during the first civil war period include the case of the Probo Koala in 2006, in which disposed products caused thousands of residents to seek medical attention. Ivory Coast's civil conflicts seriously impacted the security situation in Abidjan. Amidst the anti-French riots in November 2004, 4,000 prisoners in Abidjan escaped from the country's largest prison.
Abidjan was one of the main theaters of the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis and the site of major demonstrations against incumbent president Gbagbo, including one on International Women's Day in 2011 that saw several demonstrators killed by Gbagbo's forces. Civil postwar violence persisted in urban districts with high territorial control by Ggabo's supporters. Districts became associated with specific political attributes, which Ggabo's forces used to target residents in Abobo and Yopougon. Ethnic homogeneity in segregated neighborhoods is suggested to have enabled such territorial turmoil. The end of the crisis came with Gbagbo's capture in Abidjan in April 2011, following a major offensive by forces loyal to election winner Alassane Ouattara with support from France and the UN. Overtime, the intensity of postwar violence has decreased.
In 2025, a major overhaul of names from the colonial era will be reorganized to more African names.
Abidjan lies on the south-east coast of the country, on the Gulf of Guinea. The city is located on the Ébrié Lagoon. The business district, Le Plateau, is the center of the city, along with Cocody, Deux Plateaux (the city's wealthiest neighborhood and a hub for diplomats), and Adjamé, a slum on the north shore of the lagoon. Treichville and Marcory lie to the south, Attecoube, Locodjro, Abobo Doume and Yopougon to the west, and Île Boulay is located in the middle of the lagoon. Further south lies Port Bouët, home to the airport and main seaport. Abidjan is located at 5°25' North, 4°2' West (5.41667, –4.03333).
Abidjan experiences a tropical wet and dry climate, according to the Köppen climate classification (Köppen climate classification: Aw), closely bordering a tropical monsoon climate (Am). Abidjan has nonconsecutive rainy seasons and dry seasons (precipitation above and below 60 millimetres (2.4 in) with a long rainy season from March to July, a short dry season in August, a short rainy season from September to November, and a long dry season from December to February. Precipitation is abundant during the summer months, except for August, due to activation of the Benguela Current, which reduces the precipitation total throughout the month. The Benguela Current also lowers the mean temperature during August, making it the coolest month of the year, averaging 24.5 °C (76.1 °F). Abidjan has three additional dry months (December, January, and February). Abidjan is generally humid, with average relative humidity above 80% throughout the year.
A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimates that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100, the climate of Abidjan in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Manila in the Philippines. The annual temperature would increase by 1.8 °C (3.2 °F), and the temperature of the coldest month by 1.9 °C (3.4 °F), but the temperature of the warmest month would be 3.4 °C (6.1 °F) higher. According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Abidjan”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.