Côte d'Ivoire

The economic engine of francophone West Africa, and a demonstration of how quickly a model state can come apart. Felix Houphouet-Boigny led the country from independence in 1960 until his death in 1993, having first organised African planters against forced labour in the 1940s and then argued successfully for dissolving the French West African federation so that his cocoa revenues would not subsidise poorer neighbours. The Ivorian miracle followed: cocoa and coffee made it the wealthiest state in the region and drew millions of migrant workers from Burkina Faso and Mali, who with their descendants became a large share of the population without secure citizenship. When the boom ended, that ambiguity was weaponised as ivoirite, a doctrine of authentic nationality used to bar the northern-supported candidate Alassane Ouattara from elections. Civil war split the country north and south from 2002, and a second crisis followed the disputed 2010 election when the incumbent refused to concede. Ouattara eventually took office after French and UN intervention. The country still produces around two-fifths of the world's cocoa, largely on smallholdings and at continuing cost to its forests. Yamoussoukro is the official capital and Abidjan the real one. The country officially insists on the French name Cote d'Ivoire in all languages. Yamoussoukro's basilica is among the largest churches in the world. Abidjan holds around five million people. French is official, with Dioula widely used in trade. Drogba and a generation of footballers gave the country an international profile, and he is widely credited with helping halt the civil war in 2005.

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