Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire is a country in Africa.

Its south side is on the sea. It has rainforests and grassy lands. Its biggest city is Abidjan.

Côte d'Ivoire is a country on the coast of West Africa, facing the Gulf of Guinea. Its name is French; in English it is also called Ivory Coast.

The land rises slowly from the coast. Lagoons line the eastern half of the shore, rainforest covers part of the south, and the northern half is high savanna. Abidjan is the biggest city, but the official capital is Yamoussoukro. About 32.7 million people lived in Côte d'Ivoire in 2025, and French is the official language.

Côte d'Ivoire lies on the coast of western Africa. Britannica calls Abidjan the de facto capital and Yamoussoukro the administrative capital designate since 1983. A French colony until independence in 1960, it is officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, or Ivory Coast in English.

The ground rises steadily inland, and the northern half is high savanna mostly about 300 m above sea level. Britannica identifies four natural regions: a coastal strip no more than 64 km wide, studded with lagoons in the east; the equatorial forest zone, now a rough triangle with its apex just north of Abidjan and its base along the Liberian border; a cultivated forest zone partly cleared for plantations; and the sparsely populated northern savanna plateau. The World Bank put the population at 32,711,547 in 2025, and about two-fifths of people are under 15.

Abidjan is a big city on a lagoon.

Tall buildings stand by the water. In Yamoussoukro there is a church with a giant dome. Grand-Bassam is an old town by the sea.

Abidjan is the country's largest city. It sits on a lagoon instead of the open sea, and bridges join its districts, such as Plateau, with its office towers, and Treichville. A canal opened in 1950 linked the lagoon to the ocean, and the city grew fast. Abidjan has the national library and a museum of art, peoples and science.

Yamoussoukro is the official capital. There, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace was finished in 1989; at that time it was the largest Christian church in the world. On the coast, Grand-Bassam was the first colonial capital, and its old houses with verandas are a World Heritage Site.

Abidjan, built on a lagoon rather than the sea, is divided by a branch of the lagoon into Plateau, the first European settlement, and Treichville, the first large African settlement. The colonial government moved there from Bingerville in 1934, and growth accelerated after the 2.7 km Vridi Canal opened access to the sea in 1950; Greater Abidjan was organized into 10 municipalities in 1986. Britannica notes it is known as the Paris of Africa.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, built by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny in his hometown and resembling St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, was the largest Christian church in the world when completed in 1989. UNESCO lists the Historic Town of Grand-Bassam, the first colonial capital, whose late 19th- and early 20th-century quarters for commerce, administration and European and African housing sit beside the N'zima fishing village.

The south of Côte d'Ivoire is warm and wet.

Tall trees grow in the rainforest. The north is drier, with grass and fewer trees. Big rivers flow down to the sea.

Côte d'Ivoire has four main regions: the coast with its lagoons, the rainforest, farmland cleared from the forest, and the northern savanna. In Taï National Park, some trees grow more than 45 meters tall. Most of the western border is mountainous, and Mount Nimba, at 1,752 meters, is the highest point.

The south has two rainy seasons, and Abidjan gets about 1,900 millimeters of rain a year. The north has one rainy season, from April to October, and from December to February a dry, dusty wind called the harmattan blows from the northeast. Rivers such as the Sassandra, Bandama and Komoé flow south to the sea.

South of about 8° N there are two rainy seasons; on the coast rain falls mainly from May to July and less in October and November, and Abidjan averages about 1,900 mm a year. North of 8° N a single rainy season from April to October brings 1,100 to 1,500 mm, and the harmattan blows from the northeast from December to February. Daytime temperatures on the coast range from the low 20s to the mid-30s °C.

Mountains shape most of the western border with Liberia and Guinea; Mount Nimba (1,752 m) rises in the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (UNESCO, 1982), where the three countries meet. The Cavally forms most of the Liberian border, and the Sassandra, Bandama and Komoé drain south to the Gulf of Guinea, broken by falls and rapids. The equatorial forest, which a century ago formed a continuous belt more than 200 km wide, has shrunk sharply; illegal logging after 2002 helped give the country one of the highest deforestation rates in the world.

Pygmy hippos live in the rainforest.

They are small hippos. Chimpanzees live there too. In the north, there are lions and elephants.

Taï National Park, near the border with Liberia, is one of the last big pieces of West Africa's original rainforest. It is famous for its pygmy hippos and its chimpanzees, which scientists have studied for many years, and 11 kinds of monkeys live there.

The forests also hold the bongo, a reddish brown antelope, forest buffalo, tiny antelopes such as the royal antelope, and giant forest hogs. In the northeast, Comoé National Park has lions, elephants, leopards and green monkeys, and more than 400 kinds of birds. Off the southwest coast, a marine protected area shelters coral reefs, sea turtles, rays and sharks.

UNESCO describes Taï National Park (1982) as one of the last major remnants of West Africa's primary tropical forest, with threatened mammals including the pygmy hippopotamus and 11 species of monkeys; its chimpanzees have been the subject of a long-term study by Hedwige Boesch-Achermann and Christophe Boesch. Britannica notes that the forest fauna lacks most large ungulates except the bongo and forest buffalo, but has dwarf antelopes from the royal antelope to the yellow-backed duiker, the widespread giant forest hog and the red river hog.

The northern savanna woodlands hold about 10 antelope species, lions and occasional elephant herds. Comoé National Park (about 11,650 km², UNESCO 1983) has lions, elephants, leopards, green monkeys and more than 400 recorded bird species. The Grand-Béréby Marine Protection Area in the southwest protects coral reefs, sea turtles, rays and sharks.

About 32.7 million people live in Côte d'Ivoire.

They belong to more than 60 groups. French is the main language. Many families grow yams and cocoa.

More than 60 ethnic groups live in Côte d'Ivoire, including the Baule, the Kru peoples of the western forest, and the Malinke, Senufo and Dyula of the north. French is the official language, and traders all over the country speak a language called Dyula. About half the people live in towns and cities.

Yams are the most basic food, along with cassava, plantains and corn in the south and millet and sorghum in the north. Many farmers grow cocoa beans, the main ingredient of chocolate, and coffee. Football is a major sport, and the national team, the Elephants, has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times.

Britannica counts more than 60 ethnic groups, each linked to larger groups beyond the borders: the Baule and other peoples east of the Bandama, and the lagoon fishermen, are affiliated with the Akan of Ghana; forest peoples west of the Bandama with the Kru of Liberia; and in the savanna, the Mande (Malinke farmers and Dyula traders) and the Gur (Senufo, Lobi, Bobo). The African languages belong to the Kwa, Mande and Gur subgroups of Niger-Congo; Dyula serves as a trade language, and français de Moussa is a pidgin French of Abidjan. About two-fifths of people follow Islam and about one-third are Christian.

Agriculture supports more than half the workforce. Cocoa, grown by more than a quarter of the population, made the country the world's leading producer by the late 1980s; yams remain the most basic staple. Griots use music to tell history, and the Senufo play marimbas and tuned iron gongs. The Elephants won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992, 2015 and 2023.