The Republic of Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) is a republic in west Africa. It has a total area of 322,460 km2. The climate is tropical along the coast, semiarid in the far north with three Seasons: warm and dry from November to March, hot and dry from March to May and hot and wet from June to October. The terrain is mostly flat to undulating plains with mountains in the north-west. Natural resources are crude oil, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite and copper The religion is 63% indigenous, 25% Muslim, 12% Christian. The official language is French with over 60 native dialects also spoken of which Dioula is the most widely spoken. The area that is now the Ivory Coast was originally comprised of numerous kingdoms. During the 16th century the British, French and Portugese established slave and ivory trading centers along the coast, giving the area its modern name. In the 19th century Ivory Coast became a French colony, and a part of French West africa in 1904 before achieving self-government in 1958 and independence in
1960. Research Ivory Coast
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Ivory Coast