The Avikam are an Akan people who live predominantly in Ivory Coast.

History

The Avikam people of southern Cote d 'Ivoire live in a tropical rainforest fringed by a coastal lagoon. The nearby city of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, the country's economic capital, is also home to many of them.

Major Occupation

Most of Avikam people earn a living from

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. Some are subsistence farmers, living off what they raise in their own fields. Others work in agricultural cooperatives that grow palm oil, coconut,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

. Still others work for large producers of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...

and palm oil.

Religion

About a century ago, missionaries from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

delivered the Gospel to the Avikam people. Today, a sizable portion claim to be

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

while yet adhering to strongly established animistic customs. Strong believers frequently experience daily pressure from individuals who insist on employing fetishes, or things produced by humans that are thought to have supernatural powers, to fend off evil spirits.

References

Akan Ethnic groups in Ivory Coast {{Africa-ethno-group-stub