Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

and an autonomous

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in Ivory Coast with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

, the district of Yamoussoukro covers among rolling hills and plains. Yamoussoukro became the legal capital of the Ivory Coast in 1983, although the former capital Abidjan retains several political functions. Prior to 2011, what is now the district of Yamoussoukro was part of Lacs Region. The district was created in 2011 and is split into the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Attiégouakro Attiégouakro is a town in central Ivory Coast. Since 2009 it has been the seat of and a sub-prefectures of Attiégouakro Department, Yamoussoukro Autonomous District. Attiégouakro was a commune until March 2012, when it became one of 1126 c ...

and

Yamoussoukro Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the ''de jure'' capital of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in Ivory Coast with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of Abidjan, t ...

. In total, the district contains 169 settlements. Yamoussoukro is a sub-prefecture in Yamoussoukro Department and is also a commune: since 2012, the city of Yamoussoukro has been the sole commune in the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro.

History

Prehistory

Stone tools found in the country from hundreds of thousands of years ago show that the area around Yamoussoukro has been occupied since ancient times. Due to the

desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused b ...

of the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, many moved south to avoid the harsh conditions.

Colonial period

Queen Yamoussou, the niece of

Kouassi N'Go Kouassi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Blaise Kouassi (footballer, born 1974), former Côte d'Ivoire football defender * Blaise Kouassi (footballer, born 1983), Ivorian footballer *Desmond N'Ze Kouassi (or Desmond N'Ze) (b ...

, ran the city of ''N'Gokro'' in 1929 at the time of French colonization. The village of N'Gokro was renamed Yamoussoukro, the suffix ''Kro'' meaning town in Baoule. Diplomatic and commercial relations were then established, but in 1909, on the orders of the Chief of Djamlabo, the Akoué revolted against the administration. Bonzi station, from Yamoussoukro on the

Bouaflé Bouaflé is a city in central Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Bouaflé Department. It is also the seat of Marahoué Region in Sassandra-Marahoué District and a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional c ...

road, was set on fire, and the French administrator,

Simon Maurice Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, was spared only by the intervention of Kouassi N'Go. As the situation got worse, Maurice, judging that Bonzi had become safe, decided to transfer the French military station to Yamoussoukro, where the French Administration built a pyramid to the memory of Kouassi N'Go, Chief of the Akoué, who was assassinated in 1910 by Akoué rebels, accusing him of being too close to the French. In 1919, the civil station of Yamoussoukro was removed.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he w ...

became the leader of the village in 1939. A long period passed wherein Yamoussoukro, still a small agricultural town, remained in the shadows. This continued until after the Second World War, which saw the creation of the

African Agricultural Union The African Agricultural Union (french: Syndicat agricole africain, SAA) was the first quasi-political party in Côte d'Ivoire, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny throughout its existence. It was established on 3 September 1944 by Houphouët-Boigny and ...

, as well as the first conferences of its chief. However, it was only with independence that Yamoussoukro finally started to rise. In 1950, the village comprised 500 inhabitants.

Since independence

After 1964, the President

made ambitious plans and started to build. One day in 1965, later called the Great Lesson of Yamoussoukro, he visited the plantations with the leaders of the county, inviting them to transpose to their own villages the efforts and agricultural achievements of the region. On 21 July 1977, Houphouët offered his plantations to the State. In March 1983, President Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and administrative capital of

, as the city was his birthplace. This marked the fourth movement of the country's capital city in a century. Ivory Coast's previous capital cities were

Grand-Bassam Grand-Bassam () is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial ...

(1893),

Bingerville Bingerville is a town in south-eastern Ivory Coast. It is a suburb of Abidjan and is one of four sub-prefectures of Abidjan Autonomous District. Bingerville is also a commune. The town is located about 10 kilometres east of Abidjan and lies on t ...

(1900), and

(1933). The majority of economic activity still takes place in

, and it is officially designated as the "economic capital" of the country. Yamoussoukro is the seat of Yamoussoukro Department and the neighbouring

Bélier Region Bélier Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. The region's population in the 2021 census was 415,593. The seat of the region is in Toumodi. Prior to 2017, the seat of the region was in Yamoussoukro, outside the region, and the prefect ...

, but Yamoussoukro itself is not part of the region.

Governance

Côte d'Ivoire - District autonome Yamoussoukro

Beginning in 2001, the city was governed as part of the Yamoussoukro Department and incorporated into Lacs Region. In 2011, the department was abolished and the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro was created and separated from the rest of Lacs, which became a separate district. Unlike most

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of the country, the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro is not subdivided into

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. The district, however, is divided into departments, sub-prefectures and a commune. The district consists of the

and

. The departments further divided into the sub-prefectures of

Kossou Kossou is a town in central Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, wh ...

, Lolobo, and Yamoussoukro. There is one commune, which is also named Yamoussoukro, and it shares the same borders as the district. In 2011, the position of Mayor of Yamoussoukro was replaced with a district governor appointed by the head of state.

Architecture

Also noteworthy are the Kossou Dam, the PDCI-RDA House, the schools of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny National Polytechnic Institute, the Town Hall, the Protestant Temple, the Mosque, and the

Palace of Hosts A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

. The Yamoussoukro International Airport had an average of six hundred passengers and 36 flights in 1995. It is one of two airports in Africa (with

Gbadolite Gbadolite or Gbado-Lite (pronounced ) is the capital of Nord-Ubangi Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is located south of the Ubangi River at the border to the Central African Republic and northeast of the national capi ...

) that could accommodate the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and t ...

Places of worship

Among the

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

are predominantly

Christian 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 ...

churches and temples: Roman Catholic Diocese of Yamoussoukro (

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), United Methodist Church Ivory Coast (

World Methodist Council The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people; this ...

Union of Missionary Baptist Churches in Ivory Coast The Union of Missionary Baptist Churches in Ivory Coast (french: Union des Églises Baptistes Missionnaires en Côte d'Ivoire) is a Baptist Christian denomination, affiliated with the Fédération Évangélique de Côte d’Ivoire and the Bapti ...

(

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accoun ...

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

. There are also Muslim mosques. Yamoussoukro is the site of the largest Christian church in the world: The

Basilica of Our Lady of Peace The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (french: link=no, Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix) is a Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, the administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Guinness World Records l ...

, consecrated by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 10 September 1990.

Transport

The city is served by Yamoussoukro International Airport.

Economy

The main activities in the city are fishing, forestry, and perfume industries.Britannica
Yamoussoukro
britannica.com, USA, accessed on 7 July 2019

Climate

Yamoussoukro features a

tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(Aw) under the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system. The city features a lengthy

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the se ...

covering the months of March through October, and a shorter

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

that covers the remaining four months. Like many other cities in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...

, Yamoussoukro is affected by the

harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into th ...

, which serves as a primary source of the city's

. Despite the lengthy wet season, Yamoussoukro does not see the level of rainfall experienced in Abidjan. Yamoussoukro on average sees roughly of precipitation annually.

Education

The

Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny The Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB) is a public institute of higher education, research and production in Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire. It is named after Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country's first president. ...

was founded in 1996.

Sport

The city hosted the 2019 World Draughts Championship in draughts and is home to the Ivory Coast Open

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

tournament. The city's two football teams SOA and

ASC Ouragahio ASC Ouragahio is an Ivorian football club. They play their home games at 6,000 capacity Stade de Yamoussoukro. References Ouragahio Ouragahio Ouragahio is a town in south-central Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture and commune of Gagnoa ...

share the Yamoussoukro Stadium. FC Bibo play in the suburb of

. SOA's basketball club plays in the top division. The city will host group stage games for the AFCON 2023 delayed for weather conditions to January 2024.

References

External links

Yamossoukro photo gallery
* {{Authority control Capitals in Africa Districts of Ivory Coast Sub-prefectures of Yamoussoukro Communes of Yamoussoukro Regional capitals of Ivory Coast Ivory Coast geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Planned capitals