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Ivory Coast, Abidjan – Manhattan of Tropes

Published: 11.1.2013
For some time Abidjan won’t be a place you would choose for your vacation. However, it will be interesting to learn something about the city with such a opulent nickname.

AbidžanIvory Coast is located in west Africa surrounded by Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and >, Ghana. It is a country in a size of Germany that has been independent since the period of decolonization in the 1960s. Nevertheless, horrible events that happened here in last fifty years – political instability, civil wars, and child soldiers - casted a shadow on this country. Ivory Coast used to be one of the most powerful elements of the French colonial empire, however, even today it is a West African economic powerhouse. About one third of its export is cocoa oriented (Ivory Coast is the largest cocoa export in the world) and around 10% of its export is oil-oriented.


Abidjan is the largest city of Ivory Coast, but it is not the capital. Since 1983 the capital of the state is Yamoussoukro, a inner land city with very hard-to-pronounce name. However, Abidjan is still the administrative center.

Abidžan

Originally, Abidjan was a small fishing village on the Gulf of Guinea coast and today it is a huge city with more than 3,5 million inhabitants. A massive development began there when the French colonial rulers realized its trade potential. At the end of the 20th century a corrupted and degrading city was flooded by huge amounts of people from rural areas. Especially suburbs experienced waves of new settlers who raised level of poverty in the city.

Abidžan

The city has strong industry that is supported mostly by the harbor of Abidjan, the second largest harbor after Lagos in Africa. In Abidjan there are manufactured mostly cars, textiles, food, chemicals, soap, wood (mahogany), and last but not least there is a large oil refinery. A tertiary sector of country’s economy growing important.


There are several important institutions in the city such as University of Abidjan , the National Library of Ivory Coast or the National Museum . The latter was victim of a loot during which its entire gold collection was stolen and the only thing tourists can see today are its dusty shelfs.

Abidžan

An interesting sight tourists can see today St Paul’s Cathedral. Its construction began in 1980 according to plans of Aldo Spirito during the visit of the pope John Paul II. In the time of his second visit in 1985 the cathedral was finished. Political crisis in 2010-2011 led many few hundreds of people to seek asylum there from raging civil war.

Abidžan

Despite the image people have about Abidjan is not bright recently, the city has many opulent nicknames such as – “Manhattan of Tropes”, “Small Manhattan”, “Perl of Lagoons” – that are only enhancing its promising tourism potential. The city has also lively night life, maybe the liveliest in whole Africa and some districts are virtually overflowing with night entreprises of various kinds.


Text: Maxim Kucer

Photo: Wikipedia.org - Zenman (2, 3), Abdllahh, Axe, Ferdinand Reus



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