COSTA D'AVORIO (Côte d'Ivoire). — A French colony in West Africa, bordered by Upper Volta and the Sudan, the Gold Coast, French Guinea, Liberia, and the Gulf of Guinea. It includes only a small portion of the Nigerian plateau and has a notable but unusable hydrography. The coast is low, and a coastal barrier formed by the ocean current separates numerous lagoons from the sea. The climate is equatorial, especially in the southern region.
The population is approximately 1,800,000 inhabitants, with a density of 5.6 per square kilometer, given a surface area of approximately 320,000 km². The capital is Abidjan, which is also the seat of the apostolic vicar (v. ABIDJAN and for the map V. AFRICA, I, col. 382). The main port is Grand Bassam, at the mouth of the Comoé River. Principal resources include timber, cassava, rice, bananas, cocoa, and cotton. Primary education is provided in schools run by the Fathers of the African Missions.