Editing History of Ivory Coast (section)

==Trade with Europe and the Americas==
Because of its location between Europe and the imagined treasures of the [[Far East]], [[Africa]] became a destination for the [[Age of Discovery|European explorers of the 15th century]].<ref name=":3" /> The first Europeans to explore the West African coast were the Portuguese.<ref name=":3" /> Other European sea powers followed and established trade with many of the coastal peoples of West Africa.<ref name=":3" /> At first, trade included gold, [[ivory trade|ivory]], and pepper but the establishment of American colonies in the 16th century spurred demand for slaves.<ref name=":3" /> This led to the kidnapping and enslaving of people from the West African coastal regions for transportation to North and South America (see [[African slave trade]]).<ref name=":3" /> Local rulers obtained goods and slaves from the inhabitants of the interior to fulfill treaties with the Europeans.<ref name=":3" /> By the end of the 15th century, trade with the Europeans had resulted in a strong European influence in Africa, permeating north from the West African coast.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:E._Bouët-Willaumez_et_les_chefs_indigènes.jpg|thumb|Commander E. Bouët-Willaumez and the chiefs of the Krou coast in trade negotiations]]
Ivory Coast, like the rest of West Africa, was subject to these influences but the absence of sheltered harbors along its coastline prevented Europeans from establishing permanent trading posts.<ref name=":3" /> Thus, seaborne trade was irregular and played only a minor role in the penetration and eventual conquest of Ivory Coast by Europeans.<ref name=":4">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cote d'Ivoire: a country study |publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/90005878/ |date=1988 |editor-last=Handloff |editor-first=Robert Earl |page=8 |pages= |isbn= |oclc=44238009 |postscript=. {{PD-notice}}}}</ref> The slave trade, in particular, had little effect on the peoples of Ivory Coast.<ref name=":4" /> A profitable trade in ivory existed in the 17th century and gave the area its name.<ref name=":4" /> However, the resulting decline in elephant population ended the ivory trade by the beginning of the 18th century.<ref name=":4" />

The earliest recorded French voyage to West Africa was in 1483.<ref name=":4" /> The French founded their first West African settlement, [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint Louis]], in the mid-17th century in what is now [[Senegal]]; around this time, the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] ceded a settlement at [[Ile de Gorée]] to the French.<ref name=":4" /> The French established a [[Mission (station)|mission]] in 1687 at [[Assinie]], near the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]] (now [[Ghana]]) border, and it became the first European outpost in that area.<ref name=":4" /> Although Assini's survival was precarious, the French did not establish themselves in Ivory Coast until the mid-19th century.<ref name=":4" /> By that time, the French had settlements around the mouth of the [[Senegal River]] and at other points along the coasts of Senegal, Gambia, and [[Guinea-Bissau]].<ref name=":4" /> Meanwhile, the British had permanent outposts in the same areas and on the [[Gulf of Guinea]], east of Ivory Coast.<ref name=":4" />

In the 18th century, Ivory Coast was invaded by two related [[Akan (ethnic group)|Akan]] groups—the [[Anyi people|Agni]], who occupied the southeast, and the [[Baoulés]], who settled in the central section. In 1843–1844, the French admiral [[Louis Edouard Bouët-Willaumez|Bouët-Willaumez]] signed treaties with the kings of the [[Grand Bassam]] and Assini regions, placing these territories under a French [[protectorate]]. French [[Exploration|explorers]], missionaries, trading companies, and soldiers gradually extended the area under French control inland from the lagoon region.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cote d'Ivoire: a country study |publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/90005878/ |date=1988 |editor-last=Handloff |editor-first=Robert Earl |page=3 |pages= |isbn= |oclc=44238009 |postscript=. {{PD-notice}}}}.</ref> 

Activity along the coast stimulated European interest in the interior, especially along Senegal and [[Niger River|Niger]] rivers.<ref name=":4" /> French exploration of West Africa began in the mid-19th century but moved slowly and was based more on individual initiative than government policy.<ref name=":4" /> In the 1840s, the French concluded a series of treaties with local West African rulers, enabling the French to build fortified posts along the [[Gulf of Guinea]] to serve as permanent trading centers.<ref name=":4" /> The first posts in Ivory Coast were at [[Assinie]] and [[Grand-Bassam]], which became the colony's first capital.<ref name=":4" /> The treaties gave the French sovereignty for trading privileges in exchange for fees or [[customs]] paid annually to the local rulers for the use of their land.<ref name=":4" /> This arrangement was not entirely satisfactory to the French because trade was limited and misunderstandings over treaty obligations often arose.<ref name=":4" /> Nevertheless, the French government maintained the treaties, hoping to expand trade.<ref name=":4" /> France also wanted to maintain a presence in the region to limit the growing influence of the British along the Gulf of Guinea coast.<ref name=":4" />

The defeat of France in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1871) and the subsequent annexation of the French province of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] by Germany caused the French government to abandon its colonial ambitions and withdraw its military garrisons from its West African trading posts, leaving them in the care of resident merchants.<ref name=":4" /> The trading post at Grand-Bassam was left to [[Arthur Verdier]], a shipper from [[Marseille]] who was named a [[resident minister]] when the Ivory Coast was established in 1878.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cote d'Ivoire: a country study |publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/90005878/ |date=1988 |editor-last=Handloff |editor-first=Robert Earl |pages=8–9 |isbn= |oclc=44238009 |postscript=. {{PD-notice}}}}.</ref>

In 1885, France and Germany brought the European powers with interests in Africa together at the [[Berlin Conference]]. The conference helped rationalize what became known as the European [[scramble for Africa]].<ref name=":5">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cote d'Ivoire: a country study |publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/90005878/ |date=1988 |editor-last=Handloff |editor-first=Robert Earl |page=9 |pages= |isbn= |oclc=44238009 |postscript=. {{PD-notice}}}}</ref> Prince [[Otto von Bismarck]] also wanted a greater role in Africa for Germany, which he thought he could achieve in part by fostering competition between France and Britain.<ref name=":5" /> The agreement signed by all conference participants in 1885 stipulated that on the African coastline, only European annexations or spheres of influence that involved effective occupation by Europeans would be recognized.<ref name=":5" /> Another agreement in 1890 extended this rule to the interior of Africa and resulted in a rush for territory by France, Britain, Portugal, and Belgium.<ref name=":5" />