Editing History of Ivory Coast (section)

==Independence==
{{main|History of Ivory Coast (1960–1999)}}
As early as 1944, [[Charles de Gaulle]] proposed to change France's politics and take "the road of a new era."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20100214-1960-year-independence|title=1960: The year of independence|date=14 February 2010|website=France 24|language=en|access-date=20 September 2019}}</ref> In 1946, the French Empire was converted into the [[French Union]] which was superseded by the [[French Community]] in 1958.<ref name=":0" /> In December 1958, Ivory Coast became an autonomous republic within the French Community as a result of a referendum on 7 August that brought community status to all members of the old Federation of French West Africa (except [[Guinea]], which had voted against the association). On 11 July 1960,  France agreed to Ivory Coast becoming fully independent.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |date=12 July 1960 |title=4 African States Attain Freedom; France Gives Independence to Ivory Coast, Niger, Dahomey, and Volta |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/07/12/archives/4-african-states-attain-freedom-france-gives-independence-to-ivory.html}}</ref> Ivory Coast became independent on 7 August 1960, and permitted its community members to lapse. It established the commercial city [[Abidjan]] as its capital.

Ivory Coast's contemporary political history is closely associated with the career of [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]], president of the republic and leader of the [[Democratic Party of Ivory Coast]]  (PDCI) until his death on 7 December 1993. He was one of the founders of the [[Rassemblement Démocratique Africain]] (RDA), the leading pre-independence inter-territorial political party for all of the French West African territories except [[Mauritania]].

Houphouët-Boigny first came to political prominence in 1944 as the founder of the [[African Agricultural Union]], an organization that won improved conditions for African farmers and formed a nucleus for the PDCI. After World War II, he was elected by a narrow margin to the first [[Constituent Assembly]]. Representing Ivory Coast in the [[French National Assembly]] from 1946 to 1959, he devoted much of his effort to inter-territorial political organization and further amelioration of labor conditions. After his thirteen years in the French National Assembly, including almost three years as a minister in the French Government, he became Ivory Coast's first prime minister in April 1959, and the following year was elected its first president.

In May 1959, Houphouët-Boigny reinforced his position as a dominant figure in West Africa by leading Ivory Coast, [[Niger]], [[Republic of Upper Volta|Upper Volta]] ([[Burkina Faso]]), and [[Dahomey]] ([[Benin]]) into the [[Council of the Entente]], a regional organization promoting economic development. He maintained that the road to African solidarity was through step-by-step economic and political cooperation, recognizing the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other African states.

Houphouët-Boigny was considerably more conservative than most African leaders of the post-colonial period, maintaining close ties to the West and rejecting the leftist and anti-western stance of many leaders at the time. This contributed to the country's economic and political stability. The first multiparty presidential elections were held in October 1990 and Houphouët-Boigny won convincingly. He died on 7 December 1993.