Cote d’Ivoire — Ivory Coast, a small country in Africa, hot and not rich. Once upon a time, thousands of colonialists took out slaves from these lands, but at present, poverty simply reigns here. A fairly typical picture for most African countries in everything, except for frequent rains.
Facts about Côte d’Ivoire
- Earlier, the name of this country was officially translated as “Republic of the Ivory Coast”, but in the mid-1980s it was decided that this geographical name did not require translation.
- Representatives of more than 60 ethnic groups live in the country.
- The state lost the status of a French colony back in 1960, but French is still considered its official language.
- In Cote d’Ivoire, not a single month is without precipitation, whose annual value reaches 2400 mm.
- In the north of the country, a hot wind from the Sahara blows in winter, which does not allow you to breathe normally and greatly impairs visibility due to the abundance of sand in the air.
- The Tai National Park in Côte d’Ivoire is one of the last primary forests remaining on the African continent. This green massif is recognized as a world natural treasure.
- The first settlements of the pygmies appeared on the lands of modern Côte d’Ivoire a thousand years before the beginning of our era.
- In Côte d’ ;Ivoire is literate, 60% of men and only 38% of women.
- Côte d’Ivoire is the world leader in cocoa production, and also ranks third in the world in terms of coffee grown. These plants provide a quarter of the state’s GDP. The first two places are shared by Vietnam and Brazil (interesting facts about Brazil).
- Côte d’Ivoire won two of the longest penalty shoot-outs in history of international competitions. In the first case, the match ended with a score of 11:10, in the second – with a score of 12:11.
- In this country, the traditional «grain» sauce is prepared from palm grains, which is considered one of the most delicious in world cuisine.
- In the capital of the state, Yamoussoukro, the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located, which is officially recognized as the largest church on the planet. The giant basilica has an area of 30,000 sq.m. and a dome height of 158 meters.
- The Ivory Coast team has only won one silver medal in 50 years of participating in the Olympics. A local athlete managed to win the 400 meters in the mid-1980s.
- Legend has it that the Ivory Coast was founded by Queen Abla Poku, who brought her subjects over 250 years ago from Ghana to these lands. On the way, she allegedly gave her child as a sacrifice to sea spirits so that they let the settlers through.
- The ivory trade, thanks to which the country got its name, stopped in this area in the 18th century, as these huge animals in Côte d’Ivoire were completely exterminated.
- The national football team of this country is called the Elephants.
- Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire is the third largest city planets whose inhabitants speak French.