Bibsys
BIBSYS is an administrative agency set up and organized by the Ministry of Education and Research in Norway. They are a service provider, focusing on the exchange and retrieval of data pertaining to research and learning – metadata related to library resources. BIBSYS are collaborating with all Norwegian universities and university colleges as well as research institutions and the National Library of Norway. Bibsys is formally organized as a unit at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, located in Trondheim, Norway; the board of directors is appointed by Norwegian Ministry of Research. BIBSYS offer researchers and others an easy access to library resources by providing the unified search service Oria.no and other library services. They deliver integrated products for the internal operation for research and special libraries as well as open educational resources; as a DataCite member BIBSYS act as a national DataCite representative in Norway and thereby allow all of Norway's higher education and research institutions to use DOI on their research data.
All their products and services are developed in cooperation with their member institutions. BIBSYS began in 1972 as a collaborative project between the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Library, the Norwegian Institute of Technology Library and the Computer Centre at the Norwegian Institute of Technology; the purpose of the project was to automate internal library routines. Since 1972 Bibsys has evolved from a library system supplier for two libraries in Trondheim, to developing and operating a national library system for Norwegian research and special libraries; the target group has expanded to include the customers of research and special libraries, by providing them easy access to library resources. BIBSYS is a public administrative agency answerable to the Ministry of Education and Research, administratively organised as a unit at NTNU. In addition to BIBSYS Library System, the product portfolio consists of BISBYS Ask, BIBSYS Brage, BIBSYS Galleri and BIBSYS Tyr. All operation of applications and databases is performed centrally by BIBSYS.
BIBSYS offer a range of services, both in connection with their products and separate services independent of the products they supply. Open access in Norway Om Bibsys
Didier Awadi
Didier Awadi is a Senegalese rapper and the most visible figure of Francophone West African Hip Hop. As a founding member of Positive Black Soul with Duggy Tee, Awadi toured around the world contributing to the international popularity of Hip Hop Galsen. Awadi works as a solo artist accompanied by his crew PBS Radikal, he participates in the structuring of the musical sector in Senegal through his label, recording studio, rehearsal space, Studio Sankara. Awadi offers a revolutionary music strengthened by articulated and rooted messages, his motivation and inspiration stands in the Burkinabé revolutionary, Thomas Sankara's phrase: "Let's dare invent our future!" Born on August 11, 1969 in Dakar, Didier Awadi is from Benin and Cap Verde. In 1984, while Hip Hop was emerging on the Dakar scene, Awadi created the group Syndikat. In 1989, he formed Positive Black Soul with fellow hip hop musician Duggy Tee with the desire of promoting a positive image of Africa. In 1992, PBS is chosen by the French rapper with Senegalese origins, MC Solaar, to be the first part of his show touring throughout France.
With a growing popularity, they record in 1994, a first track "Boul Faale" in which they denounce the local corruption of the political system. This track became part of their first album, "Salaam" released in 1995 after a European tour and signed under the label, Island Records. During fourteen years, PBS had multiple international collaborations and toured worldwide while releasing K7 and CD in Senegal and internationally. Throughout his career, as member of PBS and as solo artist, Awadi articulated a militant and critical discourse in favour of a brighter panafrican future. In 2001, the two members decided to start a solo careers. A year Awadi released his first solo album, “Kaddu Gor” which received the Radio France Internationale World Music Award in 2003. After announcing the formation of his new crew, PBS-Radikal with Baay Sooley, Carlou D and Noumounda Cissoko, Awadi signed with Sony Music. In 2005, he released his second solo album, “Un Autre Monde est Possible” in which he calls for the emergence of a better society based on equity, fairness and freedom.
In 2006, he released “Sunugaal”, a plea for the development of Senegal and against the illegal immigration. In October 2007, Awadi presented his upcoming project, “Presidents of Africa” on the Bataclan stage in Paris with artists coming from all over the continent; this fourth album was released in April 2010. In 1998, Awadi began to contributing to the musical sector of Dakar with the creation of his first home studio, "Taf-Taf Production" and the first renting of his PA system. In 2001, he produced a one-hour TV show mirroring the local hip hop culture, "Senerap". In 2003, he created a festival dedicated to the hip hop culture, "Senerap International"; that same year, "Taf-Taf Production" became "Studio Sankara", a more formal and professional structure of music production producing advertising spots. In 2009, as a joint initiative with music professionals and hip hop artists, Awadi organized the first edition of "72H Hip Hop", a three-day event celebrating Hip Hop Galsen through workshops, conferences and exhibitions.
PBS cassettes released in Senegal between 1994 and 2001: Boul Falé Boul Falé Bou Bess Daw Thiow Fo Deuk New York / Paris / Dakar Wakh Feign Révolution 2000PBS CD released internationally between 1995 and 2001: 1995 – Salaam 1997 – New York / Paris / Dakar 2001 – Run CoolAwadi solo albums – from 2002 up to nowadays: 2002 – Kaddu Gor 2005 – Un Autre Monde est Possible 2006 – Sunugaal 2010 – Presidents of Africa 23 Avril 2018- Made in Africa 2003 – RFI World music award 2004 – Best African rapper – Tamani Awards 2005 – Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres – France and Senegal AURA member and actor in the first West African hip hop musical comedy show “The Extraordinary Stories of Poto-Poto Children” in which he represents the soldier-child He was the subject of a film by director Yanick Létourneau, Canada, 2012 Distributed by National Film Board of Canada, WINNER - Critic’s Choice Award - RIDM Festival Montreal 2011 United States of Africa Hip Hop Galsen Positive Black Soul AURA Senegalese hip hop Music of Senegal African hip hop Ayoko Mensah, "Because of Age Positive Black Soul.
Interview with Didier Awadi,in Hip-Hop Culture. Africultures, 1999, No. 21, p. 17-18 Stéphane Davet, "Through their Afro hip-hop, rap griots claim the pain of the African people,The World, November 3, 2005 Studio Sankara official website AURA official website Didier Awadi, Official website Kaire Maram
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae," naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style, influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues the New Orleans R&B practiced by Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint, evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae relates news, social gossip, political comment. Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field, being known first as ‘Rudie Blues’ ‘Ska’ ‘Blue Beat’, ‘Rock Steady’, it is recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat, the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in rocksteady. Reggae is linked to the Rastafari, an Afrocentric religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930's, aiming at promoting Pan Africanism.
Soon after the Rastafarian movement appeared, the international popularity of reggae music became associated with and increased the visibility of Rastafarianism spreading the Rastafari gospel throughout the world. Reggae music is an important means of transporting vital messages of Rastafarianism; the musician becomes the messenger, as Rastafarians see it,"the soldier and the musician are tools for change."Stylistically, reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues, mento and draws influence from traditional African folk rhythms. One of the most recognizable elements is offbeat rhythms; the tempo of reggae is slower paced than ska but faster than rocksteady. The concept of call and response can be found throughout reggae music; the genre of reggae music is led by the bass. Some key players in this sound are Jackie Jackson from Toots and the Maytals, Carlton Barrett from Bob Marley and the Wailers, Lloyd Brevett from The Skatalites, Paul Douglas from Toots and the Maytals, Lloyd Knibb from The Skatalites, Winston Grennan, Sly Dunbar, Anthony "Benbow" Creary from The Upsetters.
The bass guitar plays the dominant role in reggae. The bass sound in reggae is thick and heavy, equalized so the upper frequencies are removed and the lower frequencies emphasized; the guitar in reggae plays on the off beat of the rhythm. It is common for reggae to be sung in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English, Iyaric dialects. Reggae is noted for its tradition of social criticism and religion in its lyrics, although many reggae songs discuss lighter, more personal subjects, such as love and socializing. Reggae has spread to many countries across the world incorporating local instruments and fusing with other genres. Reggae en Español spread from the Spanish speaking Central American country of Panama to the mainland South American countries of Venezuela and Guyana to the rest of South America. Caribbean music in the United Kingdom, including reggae, has been popular since the late 1960s, has evolved into several subgenres and fusions. Many reggae artists began their careers in the UK, there have been a number of European artists and bands drawing their inspiration directly from Jamaica and the Caribbean community in Europe.
Reggae in Africa was boosted by the visit of Bob Marley to Zimbabwe in 1980. In Jamaica, authentic reggae is one of the biggest sources of income; the 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as "a estab. Sp. for rege", as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either "rags, ragged clothing" or "a quarrel, a row". Reggae as a musical term first appeared in print with the 1968 rocksteady hit "Do the Reggay" by The Maytals which named the genre of Reggae for the world. Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits Clancy Eccles with altering the Jamaican patois word streggae into reggae. However, Toots Hibbert said: There's a word we used to use in Jamaica called'streggae'. If a girl is walking and the guys look at her and say'Man, she's streggae' it means she don't dress well, she look raggedy; the girls would say that about the men too. This one morning me and my two friends were playing and I said,'OK man, let's do the reggay.' It was just something. So we just start. People tell me that we had given the sound its name.
Before that people had called it blue-beat and all kind of other things. Now it's in the Guinness World of Records. Bob Marley is said to have claimed that the word reggae came from a Spanish term for "the king's music"; the liner notes of To the King, a compilation of Christian gospel reggae, suggest that the word reggae was derived from the Latin regi meaning "to the king". Although influenced by traditional mento and calypso music, as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, reggae owes its direct origins to the ska and rocksteady of 1960s Jamaica; the generic title for Jamaican music recorded between 1961 and 1967, ska emerged from Jamaican R&B, based on American R&B and doo-wop. Rastafari entered some countries through reggae music; the Rastafari moveme
Françafrique
Françafrique is France's relationship with its former African colonies. It was first used in a positive sense by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire, in allusion to that country's economic growth and political stability under its alliance with France. However, the term is now used to criticise the neocolonial relationship France has with its former colonies in Africa. Since the independence of African states in 1960, France has intervened militarily more than 30 times in the continent. France has military bases in Gabon and Djibouti, as well as in its overseas departments of Mayotte and Réunion in the Indian Ocean; the French Army is deployed in Mali, Central African Republic and Ivory Coast. Françafrique was at its height from 1960 to 1989, there is an ongoing dispute as to whether or not it still exists. In 2012 and 2013, some news outlets spoke of a "return of Françafrique". On 14 July 2013, troops from 13 African countries marched with the French military during the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time since French colonial troops were dissolved.
The term "Françafrique" seems to have been used for the first time, in a positive sense, in 1955 by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire, who advocated maintaining a close relationship with France, while acceding to independence. Close cooperation between Houphouët-Boigny and Jacques Foccart, chief adviser on African policy in the Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou governments is thought to have contributed to the "Ivorian miracle" of economic and industrial progress; the term was subsequently borrowed by François-Xavier Verschave as the title of his 1999 criticism of French policies in Africa: La Françafrique, le plus long scandale de la République. Verschave and the association Survie, of which he was president until his death in 2005, re-used the expression of Houphouët-Boigny to name and denounce the many concealed bonds between France and Africa, he defined Françafrique as "the secret criminality in the upper echelons of French politics and economy, where a kind of underground Republic is hidden from view".
He said that it means "France à fric", that "Over the course of four decades, hundreds of thousands of euros misappropriated from debt, aid and cocoa or drained through French importing monopolies, have financed French political-business networks, shareholders' dividends, the secret services' major operations and mercenary expeditions." When French President Charles de Gaulle came back into power in 1958, anti-colonization movements and other international forces pressured France to give independence to the French colonies in Africa. In the meantime De Gaulle put Jacques Foccart, one of his close friends, in charge of maintaining a de facto dependency. Therefore, from 1960 to 1974, Jacques Foccart held the function of chief advisor to the government of France on African policy, he was re-selected in 1986 by Jacques Chirac, for two years. When Chirac gained the presidency in 1995 Foccart was brought back again to the Elysée palace as an advisor; until his death Foccart never stopped being influential in French-African diplomatic relations, it is considered that he and De Gaulle were the founding fathers of the neo-colonial relationship between France and Africa.
Throughout successive French governments until Sarkozy, defence of the African backyard, despite the evolution of forms and methods, has always remained a high strategic imperative. The "Françafrique" policy was motivated by three strategic concerns: Economic — Provided and secured access to strategic raw materials and offered preferential investment outlets for French multinational companies. Several French-African agreements gave France'exclusive monopoly rights to natural resources', as mentioned in the United States diplomatic cables leak many years later. Diplomatic — Maintained the declining status of France as a global powerhouse with a network of ally countries supporting the French vote in international institutions. Political — Deterred the communist expansion in Africa by backing anti-communist régimes as well as increasing the presence of French military bases on the continent. Françafrique includes all of French-speaking Africa, i.e. former French and Belgian colonies in Africa: Togo, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, Comoros, Burkina Faso, Benin, Morocco, Niger, Mali, Central African Republic, Mauritania and other countries like Equatorial Guinea, where France gained influence after its independence from Spain.
Not all countries are affected by Françafrique to the same extent. Petroleum dictatorships like Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the archetypes of "Françafrique". In such countries, the relationships between the leaders and the French authorities are closely knit, given the prevalence of the Total group in the economy; the situation is similar in other autocratic countries like Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. On the other hand, in other former colonies like the Maghreb countries or the Côte d'Ivoire, which had had a conflict relationship with France in the past, the French influence and networks are much less evident than in the countries mentioned above if the economic aspect shares some similarities with the practices of Françafrique Lastly, democratic countries like Mali and Senegal are less concerned by this phenomenon, for both economic and historical reasons. France
Bamako
Bamako is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a population of 2,009,109. In 2006, it was estimated to sixth-fastest in the world, it is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the nation's administrative centre; the city proper is a cercle in its own right. Bamako's river port is located in nearby Koulikoro, along with a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh-largest West African urban center after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Accra. Locally manufactured goods include textiles, processed meat, metal goods. Commercial fishing occurs on the Niger River; the name Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning "crocodile tail". The area of the city has evidence of settlements since the Palaeolithic era; the fertile lands of the Niger River Valley provided the people with an abundant food supply and early kingdoms in the area grew wealthy as they established trade routes linking across west Africa, the Sahara, leading to northern Africa and Europe.
The early inhabitants traded gold, kola nuts, salt. By the 11th century, the Empire of Ghana became the first kingdom to dominate the area. Bamako had become a major market town, a centre for Islamic scholars, with the establishment of two universities and numerous mosques in medieval times; the Mali Empire grew during the early Middle Ages and replaced Ghana as the dominant kingdom in west Africa, dominating Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. In the 14th century, the Mali Empire became wealthy because of the trade of cotton and salt; this was succeeded by the Songhai Empire and in the 16th century Berber invaders from Morocco destroyed what remained of the kingdoms in Mali and trans-Saharan trade was taken over by sailors. By the late 19th century, the French dominated much of western Africa, in 1883, present-day Mali became part of the colony of French Sudan, was its capital in 1908. Cotton and rice farming was encouraged through large irrigation projects and a new railroad connected Mali to Dakar on the Atlantic coast.
Mali was annexed into French West Africa, a federation which lasted from 1895 to 1959. Mali gained independence from France in April 1960, the Republic of Mali was established. At this time, Bamako had a population of around 160,000. During the 1960s, the country became socialist and Bamako was subject to Soviet investment and influence. However, the economy declined as state enterprises collapsed and unrest was widespread. Moussa Traoré led a successful coup and ruled Mali for 23 years; however his rule was characterised by severe droughts and poor government management and problems of food shortages. In the late 1980s the people of Bamako and Mali campaigned for a free-market economy and multiparty democracy. In 1990, the National Congress for Democratic Initiative was set up by the lawyer Mountaga Tall, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali by Abdramane Baba and historian Alpha Oumar Konaré; these with the Association des élèves et étudiants du Mali and the Association Malienne des Droits de l'Homme aimed to oust Moussa Traoré.
Under the old constitution, all labor unions had to belong to one confederation, the National Union of Malian Workers. When the leadership of the UNTM broke from the government in 1990, the opposition grew. Groups were driven by paycuts and layoffs in the government sector, the Malian government acceding to pressure from international donors to privatise large swathes of the economy that had remained in public hands after the overthrow of the socialist government in 1968. Students children, played an increasing role in the protest marches in Bamako, homes and businesses of those associated with the regime were ransacked by crowds. On 22 March 1991, a large-scale protest march in central Bamako was violently suppressed, with estimates of those killed reaching 300. Four days a military coup deposed Traoré; the Comité de Transition pour le Salut du Peuple was set up, headed by General Amadou Toumani Touré. Alpha Oumar Konari became president on 26 April 1992. On 20 November 2015, two gunmen took 170 people hostage in the Radisson Blu hotel.
Twenty-one people‚ including three Chinese businessmen were killed in the "Bamako hotel attack" along with the two gunmen during the seven-hour siege. Bamako is situated on the Niger River floodplain, which hampers development along the riverfront and the Niger's tributaries. Bamako is flat, except to the immediate north where an escarpment is found, being what remains of an extinct volcano; the Presidential Palace and main hospital are located here. The city developed on the northern side of the river, but as it grew, bridges were developed to connect the north with the south; the first of these was the King Fahd Bridge. Additionally, a seasonal causeway between the eastern neighborhoods of Sotuba and Misabugu was inherited from colonial times; the Sotuba Causeway is under water from July to January. A third bridge is being built at the same location to reduce downtown congestion, notably by trucks. Under the Köppen climate classification, Bamako features a tropical savanna climate. Located between the Sahara to the north and the Gulf of Guinea
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny, affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was the first President of Ivory Coast, serving for more than three decades until his death. A tribal chief, he worked as a medical aide, union leader, planter before being elected to the French Parliament, he served in several ministerial positions within the French government before leading Côte d'Ivoire following independence in 1960. Throughout his life, he played a significant role in politics and the decolonization of Africa. Under Houphouët-Boigny's politically moderate leadership, Ivory Coast prospered economically; this success, uncommon in poverty-ridden West Africa, became known as the "Ivorian miracle". However, reliance on the agricultural sector caused difficulties in 1980, after a sharp drop in the prices of coffee and cocoa. Throughout his presidency, Houphouët-Boigny maintained a close relationship with France, a policy known as Françafrique, he built a close friendship with Jacques Foccart, the chief adviser on African policy in the de Gaulle and Pompidou governments.
He aided the conspirators who ousted Kwame Nkrumah from power in Ghana in 1966, took part in the failed coup against Mathieu Kérékou in Benin in 1977, was suspected of involvement in the 1987 coup d'état that removed Thomas Sankara from power in Burkina Faso, provided assistance to UNITA, a United States-supported, anti-communist rebel movement in Angola. Houphouët-Boigny maintained a strong anti-communist foreign policy, which resulted in, among other things, severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1969 and refusing to recognise the People's Republic of China until 1983, he re-established relations with the Soviet Union in 1986. In the West, Houphouët-Boigny was known as the "Sage of Africa" or the "Grand Old Man of Africa". Houphouët-Boigny moved the country's capital from Abidjan to his hometown of Yamoussoukro and built the world's largest church there, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, at a cost of US$300 million. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving leader in Africa's history, the third longest-serving leader in the world after Fidel Castro of Cuba and Kim Il-sung of North Korea.
In 1989, UNESCO created the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for the "safeguarding and seeking of peace". After his death, conditions in Côte d'Ivoire deteriorated. Between 1994 and 2002, there were a number of coups d'état, a currency devaluation and an economic recession. According to his official biography, Houphouët-Boigny was born on 18 October 1908, in Yamoussoukro to a family of hereditary chiefs of the Baoulé people. Unofficial accounts, place his birth date up to seven years earlier. Born into the animist Akouès tribe, he was named Dia Houphouët: his first name Dia means "prophet" or "magician", his father was N'Doli Houphouët. Dia Houphouët was the great-nephew through his mother of Queen Yamousso and the village chief, Kouassi N'Go; when N'Go was murdered in 1910, Dia was named to succeed him as chief. Due to his young age, his stepfather Gbro Diby ruled as regent until Dia came of age. Houphouët-Boigny descended from tribal chiefs through his mother, Kimou N'Drive, she died much in 1936.
Doubts remain as to the identity of his father, N'Doli. A native of the N'Zipri of Didiévi tribe, N'Doli Houphouët died shortly after the birth of his son Augustin, although no reliable information regarding his death exists. Houphouët-Boigny had two elder sisters and Adjoua, as well as a younger brother Augustin; the French colonial administration recognised tribal leaders. In 1915, he was transferred to the école primaire supérieure at Bingerville in spite of his family's reluctance to have him go to boarding school; the same year, at Bingerville, Houphouët converted to Christianity. He chose to be christened Félix. First in his class, Houphouët was accepted into the École William Ponty in 1919, earned a teaching degree. In 1921, he attended the École de médecine de l'AOF in French Senegal, where he came first in his class in 1925 and qualified as a medical assistant; as he never completed his studies in medicine, he could qualify only as a médecin africain, a poorly paid doctor. On 26 October 1925, Houphouët began his career as a doctor's aide at a hospital in Abidjan, where he founded an association of indigenous medical personnel.
This undertaking proved short-lived as the colonial administration viewed it unsympathetically, considering it a trade union. As a consequence, they decided to move Houphouët to a lesser hospital in Guiglo on 27 April 1927. After he proved his considerable talents, however, he was promoted on 17 September 1929 to a post in Abengourou, which until had been reserved for Europeans. At Abengourou, Houphouët witnessed the mistreatment of indigenous cocoa farmers by the colonists. In 1932, he decided to act, leading a movement of farmers against the influential white landowners and for the economic policies of the colonial government, who favoured the farmers. On 22 December, he published an article
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country located on the south coast of West Africa. Ivory Coast's political capital is Yamoussoukro in the centre of the country, while its economic capital and largest city is the port city of Abidjan, it borders Guinea and Liberia to the west, Burkina Faso and Mali to the north, Ghana to the east, the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Before its colonization by Europeans, Ivory Coast was home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, Baoulé; the area became a protectorate of France in 1843 and was consolidated as a French colony in 1893 amid the European scramble for Africa. It achieved independence in 1960, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who ruled the country until 1993. Stable by regional standards, Ivory Coast established close political and economic ties with its West African neighbors while at the same time maintaining close relations to the West France. Ivory Coast experienced a coup d'état in 1999 and two religiously-grounded civil wars, first between 2002 and 2007 and again during 2010–2011.
In 2000, the country adopted a new constitution. Ivory Coast is a republic with strong executive power vested in its president. Through the production of coffee and cocoa, the country was an economic powerhouse in West Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, though it went through an economic crisis in the 1980s, contributing to a period of political and social turmoil. Only around 2014 has GDP per capita in the country again reached the level of its peak in the 1970s. In the 21st century, the Ivorian economy is market-based and still relies on agriculture, with smallholder cash-crop production being dominant; the official language is French, with local indigenous languages widely used, including Baoulé, Dan and Cebaara Senufo. In total there are around 78 languages spoken in Ivory Coast. There are large populations of Muslims and various indigenous religions. Portuguese and French merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa roughly, into four "coasts" reflecting local economies.
The coast that the French named the Côte d'Ivoire and the Portuguese named the Costa Do Marfim—both mean "Coast of Ivory"—lay between what was known as the Guiné de Cabo Verde, so-called "Upper Guinea" at Cap-Vert, Lower Guinea. There was a Pepper Coast known as the "Grain Coast", a "Gold Coast", a "Slave Coast". Like those, the name "Ivory Coast" reflected the major trade that occurred on that particular stretch of the coast: the export of ivory. Other names included the Côte de Dents "Coast of Teeth", again reflecting the trade in ivory. One can find the name Cote de Dents used in older works, it was used in Duckett's Dictionnaire and by Nicolas Villault de Bellefond, for example, although Antoine François Prévost used Côte d'Ivoire. In the 19th century, usage switched to Côte d'Ivoire; the coastline of the modern state is not quite coterminous with what the 15th- and 16th-century merchants knew as the "Teeth" or "Ivory" coast, considered to stretch from Cape Palmas to Cape Three Points and, thus now divided between the modern states of Ghana and Ivory Coast.
It retained the name through French rule and independence in 1960. The name had long since been translated into other languages, which the post-independence government considered troublesome whenever its international dealings extended beyond the Francophone sphere. Therefore, in April 1986, the government declared that Côte d'Ivoire would be its formal name for the purposes of diplomatic protocol, since officially refuses to recognize or accept any translation from French to another language in its international dealings. Despite the Ivorian government's request, the English translation "Ivory Coast" is still used in English by various media outlets and publications; the first human presence in Ivory Coast has been difficult to determine because human remains have not been well preserved in the country's humid climate. However, newly found weapon and tool fragments have been interpreted as a possible indication of a large human presence during the Upper Paleolithic period, or at the minimum, the Neolithic period.
The earliest known inhabitants of Ivory Coast have left traces scattered throughout the territory. Historians believe that they were all either displaced or absorbed by the ancestors of the present indigenous inhabitants, who migrated south into the area before the 16th century; such groups included the Kotrowou, Zéhiri, Ega and Diès. The first recorded history appears in the chronicles of North African traders, from early Roman times, conducted a caravan trade across the Sahara in salt, slaves and other goods; the southern terminals of the trans-Saharan trade routes were located on the edge of the desert, from there supplemental trade extended as far south as the edge of the rain forest. The more important terminals—Djenné, Timbuctu—grew into major commercial centres around which the great Sudanic empires developed. By controlling the trade routes with their powerful military forces, these empires were able
