Niger
Niger or the Niger the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin to the southwest, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a land area of 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara Desert; the country's predominantly Islamic population of about 21 million live in clusters in the far south and west of the country. The capital city is Niamey, located in Niger's southwest corner. Niger is a developing country, which ranks near the bottom in the United Nations' Human Development Index. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification; the economy is concentrated around subsistence, with some export agriculture in the more fertile south, export of raw materials uranium ore. Niger faces serious challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, inefficient agriculture, high fertility rates without birth control, the resulting overpopulation, the poor educational level and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor healthcare, environmental degradation.
Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its several ethnic groups and regions and their short period living in a single state. What is now Niger has been on the fringes of several large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule. After the military coup in 2010, Niger became a multi-party state. A majority of the population lives in rural areas, have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by numerous archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture and livestock herding in a fertile grassland environment five thousand years ago. In 2005–06, a graveyard in the Ténéré desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago, his team discovered 5,000-year-old remains of two children in the Ténéré Desert. The evidence along with remains of animals that do not live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the'green' Sahara in Niger.
It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BC pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east. By at least the 5th century BC, Niger had become an area of trans-Saharan trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north, who used camels as a well-adapted means of transportation through the desert; this trade made Agadez a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade. This mobility, which would continue in waves for several centuries, was accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations, it was aided by the introduction of Islam to the region at the end of the 7th century. Several empires and kingdoms flourished during this era, up to the beginning of colonization in Africa; the Songhai Empire was an empire bearing the name of its main ethnic group, the Songhai or Sonrai, located in western Africa on the bend of the Niger River in present-day Niger and Burkina Faso. In the 7th century, Songhai tribes settled down north of modern-day Niamey and founded the Songhai city-states of Koukia and Gao.
By the 11th century, Gao had become the capital of the Songhai Empire. From 1000 to 1325, The Songhai Empire prospered and managed to maintain peace with its neighboring empires including the Mali Empire. In 1325 the Songhai Empire was conquered by the Mali Empire but was freed in 1335 by prince Ali Kolen and his brother, Songhai princes held captive by Moussa Kankan, the ruler of the Mali Empire. From the mid-15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. Between the Niger River and Lake Chad lay Hausa kingdoms and fertile areas; these kingdoms flourished from the mid-14th century up until the early 19th century, when they were conquered by Usman dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Empire. The Hausa kingdoms were not a compact entity but several federations of kingdoms more or less independent of one other, their organization was somewhat democratic: the Hausa kings were elected by the notables of the country and could be removed by them. The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states founded according to the Bayajidda legend by the six sons of Bawo.
Bawo was the only son of the Hausa queen Bayajidda or who came from Baghdad. The seven original Hausa states were: Daoura, Rano, Gobir and Biram; the Mali Empire was a Mandinka empire founded by Sundiata Keita circa 1230 that existed up to 1600. At its peak circa 1350, the empire extended as far west as Senegal and Guinee Conakry and as far east as western Niger; the Kanem-Bornu Empire was an empire that existed in modern-day Chad, Cameroon and Libya. The empire first existed and prospered as the Kanem Empire as early as the 9th century and as the Kingdom of Bornu until 1900. In the 19th century, contact with Europe began with the first European explorers—notably Monteil and Barth —to travel to Niger. Following the 1885 Berlin conference during which colonial powers outlined the division of Africa into colonial spheres, French military efforts to conquer existing African states were intensified in all French colo
Transport in Niger
Transport in Niger is composed of the transportation systems and methods used in this landlocked nation, with cities separated by huge uninhabited deserts, mountain ranges, other natural features. A poor nation, Niger's transport system was little developed during the colonial period, relying upon animal transport, human transport, limited river transport in the far south west and south east. No railways were constructed in the colonial period, roads outside the capital remained unpaved; the Niger River is unsuitable for large-scale river transport, as it lacks depth for most of the year and is broken by rapids at many spots. Camel caravan transport was important in the Sahara desert and Sahel regions which cover most of the north. Transport, including motor vehicles, highways and port authorities, are overseen by the Nigerien Ministry of Transport's Directorate for Land Water and Air Transport. Border controls and import/export duties are overseen by an independent tax police, the "Police du Douanes.
Air traffic control is overseen and operated in conjunction with the pan-African ASECNA, which bases one of its five air traffic zones at Niamey's Hamani Diori International Airport. A non-governmental body, the Nigerien Council of Users of Public Transport advocates on behalf of users of public transport, including roads and airports. Outside of cities, the first major paved roads were constructed from the northern town of Arlit to the Benin border in the 1970s and 1980s; this road, dubbed the Uranium Highway, runs through Arlit, Tahoua, Birnin-Konni, Niamey, is part of the Trans-Sahara Highway system. An additional paved highway runs from Niamey via Maradi and Zinder towards Diffa in the far east of the nation, although the stretch from Zinder to Diffa is only paved. Portions of this route are used by the Trans-Sahel Highway route; the Niger section is 837 km long, via Niamey, Dogondoutchi, Birnin-Konni and Maradi to the Nigerian border at Jibiya. Other roads range from all-weather laterite surfaces to grated dirt or sand Pistes in the arid north.
The United States government in 1996 estimated there were a total of 10100 km of highways in Niger, with 798 km paved and 9302 km, but making no distinction between improved or all weather roads and unimproved roads. In 2012, there is 19,675 kilometres of road network throughout Niger, of which only 4,225 kilometres are paved; the national road system are numbered and prefixed with "RN", as RN1. The numbering system contains routes or sections which are as yet unpaved or unimproved tracks. Route Nationale no. 25, for example, is a major paved highway from Niamey to Filingué, follows the improved Route Nationale no. 26 towards Abala, veers off onto a dirt track from the villages of Talcho to Sanam, where RN26 terminates from another direction. RN25 continues along a piste through uninhabited desert for 100 km before reaching the city of Tahoua, served by other major paved roads; the main "Uranium Highway" coincides with the RN25 all the way to Arlit in the far north. The informal names for the routes serves a somewhat more practical purpose that the RN numbers.
Nigeriens in both urban and rural areas rely on a combination of motor vehicles and animals for transport of themselves and commercial goods. Road transport is the major form of travel across the huge distances between Nigerien population centers, though most Nigeriens do not own vehicles. In cities, public transport systems are absent, so a variety of operated services carry many urban dwellers. Vans, motor coaches and converted motorbikes provide paid transport. Intercity coach systems are the standard form of personal transport, with the government operating one bus service, a multitude of buses, "bush taxis", small vans and semi-converted trucks taking passengers and goods. Services are sometimes scheduled from the "Highway stations" found in every town, but are more ad hoc: vehicles ply the trade between towns, picking up at stations or anywhere along the route, departing only when full. Animals pulling wagons and loaded camel trains remain a common sight on Nigerien roads. Vehicles in Niger are subject to the "Laws of the Road" for which the government began a continuing reform in 2004-2006 and is based on French models.
Vehicles travel on the right side of the road, roads use French style signage. Routes Nationale are marked with the traditional French Milestones: a white tablet with a red top, marked with the route number. Vehicles owners must obtain a Registration document and Vehicle license plates, which are of similar manufacture to those in Guinea and Mali. Licence plates contain the national code "RN" for international travel. Niger is a signatory of the September 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, thus honours International drivers licenses from other signatories. Drivers licenses are regulated through the national Ministry of Transport, but issued by local officials. Drivers must pass a drivers test to qualify. A 2009 enforcement blitz in Niamey resulted in numerous arrests of owners of small motorbikes, common in Nigerien cities. One newspaper reported that most riders believed erroneously that there was no license or regulation required by law for motorbikes under 50cc in engin
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It covers an area of around 274,200 square kilometres and is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; the July 2018 population estimate by the United Nations was 19,751,651. Burkina Faso is a francophone country, with French as the official language of government and business. 40% of the population speaks the Mossi language. Called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed "Burkina Faso" on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, its citizens are known as Burkinabé. Its capital is Ouagadougou; the Republic of Upper Volta was established on 11 December 1958 as a self-governing colony within the French Community, on 5 August 1960 it gained full independence, with Maurice Yaméogo as President. After protests by students and labour unions, Yaméogo was deposed in the 1966 coup d'état, led by Sangoulé Lamizana, who became President, his rule coincided with the Sahel drought and famine, facing problems from the country's traditionally powerful trade unions he was deposed in the 1980 coup d'état, led by Saye Zerbo.
Encountering resistance from trade unions again, Zerbo's government was overthrown in the 1982 coup d'état, led by Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo. The leader of the leftist faction of Ouédraogo's government, Thomas Sankara, became Prime Minister but was imprisoned. Efforts to free him led to the popularly-supported 1983 coup d'état. Sankara renamed the country Burkina Faso and launched an ambitious socioeconomic programme which included a nationwide literacy campaign, land redistribution to peasants and road construction and the outlawing of female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy. Sankara was overthrown and killed in the 1987 coup d'état led by Blaise Compaoré – deteriorating relations with former coloniser France and its ally the Ivory Coast were the reason given for the coup. In 1987, Blaise Compaoré became President and, after an alleged 1989 coup attempt, was elected in 1991 and 1998, elections which were boycotted by the opposition and received a low turnout, as well as in 2005.
He remained head of state until he was ousted from power by the popular youth upheaval of 31 October 2014, after which he was exiled to the Ivory Coast. Michel Kafando subsequently became the transitional President of the country. On 16 September 2015, a military coup d'état against the Kafando government was carried out by the Regiment of Presidential Security, the former presidential guard of Compaoré. On 24 September 2015, after pressure from the African Union, ECOWAS and the armed forces, the military junta agreed to step down, Michel Kafando was reinstated as Acting President. In the general election held on 29 November 2015, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré won in the first round with 53.5% of the vote and was sworn in as President on 29 December 2015. The 2018 CIA World Factbook provides this summary of the issues facing Burkina Faso. "The country experienced terrorist attacks in its capital in 2016, 2017 and 2018, continues to mobilize resources to counter terrorist threats". In 2018, several governments were warning their citizens not to travel into the northern part of the country and into several provinces in the East Region.
The CIA report states that "Burkina Faso's high population growth, recurring drought and perennial food insecurity, limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens". The report is optimistic in some aspects concerning activities being done with assistance by the International Monetary Fund. "A new three-year IMF program, approved in 2018, will allow the government to reduce the budget deficit and preserve critical spending on social services and priority public investments". Called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed "Burkina Faso" on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara; the words "Burkina" and "Faso" both stem from different languages spoken in the country: "Burkina" comes from Mossi and means "upright", showing how the people are proud of their integrity, while "Faso" comes from the Dyula language and means "fatherland". The "bè" suffix added onto "Burkina" to form the demonym "Burkinabè" comes from the Fula language and means "men or women".
The CIA summarizes the etymology as "name translates as "Land of the Honest Men". The French colony of Upper Volta was named for its location on the upper courses of the Volta River; the northwestern part of present-day Burkina Faso was populated by hunter-gatherers from 14000 BC to 5000 BC. Their tools, including scrapers and arrowheads, were discovered in 1973 through archaeological excavations. Agricultural settlements were established between 3600 and 2600 BC; the Bura culture was an Iron-Age civilization centred in the southwest portion of modern-day Niger and in the southeast part of contemporary Burkina Faso. Iron industry, in smelting and forging for tools and weapons, had developed in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1200 BC. From the 3rd to the 13th centuries AD, the Iron Age Bura culture existed in the territory of present-day southeastern Burkina Faso and southwestern Niger. Various ethnic groups of present-day Burkina Faso, such as the Mossi and Dyula, arrived in successive waves between the 8th and 15th centuries.
From the 11th century, the Mossi people established several separate kingdoms. In the 1890s, during the European Scramble for Africa, the territory of Burkina Faso was invaded by France, colonial control was established following a wa
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic capital of Ivory Coast and one of the most populous French-speaking cities in Africa. According to the 2014 census, Abidjan's population was 4.7 million, 20 percent of the overall population of the country, this makes it the sixth most populous city proper in Africa, after Lagos, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg. A cultural crossroads of West Africa, Abidjan is characterised by a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation; the city expanded after the construction of a new wharf in 1931, followed by its designation as the capital city of the then-French colony in 1933. Abidjan remained the capital of Côte d'Ivoire after its independence from France in 1960; the completion of the Vridi Canal in 1951 enabled Abidjan to become an important sea port. In 1983, the city of Yamoussoukro was designated as the official political capital of Cote d'Ivoire; however all political institutions and foreign embassies continue to be located in Abidjan. Because Abidjan is the largest city in the country and the centre of its economic activity, it has been designated as the "economic capital" of the country.
The Abidjan Autonomous District, which encompasses the city and some of its suburbs, is one of the 14 districts of Côte d'Ivoire. Abidjan lies on the Gulf of Guinea; the city is located on the Ébrié Lagoon. The business district, Le Plateau, is the center of the city, along with Cocody, Deux Plateaux, Adjamé, a slum on the north shore of the lagoon. Treichville and Marcory lie to the south, Locodjro, Abobo Doume and Yopougon to the west, Île Boulay is located in the middle of the lagoon. Further south lies Port Bouët, home to the airport and main seaport. Abidjan is located at 4 ° 2 ′ West. Abidjan experiences a tropical dry climate, according to the Köppen climate classification. Abidjan has nonconsecutive rainy seasons (precipitation above 60 millimetres with a long rainy season from March to July and a short rainy season from September to December, three dry months. Precipitation is abundant during the summer months, except for August, due to activation of the Benguela Current, which reduces the precipitation total throughout the month.
The Benguela Current lowers the mean temperature during August, making it the coolest month of the year, averaging 24.5 °C. Abidjan has two additional dry months. Abidjan is humid, with average relative humidity above 80% throughout the year. Abidjan is composed of southern Abidjan; each has communes, each being run by a mayor. Abobo consists of public housing. Abobo has a large population of low-income migrants; this area has developed spontaneously. Adjamé developed from the village of Ébrié. Although polluted and small in size, this commune is commercially important for the Ivorian economy, it contains a varied shopping district and its bus station is the Côte d'Ivoire's main hub for international bus lines. Yopougon is the most populous commune of Abidjan, lying in Northern Abidjan and across the lagoon in Southern Abidjan, it is home to both residential areas. The research station ORSTOM, the Pasteur Institute, a training hospital are located in this commune. Plateau is Ivory Coast's business center, with modern, tall buildings.
Although the governmental and administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire transferred to Yamoussoukro in 1983, the institutions of the republic such as the Presidency and National Assembly are still located in Plateau. It is the main administrative and financial center of Ivory Coast. Attécoubé contains Banco forest, classified as a national park. Cocody is famous for Deux-Plateaux and Riviera; the University of Cocody, a public institution, some private universities are located within the commune. Radio Television Ivoirienne is located in Cocody; the President of the Republic resides in this commune, which contains the embassy district. Koumassi: This commune has an important industrial area. Marcory: This commune is residential, contains the upscale Biétry and Zone 4 neighborhoods where many foreigners live. Port-Bouët: This commune includes the (SIR refinery and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny International airport. There is an established office of the IRD, the centre of Little Bassam; the famous lighthouse sweeps the Gulf of Guinea for several nautical miles out.
The Vridi beach area is busy every weekend although the ocean is rough. From 1950 on, Vridi has been the primary employment hub in Abidjan because of its increasing number of factories and warehouses. Treichville: This commune is home to the Autonomous Port of Abidjan and to many stores; the port area is industrial. There is the Treichville state swimming pool, the Treichville sports palace, the Palace of Culture, the Abidjan racetrack. Île Boulay. Towns near Abidjan include Grand-Lahou and Dabou in the west; the towns of Anyama, Brofodoumé and Songon are within the Abidjan Department, co-extensive with the autonomous district. According to oral tradition of the Tchaman as reported in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Côte d'Ivoire, the name "Abidjan" results from a misunderstanding. Legend states that an old man carrying branches to repair the roof of his house
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
Transport in Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast invested remarkably in its transport system. Transport Infrastructures are much more developed than they are other West African countries despite a crisis that restrained their maintenance and development. Since its independence in 1960, Ivory Coast put an emphasis on increasing and modernizing the transport network for human as well as for goods. Major infrastructures of diverse nature were built including railways, roads and airports. In spite of the crisis, neighbor countries still depend on the Ivorian transport network for importing and transiting their immigrants to Ivory Coast; the nation's railway system is part of a 1 260 km long route that links the country to Burkina Faso and Niger. 1 156 km of railroad links Abidjan to capital of Burkina Faso. Built during colonial era by the firm Abidjan-Niger, this railroad freed several landlocked countries among which were ex-High-Volta and Mali; this railroad, operated by Sitarail, plays a key role as regards to the carriage of the goods and the transport of people between Ivory Coast and border countries: 1 million tons of goods have transited in 2006.
In 2005, despite the negative impact the crisis had on the sector, benefits engendered by transporting the goods and people via RAN, are estimated at 16 309 et3 837billionCFA. As of 2004, the railway network consisted of a state-controlled 660 km section of a 1,146 km narrow gauge railroad that ran north from Abidjan through Bouaké and Ferkéssédougou to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Ivory Coast road network spreads over 85 000 km consisting of 75 000 unpaved, 65 000 km, 224 km highways, it provides international traffic with neighbor countries. The Trans–West African Coastal Highway provides a paved link to Ghana, Togo and Nigeria, with paved highways to landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso feeding into the coastal highway; when construction of roads and bridges in Liberia and Sierra Leone is complete, the highway will link to another seven Economic Community of West African States nations to the west and north-west. At the national level, vehicles are estimated at 600 000, which includes 75% of used cars due to the low purchasing power since the beginning of the economic crisis.
20 000 new cars are registered every year. Although maintenance and renovations works are being carried out since middle-2011, over 80% of the Ivorian network is older than 20 years and therefore damaged. In addition, a significant traffic exists throughout the capital; this traffic is composed of taxi and mini-buses locally referred to as Gbaka. The country counts with two 4-laned motorways, the first one running from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro for a length of 224 km. and the second joining Abidjan to Grand-Bassam, with a length of 30 km. Both are built under international standards of security. Landscape view of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan Ivory Coast contributed to developing maritime transport by building two ports on its seaside namely, autonomous port of Abidjan, sometimes referred to as "lung of Ivorian economy", the San-Pedro port; the total traffic in 2005, by adding importation to exportation, was 18 661 784 tons for autonomous port of Abidjan and 1 001 991 tons for San-Pedro. Harbor activity is concentrated at Abidjan, which has facilities that include a fishing port and equipment for handling containers.
The autonomous port of Abidjan cover a 770 hectares area and shelters 60% of the country industries. It is the first tuna fishing port in Africa, it contains 36 conventional berths spread over six kilometers of quays providing a capacity of sixty commercial ships with multiple special docks, a container terminal as well as several specialized and industrial berths. The other major port, the San-Pedro port, operates since 1971 and has two quays covering 18,727 m2 area. Apart from those two major ports, there are small ports at Sassandra and Dabou. Ivory Coast has three international airports located in Abidjan and Bouaké. Fourteen smaller cities possess regional airports, the most important of which are Daloa, Man, Odiénné et San-pédro. Twenty-seven aerodromes exists and are operated by a public establishment, the Anam, except the activities carried out by the Asecna. Since the outbreak of the crisis, only five of these airports are available; these are Abidjan, San-Pédro, Yamoussoukro and Touba.
Regarding the International Airport of Abidjan, official statistics from 2005, showed 14 257 commercial movements. The Airport of Abidjan covers 90% of the air traffic of Côte d'Ivoire and generate 95% of the overall profits of the sector; the airport of Abidjan is operated by a private company, created in association with the Commerce Chamber of Marseilles. Its traffic encompasses European aeronautical companies and some African firms
Dakar
Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland; the city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 2.45 million. The area around Dakar was settled in the 15th century; the Portuguese established a presence on the island of Gorée off the coast of Cap-Vert and used it as a base for the Atlantic slave trade. France took over the island in 1677. Following the abolition of the slave trade and French annexation of the mainland area in the 19th century, Dakar grew into a major regional port and a major city of the French colonial empire. In 1902, Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa. From 1959 to 1960, Dakar was the capital of the short-lived Mali Federation. In 1960, it became the capital of the independent Republic of Senegal. Dakar is home to multiple national and regional banks as well as numerous international organizations.
From 1978 to 2007, it was the traditional finishing point of the Dakar Rally. Dakar will host the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics, making it the first African city to host the Olympics; the Cap-Vert peninsula was settled no than the 15th century, by the Lebou people, an aquacultural ethnic group related to the neighboring Wolof and Serer. The original villages: Ouakam, Ngor and Hann, still constitute distinctively Lebou neighborhoods of the city today. In 1444, the Portuguese reached the Bay of Dakar as slave-raiders. Peaceful contact was opened in 1456 by Diogo Gomes, the bay was subsequently referred to as the "Angra de Bezeguiche"; the bay of "Bezeguiche" would go on to serve as a critical stop for the Portuguese India Armadas of the early 16th century, where large fleets would stop, both on their outward and return journeys from India, to repair, collect fresh water from the rivulets and wells along the Cap-Vert shore and trade for provisions with the local people for their remaining voyage. The Portuguese founded a settlement on the island of Gorée, which by 1536 they began to use as a base for slave exportation.
The mainland of Cap-Vert, was under control of the Jolof Empire, as part of the western province of Cayor which seceded from Jolof in its own right in 1549. A new Lebou village, called Ndakaaru, was established directly across from Gorée in the 17th century to service the European trading factory with food and drinking water. Gorée was captured by the United Netherlands in 1588; the island was to switch hands between the Portuguese and Dutch several more times before falling to the English under Admiral Robert Holmes on January 23, 1664, to the French in 1677. Though under continuous French administration since, métis families, descended from Dutch and French traders and African wives, dominated the slave trade; the infamous "House of Slaves" was built at Gorée in 1776. In 1795, the Lebou of Cape Verde revolted against Cayor rule. A new theocratic state, subsequently called the "Lebou Republic" by the French, was established under the leadership of the Diop, a Muslim clerical family from Koki in Cayor.
The capital of the republic was established at Ndakaaru. In 1857 the French established a military post at Ndakaaru and annexed the Lebou Republic, though its institutions continued to function nominally; the Serigne of Ndakaaru is still recognized as the traditional political authority of the Lebou by the Senegalese State today. The slave trade was abolished by France in February 1794. However, Napoleon reinstated it in May 1802 finally abolished it permanently in March 1815. Despite Napoleon's abolition, a clandestine slave trade continued at Gorée until 1848, when it was abolished throughout all French territories. To replace trade in slaves, the French promoted peanut cultivation on the mainland; as the peanut trade boomed, tiny Gorée Island, whose population had grown to 6,000 residents, proved ineffectual as a port. Traders from Gorée decided to move to the mainland and a "factory" with warehouses was established in Rufisque in 1840. Large public expenditure for infrastructure was allocated by the colonial authorities to Dakar's development.
The port facilities were improved with jetties, a telegraph line was established along the coast to Saint-Louis and the Dakar-Saint-Louis railway was completed in 1885, at which point the city became an important base for the conquest of the western Sudan. Gorée, including Dakar, was recognised as a French commune in 1872. Dakar itself was split off from Gorée as a separate commune in 1887; the citizens of the city elected their own mayor and municipal council and helped send an elected representative to the National Assembly in Paris. Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa in 1902. A second major railroad, the Dakar-Niger built from 1906–1923, linked Dakar to Bamako and consolidated the city's position at the head of France's West African empire. In 1929, the commune of Gorée Island, now with only a few hundred inhabitants, was merged into Dakar. Urbanization during the colonial period was marked by forms of racial and social segregation—often expressed in terms of health and hygiene—which continue to structure the city today.
Following a plague epidemic in 1914, the authorities forced most of the African population out of old neighborhoods, o
Algeria - no - potential break of gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Niger - no railways
Burkina Faso - no - same gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Côte d'Ivoire - no - same gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Guinea - no - same gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) also 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Senegal - yes - same gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Mauritania - no - break of gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
