Ivory Coast becomes a French colony

Background. Prior to 1893, the area had been a French protectorate since 1843. Early trading posts existed at Assinie and Grand-Bassam, the latter becoming the colony's first capital. The Grand-Bassam trading post was left in the care of Arthur Verdier, a shipper from Marseille, who was named a resident minister when the Ivory Coast was established in 1878 (another passage gives his title as Resident of the Establishment of Ivory Coast). The 1893 establishment formalized colonial status amid the broader Scramble for Africa.

Boundary Determinations. Eastern and western boundaries were determined by agreements with Liberia in 1892 and Britain in 1893. The northern boundary remained undefined until 1947, when the French government sought to attach parts of Upper Volta and French Sudan for economic and administrative reasons. These territorial decisions shaped the colony's extent during its early colonial period.

Colonial Administration. One supplied passage reports that Captain Binger was appointed governor in 1893; no other passage corroborates this appointment. The colony was administered by governors appointed in Paris until 1958, using a system of direct, centralized administration that left little room for Ivorian participation in policymaking. Africans were officially French subjects without rights to representation in Africa or France, though they could preserve customs insofar as these were compatible with French interests.