It wasn't until the arrival of the French at the end of the 19th century that these tribes were fused into one French-speaking colony which became the Republic of Ivory Coast in 1960. A Spanish Catholic priest was to have started a work in the country in 1687 but had to leave because of malaria and yellow fever. The Ivory Coast, in west Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, is a little larger than New Mexico. Its neighbors are Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. The country consists of a coastal strip in the south, dense forests in the interior, and savannas in the north.
Rainfall is heavy, especially along the coast.
National production has increased, so that their exports are greater than their imports. Most products used by the Ivorians are manufactured in the country. There are about 500 large industries in Ivory Coast including lumber companies, textile mills, food factories, tobacco factories, oil, chemical, rubber, automobiles, construction, etc. Sixty-five percent of those employed are Ivorians and 35 percent are Africans from other countries. Ivorians are intelligent, apt at learning and intensely desire education.