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Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean,
between Ghana and Liberia
Geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 5 00 W
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 322,460 sq km
land: 318,000 sq km
water: 4,460 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than New Mexico
Land boundaries:
total: 3,110 km
border countries: Burkina Faso 584 km, Ghana 668 km, Guinea
610 km, Liberia 716 km, Mali 532 km
Coastline: 515 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical along coast, semiarid in far north; three
seasons - warm and dry (November to March), hot and dry (March to
May), hot and wet (June to October)
Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plains; mountains in
northwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Gulf of Guinea 0 m
highest point: Mont Nimba 1,752 m
Natural resources: petroleum, diamonds, manganese, iron
ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 8%
permanent crops: 4%
permanent pastures: 41%
forests and woodland: 22%
other: 25% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 680 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: coast has heavy surf and no natural harbors;
during the rainy season torrential flooding is possible
Environment - current issues: deforestation (most of the
country's forests - once the largest in West Africa - have been
cleared by the timber industry); water pollution from sewage and
industrial and agricultural effluents
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ivory Coast
GEOGRAPHY
Size: Total area 322,460 square kilometers.
Topography: Southern boundary 515-kilometer coastline
on Gulf of Guinea. Southeast marked by coastal lagoons; southern
region, especially southwest, densely forested; northern region
savanna zone of lateritic or sandy soils, with vegetation decreasing
from south to north within region. Terrain mostly flat to undulating
plains, with mountains in the west.
Climate: Warm, humid climate transitional from
equatorial to tropical. In north, heavy rains between June and October
(110 centimeters annually); along equatorial coast, some rain in
most months, but heaviest between May and July and August and September
(200 centimeters annually), with major dry season from December
to April. Temperatures average between 25° C and 30°C and
range from 10°C to 40°C.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
PHYSICAL SETTING
Location and Size
Côte d'Ivoire lies on the West African coast on the Gulf of Guinea,
. Its outline is roughly that of a square 560 kilometers on a side,
with an area of 322,460 square kilometers-- nearly the same as New
Mexico. It is bounded on the east by Ghana, on the north by Burkina
Faso and Mali, and on the west by Guinea and Liberia. The entire
southern border is Gulf of Guinea coastline.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
Physical Features
The nation consists of a large plateau rising gradually from sea
level to almost 500 meters altitude in the north. Vegetation changes
from lagoon and semitropical growth in the south to savanna grassland
and scrub in the north . Mountain ranges extend along the western
border and a few peaks dot the northeast corner. Four major river
systems flow southward forming parallel drainage basins. Cutting
across these basins are three geographic regions roughly parallel
to the coast--the lagoon region, the forest region, and the savanna
region.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
The Lagoon Region
The lagoon region (zone lagunaire) is a narrow coastal
belt extending along the Gulf of Guinea from the Ghana border to
the mouth of the Sassandra River. It consists of a strip of low,
sandy islands and sandbars built by the combined action of heavy
surf and ocean currents. These sand barriers, known as the cordon
littoral, have almost closed the rivers flowing into the gulf.
The resulting series of lagoons ranges in width from about a hundred
meters to seven or eight kilometers and seldom rises more than thirty
meters above sea level, leaving the area subject to frequent flooding
during rainy seasons.
Most of the lagoons are narrow, salty, and shallow and run parallel
to the coastline, linked to one another and the gulf by small watercourses
or canals. Where large rivers empty into the gulf, broad estuaries
extend as much as ten to twenty kilometers inland. The sandy soil
supports the growth of coconut palms and salt-resistant coastal
shrubs. The dense rain forest that once came down to the water's
edge along the continental side of the lagoons has been largely
supplanted by clearings for farms and towns and by second-growth
woodlands. In the few remaining undisturbed areas, dense mangrove
thickets appear along the edges of marshy inlets.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
The Forest Region
A broad belt of dense forest covers nearly one-third of the country,
extending north of the lagoon region in the east and reaching down
to the coastline in the west between the Sassandra River and the
mouth of the Cavally River. Its northern boundary stretches from
the city of Man in the west to Bondoukou in the east, dipping down
in the center of the country to the confluence of the Bandama Blanc
and Bandama Rouge rivers. This boundary marks the transition from
forest to grassy woodlands where plantation agriculture and burning
have encroached on the forest. From the border with Ghana west to
the Sassandra River, the gently rolling relief of the forest region
is broken by small hills. West of the Sassandra, the Dan Mountains
and the Toura Mountains reach 1,300 meters elevation. Mt. Nimba,
near the border with Liberia and Guinea, reaches 1,752 meters.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
The Savanna
The northern half of the nation is generally characterized as savanna--a
large plateau consisting primarily of rolling hills, low-lying vegetation,
and scattered trees. Vegetation varies from woodlands to grasslands
and occasional patches of dry scrub in the far north. Some narrow
strips of forest extend toward the north along watercourses and
drainage lines. The southern portion of the savanna is sometimes
referred to as the transition zone (zone de transition)
and the northern portion as the sudanic zone (zone soudanienne),
although the entire region is transitional between the narrow belt
of forest paralleling the coastline and the Sahara Desert. The gently
rolling plains are broken occasionally by granite domes or small
hill masses, the most extensive being the Komonos Hills. In the
northwest, a number of peaks exceeds 800 meters elevation.
A major divide extends across the northeastern corner of Côte d'Ivoire
near Burkina Faso, separating the main southward drainage system
from the Volta River Basin, which drains to the north. Near Bondoukou,
where the divide crosses the Ghana border, Mt. Bowé de Kiendi reaches
725 meters elevation. In the north, Mt. Yélévé reaches an altitude
of 685 meters.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
Rivers
Four major river systems follow meandering courses from north to
south, draining into the Gulf of Guinea. From west to east these
are the Cavally, Sassandra, Bandama, and Comoé--all relatively untamed
rivers navigable only short distances inland from the coast. In
the north, many smaller tributaries change to dry streambeds between
rains.
The Cavally River has its headwaters in the Nimba Mountains of
Guinea and forms the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia for
over half its length. It crosses rolling land and rapids and is
navigable for about fifty kilometers inland from its exit to the
sea near Cape Palmas.
The Sassandra River Basin has its source in the high ground of
the north, where the Tiemba River joins the Férédougouba River,
which flows from the Guinea highlands. It is joined by the Bagbé,
Bafing, Nzo, Lobo, and Davo rivers and winds through shifting sandbars
to form a narrow estuary, which is navigable for about eighty kilometers
inland from the port of Sassandra.
The Bandama River, often referred to as the Bandama Blanc, is the
longest in the country, joining the Bandama Rouge (also known as
the Marahoué), Solomougou, Kan, and Nzi rivers over its 800-kilometer
course. This large river system drains most of central Côte d'Ivoire
before it flows into the Tagba Lagoon opposite Grand-Lahou. During
rainy seasons, small craft navigate the Bandama for fifty or sixty
kilometers inland.
Easternmost of the main rivers, the Comoé, formed by the Leraba
and Gomonaba, has its sources in the Sikasso Plateau of Burkina
Faso. It flows within a narrow 700-kilometer basin and receives
the Kongo, and Iringou tributaries before winding among the coastal
sandbars and emptying into the Ebrié Lagoon near Grand-Bassam. The
Comoé is navigable for vessels of light draft for about fifty kilometers
to Alépé.
Large dams were built in the 1960s and 1970s to control the flow
of major rivers to the south. These projects created reservoirs,
now referred to as lakes bearing the names of the dams- -Buyo on
the Sassandra, Kossou and Taabo on the Bandama, and Ayamé on the
small Bia River in the southeast corner of the country. Lake Kossou
is the largest of these, occupying more than 1,600 square kilometers
in the center of the country.
Data as of November 1988
Ivory Coast
Climate
The climate is generally warm and humid and is, overall, transitional
from equatorial to tropical. Seasons are more clearly distinguishable
by rainfall and wind direction than by temperature. Continental
and maritime air masses, following the apparent movement of the
sun from north to south, determine the cycle of the seasons that
is associated with heat and cold farther from the equator.
During the first half of the year, the warm maritime air mass pushes
northward across Côte d'Ivoire in response to the movement of the
sun. Ahead of it, a low pressure belt, or intertropical front, brings
warm air, rain, and prevailing winds from the southwest. As the
solar cycle reverses at midyear, the continental air mass moves
southward over the nation, permitting the dry northeast harmattan
to dominate. Surface winds are gentle, seldom exceeding fifteen
to twenty kilometers per hour.
Two climatic zones are created by the alternating wind patterns.
In the north, tropical conditions delineate two major seasons. Heavy
rains fall between June and October, averaging 110 centimeters annually.
Along the coast, equatorial conditions prevail. Some rain falls
in most months, with an average of 200 centimeters annually, but
four seasons are generally distinguishable. Heavy rains fall between
May and July in most years, and shorter rains during August and
September. The minor dry season still brings sparse rainfall during
October and November, followed by the major dry season from December
to April.
Temperatures and humidity generally follow the same pattern, with
average temperatures between 25° C and 30° C and ranges
from 10° C to 40° C. Temperatures are higher in the south
but may exceed 30° C even in the far north. Annual and daily
ranges of both temperature and humidity are small along the coast
but increase progressively toward the north. The average relative
humidity is 85 percent in the south and 71 percent in the north.
Data as of November 1988
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