Assinie-Mafia is a coastal resort town in south-eastern

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. It is a

sub-prefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefecture ...

of Adiaké Department in

Sud-Comoé Region Sud-Comoé Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. Since 2011, it has been one of two regions in Comoé District. The region's seat is Aboisso. The region's area is 7,240 km², and its population in the 2021 census was 784,893. Hist ...

Comoé District Comoé District (french: District du Comoé) is one of fourteen administrative districts of Ivory Coast. The district is located in the southeast corner of the country, bordering Ghana to the east, Zanzan District to the north, Lacs District and L ...

Geography

Assinie-Mafia is located 80 kilometres east of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

along the coast of the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

. Access to the area is by road A100 going east from Abidjan then turning right to the B-107 road (Route Assinie) then Route Assinie-Mafia along the coast. The road ends at Assinie-Mafia. Assinie-Mafia is a long narrow settlement along the coast on both sides of the outlet of

Aby Lagoon The Aby Lagoon complex is the second largest lagoon in Ivory Coast, after Ébrié Lagoon. As a whole, the lagoon has an area of , a mean depth of , and a volume of . It drains into the Atlantic Ocean through shallow channels between the Ehotilé I ...

.Google Maps
/ref> Assinie-Mafia was a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

until March 2012, when it became one of 1126 communes nationwide that were abolished. The Assinie area starts at the location of the Paul-Emile Durand cottage in the west bordered to the south by the ocean and accessible by the Assinie-Mafia road. Opposite the town of Assinie-Mafia is a narrow peninsula (from 100m to 1000m wide) extending from the west and 15 km long which is occupied by luxury villas and huts. Access is by car, private boats, or canoes across the lagoon. The mouth of the lagoon which marks the end of the Assinie-Mafia peninsula is called ''La Passe'' where the high-rise resort and the smoking of '' tchoukourou'' is very popular. The area is a favourite destination for wealthy inhabitants of Abidjan for the weekend. Assinie-Mafia was the location of the film ''

French Fried Vacation ''French Fried Vacation'' (french: Les Bronzés, link=no, ) is a cult French comedy film directed by Patrice Leconte. The film satirizes life resorts such as Club Med. It is one of many films by the French comedy group Le Splendid. Josiane Ba ...

'' (''Les Bronzés'') in 1978. In 2014, the population of the sub-prefecture of Assinie-Mafia was 16,721.

Villages

The eight villages of the sub-prefecture of Assinie-Mafia and their population in 2014 are: Children having fun at the beach

# Assinie-France (1 729) # Assinie-Mafia (5 661) # Assinie-Sagbadou (1 014) # Assouindé (5 766) # Ebotiam (489) # Essankro (595) # Mabianéha (841) # Mandjian (626)

History

Pg325 Castor, interprète du gouvernement à Assinie

Assinie (formerly ''Issiny'') was the first trading post on the Eburnean coast although no vestige of that time remains today. In 1637 five Capuchin

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, who came from

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

, settled there. Climate and sickness caused them to leave quickly and one died there.

King of Assinie

In 1687, two years after the implementation of the ''

Code noir The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by the French King Louis XIV in 1685 defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. The decree restricted the activities of free people of color, mandated the conversion of all e ...

'', missionaries and French traders settled at Assinie at the eastern end of the coast towards the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. However, they left in 1705 after having built and occupied Fort Saint-Louis from 1701 to 1704, as the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

did not earn enough as compared to the farming of grain. Among them were the Knight of Amon and Admiral Jean-Baptiste du Casse, director of the

Compagnie du Sénégal The Compagnie du Sénégal ( French for the "Senegal Company" or, more literally, the "Company of the Senegal") was a 17th-century French chartered company that administered the territories of Saint-Louis and Gorée island as part of French ...

, who were interested in the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

traffic and were received at the court of King Zena. They took the young Prince Aniaba and his cousin Banga to France, where they were presented to King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

and converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(Aniaba was baptized by

Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), French bishop and theologian, uncle of Louis * Louis Bossuet Louis Bossuet (22 February 1663 – 15 January 1742) was a French parle ...

Bishop of Meaux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suff ...

). They became officers in the Régiment du Roi (Regiment of the King) before returning to Issiny in 1700. In 1704, Aniaba became counselor to the King of Quita (now

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

), who called himself Hannibal.

Development

The first sustainable fort on the Coast after Fort Saint-Louis from 1701 to 1704 was Fort Joinville in

Grand-Bassam Grand-Bassam () is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial c ...

which was built there in 1843 after the landing of ship's lieutenants Kerhallet and Fleuriot de Langle which led to a treaty between France and the King of Krinjabo, Amon Ndoufou. At that time skirmishes with the English were frequent and prevented operations in the interior of the country. It is inside these forts that the first trading posts were established in the next few years. An inspection of the fortified trading post at Assini in 1850 mentioned: "order and cleanliness reign within its walls", the existence of a bastion of masonry (four were originally planned), and the presence of small artillery equivalent to that at

. "The trading post personnel consist of 40 people, including 5 Europeans, 20 soldiers, and 15 boatmen, coolies, and others and they are in a satisfactory state of health". The men "are in a better place to live han at Grand-Bassam where resources are greater because of more frequent intercourse with the natives and are removed from that product of fatigue for the body and sight an existence almost continually passed on moving bleached sand, roasted by a burning sun" The Ivorian postal service began in this locality on 29 July 1843. The French penetration of the region was counteracted by

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

epidemics (in 1857 of 50 Europeans in the three trading posts of Assinie, Grand-Bassam and Dabou, 32 died and 10 were repatriated) and British competition (Victor Régis, pioneer of French trade on this coast since 1843, had to close shop in the early 1860s).''Colonial Architecture in Ivory Coast'', Ceda - Les Publications du Ministère ivoirien des Affaires culturelles, 1985. However, the first Post Office opened on 17 August 1862. Arthur Verdier was the first to really bring value to the Assinie region from 1870. The first

coffee tree ''Coffea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. ''Coffea'' species are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. The seeds of some species, called coffee beans, are used to flavor variou ...

s were planted in 1881 and at the same time the cultivation of

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

started. Logging began in 1885.

The decline

Assinie was the third largest port in Ivory Coast in 1907 but it quickly lost all commercial and strategic importance in favour of

, then

Bingerville Bingerville is a town in south-eastern Ivory Coast. It is a suburb of Abidjan and is one of four sub-prefectures of Abidjan Autonomous District. Bingerville is also a commune. The town is located about 10 kilometres east of Abidjan and lies on th ...

, and finally

Port-Bouët Port-Bouët is a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is one of the 10 urban communes of the city. Port-Bouët is one of four communes of Abidjan that are entirely south of Ébrié Lagoon, the others being Treichville, Koumassi, and Marcory. Port-Bo ...

Education

The first official French school was created at ''Elima'' on 8 August 1887 with teacher Fritz-Emile Jeand'heur from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. He had 33 African students who became the first French-language readers. The school ran for three years before being transferred to Assinie-Mafia in 1890 by

Marcel Treich-Laplène Marcel Treich-Laplene (June 24, 1860 in Ussel, Corrèze, France – March 9, 1890 in Grand Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire) was the first explorer of Côte d'Ivoire and its first colonial administrator. Pg211 M

Notes

References

*Georges Courrèges, ''Grand Bassam and the trading posts on the coast: Assinie, Jacqueville, Grand Lahou, Fresco, Sassandra, San Pedro'', L'Instant Durable, Clermont-Ferrand, 1987, 84 p. (G. Courrèges was the Director of the ''Institut culturel de l'Ambassade de France'') *Guy Cangah and Simon-Pierre Ekanza, ''The Ivory Coast by the texts'', Nouvelles éditions africaines, 1978 *François Joseph Clozel, ''Ten years on the Ivory Coast'', Paris, 1906 *R. Mouezy, ''Assinie and the Kingdom of Krinjabo'', Paris, 1942 *

Henriette Diabaté Henriette Dagri Diabaté (born March 13, 1935) is an Ivorian politician and writer. A member of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), Diabaté was Minister of Culture in Côte d'Ivoire from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2000; later, she was Minister of ...

, ''Aniaba, an Assinian at the court of Louis XIV'', ''Nouvelles éditions africaines'', 1975, *''Anoma Kanié, Prince of Assinie'', drama in 3 acts {{Authority control Sub-prefectures of Sud-Comoé Former communes of Ivory Coast