Cote d'Ivoire, also known as the Ivory Coast, is a country in West Africa, with Yamoussoukro serving as its political capital and Abidjan serving as its economic capital. In 1843-1844, the Ivory Coast became a protectorate of France, and it became a colony in 1893 during the Scramble for Africa. In 1960, Cote d'Ivoire gained independence with Felix Houphouet-Boigny serving as its leader, and his conservative Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire was the only legal party until 1990. During his tenure as President, Cote d'Ivoire aligned itself with France and the West during the Cold War and severed diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union and China. Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993, and the country became unstable during the ensuing power vacuum. A coup in 1999 was followed by civil wars from 2002 to 2007 and from 2010 to 2011, but the party's political situation stabilized during the 2010s. In 2016, Cote d'Ivoire had a population of 23,740,424 people, with popular religions including Christianity (mostly Catholic), Islam, and indigenous religions.
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