The Ivory Coast is the name given to the coastline of West Africa due to the elephants whose ivory was sold to merchants passing by. Consisting of rainforests, the Ivory Coast is remembered best through the country of Cote d'Ivoire, its French name. It was colonized by the British in Ghana and Gold Coast, Germany in Togoland, and the French in the other regions.
The British sent a fleet under George Rooke to open trade with the African Tukulor Empire and the Asante tribe in winter 1712, and they imported Ivory to Great Britain, trading it for other goods from other countries. The coastline was colonized later on, and Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire were made into British colonies. They fought wars against the Tukulor of Senegal and the Asante along the Gold Coast, and the British remained in the region until 1957.