Grand-Bassam

Grand- Bassam ( in German too: Big - Bassam ) is a port city of the Ivory Coast on the Atlantic coast (Gulf of Guinea ), 40 kilometers east of Abidjan. Grand- Bassam is accessible by bush taxi and by bus from Treichville.

• 2.1 Late Middle Ages
• 2.2 settlement
• 2.3 Early colonial
• 2.4 Maritime and Port

• 6.1 sources

Geography

The community of Grand- Bassam has an area of 11,300 ha and a population of more than 65,000 inhabitants. It borders to the north with the municipalities Bingerville and Alepe, in the east on the community Bonoua, on the west by the municipality of Port- Bouët and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The boundaries of the community are identical to those of sub-prefecture. The city is a tourist town and seat of the Bishop of Grand- Bassam, one of two dioceses of the Archdiocese of Abidjan.

Vegetation

The floor is flat and sandy, apart from some more or less marshy shallows of the vegetation community is a savannah interspersed with trees. Along the coast there are coconut plantations.

Hydrographic

The sub-prefecture of Grand- Bassam is determined by the Atlantic Ocean and three rivers: the Ebrié Lagoon, their sidearm, the Ouladine lagoon on which the lighthouse is located, the river Comoé, which has its source in Banfora in Burkina Faso.

Climate

The climate is rainy. There are four seasons:

• A large rainy season (May- July),
• A large dry season ( December to April )
• A short rainy season ( October-November)
• A small dry season (August-September )

History

About the origin of the name Bassam there are several theories. According to Professor Niangoran Bouah, ethno - sociologist, Bassam was not a place name. On the one hand it could be derived from N'Zima word Bazouam what is a cry for help. A N'Zima woman had cried unto him a European and thought that it was the name of the place. The second thesis goes back to the language of Abouré. From the word Aslam ( Abouré for: dusk ) to Abassam and later Bassam developed by linguistic convenience. Niangoran Bouah tends the second thesis concede higher probability.

Late Middle Ages

As of 1470, the Europeans knüpften first contact with the populations of the littoral of the Ivory Coast. 1469 landed Soeiro da Costa, a Portuguese navigator, the first known Europeans in the area of Grand- Bassam before towards Elmina on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) traveled further. Between 1470 and 1471 laid João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar on for the first time in the Ivory Coast. Ivorian towns names like Sassandra, San Pédro or Fresco still remind you.

Colonization

The manhunts in the context of the slave trade in the Gold Coast in the 17th century led to a migration movement into the area of the Ivory Coast. Abouré settled in the vicinity of the river Bia and to the Aby Lagoon. They had established the villages Dibi, Aboisso, Wessebo and Ahakro, the first capital of the kingdom, the king Aka Ahoba, the leader of Abouré Migration founded.

The Agni - Brafé, founder of the Kingdom of Sanwi, conquered in the 18th century, the area of Abouré. This retired from the Bia back in their current habitat in the southeast of the coastal region. There they divided into three groups: the marriage of the village Moossou that Ehive the Bonoua villages and the Odjowo and Ossouen (or Eblapoue ) of the village Ebrah. According to all sources the Abouré, a subgroup of the Ashanti, originally from the Gold Coast.

Later, around 1840, came also from what is now Ghana, the N'Zima to them. Come from the same region of origin, they attached marriage alliances. The N'Zima (or Appolien ) colonized the territories of today's neighborhoods Petit Paris, France and Azuretti. Even today, there is a native population Grand- Bassam from Abouré and N'Zima. They had the first contact with Europeans.

A few years later settled Ehotilé on the island of Vitre and divided into two groups that populated the villages of Vitre 1 and 2 Vitre.

Early colonial

The area of Grand- Bassam was discovered, according to some sources, the French researcher Marcel Treich - Laplène. Other write - Treich Laplène was only in 1893 came here when the fort Nemours has already existed for decades and was under the command of Arthur Verdier for 13 years.

After the February 9, 1842, a contract was concluded between an influential Abouré called Attekebele, called King Peter and Lieutenant de Vaisseau Kerhallet could be established for the French by Admiral Méquet the town of Grand - Bassam. It was in 1893 the capital of the colony Ivory Coast with Louis- Gustave Binger as its first governor. This is the first prefecture of the French colony. As in 1896, a yellow fever epidemic broke out, Binger prompted the relocation of the colonial administration further west into present-day Bingerville.

Maritime and port

The jetty (le wharf ) of Grand- Bassam was the first port facility Ivory Coast. Its construction was started in 1897. The approximately two hundred meters in length overcame the surf and allowed the ships safely to apply. When in 1923 a second pier was opened to traffic, this happened at just the right time, because the old one sank in a storm in the waves. 76,000 tons of goods a year earlier had been reloaded. Over the next ten years this remained the only deep-water port of the colony, which in 1929 at 172,000 tons reached its capacity limit envelope. The capacity was eventually doubled by the built in the same year, but in 1931 went into operation jetty in Port Bouët. However, Grand- Bassam remained a major port city before 1950, the deep-sea port of Abidjan was opened. Remains of the pier from 1923 are still considered landmark.

The town's lighthouse was built in 1915, other sources mention one year earlier than Year. It has a height of twenty meters and is made with lime plastered and painted white block masonry, which is completed by a gallery and lantern. Obviously, the plaster has meanwhile fallen in most places. Recent evidence on the operation date from the Second World War. After the beacon was apparently from the 1950s up to the 1970s out of service. The tower stands on a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ouladine Lagoon. The focal surface is 32 meters and the light illuminates every five seconds. The location of the tower is open, the tower itself can not.

Today the town is a tourist resort and seat of the Bishop of Grand- Bassam, one of the two suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Abidjan.

Geography

The Ebrié Lagoon divides the city into two parts:

• Alt- Bassam (French: Ancien Bassam ) is located in front of the lagoon and is the old colonial town in the French style of the late 19th century. The roads carry down to the present day, the names of former colonizers and French governors. The architecture is considered worth seeing, even if much is threatened by decay. In recent years, step by step restoration work was performed. On June 30, 2012, the historical part of the city was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage. The beach is busy. In the Old Town Arts and Crafts is a major industry. Here is also the cathedral. In addition, there is the National Costume Museum Ivory Coast (French: Musée national du costume de Côte d' Ivoire) in the old Governor's Palace, the architecture of which was intended to protect specifically against the tropical heat. The museum shows not only costumes and masks from different regions of the country.
• As New - Bassam (French: Nouveau Bassam ) is defined as lying on the mainland new districts, which are connected to the old town by a bridge. This is where the modern city center, where a large part of economic activity takes place. Originally, there were only the accommodation of the native servants of the resident in Old Bassam colonial masters.

Attractions

Sons and daughters of the town

• Christine Adjobi (* 1949), politician
• Betika (born 1966 ), singer
• Eugene Dadi (born 1973 ), footballer
• Amon Elloh (* 1994), football player
• Simone Gbagbo ( born 1949 ), politician
• Kodjo Michel ( born 1953 ), painter
• Meiway (born 1962 ), singer
• Georges Ouégnin (* 1934), Ambassador, and former Chief of Protocol of Felix Houphouet Boigny and Bédié
• John William ( * 1922 ), Franco- Ivorian singer