Editing Yamoussoukro

{{short description|Capital of Côte d'Ivoire}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name      = Yamoussoukro
| native_name        = 
| nickname           = "Yakro"
| settlement_type    = [[Capital city]]
| motto              = {{lang|fr|"Solidarité - Paix - Développement"}}<br />{{smaller|"Solidarity - Peace - Development"}}
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| caption1                 =  Panoramic view of Yamoussoukro
| image2                   = Notre dame de la paix yamoussoukro by felix krohn.jpg
|caption2                  = The [[Basilica of Our Lady of Peace]]
| image3                   = Aéroport national de Yamoussoukro 1.jpg
|caption3                  = [[Yamoussoukro International Airport]]
| image4                   = Yamoussoukro - panoramio.jpg
|caption4                  = Route de Abidjan
| image5                   = Hôtel Parlementaire de Yamoussoukro 02.jpg
|caption5                  = Hotel des Parlementaires
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| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ivory Coast##Location within Africa
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| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|Ivory Coast}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[Districts of Ivory Coast|District]]
| subdivision_name1  = Yamoussoukro
| subdivision_type2  = [[Departments of Ivory Coast|Department]]
| subdivision_name2  = [[Yamoussoukro Department|Yamoussoukro]]<br />[[Attiégouakro Department|Attiégouakro]]
| government_type    = 
| leader_title       = Governor
| leader_name        = [[Augustin Thiam|Augustin Abdoulaye Thiam Houphouët]]
| leader_title1      = Lord Mayor
| leader_name1       = Gnrangbe Kouakou Kouadio Jean
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| area_blank1_title  = Sub-Prefecture
| area_blank1_km2    = 855
| population_as_of   = 2021 census
| population_footnotes = <ref name="pop"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ivory Coast: Sub-Prefectures (Regions and Sub-Prefectures) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/ivorycoast/sub/admin/|access-date=2023-02-12|website=www.citypopulation.de}}</ref>
| population_note    = (2014 census)
| population_total   = 422,072 ([[Districts of Ivory Coast|District]])
| population_density_km2 = 203
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| population_blank1_title = Sub-Prefecture
| population_blank1  = 340234
| population_density_blank1_km2 = auto
| population_density_blank1_sq_mi = 
| population_blank2_title = City
| population_blank2  = 212670<ref name="pop">{{Cite web|title=Ivory Coast: Districts, Major Cities & Localities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/ivorycoast/cities/|access-date=2023-02-12|website=www.citypopulation.de}}</ref>
| timezone           = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]
| blank_name_sec1    = [[Human Development Index|HDI]] (2022)
| blank_info_sec1          = 0.619<ref name="GlobalDataLab">{{Cite web|url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/|title=Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab|website=hdi.globaldatalab.org|language=en|access-date=2024-09-24}}</ref><br/>{{color|#fc0|medium}} · [[List of districts of Ivory Coast by Human Development Index|1st of 14]]
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| coordinates        = {{coord|06|48|58|N|05|16|27|W|region:CI|display=inline,title}}
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| postal_code        = 
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| website            = {{URL|http://www.yamoussoukro.district.ci}}
| footnotes          = 
| image_map          = Côte d'Ivoire - District autonome Yamoussoukro.svg
}}
'''Yamoussoukro''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|j|æ|m|ʊ|ˈ|s|uː|k|r|oʊ}};<ref name="collins_english">{{cite web |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/yamoussoukro |title=English Dictionary: Definition of Yamoussoukro |publisher=Collins |access-date=24 August 2013}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|jamusukʁo}}, <small>locally</small> {{IPA|fr|jamsokʁo|}}) is the [[capital city]] of [[Côte d'Ivoire|Ivory Coast]] and an autonomous [[Districts of Ivory Coast|district]]. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the [[list of cities in Ivory Coast|fifth most populous city in the Ivory Coast]], with a population of 212,670.<ref name="pop"/> Located {{convert|240|km|sp=us}} north-west of [[Abidjan]], the district of Yamoussoukro covers {{convert|2075|sqkm|sp=us}} among rolling hills and plains.

Yamoussoukro became the legal capital of Ivory Coast in 1983, although the former capital Abidjan retains several political functions. Prior to 2011, what is now the district of Yamoussoukro was part of [[Lacs Region]]. The district was created in 2011<ref>Décret n° 2011-263 du 28 septembre 2011 portant organisation du territoire national en Districts et en Régions.</ref> and is split into the [[departments of Ivory Coast|departments]] of [[Attiégouakro Department|Attiégouakro]] and [[Yamoussoukro Department|Yamoussoukro]]. In total, the district contains 169 settlements. Yamoussoukro is a [[sub-prefectures of Ivory Coast|sub-prefecture]] in Yamoussoukro Department and is also a [[Communes of Ivory Coast|commune]]: since 2012, the city of Yamoussoukro has been the sole commune in the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro.

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2020}}

===Prehistory===
{{main|History of Ivory Coast#Prehistory and early history}}
Stone tools found in the country from hundreds of thousands of years ago show that the area around Yamoussoukro has been occupied since ancient times. Due to the [[desertification]] of the [[Sahara]], many moved south to avoid the harsh conditions.

===Colonial period===
Queen Yamoussou, the niece of Kouassi N'Go, ran the city of ''N'Gokro'' in 1929 at the time of [[French colonization]]. The village of N'Gokro was renamed Yamoussoukro, the suffix ''Kro'' meaning town in [[Baoulé language|Baoule]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Cote d'Ivoire |date=2023-11-14 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cote-divoire/ |work=The World Factbook |access-date=2023-11-22 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref>

Diplomatic and commercial relations were then established, but in 1909, on the orders of the Chief of Djamlabo, the Akoué revolted against the administration. Bonzi station, {{convert|7|km|mi}} from Yamoussoukro on the [[Bouaflé]] road, was set on fire, and the French administrator, Simon Maurice, was spared only by the intervention of Kouassi N'Go.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Braimah |first=Ayodale |date=2019-01-28 |title=Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire (1909- ) • |url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/yamoussoukro-cote-divoire-1909/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |language=en-US}}</ref>

As the situation got worse, Maurice, judging that Bonzi had become safe, decided to transfer the French military station to Yamoussoukro, where the French Administration built a pyramid to the memory of Kouassi N'Go, Chief of the Akoué, who was assassinated in 1910 by Akoué rebels, accusing him of being too close to the French.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coates|first1=Carrol F.|title=A Fictive History of Côte d'Ivoire: Kourouma and "Fouphouai"|journal=Research in African Literatures|date=1 January 2007|volume=38|issue=2|pages=124–139|jstor=4618379|doi=10.2979/RAL.2007.38.2.124|s2cid=161600527 }}</ref>

In 1919, the civil station of Yamoussoukro was removed. [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] became the leader of the village in 1939. A long period passed wherein Yamoussoukro, still a small agricultural town, remained in the shadows. This continued until after the Second World War, which saw the creation of the [[African Agricultural Union]], as well as the first conferences of its chief. However, it was only with independence that Yamoussoukro finally started to rise.<ref name="Braimah">{{cite web|last1=Braimah|first1=Ayodale|title=Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire (1909– )|url=http://www.blackpast.org/gah/yamoussoukro-cote-d-ivoire-1983|website=BlackPast.org|access-date=8 September 2017|archive-date=14 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914085310/http://www.blackpast.org/gah/yamoussoukro-cote-d-ivoire-1983|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1950, the village comprised 500 inhabitants.<ref>Cyril K. Daddieh, ''Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast)'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 490</ref>

===Since independence===
After 1964, the President [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] made ambitious plans and started to build. One day in 1965, later called the Great Lesson of Yamoussoukro, he visited the plantations with the leaders of the county, inviting them to transpose to their own villages the efforts and agricultural achievements of the region. On 21 July 1977, Houphouët offered his plantations to the State.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

In March 1983, President Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and administrative capital of [[Ivory Coast]], as the city was his birthplace.<ref>Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 339</ref> This marked the fourth movement of the country's capital city in a century. Ivory Coast's previous capital cities were [[Grand-Bassam]] (1893), [[Bingerville]] (1900), and Abidjan (1933). Most economic activity still takes place in Abidjan, and it is officially designated as the "economic capital" of the country.

Yamoussoukro is the seat of [[Yamoussoukro Department]] and the neighbouring [[Bélier Region]], but Yamoussoukro itself is not part of the region.

==Governance==
[[File:Côte d'Ivoire - District autonome Yamoussoukro.svg|thumb|left|Location of the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro]]
Beginning in 2001, the city was governed as part of the [[Yamoussoukro Department]] and incorporated into [[Lacs Region]]. In 2011, the department was abolished and the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro was created and separated from the rest of Lacs, which became a [[Lacs District|separate district]].

Unlike most [[districts of Ivory Coast|districts]] of the country, the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro is not subdivided into [[regions of Ivory Coast|regions]]. The district, however, is divided into departments, sub-prefectures and a commune. The district consists of the [[Departments of Ivory Coast|departments]] of [[Attiégouakro Department|Attiégouakro]] and [[Yamoussoukro Department|Yamoussoukro]]. The departments further divided into the [[sub-prefectures of Ivory Coast|sub-prefectures]] of [[Attiégouakro]], [[Kossou]], [[Lolobo, Yamoussoukro|Lolobo]], and Yamoussoukro. There is one [[Communes of Ivory Coast|commune]], which is also named Yamoussoukro, and it shares the same borders as the district. In 2011, the position of Mayor of Yamoussoukro was replaced with a district governor appointed by the head of state.

== Architecture ==
Also noteworthy are the [[Kossou Dam]], the [[PDCI-RDA House]], the schools of the [[Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny|Félix Houphouët-Boigny National Polytechnic Institute]], the Town Hall, the Protestant Temple, the Mosque, and the [[Palace of Hosts]]. The [[Yamoussoukro International Airport]] had an average of six hundred passengers and 36 flights in 1995. It is one of two airports in Africa (with [[Gbadolite]]) that could accommodate the [[Concorde]].

== Places of worship ==   
Among the [[places of worship]] are predominantly [[Christianity|Christian]] churches and temples: [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Yamoussoukro]] ([[Catholic Church]]), United Methodist Church Ivory Coast ([[World Methodist Council]]), [[Union of Missionary Baptist Churches in Ivory Coast]] ([[Baptist World Alliance]]), [[Assemblies of God]].<ref>J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, ‘'Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'’, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 811-812</ref> There are also [[Islam|Muslim]] mosques.

[[File:WL-CI-Yamoussoukro-Escale de bus.jpg|thumb|left|Street vendors surrounding a bus in Yamoussoukro]]
Yamoussoukro is the site of the largest Christian church in the world: The [[Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (Yamoussoukro)|Basilica of Our Lady of Peace]], consecrated by [[Pope John Paul II]] on 10 September 1990.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Religions of the world : a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices|last=Melton, J. Gordon |author2=Baumann, Martin|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781780343716|oclc=764567612}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Swacker|first1=Bob|last2=Deimling|first2=Brian|date=2000|title=A Nineteenth-Century Church for the New Millennium: The Legacy of Pius IX and John Paul II|journal=The Massachusetts Review|volume=41|issue=1|pages=121–131|issn=0025-4878|jstor=25091638}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ivory-coast/yamoussoukro-basilica-of-our-lady-of-peace|title=Basilica of Our Lady of Peace – Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast|website=www.sacred-destinations.com|access-date=2019-04-13|archive-date=13 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413004121/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ivory-coast/yamoussoukro-basilica-of-our-lady-of-peace|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Transport ==
The city is served by [[Yamoussoukro International Airport]].

== Economy ==
The main activities in the city are fishing, forestry, and perfume industries.<ref>Britannica,
[https://www.britannica.com/place/Yamoussoukro Yamoussoukro], britannica.com, USA, accessed on 7 July 2019</ref>

==Climate==
Yamoussoukro features a [[tropical wet and dry climate]] (Aw) under the [[Köppen-Geiger climate classification system]].<ref name="Climate-Data.org">{{cite web|title=Climate: Yamoussoukro – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/3915/|publisher=Climate-Data.org|access-date=2 September 2013}}</ref> The city features a lengthy [[wet season]] covering the months of March through October, and a shorter [[dry season]] that covers the remaining four months. Like many other cities in [[West Africa]], Yamoussoukro is affected by the [[harmattan]], which serves as a primary source of the city's [[dry season]]. Despite the lengthy wet season, Yamoussoukro does not see the level of rainfall experienced in Abidjan. Yamoussoukro on average sees roughly {{convert|1130|mm}} of precipitation annually.
{{Weather box
|metric first=yes
|single line=yes
|location=Yamoussoukro
|Jan high C=31.5
|Feb high C=33.5
|Mar high C=33.5
|Apr high C=32.9
|May high C=31.7
|Jun high C=30.1
|Jul high C=28.6
|Aug high C=28.5
|Sep high C=29.3
|Oct high C=30.1
|Nov high C=30.7
|Dec high C=30.1
|Jan mean C=25.2
|Feb mean C=27.3
|Mar mean C=27.6
|Apr mean C=27.3
|May mean C=26.5
|Jun mean C=25.6
|Jul mean C=24.5
|Aug mean C=24.5
|Sep mean C=24.8
|Oct mean C=25.2
|Nov mean C=25.5
|Dec mean C=24.5
|Jan low C=18.9
|Feb low C=21.2
|Mar low C=21.8
|Apr low C=21.8
|May low C=21.3
|Jun low C=21.1
|Jul low C=20.4
|Aug low C=20.6
|Sep low C=20.4
|Oct low C=20.4
|Nov low C=20.3
|Dec low C=19
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm=13
|Feb precipitation mm=42
|Mar precipitation mm=108
|Apr precipitation mm=126
|May precipitation mm=155
|Jun precipitation mm=165
|Jul precipitation mm=88
|Aug precipitation mm=83
|Sep precipitation mm=170
|Oct precipitation mm=125
|Nov precipitation mm=36
|Dec precipitation mm=15
|source 1 = ''Climate-Data.org'', altitude: 236m<ref name="Climate-Data.org"/>}}

== Education ==
The [[Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] was founded in 1996.

==Sport==
The city hosted the [[2019 World Draughts Championship]] in draughts and is home to the [[Ivory Coast Open]] [[tennis]] tournament.

The city's two [[association football|football]] teams [[SOA (football club)|SOA]] and [[ASC Ouragahio]] share the [[Stade de Yamoussoukro|Yamoussoukro Stadium]]. 

[[FC Bibo]] play in the suburb of [[Kossou]].

[[SOA (basketball club)|SOA's basketball club]] plays in the top division.

The city was scheduled to host group stage games for the AFCON 2023, delayed due to weather conditions to January 2024.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Africa}}
{{commons category}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/africa_ivory_coast%E2%80%99s_plush0_empty_capital/html/1.stm Yamossoukro photo gallery]
* {{osmrelation-inline|3601243}}

{{Districts of Ivory Coast}}
{{Yamoussoukro subdivisions}}
{{List of African capitals}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Yamoussoukro| ]]
[[Category:Capitals in Africa]]
[[Category:Districts of Ivory Coast]]
[[Category:Sub-prefectures of Yamoussoukro]]
[[Category:Communes of Yamoussoukro]]
[[Category:Regional capitals of Ivory Coast]]
[[Category:Ivory Coast geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Planned capitals]]