XIᵉ siècle – XVᵉ siècle
Ivory Coast coast and lagoons
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The lagoon peoples of the Ivory Coast comprised autonomous kinship communities settled along the coast, lagoons, and adjoining forests. They practiced fishing, farming, salt production, textile manufacture, and regional exchange in gold, copper, fish, and fabrics. Portuguese accounts describe densely populated coastal settlements and chiefs whose authority was initially more religious than temporal. The extract links several later groups to the Kru stock while emphasizing that the chronology of these divisions remains uncertain.
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Le récit
The peoples living around the Ivory Coast lagoons and forests are presented as an old population of the coastal zone, probably settled there well before the twelfth century. Linguistic evidence places them within the Kwa group and the wider Volta-Comoe family, challenging older classifications that treated them as a separate prehistoric population. Their communities were connected to neighbouring forests and savannahs rather than isolated by the coastal environment.
By the fifteenth century, the Kru formed independent communities organized around lineages. Portuguese navigators described coastal inhabitants as skilled fishermen using pirogues with deckhouses and cloaks for sails. The coast was densely populated, with large villages and communities speaking related languages. Chiefs functioned principally as religious leaders, although the development of political authority became more visible by the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Exchange linked the lagoon settlements to the interior. Communities around Rio Lahou sold salt and traded clothing, while coastal and inland markets also exchanged fish, fabrics, gold, and copper. The Kru are described as an original stock associated with the later Ahizi, Adiukru, and Ebrié-Abia, although the timing and conditions of these divisions cannot be securely established.
The lagoon zone between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries therefore consisted of autonomous kinship societies with limited central political organization. Labour was already socially differentiated, and fishing communities could produce a surplus for exchange. Coastal commerce fed a northward current that connected salt and textile producers with inland gold networks and with Mandingo merchants.
XIᵉ siècle – XVᵉ siècle
Ivory Coast coast and lagoons
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The lagoon peoples of the Ivory Coast comprised autonomous kinship communities settled along the coast, lagoons, and adjoining forests. They practiced fishing, farming, salt production, textile manufacture, and regional exchange in gold, copper, fish, and fabrics. Portuguese accounts describe densely populated coastal settlements and chiefs whose authority was initially more religious than temporal. The extract links several later groups to the Kru stock while emphasizing that the chronology of these divisions remains uncertain.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
The peoples living around the Ivory Coast lagoons and forests are presented as an old population of the coastal zone, probably settled there well before the twelfth century. Linguistic evidence places them within the Kwa group and the wider Volta-Comoe family, challenging older classifications that treated them as a separate prehistoric population. Their communities were connected to neighbouring forests and savannahs rather than isolated by the coastal environment.
By the fifteenth century, the Kru formed independent communities organized around lineages. Portuguese navigators described coastal inhabitants as skilled fishermen using pirogues with deckhouses and cloaks for sails. The coast was densely populated, with large villages and communities speaking related languages. Chiefs functioned principally as religious leaders, although the development of political authority became more visible by the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Exchange linked the lagoon settlements to the interior. Communities around Rio Lahou sold salt and traded clothing, while coastal and inland markets also exchanged fish, fabrics, gold, and copper. The Kru are described as an original stock associated with the later Ahizi, Adiukru, and Ebrié-Abia, although the timing and conditions of these divisions cannot be securely established.
The lagoon zone between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries therefore consisted of autonomous kinship societies with limited central political organization. Labour was already socially differentiated, and fishing communities could produce a surplus for exchange. Coastal commerce fed a northward current that connected salt and textile producers with inland gold networks and with Mandingo merchants.
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