Grand-Bassam

Grand-Bassam is a coastal town in the southeast of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), lying east of Abidjan. It is a commune, a sub-prefecture and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department. Its modern story begins in 1843, when, after a treaty with the African ruler of the surrounding region, the French built Fort Memours on the bank of the river. The fort became the main French trading point in the area and, after the Berlin Conference of 1885, a base for colonial exploration of West Africa. From 1893 until 1900 the town served as the capital of the French colony of Cote d'Ivoire, until a severe yellow fever outbreak that reduced its population led the administration to move to nearby Bingerville. At independence in 1960 the remaining administrative offices went to Abidjan, and for many years the town was inhabited mostly by squatters. Its historic center, noted for outstanding examples of colonial architecture and town planning set beside a traditional Nzema village, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. A 2014 count gives the town itself 74,671 inhabitants, and the wider sub-prefecture had 124,567 in 2021.