Profiles of Major Cities Around the World
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PROFILES OF MAJOR CITIES AROUND THE WORLD French protectorate in 1889 and a colony in 1893. Divided by a lagoon the first European settlement in the area, Abidjan-Plateau, was set up to the Aarhus, Denmark north in 1903 and Treichville, the first large African settlement, was to the south. A rail terminus was set up in 1904 and in 1934 Abidjan succeeded Bingerville as capital of the French colony. With the opening of the Vridi Introduction Canal in 1950 the city soon became a major shipping and financial centre. The first of two bridges linking the mainland to Petit-Bassam Island was Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city and capital of the Aarhus adminis- built in 1958. trative region in eastern Jutland. With a history of more than a 1,000 years, it In 1958 Côte d’Ivoire was proclaimed a republic within the French emerged as a major industrial centre during the late-nineteenth and early- Community and in 1960 achieved full independence. Abidjan remained the twentieth centuries. capital until 1983 when Yamoussoukro was named the administrative capital. The 1960s and 70s saw a period of economic growth and political stability History despite challenges from the military and students at the University of Abidjan in 1982. In 1999 the president Henri Konan Bédié was ousted following a Aarhus was founded by Vikings and became a bishopric in the mid-tenth ’ century. There followed a period of growth during which several notable military coup by the country s military chief, General Robert Guéï. Thereafter Abidjan, along with the rest of the country, experienced violence and ethnic churches, still standing today, were constructed. The town’s importance diminished with the Reformation in the sixteenth century. tensions. Ethnic rioting in 2001 left dozens dead in Abidjan. Outsiders are not In the latter part of the nineteenth century expansion of the city’s industrial welcome. base and port facilities, and its integration into the Danish rail network, led to an influx of rural immigrants. Rapid population growth continued throughout Modern City the twentieth century. Exports include cocoa beans, timber, tinned tuna, bananas, pineapples and cotton. The main export markets are France and Germany. Imports include Modern City petroleum products and non-electrical machinery. Le Plateau is the high- ’ rise, commercial area with the industrial area located south at Petit-Bassam. Besides the port and related activities, the city s most important industries Mineral and petroleum docks spread along the Vridi Canal. Here too are the include engineering, metalwork, chemicals, food processing and textiles. districts of Treichville (the site of a large market), Marcory and Koumassi Aarhus has an international airport 40 km outside the city. A major railway where the poor live. Squatters have developed the area to the west at hub, there are two stations, one for passengers and the other for freight. It is on Youpougon-Attié and Abobo. The presidential tower mansion and the several major motorway routes, while transport within the city is provided by most expensive residential area lies to the east in Cocody. There is an buses. There is a university. international airport at Abidjan Port-Bouet 16 km to the southeast of the city centre. A metre-gauge railway runs to Leraba, Ouagadougou and Places of Interest Kaya all in Burkina Faso. Buses run to Accra (Ghana), Ouagadougou, The Old Town is a large open air museum, featuring historically-important Bamako (Mali) and the capital Yamoussoukro. The National University of ’ buildings transferred from around Denmark. Among the city’s most important Côte d Ivoire opened in 1958 and there are several technical colleges and churches are the Church of Our Lady (with the eleventh century St Nicholas’ libraries. crypt) and the thirteenth century gothic cathedral of St Clement. Twentieth century Danish architecture is represented by the town hall and university Places of Interest buildings. The National Museum has collections of Ivorian art. The Branco National There are several art museums as well as museums of pre-history and Park is an area of tropical rainforest located to the north of the city. The Hôtel natural history, city history, the Vikings, and women. In addition, there are Ivoire, in Cocody, is a major attraction offering an ice rink, a casino, a tropical glasshouses open to the public, as well as the Ole Rømer Observatory. bowling alley, a swimming pool and a cinema. The annual Aarhus festival hosts around 300 cultural events each Sept. while the concert hall and theatre put on productions all year round. Aarhus was chosen by the EU to be one of the European Capitals for Culture for 2017, alongside Paphos in Cyprus. Abu Dhabi City, United Arab Emirates Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Introduction Capital of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, federal capital of the UAE, and one of the most modern cities in the world. Abu Dhabi City is the seat of govern- fi Introduction ment, and a nancial, transportation and communications centre of the oil- rich confederation. The headquarters of the main oil operating companies and The largest city, seat of government and chief port, Abidjan lies on the Ébrié most foreign embassies are based in the city. Lagoon and is separated from the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic by the Vridi Plage sandbar. History Archaeological research shows evidence of a trading culture in the early 3rd History millennium BC along the northern coast of the present UAE. The small Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the fifteenth century and began enclaves that emerged along the Gulf coast were later absorbed by Persian trading in slaves and ivory. Abidjan was one of the many trading ports set up dynasties. Trade with India and China expanded in the early Islamic period, by the Europeans in the nineteenth century. The Côte d’Ivoire was made a from the early seventh century AD. European intervention in the Gulf area © Springer Nature Limited 2019 Palgrave Macmillan (ed.), The Statesman's Yearbook Companion, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95839-9 444 Abuja, Nigeria began in the early sixteenth century with the Portuguese, who established a commercial monopoly. Their ascendancy was later challenged by the Dutch and then by the British who, as they consolidated their supremacy over India, Accra, Ghana became predominant in the eighteenth century. The settlement of Abu Dhabi, with its fertile oases of Liwa and Al-Ain, was founded in the 1760s. In 1793 it became the seat of government of the rulers of the surrounding emirate. Piracy, largely operating from Ras Introduction al-Khaimah, was rife until the early nineteenth century when it was Accra is the capital, largest city, commercial and communications centre of suppressed by British naval expeditions. Treaties against piracy and the Ghana. It is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Since 1962 its port slave trade were subsequently signed between the British and the sheikhs of has been located at Tema, 27 km to the east. Accra is derived from a word the Trucial Coast (as the area became known from the 1850s). Britain meaning black ants, which are abundant in the area. undertook to protect them from external attack. This close relationship was ’ maintained until 1971 when British forces were withdrawn and the UK s History defence responsibilities came to an end. Abu Dhabi and other Trucial States formed the independent United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi City was desig- When the Portuguese arrived on the south coast of Ghana in 1482, the area nated the provisional capital of the newly formed state became the permanent now known as Accra was occupied by the Ga tribes. Its vast gold reserves capital in 1990s. gave the name to the Gold Coast. The British, Dutch and Danish arrived in the seventeenth century to build trading posts but in the nineteenth century the Modern City British bought the Dutch and Danish rights and in 1874 the Gold Coast became a British colony. The three main trading posts gradually merged to Abu Dhabi City’s importance increased significantly with the discovery of form Accra which was declared the capital in 1877. In 1879 a municipal vast oil reserves in the region in the 1950s and early 1960s. Since then it has council was created to improve the town. It 1901 it became a British protec- undergone major development, reflecting its oil-based wealth. A modern torate. Much of the city layout was planned in the 1920s and its growth since infrastructure of air and sea ports, roads and highways, and telecommunica- has been rapid. In 1960 Accra became capital of the independent Republic of tions, together with elaborate architectural projects and town planning, have Ghana. The seat of government, Osu Castle, one of Accra’s most historic contributed to its present commercial and international standing. structures, is closed to the public. Places of Interest Modern City Places of interest in the city include the main thoroughfare, the 7-km-long Ghana is seen by the World Bank as the Gateway to West Africa with the Corniche (a landscaped, seafront boulevard); the Cultural Foundation, hous- World Trade Center Accra set up to facilitate international trade. The stock ing the national archives and library; the White Fort (or Old Fort), the oldest exchange opened in 1990. Main exports in 2000 were minerals (gold, dia- building in Abu Dhabi (and now a document and research centre); Louvre monds and manganese), cocoa and timber. Main export markets are Togo, the Abu Dhabi (an art and civilization museum), opened in 2017; a government- UK and Italy. Major imports were plant machinery, petroleum and raw run Women’s Craft Centre; and the Dhow Wharf at the eastern end of the materials from Nigeria, the UK and the Ivory Coast.