Concept

Baoulé people

Summary
The Baule or Baoulé ˈbaʊˌleɪ (Baule: Baule [ba.u.le]; baoulé [bawle]) are a Kwa people and one of the largest ethnicities in Côte d'Ivoire. The Kwa family branch is a part of Niger-Congo phylum. This branch consists of around 50 different languages spoken by about 25 million people in the west coast of Africa stretching from Ivory Coast to western Nigeria. Most notably, in southeastern Ivory Coast, south Togo, south Benin, and south Ghana. The largest Kwa languages are: Ewe, Akan and Baule. The Baoulé are traditionally farmers who live in the centre of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), in a French braid shaped region (the Baoule “V”) between the rivers Bandama and N'Zi. This area broadly encompasses the regions around the cities of Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Baoulé have come to play a relatively important role in the recent history of Côte d'Ivoire: the State's first President, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, was a Baoulé; additionally, since the Ivorian cocoa boom of the 1960-1970s, the Baoulé have also become one of the most widespread ethnicity throughout the country, especially in the Southern forests (the "Low Coast") where they are amongst the most numerous planters of cocoa, rubber, and coffee and sometimes seem to outnumber the local native ethnic groups. One of the favourite pastimes is the game “Atté,” which is similar to the North American version of marbles: Ivorians utilize nuts, not marbles. An odd number of nuts are placed in a circular pattern in the centre of two opposing teams. The two teams, roughly 30 metres apart, take turns throwing nuts at the circle of nuts. Once a nut has been hit, it is eliminated, and the team that hit the respective nut gains a point. The game ends when all the nuts have been eliminated, and the team with the most nuts at the end of the game wins. The Baoule religious world consists of three realities : Domain of God (Niamien) The earthly world: area of human beings, animals and plants, as well as supernatural beings with vast powers who reside in the mountains, rocks, rivers, forests, etc.
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