There is almost nothing known about the very ancient Ivory Coast. There’s no clue of the original inhabitants in Ivory Coast. Historians believe that the original inhabitants were either displaced or absorbed by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. As far as the historical record shows, the trade of basic supplements expanded from the Saharan area. As a result, several places in the West Africa became prosperous. The boom in trade made the route of trade southern. More and more people moved south, which is now the territory of the Ivory Coast.
Empires and rulers near this area kept emerging and declining. Noticeably, in the 11th century, Islam was brought to western Africa by the traders from North Africa. Later, the Islam was rapidly spread and was accepted and embraced by many empires in the West Africa. By the time rulers of Sudanic empires started to embrace the Islam, Islam spread southern to the north part of contemporary Ivory Coast. In 14th century, the northern Ivory Coast was ruled by the Mali Empire. But later on, the reign was ended by internal discord and by the revolt of vassal states. Another empire Songhai emerged and the empire flourished during 14the century and 16the century. However, the empire collapsed also because of internal discord. Then, fractional warfares in this region made people move south to the rain forest. The dense forest created barriers between the south part and the north part of the country so that people who moved to the south part could live away from the political and military conflicts. After that, people settled down in the south and started village life. They earned their livings mainly by agriculture and hunting.
As time went on, more and more empires and states emerged in Ivory Coast. The Muslim Kong Empire was established by the Juula in the early eighteenth century in the north part of the country. Kong became the center of agriculture and crafts during that time. However, ethnic diversity and religious discord gradually made the kingdom collapse. Meanwhile, in the south, the Abron kingdom of Jaman, which was established early in the 17th century, existed. This kingdom finally expended its hegemony over the Juula in Bondoukou. Bondoukou then became a major center of commerce and Islam. The kingdom’s Quranic scholars attracted students from all parts of West Africa. In the mid-eighteenth century in east-central Ivory Coast, other Akan groups fleeing the Asante established a Baoulé kingdom at Sakasso and two Agni kingdoms, Indénié and Sanwi. The Baoulé, like the Asante, elaborated a highly centralized political and administrative structure under three successive rulers, but it finally split into smaller chiefdoms.
There isn’t many information about the ancient history of Ivory Coast. But there are still some sort of websites which focus on African history, where I can find some clues. Also, learning the history of nearby countries is a good way to learn more about the history of Ivory Coast, since there has been interactions between these countries and these countries shared the same cultural and historical in a way. The reason why there’s little known about ancient Ivory Coast is that the history of this country is merged with the history of other significant empires in the African history. What’s more, Ivory Coast was not one of the origin of African civilization. The country was built because of the migration of people from north to south in the past.