YamoussoukroThe District of Yamoussoukro is the official capital city of Côte d'Ivoire. A city of 200,659 inhabitants as of 2005, and located 240 kilometres (149 mi) north of Abidjan on rolling hills and plains, the municipality covers 3,500 km² (1,351.3 sq mi) and is coterminous with the department of the same name. The department and municipality are further split into four sub-prefectures: Attiégouakro, Didiévi, Tié- diékro and the Commune of Yamoussoukro, which contain 169 villages and hamlets.
HistoryQueen Yamousso, the niece of Kouassi N'Go, ran the village of N'Gokro in 1901 at the time of French colonization. The village then comprised 475 inhabitants, and was one of 129 Akoué villages.
After 1964, the President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made ambitious plans and started to build. One day in 1965, later called the Great Lesson of Yamoussoukro, he visited the plantations with the leaders of the county, inviting them to transpose to their own villages the efforts and agricultural achievements of the region. On July 21, 1977, Houphouët offered his plantations to the State.
In March 1983, Yamoussoukro became the political and administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire. This marked the fourth movement of the country's capital city in just one century. Côte d'Ivoire's previous capital cities were Grand-Bassam (1893), Bingerville (1900), and Abidjan (1933). The majority of economic activity still takes place in Abidjan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YamoussoukroBasilica of Our Lady of Peace of YamoussoukroThe Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, also known as Basilique de Notre Dame de la Paix de Yamoussoukro, is a Roman Catholic church in Yamoussoukro, the administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Often ranked as the largest Christian church in the world, the basilica was constructed between 1985 and 1989 at a cost of $300 million, and was intentionally modeled after the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican City. The cornerstone was laid on August 10, 1985, and it was consecrated on September 10, 1990, by Pope John Paul II.
Contrary to popular belief, this particular basilica is not a cathedral. The nearby Cathedral of Saint Augustine is the principal place of worship and seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Yamoussoukro.
Guinness World Records lists it as the largest church in the world, having surpassed the previous recordholder, St. Peter's Basilica, upon completion. Our Lady of Peace has a greater surface, and a higher dome, than St. Peter's. However, it also includes a rectory and a villa (counted in the overall area), which are not strictly part of the church, and it can accommodate 18,000 worshippers, compared to 60,000 for St. Peter's.
The Basilica is administrated by Pallottines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_Peace_of_Yamoussoukro
