Grand-Bassam is a city in Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

, lying east of Abidjan

Abidjan

Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...

. It was the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 capital city

Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 from 1893 until 1896, when the administration was transferred to Bingerville

Bingerville

Bingerville is a city in south eastern Côte d'Ivoire, lying on the Ébrié Lagoon. Originally a market town, it grew as the capital of the then colony from 1909 until 1934. It is named after Louis-Gustave Binger, a former French colonial governor...

 after a bout of yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

. The city remained a key seaport until the growth of Abidjan from the 1930s.

Grand-Bassam is the chief city of Grand-Bassam Department

Grand-Bassam Department

Grand-Bassam Department is one of the departments of Côte d'Ivoire. It is one of three departments of Sud-Comoé Region. Grand-Bassam is capital of the department....

. The city has the aura of a ghost town, since large sections have been abandoned for decades. In 1896 the French capital was moved to Bingerville, and commercial shipping gradually declined until it virtually ceased in the 1930s. In 1960, with independence, all remaining administrative offices were transferred to Abidjan, and for many years Grand Bassam was inhabited only by squatters. Beginning in the late 70s the city began to revive as a tourist destination and craft center. It now has a year-round population of approximately 5000.

The city is divided by the Ébrié Lagoon

Ébrié Lagoon

The Ébrié Lagoon lies in Côte d'Ivoire, separated for most of its length from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip. The 100 km long lagoon is linked to the sea by the Vridi Canal, while the Comoë River flows into it. The lagoon averages 4 km in width, and 5 m in depth...

 into two halves: Ancien Bassam is the former French settlement, facing the Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf....

. It is home to the grander colonial buildings, some of which have been restored. The district is also home to a cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 and the Côte d'Ivoire National Museum of Costume. Nouveau Bassam, linked to Ancien Bassam by a bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

, lies on the inland, northern side of the lagoon. It grew from the Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n servant's quarter and is now the main commercial centre of the town.

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand-Bassam

Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand-Bassam

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand-Bassam is a diocese located in the city of Grand-Bassam in the Ecclesiastical province of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire.-History:...

. The Diocese's cathedral is the Cathédrale Sacré Cœur in Grand-Bassam.