Houphouët-Boigny, Félix (fālēks`

fwā`-bwä`nyə), 1905–93, African political leader, president (1960–93) of Côte d'Ivoire. Descended from wealthy Baoule chieftains, he practiced medicine (1925–40) in Côte d'Ivoire and then entered government service. At the Bamako Conference (1946) he was elected chairman of the newly formed African Democratic Rally, subsequently a powerful force in African politics. As minister delegate (1956–57), he helped form French colonial policy. In 1958, when Côte d'Ivoire became a self-governing republic, Houphouët-Boigny was president of the constituent assembly. He became prime minister in 1959 and president of the republic in 1960. In 1990 he was elected to his seventh five-year term and for the first time with the participation of legal opposition parties. His political longevity may have been due to the relative economic prosperity induced by his policies of slow Africanization, encouragement of foreign investment, and French aid.

Houphouët-Boigny, Félix

(born Oct. 18, 1905?, Yamoussoukro, French West Africa—died Dec. 7, 1993, Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire) President of Côte d'Ivoire from independence until his death (1960–93). He worked as a rural doctor and planter before entering politics in the 1940s. In the late 1950s he was a member of France's National Assembly and cabinet and simultaneously president of the territorial assembly and mayor of Abidjan. As president he pursued liberal free-enterprise politics and developed a strong cash-crop economy, cooperating closely with the French. Under his rule Côte d'Ivoire became one of the most prosperous nations in sub-Saharan Africa. His later years were marred by an economic downturn, civil unrest, and criticism of the enormous Roman Catholic basilica that he had built at Yamoussoukro, his birthplace.