The Guinea–Ivory Coast border is 816 kilometres (507 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Mali in the north to the tripoint with Liberia in the south.[1]
The border starts in the north at the Malian tripoint, briefly going overland to the south-west before reaching the Sankarani River.[2] The border follows this river, then the Gbanhala, southwards, before joining the Kourou Kelle river. The border then proceeds overland to the south via a series of irregular lines, before reaching the Bagbe river, which it then follows as it flows to the west, followed by the Koure as it flows to the south. A series of irregular overland lines then connect southwards to the Liberian tripoint in the Nimba Range.[2]
France had begun signing treaties with chiefs along the modern Ivorian coast in the 1840s, thereby establishing a protectorate which later became the colony of Ivory Coast in 1893.[2] France has also annexed the coast of what is now Guinea in the late 19th century as the Rivières du Sud colony.[3] The area was renamed French Guinea 1894, and was later included within the French West Africa colony along with Ivory Coast. A border between the two was delimited by decree on 17 October 1899, with a more detailed description provided in a French arrete of 21 June 1911.[2]
As the movement for decolonisation grew in the post-Second World War era, France gradually granted more political rights and representation for their sub-Saharan African colonies, culminating in the granting of broad internal autonomy to French West Africa in 1958 within the framework of the French Community.[4] Guinea gained full independence in 1958, followed by Ivory Coast in 1960.