Ivory Coast declared independence on 7th August 1960. It started with Felix Houphouet-Bolgny, who became their father of independence. In 1944 he formed the country’s first agricultural trade union for African cocoa farmers like himself. A year later he was elected to the French Parliament in Paris, and the following year the French abolished forced labour. He established a strong relationship with the French government, and they appointed him as minister, the first African to do so in an European government.
A turning point occurred when France formed the Overseas Reform Act in 1956, which transferred a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa and also removed the remaining voting inequities. In 1958 it became an autonomous member of the French Community, replacing the French Union. It became independent in 1960, with Houphouety-Boigny as the first President.
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