Baule

The Baule belong to the Akan peoples who inhabit Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Three hundred years ago the Baule people migrated westward from Ghana when the Asante rose to power. The tale of how they broke away from the Asante has been preserved in their oral traditions. During the Asante rise to power the Baule queen, Aura Poku, was in direct competition with the Asante king. When the Asante prevailed, the queen led her people away to the land they now occupy. The male descendant of Aura Poku still lives in the palace she established and is honoured by the Baule as their nominal king. The Baule have dominated politics in Cote d'Ivoire since independence with the first president Felix Houphouët-Boigny being a Baule. He was succeeded by another Baule, Henri Konan Bédié.