Though studies of capitalism in Africa traditionally focus on the activities of foreign investment, in Cote d'Ivoire capitalist development has been largely the work of a domestic class of entrepreneurs. This book traces the history of Cote d'Ivoire's capitalist development, beginning with early European contact and bringing the study up to the present decade. Drawing on new data, Rapley's provocative argument refutes all standard assumptions about capitalism in the country. He demonstrates that a dynamic capitalist class has emerged in Cote d'Ivoire, one neither subordinate to foreign interests nor synonymous with the bureaucratic or political elite. Thes indigenous entrepreneurs, Rapley posits, control the Ivoirien state as a class, and it is indigenous Ivoirien capitalism that has been primarily responsible for the growth of the country's economy.