IVORY COAST

IVORY COAST / CÔTE D'IVOIRE (French West Africa).

Ébrié Lagoon and effigy of Marshal Pétain.
Second stamp in a set of 2, issued in 1941.
Face value: 2.50 French francs.
Engraving: Gaston Gandon (1872-1941) and Georges-Léo Degorce (1894-1943).
Printed by Institut de Gravure, Paris.
Printing: Recess.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 185.
- Scott No. 166.
- StampWorld No. 190.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 178e.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 170.

The Ébrié (or Ahizi) lagoon is a complex of long and narrow brackish water lagoons located in the south of the Ivory Coast, separated for almost its entire length from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip. Its area is approximately 560 km² (216 sq mi), with a length (east-west direction) of 130 km (80 mi), a maximum width of 7 km (4 mi), an average depth of 5 m (16 ft), a maximum depth of 20 m (66 ft). On its shores are cities such as Abidjan, Attécoubé,  Bingerville, Grand Bassam, Jacqueville, and Tiagba. At its eastern end it is connected by a canal to the Aghien and Potou lagoons, into which the river Mé flows. At the western end it is linked by the Asagni Canal to the Tagba lagoon and the Bandama river. The rivers Komoé and Agnéby flow into it, among others. The lagoon is connected to the Gulf of Guinea, in the Atlantic, by the Vridi Canal, navigable since 1950.

Marshal Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) had a very prominent role during WWI and later held important public positions. He was a puppet head of state of the Vichy regime (1940-1944), in France occupied by Nazi Germany, and maintained a collaborative policy with the Nazis, which at the end of the WWII led to his degradation and death sentence, which was later commuted for life imprisonment.