The Baule tribe is a common tribe along the coast in Côte d’Iviore that migrated from Ghana. The tribe belongs to the Akan peoples, along with the Asante, Chakosi, Sewfi, and many other tribes. They migrated from Ghana in the eighteenth century when the Asante rose to power due to the Asante King beating the Baule Queen in their conflicts. While moving to Côte d’Iviote, the queen, Able Poku, sacrificed her son to get across a large river called the Komoé. This gave the Baule their name, being derived from the word baouli, which means “the child has died”. These people are very strong-willed people that have waged the longest war against French colonization out of all of the West African tribes. They have also maintained their morals longer than any West African tribe in constant contact with European administrators, traders, and missionaries.
This tribe’s society has been characterized by extreme individualism, tolerance, and a deep hatred towards firmly fixed political structures. They are very culturally and artistically diverse, being one of the few tribes to lack any type of initiation, priests, secret societies, or groups with hierarchical levels, with the exception of the crown. The Baule society is known as an egalitarian society, or a society where everyone is equal and is of worth to the society. Everyone is included in tribe discussions, from the queen or king to the slaves, showing that equality is very important to the Buale people. Each village is independent from the other, and made it’s own decisions under guidance and superveillance from a council of elders. The living quarters are subdivided between families, and are shaped in rectangles that normally surround a courtyard.
Agriculture is very important part to the Baule way of life. Although yams and maize, a type of corn, are their staple crops, their main cash crops are coffee, kola, and cocoa nuts. Their supplementary crops include game, fish, and sometimes wheat. The importance of the yam to the Baule people can be shown through the annual yam harvest. During this harvest, the first yam is offered to the ancestors, who are a notably important part of the Baule religion.
The foundation of the Baule society and political systems are the matrilineal lineages. These are the inheriting descent of the female line of the family. The most important part of the lineage of a family is the ceremonial stool that each family has. These stools are said to hold the souls of the family’s ancestral spirits.
The baule tribe