Heritage
The Wè people
Geography
Between the Cavally and the Sassandra
The Wè are a West African people straddling Ivory Coast and Liberia. In Ivory Coast, the Wè country lies between the Cavally and Sassandra rivers. Their number can be estimated at close to half a million.
Administratively spread across eight sub-prefectures
- Facobly
- Kouibly
- Bangolo
- Duékoué
- Guiglo
- Taï
- Bloléquin
- Toulepleu
~500 000
people
2
countries: Ivory Coast, Liberia
Etymology of the word Wè
Wobé, Guéré, Khran — one people
Colonisers recorded them under the names Wobé, for those in northern Ivory Coast, Guéré for those in the south of the country, and Khran for those in Liberia. These populations nevertheless affirm that they are one and the same people.
According to ethnologists, the name they formerly gave themselves is Wègnon or Wègnondi.
The true name
Wègnondi
Wègnon
- gnon
- the people
- Wè
- who have compassion
- di
- in the heart
« the people who carry compassion in their heart »
Anthropology
Multicultural tribes
The notion of ethnicity is not really relevant here: "the Ivorian forest West appears as a continuous environment in which one passes from one zone to another, one culture to another, one ethnicity to another through imperceptible transitions".
Institutions
Wè customary institutions
KOUI
Wè customary institution, recorded and codified under the cultural programme.
GLAE
Wè customary institution, whose values and practices ADEWE works to harmonise.
DJI (BLAON)
Wè customary institution, to be durably conserved by the departmental conservatories.