This book touches on the social history of the Bété, a people from the Krou cultural area occupying the west, centre-west and south-west of Côte d'Ivoire. In the popular imagination of Ivorians, the Bété is a bellicose people. Even if all Ivorian peoples have their share of clichés, the quarrelsome character attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the Bété has ended up building an identity for this people in the popular imagination. Like almost all peoples, its history has been punctuated by long battles to protect its cultural identity and vital space. But the fact that they are portrayed as fond of conflict remains an element that has not escaped our curiosity as researchers. How do these people, regularly presented as "bellicose", live in harmony both internally and with the various foreign communities on their lands? Analysis of the sources collected on the history of this people has brought to light the existence of a well-honed pre-colonial system of conflict management revolving around the structuring of society. However, the irruption of French colonization into this society precipitated its gradual destructuring.