Talk:West Africa

message: Found my old Grolier lying around (1992 ed.). Their list goes: 
:Benin, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guine, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo; sometimes Mali, Mauritania, Niger. (They don't have an article on Central Africa.)
Also, I cross-referenced four different encyclopedias' entries on individual countries for which some level of ambiguity is indicated in the above listings. Here's what we get from Encyclopedia Britannica 2004 DVD version (EB), Worldbook online version (WB), Encarta online version (En), and Grolier 1991 ed. (G):
:Angola: "southwestern Africa" (EB); "Africa's southwest coast" (WB); "southwestern Africa" (En); "on the Atlantic Ocean" (G)
:Burundi: "east-central Africa" (EB); "eastern Africa" (En); "east central Africa" (G)
:Cameroon: West & Central (EB); "west coast of Africa" (WB); western (En); western (G)
:Cape Verde: West (EB); west (En)
:Central African Republic: "centre of Africa" (EB); "center of Africa" (WB); Central (En); "close to the geographic center of Africa" (G)
:Chad: "north central" (EB); "north-central Africa" (WB); "north central Africa" (En); "north central Africa" (G)
:Democratic Republic of the Congo: Central (EB); "at the heart of Africa" (WB); central (En)
:Equatorial Guinea: "west coast of Africa" (EB); western (WB); "west central Africa" (G)
:Gabon: "west coast of Africa" (EB); "west coast of Africa" (WB); "west coast of Africa" (G)
:Mali: West (EB); western (WB); northwest (En); West (G)
:Mauritania: "northwestern" (EB); northwestern (WB); northwestern (En); northwest (G)
:Niger: West (EB); West (WB); West (G)
:Republic of the Congo: "west-central Africa" (EB); "west-central Africa" (WB); "west central Africa" (En); "western Africa" (G)
:Rwanda: "east-central Africa" (EB); "east-central Africa" (WB); "east central Africa" (En)
:Sao Tome and Principe: Central (EB); "off the western coast of Africa" (En)
:The Sudan: Northeastern (EB); "northeastern part of the continent" (WB); "northeastern Africa" (En); "northeastern Africa" (G)
:Western Sahara: "northwest Africa" (EB); "northwest coast" (WB); "northwestern Africa" (En); "northwestern Africa" (G)
:Zambia: "south-central Africa" (EB); "south-central Africa (WB); "south central Africa" (En); "south central Africa" (G)
:BrianSmithson 22:07, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: More . . . 

message: So to summarize what Brian's got here (and fabulous work digging all this up!), it looks like Cameroon is included in most definitions of West Africa--but, complicating things, also in most definitions of Central Africa (since Wikipedia is not consistent, I'd be fine with including it in both articles).  It looks like Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Rep of Congo are generally not, so we could change the text to reflect that.  Sound good?  --Dvyost 20:35, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In absence of other user comments/objections, I went ahead and made the change to the text; the image remains to be fixed.  This change means that the history section needs to be somewhat adjusted to mention Cameroonian history as well.  I've changed the geo section to note Mt. Cameroon.  --Dvyost 07:07, 11 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Summary?

message: Sorry for bringing this up after the debate is over, but there's some data you might find relevant: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#africa which is commonly used in most of the locales keep at http://www.unicode.org/cldr/ . I think this is probably the best references on the topic. ---moyogo 14:15, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the link. As for the debate, there never really was any debate. I posted my findings, and Dvyost did a summary, but that was it. What I really think needs to happen is that all the Wikipedia editors who work on Africa-related articles need to find some central place to discuss the regional breakdown of Africa as a whole. What is East Africa? What is Central Africa? What is Northeast Africa? Should Wikipedia take one particular stance, or should we represent all ambiguity that exists in other sources? Should certain sources get precedence over others? There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved, and it'd make more sense to conclude them all in one place rather than spreading the discussion out between regional articles. Unfortunately, I'm too busy to organize such a discussion at the moment. BrianSmithson 17:15, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  UN stats definition, also used in the Unicode CLDR =

message: I started adding a history section but it's clearly gotten out of control; I think I'll move it to History of West Africa later and put a much more basic summary and link here.  Sections that might still be worth including would be languages, culture, economy, recent/current conflicts, regional politics/organizations... any other thoughts?  I'll be back to this one tonight myself to patch up the history part and try to get some others started. --Dvyost 21:23, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Collapsed the history to a (I hope) managable size.  Still could use a bit on the culture, economy, geology, religion, and languages by qualified folks.  That history could use a lookover from someone qualified, too. --Dvyost 07:50, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

text: Removed the boundary claim of Bantu/non-Bantu as a bit silly (see relevant User_talk:Mark_Dingemanse#West_Africa_languages discussion with Mark Dingemanse).  After all, Sweden, Laos, and Belize are non-Bantu-speaking countries that probably should not be considered a part of the region.  Still, if anybody can think of a more reasonable way to formulate this (or cite places where the Bantu/non-Bantu distinction is used) I'd be happy to see it go back in.  --Dvyost 14:13, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Collaboration notes 

message: Please expand on the authoritarian nature of colonialism which allowed for manipulators to assert control. Also, there is no mention of the unnatural divisions of boundaries which caused tribalism no different from what Europe experienced. 
Western Sahara can not be included in West Africa because geography is not what defines West Africa. Western Sahara are Berber and Arab, this is not the same as the entire region south of the Sahara. 
At the moment my comments feel emotional and not complete. I will complete my thoughts tommorrow night.  (comment added by Shadeyoj on 15 August)
:Thanks for noting these concerns.  Western Sahara isn't really included in West Africa as currently defined by this article, just a note saying that some definitions do include it.
:As for the corruption, if you have some details you can include on its origins, go for it!  That, after all, is what Wikipedia is all about.  I do tend to agree with you that the corrupt nature of colonial governments is one of the main causes of the corruption we see today, but unfortuantely I didn't have any good sources on hand to support the claim (colonial and postcolonial Africa isn't so much my strong point as pre-colonial).  Therefore I've stuck with the simple NPOV fact that it currently exists, but I'd be very happy to see that expanded once some good references could be found.  History of West Africa might be an even better place to go into this, as that article can support much longer explanations (this one's necessarily compressed).  Best, --Dvyost 03:59, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: One might argue that 'reasons for corruption' include other unfreedoms suffered by West Africans: little or no freedom to particpate in markets; lack of democratic channels to effectively express concern about corruption or foment change; oppression from militias etc... this 'interrelated freedoms' view is of course advocated by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Basically what I am trying to say is that if you view certain states in West Africa through his "Development as Freedom" theory, you see that general underdevelopment - ie unfreedom - of many sorts is allowing corruption to thrive (and, as a collary, corruption inhibits people's freedom). --81.154.236.221 00:47, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  If you talk of corruption please explain reasons for corruption 

message: Architecture of Africa is currently nominated on Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive. Come to this page and support it with your vote. Help us improve this article to featured status.--Fenice 08:45, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive]]

message: South Africa is a country, the region is Southern Africa. Renaming this article to that of its current redirect page would create consistency among the designations for the regions of Africa: Southern Africa, Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, Western Africa, and Central Africa.
:; Withdrawn
: The United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (OSAA) uses both forms.—Chidom talk  00:08, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested move 

message: Although I like the individual maps drawn for each nation in their respective articles, I think this regional article will improve if it includes a map that identifies the different nations and their names.
Possibilities: a drawn map with text in the image, or one of those interactive things which I think use javascript to turn picture regions into clickable objects. I've seen one of these on WP before, I just can't remember where. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MiG (talk • contribs) 09:19, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  geographic map with names 

message: I'm doing a project at school and I need to know about West Africa's economy......do any of you know some facts? If you do , PLEASE write...I need to get this project in by today!!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.249.194.134 (talk) 14:28, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  West Africa's Economy? 

message: Please cleanup ==References== because the 1st note is not a reference.70.74.35.144 (talk) 05:41, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  <nowiki>==</nowiki>References<nowiki>==</nowiki> 

message: In the Culture > Religion section of the article, the second paragraph of that section currently reads:
Along with historic migrations, these religions have culturally linked the peoples of West Africa more than those in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Traditionally, musical and oral history as conve= The game Oware is quite popular in many parts of West Africa. Soccer is also a pastime enjoyed by many, either spectating or playing. The national teams of some West African nations, especially Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, regularly qualify for the World Cup.
I'm not sure what the bolded section (my modification) is supposed to be saying with the "conve=" business.  I don't have the inclination or experience to go through the history of the page and to revert it to its non-messed up state, but could someone fix it?  I can't even understand what they were trying to say. Midtempo-abg (talk) 05:50, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Religion section 

message: I notice that there is no climate description of the southern portion of the region.
--24.98.147.80 (talk) 17:40, 23 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Climate 

message: Not only is this article poorly sourced, it needs to seperate religion and culture so the reader can easily navigate to the relevant section.  I've added this to my list of articles to clean up.  Please provide inline citations.  People are just writing anything without providing sources. 
Tamsier (talk) 13:42, 5 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: There's nothing wrong with placing religion under "culture". It comes under the definition of culture in the broad sense. Of course, if the section is expanded it can be separated. Paul B (talk) 16:49, 5 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: While there is a relationship between culture and religion I think they are separate things from an encyclopedic perspective. Culture deals with human tradition, Religion deals with divinity. But already we have dedicated articles for Africa so we can stub these sections. And when we "represent" we go with demographics. So in Traditional African Religions Vodun is the majority, so we go with those images (if any at all). --Halqh حَلَقَة הלכהሐላቃህ (talk) 13:26, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why is religion under culture? 

message: Wouldn't it be better if this article had a list of countries in West Africa at the top of the article, before the list of flags? ACEOREVIVED (talk) 22:16, 28 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, that list is primarly a list of countries. Flags a just eye candy. I changed the title of the section to "Countires of West Africa". --Moyogo/ (talk) 00:21, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

text: Most of my time on this article was devoted to adding sources and there is still a problem with sourcing, especially History, one of the most important sections in this article. Some of the accounts there not only lack sources, but they are rather suspect hence I tagged it. Also why is there more content on slavery and colonialism than empires, etc? Why write a book about slavery when there are several articles about slavery? They should be stubbed. Tamsier (talk) 17:21, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I've stubbed slavery and contact with Europe and added a link to the main article Atlantic Slave Trade.
Tamsier (talk) 13:22, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Suggestion for how to improve this article

message: The IP 61.125.110.161 has added a lot of content using one reference that was here since last year. David Robinson's Muslim Societies in African History was cited last year by Halaqah  when we were editing the article and that ref supports the following: 
::Islam is the predominant religion of the West African interior and the far west coast of the continent.Muslim Societies in African History (New Approaches to African History), David Robinson, Chapter 1.
Yet you've added all this and moved down Halaqah's source to support your edits; ; ; ; ; ; :
::(Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, the northern halves of Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon). It is occasionally mixed with traditional West African religions and beliefs. The religion was adopted by the aristocracy of medieval kingdoms such as Tekrur, Ancient Ghana, Mali, Kanem Borno and Songhay from the 11th century, and spread along the main trade routes by Wangara Soninke, Kanem, Dyula and Fula traders, from Senegambia, Lake Chad, Djenne and Timbuktu to Kano, Maiduguri, Begho, Kankan and Bonduku. It was also spread over several centuries across the stretches of the Niger river. The last major West African groups to convert to Islam were the Bambara of southern Mali and Mossi of south eastern Burkina Faso in the early 19th century.
I have reverted that section back to Halaqah's version back in Novemeber (which was the same until your recent edits). Please add them back when you have sources to support your edits. It you are quoting Robinson please provide a page no. (it is a book rather than a thesis). Thanks.
Tamsier (talk) 19:39, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: EDIT: The new IP (61.115.158.28) is doing the same. Also, Islam should be stubbed like the other religions. We don't need a book especially when there is already a main article linked to the relevant section (Islam).Tamsier (talk) 23:32, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Islam 

message: There is not a single mention of nature, the environment, deforestation and any other environmental issue. There is no mention of the rain forest nor biodiversity either! Deforestation and poaching are worse in West Africa than any where else! Nigeria has the only article on this that I know of the region...ThisguyYEAH (talk) 23:50, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: You are right. That should be covered. At the very least a paragraph or two.Tamsier (talk) 02:57, 5 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Done!Tamsier (talk) 10:30, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wow! Really! 

message: Could you please explain this reference?  I was not aware of a Sudan in West Africa.  Thanks.SRHsrh (talk) 02:03, 5 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I think you are quoting the last paragraph under "Empires". As far as I am concerned, the whole history section,  to which "Empires" is a subsection of, lack sources. That's why I tagged it until I am free to add reliable sources. However as regards to your question, I think that passage is referring to "Sudan" in historical terms (the Western Sudan).Tamsier (talk) 02:47, 5 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city states arose in Igboland... 

message: The IP (this time : 61.125.110.142) is back at it again on the Islam section : here, here and here (also see discussion aboveIslam). I am begining to get tired of this POV. If you have reliable sources that support your claim, bring to the talk page for others to evaluate it, otherwise leave the article alone. There is also a main article Islam in Africa. This section should only be a stub. I am removing the synthesis and propaganda. Mali or Nigeria does not equal West Africa (they are countries within in). Do not mix different sources to make a comment that none has expressedly stated. That is original research. I am putting that section back to the last version by User:FrescoBot (see link above). If this continues you will be reported. I have been patient for a long time, but do not use this article to advance your POV.Tamsier (talk) 23:13, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Islam! IP at it again. Do you trust this section? 

message: HI Briansmithson your article is good but i reccomend u have at least 6 paragraphs after like 8 it starts to get boring so try my idea thank you  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rarity0701 (talk • contribs) 16:34, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  West Africa Editing 

message: Is it just me. or is this article strange all of a sudden? I mean that flag, new (and huge) images, an weird map and un-sourced material, and more. Anyone care to tell me what happened, or what's changed? SpaceorangeX5 (talk) 08:46, 5 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Goddamn, what happened?

message: "EVEN ahead of the American film industry"
If the purpose of selecting the word EVEN is to show that it is more than another may work in your mind but does not work in logic that is called grammar and composition.66.74.176.59 (talk) 02:04, 20 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  EVEN is the same not different therefore ....... 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on West Africa. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: One missing EXISTING COUNTRY is the Republic of Biafra (Biafra). What happened to the history regregarding Nigeria's Civil War in the 60's, resulting in this cession??? And who will write it in? 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafra
Please see the history on the Republic of Biafra at the link above. 
Deneb79cygLass (talk) 08:56, 24 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Only existing countries are listed. El_C 09:00, 24 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why are there only 16 countries listed? 

message: Shoud this be "United Kingdom Overseas Territories"? Kdammers (talk) 00:48, 27 April 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: The three territories are organised as one *British Overseas Territory*. Rob984 (talk) 21:59, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  United Kingdom Overseas Territory 

message: I haven't found any sources listing the British Overseas Territories of St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha as being included in the category of "West Africa." I see the IMF apparently considered them as such in one document, but does anyone know of any others which could collaberate that claim? It sticks out like a sore thumb compared with every other country on the list.Gamle Kvitrafn (talk) 17:28, 13 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: The only source provided is a UN country code list from an archived website from 2009 which says St Helena (no mention of Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha) is grouped as part of "West Africa" I've never before heard of St Helena being characterized as part of Africa. Scu ba (talk) 01:39, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  St. Helena and others are questionable 

message: Write a short note on the top 5 plateaux that can be found in West Africa 102.89.41.243 (talk) 05:19, 14 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Geography 

message: Could do with using the "multiple image" image gallery template to reduce the space used by the images. They are a bit of excessive. scope_creepTalk 13:57, 29 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Images

message: Hi, Cape Verde has minus 1 GMT... can anybody with expertise in editing infoboxes change it 190.246.97.81 (talk) 23:17, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  There is a mistake in the time zones