West Africa

**West Africa** anaa **Western Africa** be de westernmost region for Africa. De United Nations dey define Western Africa as de 16 countries of  Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, den Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom Overseas Territory). Dem estimate de population for West Africa at 419 million meners as of 2021, den at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of wich na 189,672,000 be shoddies den 192,309,000 jigas. De region be demographically den economically one of de fastest fat for de African continent.

Early history insyd West Africa dey include number of prominent regional powers wey cam dominate different parts of both de coastal den internal trade networks, such as de Mali den Gao Empires. West Africa dey at de intersection of perfect routes to travel between de place wey Arab-dominate North Africa den further south for de continent top, de source of specialized goods such as gold, advanced iron-working, den ivory. After European explorate dem come encounter rich local economies den kingdoms, de Atlantic slave trade wey dem build on already existing slave systems say dem go provide labor for dema colonies insyd de Americas. After de end of de slave trade insyd de early 19th century, European nations, especially France den Britain, continue dey exploit de region through colonial relationships. For example, dem dey continue dey export plenty of de extractive goods, wey edey include labor-intensive agricultural crops lyk cocoa den coffee, forestry products lyk tropical timber, den mineral resources lyk gold. Since independence, plenty West African countries, lyk Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria den Senegal, come play important roles insyd de regional den global economies.

## Geopolitical division

### List of countries

* Benin
* Burkina Faso
* Cape Verde
* Ivory Coast
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Liberia
* Mali
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Senegal
* Sierra Leone
* Togo
* United Kingdom
** Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom Overseas Territory)

### Cities
Major den principal cities insyd West Africa dey include, geographically eastward:

## Transport

### Road transport
De *Trans–West African Coastal Highway* be transnational highway project make e link 12 West African coastal states, from Mauritania wey dey de north-west of de region go Nigeria wey dey de east, plus feeder roads already dey exist for two landlocked countries, Mali den Burkina Faso.

De eastern end of de highway dey terminate for Lagos, Nigeria. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consider ein western end make e be Nouakchott, Mauritania, anaa make e be Dakar, Senegal, wey dey give rise to dese alternative names for de road:

* Nouakchott–Lagos Highway
* Lagos–Nouakchott Highway
* Dakar–Lagos Highway
* Lagos–Dakar Highway
* Trans-African Highway 7 insyd de Trans-African Highway network

### Air transport
De capitals' airports dey include:

* Cadjehoun Airport (COO) International; Cotonou, Benin
* Ouagadougou Airport (OUA); Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
* Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID); Praia, Cape Verde
* Banjul International Airport (BJL) International; Banjul, Gambia
* Kotoka International Airport (ACC); Accra; Ghana
* Conakry International Airport (CKY); Conakry, Guinea
* Osvaldo Vieira International Airport (OXB); Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
* Port Bouet Airport (ABJ); Abidjan, Ivory Coast
* Roberts International Airport (ROB); Monrovia, Liberia
* Bamako–Sénou International Airport (BKO); Bamako, Mali
* Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport (NKC); Nouakchott, Mauritania
* Diori Hamani International Airport (NIM); Niamey, Niger
* Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS); Lagos, Nigeria
* Saint Helena Airport; Jamestown, Saint Helena
* Blaise Diagne International Airport (DSS); Dakar, Senegal
* Lungi International Airport (FNA); Freetown, Sierra Leone
* Lomé–Tokoin Airport (LFW); Lomé, Togo

Of de sixteen, de most important hub den entry point to West Africa be Kotoka International Airport, den Murtala Muhammed International Airport, wey dey offer chaw international connections.

## Architecture

* Prehistoric West African Architecture
* Ancient West African Architecture
* Medieval West African Architecture

## Science den technology

* Education
* Astronomy
* Mathematics
* Metallurgy
* Medicine
* Agriculture
* Textiles
* Maritime technology
* Architecture
* Communication systems
* Warfare
* Commerce

## Gallery
### Capital cities of West Africa


File:Praia coast Cape Verde.jpg|Praia, Cape Verde
File:Dakar - Panorama_urbain.jpg|Dakar, Senegal
File:Imagelomé20.jpg|Lomé, Togo
File:Grande mosquee porto-novo.jpg|Porto-Novo, Benin
File:Street scene niamey 2006 002.jpg|Niamey, Niger
File:Kwamenkrumah av2.JPG|Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
File:Fort Thornton - Freetown - Sierra Leone.jpg|Freetown, Sierra Leone
File:Banjul great mosque.jpg|Banjul, Gambia
File:Conakry street (3329204314).jpg|Conakry, Guinea
File:Praça Che Guevara, Bissau.jpg|Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
File:Monrovia Street.jpg|Monrovia, Liberia
File:Place des explorateurs, Koulouba - Bamako.jpg|Bamako, Mali
File:Nouakchott.jpg|Nouakchott, Mauritania
File:View_of_Abuja_from_Katampe_hill_01.jpg|Abuja, Nigeria
File:A_drone_footage_of_Accra_central,_Ghana.jpg|Accra, Ghana
File:Quartier_d'Affaires_au_Plateau_à_Abidjan_(29916932210).jpg|Abidjan, Ivory Coast
File:Yamoussoukro_downtown.jpg|Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast
File:Overlooking_Jamestown_from_the_south.jpg|Jamestown, Saint Helena|Jamestown, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

## References



## You fi read further

* Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku. *Themes in West Africa's History* (2006).
* Brydon, Lynne. "Constructing Avatime: questions of history and identity in a West African polity, c. 1690s to the twentieth century." *Journal of African History* 49.1 (2008): 23–42. online
* Collins, Robert O. *African History: Western African History* (1990).
* Davidson, Basil. *A History of West Africa, 1000–1800* (1978), numerous editions
* Delavignette, Robert. *Freedom and Authority in French West Africa* (Routledge, 2018).
* Dueppen, Stephen A. "The archaeology of West Africa, ca. 800 BCE to 1500 CE." *History Compass* 14.6 (2016): 247–263.
* Edgerton, Robert B. *The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War For Africa'S Gold Coast* (2002).
* Fage, J. D. *A Guide to Original Sources for Precolonial Western Africa Published in European Languages* (2nd ed. 1994); updated in Stanley B. Alpern, ed. *Guide to Original Sources for Precolonial Western Africa* (2006).
* Festus, Jacob et al. eds. *History of West Africa* (Vol. 1, 1989).
* Greene, S. E. *Sacred Sites and the Colonial Encounter: A History of Meaning and Memory in Ghana* (2002).
* Griswold, Wendy. *Writing African women: Gender, popular culture and literature in West Africa* (Zed Books Ltd., 2017).
* Ham, Anthony. *West Africa* (2013) online.
* Hayward, Derek F., and Julius Oguntoyinbo. *Climatology of West Africa* (Routledge, 2019).
* Hopkins, Antony Gerald. *An economic history of West Africa* (2014) online.
* Huber, Caroline, Lyn Finelli, and Warren Stevens. "The economic and social burden of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa." *Journal of infectious diseases 218.Supplement_5* (2018): S698–S704.
* Kane, Ousmane Oumar, *Beyond Timbuktu: An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa* (2016).
* Lavallée, Emmanuelle; Roubaud, François (3 June 2019). "Corruption in the Informal Sector: Evidence from West Africa". *The Journal of Development Studies*. **55** (6): 1067–1080. doi:. S2CID 158886041.
* Law, Robin (1985). "Human Sacrifice in Pre-Colonial West Africa". *African Affairs*. **84** (334): 53–87. doi:. JSTOR 722523.
* Mann, Gregory (2005). "Locating Colonial Histories: Between France and West Africa". *The American Historical Review*. **110** (2): 409–434. doi:. JSTOR 10.1086/531320.
* Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa; Jarde, Alexander; Usuf, Effua; Brotherton, Helen; Bittaye, Mustapha; Samateh, Ahmadou L; Antonio, Martin; Vives-Tomas, Joan; D'Alessandro, Umberto; Roca, Anna (May 2020). "COVID-19 pandemic in west Africa". *The Lancet Global Health*. **8** (5): e631–e632. doi:. PMID 32246918.
* Mazrui, Ali A. *Islam and the English language in East and West Africa* (Routledge, 2017).
* Meillassoux, Claude, ed. *The development of indigenous trade and markets in West Africa: studies presented and discussed at the tenth International African seminar at Fourah Bay college, Freetown, December 1969* (Routledge, 2018).
* Mendonsa, Eugene L. *West Africa: An Introduction to Its History* (2002)
* O'Brien, Donal Cruise, Richard Rathbone, John Dunn, eds. *Contemporary West African States* (2002) 
* Soares, Benjamin (March 2014). "The Historiography of Islam in West Africa: An Anthropologist's View". *The Journal of African History*. **55** (1): 27–36. doi:. hdl:1887/25369. S2CID 162823960.
* Tonkin, Elizabeth. *Narrating our pasts: The social construction of oral history* (Cambridge university press, 1995), on West Africa
* Westermann, Diedrich, and Margaret Arminel Bryan. *The Languages of West Africa: Handbook of African Languages* (Routledge, 2017).

## External links

*''West Africa by Region and Country'' – African Studies at Columbia University
*ouestaf.com – Ouestaf, a West African online newspaper (insyd French)
*Loccidental Archived 7 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine – An online West African newspaper (insyd French)
*West Africa Review – An e-journal on West Africa research and scholarship (insyd English)
*The Voyage of the Sieur Le Maire, to the Canary Islands, Cape-Verde, Senegal, and Gambia  be de first published writing about Western Africa, wey dey date from 1695 (insyd English)