West Africa or
Western Africa is the
westernmost
region of the
African
continent.
Geopolitically, the
UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:
With the exception of
Mauritania, all of these countries are members of the
ECOWAS or
Economic Community of West African States. The UN region also includes the island of
Saint Helena, a
British overseas territory in the
South Atlantic Ocean.
Background
West Africa is oriented west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to
10° east longitude. The Atlantic Ocean forms the western and southern borders of the region. The northern border is the
Sahara Desert, with the Niger Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at the Benue Trough, and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad.
Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African nations, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more countries.
The inhabitants of West Africa are, in contrast to most of
Sub-Saharan Africa, non-
Bantu speaking peoples.
Geography and climate
Dust Plumes off Western Africa.
West Africa, if one includes the western portion of the
Maghreb (
Western Sahara,
Morocco,
Algeria, and
Tunisia), occupies an area in excess of 6,140,000 km
2, or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous countries along the southern shore of the region.
The northern section of West Africa is composed of semi-arid terrain known as
Sahel, a transitional zone between the Sahara and the
savannahs of the
western Sudan forests form a third
belt between the
savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width.
Culture
The
talking drum is an instrument unique to the West African region.
Despite the wide variety of cultures in West Africa, from
Nigeria through to
Senegal, there are general similarities in dress, cuisine,
music and culture that are not shared extensively with groups outside the geographic region.
Religion
Islam is the predominant historical religion of the West African interior and the far west coast of the continent;
Christianity is the predominant religion in coastal regions of
Nigeria,
Ghana, and
Cote d'Ivoire; and elements of indigenous religions are practiced throughout.
Before the decline of the Mali and Songhai Empires there was a sizable group of
Jewish communities in areas like Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, and Nigeria. Today there are tiny Jewish populations in Ghana, Nigeria and Mali. 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 conveyed over generations by
Griots are typical of West African culture.
Recreation
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.
Music
The Great Mosque of
Djenné is built in an architectural style prevalent in the interior regions of West Africa.
,
Highlife,
Fuji and
Afrobeat are all modern musical genres which enjoin listeners in this region.
A typical formal attire worn in this region is the flowing
Boubou (also known as
Agbada and
Babariga), which has its origins in the clothing of nobility of various West African empires in the 12th century.
The
Djembe drum, whose origins lie with the
Mandinka peoples, is now a popularly played drum among many West African ethnic groups. The
Kora is a 21-string
harp-lute of Mandinkan origin, played by various groups in the region. The Djembe, Kora, the silk
Kente cloth of the
Akan peoples of Ghana and the distinct
Sudano-Sahelian architectural style seen in the many mosques of the region (see
Djenné), are the primary symbolic icons of West African culture.
History
The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture, and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-African, and extra-African trade, and developed centralized states; third, Major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the brief colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly the whole of the region; fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.
Prehistory
Early
human settlers, probably related to the
Pygmies, arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B.C. Sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B.C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 400 B.C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of agricultural productivity, and the first city-states formed.
The domestication of the
camel allowed the development of a cross-Saharan trade with cultures across the Sahara, including
Carthage and the
Berbers; major exports included
gold, cotton cloth, metal ornaments and leather goods, which were then exchanged for
salt,
horses, textiles, and other such materials. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundancy of prosperity for many of the following empires.
Empires
The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form, beginning with the
Nok civilization which began 500 B.C. and the
Ghana Empire in the 8th century AD which stretched to the
Mali empire. Based around the city of
Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, the empire came to dominate much of the region until its defeat by
Almoravid invaders in 1052.
The
Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated (c. 1240) by the
Mandinka forces of
Sundiata Keita, founder of the new
Mali Empire. The
Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries (most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew),
Musa I before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under
Mossi,
Tuareg and
Songhai invaders. In the fifteenth century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based around
Gao, in the
Songhai Empire, under the leadership of
Sonni Ali and
Askia Mohammed.
Further south,
Osei Tutu and
Okomfo Anokye have started to build the
Empire of Ashanti Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city states arose in
Ife,
Bono, and
Benin around the fourteenth century. Further east,
Oyo arose as the dominant
Yoruba state and the
Aro Confederacy as a dominant
Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria.
Slavery and European contact
Following the 1591 destruction of the Songhai capital by
Moroccan invaders, a number of smaller states arose across West Africa, including the
Bambara Empire of
Ségou, the
Bambara kingdom of
Kaarta, the
Peul/
Malinké kingdom of
Khasso, and the
Kénédougou Empire of
Sikasso.
Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the French and English; the
African slave trade began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population. The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the
Asante Empire,
Bambara Empire and
Dahomey, whose economies largely depended on exchanging slaves for
European
firearms, which were then used to capture more slaves.
The expanding
trans-Atlantic slave trade produced significant populations of West Africans living in the
New World, recently colonized by Europeans. The oldest known remains of African slaves in the Americas were found in
Mexico in early 2006; they are thought to date from the late 16th century and the mid-17th century.
European and American governments passed legislation prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the 19th century, though slavery in the Americas persisted in some capacity through the century; the last country to abolish the institution was
Brazil in 1888. Descendants of West Africans make up large and important segments of the population in Brazil, the
Caribbean,
Latin America, and the
United States.
Colonialism
In the early nineteenth century, a series of Fulani reformist
jihads swept across Western Africa. The most notable include
Usman dan Fodio's
Fulani Empire, which replaced the
Hausa city-states,
Seku Amadu's
Massina Empire, which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj
Umar Tall's
Toucouleur Empire, which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali.
However, the
French and
British continued to advance in the
Scramble for Africa, subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of
Samory Ture's new-founded
Wassoulou Empire in 1898 and the
Ashanti queen
Yaa Asantewaa in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule came to an effective end.
Britain controlled The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Niger into
French West Africa.
Portugal founded the colony of
Guinea-Bissau, while
Germany claimed
Togoland, but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following
First World War. Only
Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions.
Postcolonial era
Following
World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under
Kwame Nkrumah, became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous.
Since independence, many West African nations have been plagued by
corruption and instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Many states have failed to develop their economies despite enviable natural resources, and political instability is often accompanied by undemocratic government.
AIDS is also a growing problem for the region, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Nigeria.
Famine has been a problem in parts of northern Mali and Niger, the latter of which is currently undergoing
a food crisis.
Until recently, most governments in West Africa were illiberal and corrupt and several countries have been plagued with political coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. Since the end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some of the most brutal conflicts ever to erupt. Among the latter are:
Though a few countries like
Ghana and
Senegal have enjoyed relative stability and have even seen some growth, all progress in the region is contingent on the efficacy and justness of governance and the fair allocation of resources which, for the moment, both leave much to be desired.
Regional organizations
The
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), founded by the 1975
Treaty of Lagos, is an organization of West African states which aims to promote the region's economy. The
West African Monetary Union (or UEMOA from its name in French,
Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine) is limited to the eight, mostly Francophone countries that employ the
CFA franc as their common currency. The
Liptako-Gourma Authority of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso seeks to jointly develop the contiguous areas of the three countries.
See also
- Manillas – A form of archaic money unique to West Africa
