Talk:West Africa

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Questions on Regional Inclusion

Can someone please fix the following problem: the map covers the last column of countries (Nigeria through Togo). thx.

The article states that Mauritania is sometimes considered part of West Africa, but the map shows Western Sahara shaded light green instead. Either the text or the map should be fixed, but I don't know which.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Article and image corrected.

Lucidity 12:01, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

An anon removed Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo and Cameroon from the list, but they're still on the map - this ought to be clarified one way or the other. I've no particular knowledge of the region myself.

sjorford →•← 14:42, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The map and text should agree now.

BrianSmithson 11:51, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Sjorford, to answer your question, the list and map don't agree when users come to the article and decide that a particular country should or should not be included in the region, usually subjectively and without citing any authoritative source. I reverted to the map and corresponding list of countries that I have individually verified using The CIA's World Factbook which is a serious and well-respected source of information on foreign countries and such things as regional categorization. I hope that clarifies your concern and helps others understand how this list came about.

Lucidity 08:38, 3 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Lucidity, along with reverting to a very early revision you removed many recent additions to the history section, many interwikilinks, and other content. I don't think you meant to do this, as you were not saying that the history section was better when the article sticked to the CIA definition. I think we agree that things need to be sourced; we don't agree however on the fact the definition as used in The World Factbook is the only one to be used. Definitions of 'West Africa' differ, and instead of removing everything that is not sourced right now I think it is a better idea to cite sources. I have turned back your revert, hope we can talk about this first. — mark ✎ 09:16, 3 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Mark Dingemase, ah! sorry about that; I screwed up the copy and paste. I'll be better about double checking on the next one.

Also, I understand your point about differing opinions about country inclusion in West Africa, but given:

A) an unsourced, arbitrary, or subjective depiction of West Africa, and

B) a sourced, internally and externally available authoritative website on West Africa,

I think it better maintains the integrity of this wikipedia article if we default to the sourced version as a base and let those who would say otherwise prove their case with citations.

Lucidity 09:57, 3 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Lucidity, I still see a few problems. First, you still haven't sourced your new definition of West Africa in the article itself; people generally aren't going to read the whole talk page to see if it happens to mention a source. The definition arrived at there for West Africa was created by comparing several encyclopedias and history texts to see what the most common definitions were, and by working with what was already on the site. You're right to call me out for now listing those in the article--still, I'd like to consult a little more broadly than the CIA world factbook site, which I haven't trusted since I saw Bill Clinton listed there as president of the United States in early 2002. None of this is to disparage your claims, though--your definition may well be better. I just want to check a few places before rearranging the article substantially.

Second, if you want to change the definition of West Africa here, it won't be enough to just change the header; you're going to have to make some substantial changes to the rest of the article. For example, you've added Cameroon, Gabon, and Republic of Congo, which will be need now to be threaded into the history section; Mt. Cameroon will now be the highest point in W Africa; etc. For changes of this size on an article we've all just been working on (it was just colloboration of the week), it would be helpful to discuss it briefly on this page.

Anyway, I think you're right in your objections to its unsourced nature, but I don't think changing things without discussion or new sourcing is quite the way to go here. Mark is right, Lucidity--let's talk about this first! Unfortunately I don't have time to do real revisions right now--I'm in Louisiana and just on a brief break from volunteer coordination. But I hope other users watching this page might have a moment to check an encyclopedia and put their two cents in, then maybe we can rework the article from consensus; if Cameroon does need to be included, I suspect I know just the Wikipedian to do it... --Dvyost 14:39, 3 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, that Wikipedian is in Louisiana, as well, trying to do what he can at the nearby shelter. But I caught a nasty cold yesterday, so I have had time to come up with this list for differentiating West from Central Africa: (BrianSmithson 17:29, 3 September 2005 (UTC))[reply]

The text states Mauritania is part of the West Africa UN subregion - on the map it's not. Which one is correct? 91.89.168.69 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 13:20, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see this is a very old issue, but nobody has explained why the lede paragraph shouldn't match the infobox map. Including Mauritania in West Africa is mostly a semantic question, but why can't we have one consistent answer? Art LaPella (talk) 23:54, 27 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

– by changing the map. Art LaPella (talk) 04:12, 5 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

West Africa

"West Africa", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version):

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon ("On the east, the western boundary is Cameroon."), Cape Verde (due to its membership in ECOWAS), Côte D'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali south of the Sahara, Mauritania, Niger south of the Sahara, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

"Western Africa", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version):

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo; Includes this note: "West Africa comprises all of the areas considered here except Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and the Saharan parts of Mali, Mauritania, and Niger."

"African art", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version); not exhaustive list:

Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone

"Africa", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version) includes another region, called West-central Africa, "the eastern extension of western Africa". It includes:

Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Sudan

List from Lonely Planet: West Africa, 5th ed. (2002)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon (Cameroon was moved to the book from Lonely Planet: Central Africa for this edition after the latter went out of print), Cape Verde, Côte D'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

West Africa: The Rough Guide, 3rd ed. (1999):

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte D'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo

The Diagram Group has several publications on Africa by region, such as Peoples of Central Africa and History of West Africa. They break the regions up like this:

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo; In addition, their book Peoples of West Africa includes the Moors (Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria)

Countries that use the West African Franc:

Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo

Central Africa

"Central Africa", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version):

Burundi ("often considered part [along with Rwanda] because of their long administrative connections with the former Belgian Congo . . .), Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon ("usually included"), Republic of the Congo, Rwanda ("often considered part [along with Burundi] because of orisinal is the best:]]their long administrative connections with the former Belgian Congo . . .), Sao Tome and Principe

"African art", Encyclopedia Britannica (2004 DVD version); not exhaustive list:

Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Republic of the Congo

Lonely Planet: Central Africa, 2nd ed. (1994):

Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Zaire

The Diagram Group has several publications on Africa by region, such as Peoples of Central Africa and History of West Africa. They break the regions up like this:

Angola, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Zaire, Zambia; In addition, their Peoples of Central Africa covers the following groups who live in territories that extend outside of this definition of Central Africa: The Azande (Sudan), the Baya (Cameroon, Chad), the Fang (Cameroon), the Lozi (some in Namibia), the Mbuti, Twa, and Mbenga (Pygmies) (Cameroon, Rwanda, Burundi), the Tonga (Zimbabwe)

Countries that use the Central African Franc:

Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo

A Google Images search for "West Africa", "Afrique de l'Ouest", "Central Africa" or "Afrique du Centre" shows that this is far from a cut-and-dried question.

More . . .

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)[reply]

Summary?

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

UN stats definition, also used in the Unicode CLDR =

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

BrianSmithson your article is good but it needs not alot of paragraphs it needs at least 6 because after a while it starts to get boring so take my idea and see what happens good luck! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rarity0701 (talk • contribs) 16:32, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Collaboration notes

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

If you talk of corruption please explain reasons for corruption

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

If some aspect of West Africa is your pervue please reasearch Bishop TS Johnson Sierra Leone.

Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive

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)[reply]

Requested move

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)[reply]

Oppose - The proposed name is not the common name and would be prescriptive rather than descriptive. --Yath 13:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose - Good call but as per Yath, it is not the commonly used naming. Refer WP:NC(CN) and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (places). -- Szvest 13:43, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose - I agree with Yath. Dbinder (talk) 14:35, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

geographic map with names

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).[reply]

Why are there only 16 countries listed as the West African countries? ? At least 1 is missing, Biafra. What happened to the listing of the Republic of Biafra and the history of the Nigerian civil war that resulted in Biafra's nationhood?? Deneb79cygLass (talk) 14:28, 24 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

West Africa's Economy?

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).[reply]

^There really should be a section here on economy.Mahmud II 23:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

==References==

Please cleanup ==References== because the 1st note is not a reference.70.74.35.144 (talk) 05:41, 30 November 2007 (UTC) nice all information —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.124.0.1 (talk) 10:22, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for coming in late. Just saw this article but I totally agree with you. I cannot believe after four years now no body has taken the liberty to cite sources. I've added this article to my watchlist and I'll find some reliable sources after my I've finished another article I'm trying to clean up. People please use inline citations. This is not professional.

Tamsier (talk) 13:32, 5 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Religion section

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)[reply]

In the Religion > Islam section of the article, the first sentence parenthetically avers that 70% of West Africans are Muslim. In fact, by perusing the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cm.html), of the 16 countries that are included in this article's definition of "West Africa", only 53.0% of the population is Muslim. Even including the West Saharan countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara, the Muslim proportion of the population only increases to 64.8%. This cited parenthetical needs to be deleted, which I would do except that I'm a noob and am unsure of how far I may go. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LB2Accra (talk • contribs) 13:09, 5 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Climate

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)[reply]

Why is religion under culture?

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

Ghana Empire?

This article says "the Ghana Empire... first flourished between the 1st-3rd centuries which later gave way to the Mali empire", however the article on the Ghana Empire says it existed from c. 830 - c. 1235. Is this just a mistake or am I getting something wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.43.210.220 (talk) 23:49, 7 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Both are wrong. It florished from c. 750 (the 8th century), but probably started during or just after the reign of Kaya Magan ( reigned probably around c. 350) - ruler of the Kingdom of Wagadou. Both Sonike and Serer tradition preserve his legacy because his female descendants were married off to the Serer royal families (see Joof family) and were known in Serer language as the Bagadou maternal clans (Wagadou maternal clan - Soninke). I think there is a an article in French Wikipedia called the Kingdom of Wagadou but not in English Wiki. When I am free I'll find that article and translate it to English.

Source: Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation Sereer, Cosaan : les origines", Nouvelles Editions africaines, 1983, pp 75-76, ISBN 2723608778. See also Appiah, Anthony, Gates, Henry Louis, "Encyclopedia of Africa", Volume 1, p 103

Tamsier (talk) 14:09, 12 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestion for how to improve this article

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

Islam

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 [1] 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.^[1]

Yet you've added all this and moved down Halaqah's source to support your edits[2]; [3]; [4]; [5]; [6]; [7]; [8]:

(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)[reply]

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)[reply]

References

^ Muslim Societies in African History (New Approaches to African History), David Robinson, Chapter 1.

Wow! Really!

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)[reply]

You are right. That should be covered. At the very least a paragraph or two.Tamsier (talk) 02:57, 5 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done!Tamsier (talk) 10:30, 2 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city states arose in Igboland...

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

Islam! IP at it again. Do you trust this section?

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)[reply]

West Africa Editing

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)[reply]

Goddamn, what happened?

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)[reply]

EVEN is the same not different therefore .......

"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)[reply]

External links modified

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External links modified (January 2018)

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Why are there only 16 countries listed?

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)[reply]

Only existing countries are listed. El_C 09:00, 24 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

United Kingdom Overseas Territory

Shoud this be "United Kingdom Overseas Territories"? Kdammers (talk) 00:48, 27 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The three territories are organised as one *British Overseas Territory*. Rob984 (talk) 21:59, 10 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

St. Helena and others are questionable

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)[reply]

Also, that Robinson citation appeared out of nowhere as soon as I posted and has nothing to do with my question. I didn't add it. Gamle Kvitrafn (talk) 17:30, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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)[reply]

Images

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_creep^Talk 13:57, 29 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There is a mistake in the time zones

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)[reply]

[1] Muslim Societies in African History (New Approaches to African History), David Robinson, Chapter 1.

[1]