West Africa

==Geopolitical division==
[[File:Map of West AFrica.gif|thumb|350px|<div align="center">[[Geopolitical]] [[State (polity)|States]] of West Africa;<br />
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* '''[[Benin]]'''
* '''[[Burkina Faso]]'''
* '''[[Cape Verde]]'''
* '''[[Ivory Coast]]'''
* '''[[The Gambia]]'''
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* '''[[Ghana]]'''
* '''[[Guinea]]'''
* '''[[Guinea-Bissau]]'''
* '''[[Liberia]]'''
* '''[[Mali]]'''
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* '''[[Niger]]'''
* '''[[Nigeria]]'''
* '''[[Senegal]]'''
* '''[[Sierra Leone]]'''
* '''[[Togo]]'''

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[[Geopolitically]], the [[United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa|United Nations definition]] of [[subregion]] Western Africa includes the preceding states with the addition of [[Mauritania]] (which withdrew from ECOWAS in 1999), comprising an area of approximately 6.1 million square km.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/unowa/unowa/bckgrdnew.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516091903/https://www.un.org/unowa/unowa/bckgrdnew.pdf|archive-date=2006-05-16|title=''The UN office for West Africa''}}</ref> The UN region also includes the [[United Kingdom Overseas Territories|United Kingdom Overseas Territory]] of [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]] in the south [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref name="UNSD Country and Area Codes" />
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===Area===
In the [[United Nations]] [[United Nations geoscheme for Africa|scheme of African regions]], the region of Western Africa includes 16 [[Sovereign state|states]] and the [[United Kingdom Overseas Territories|United Kingdom Overseas Territory]] of [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]]:<ref name="UNSD Country and Area Codes"/> [[Mali]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Senegal]] and the [[Niger]] are mostly in the [[Sahel]], a transition zone between the [[Sahara Desert|Sahara desert]] and the [[Sudanian Savanna]]; [[Benin]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[The Gambia]], [[Ghana]], [[Guinea]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[Liberia]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[Togo]] and [[Nigeria]] compose most of [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]], the traditional name for the area near the [[Gulf of Guinea]]; [[Mauritania]] lies in the [[Maghreb]], the northwestern region of Africa that has historically been inhabited by West African groups such as the [[Fulani]], [[Soninke people|Soninke]], [[Wolof people|Wolof]], [[Serer people|Serer]] and [[Toucouleur people]],<ref>Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, ''Studies on the Developing Countries, Issues 6–8'', [[Polish Institute of International Affairs]] (1988), p. 53</ref> along with [[Arab-Berber]] [[Maghrebis|Maghrebi people]] such as the [[Tuareg]]; [[Cape Verde]] is an island country in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]; and [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]] consists of eight main islands located in four different parts of the Atlantic. Due to Mauritania's increasingly close ties to the [[Arab World]] and its 1999 withdrawal from the [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS), in modern times it is often considered, especially in Africa, as now part of western [[North Africa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uneca.org/sro-na|title=Office for North Africa of the Economic Commission for Africa|work=United Nations Economic Commission for Africa|access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486026.html|title=2014 UNHCR country operations profile – Mauritania|access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afdb.org/en/countries/north-africa/mauritania/|title=African Development Bank Group: Mauritania|access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref><ref>Facts On File, Incorporated, ''Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East'' (2009), p. 448, <!--books.google.com/books?-->{{ISBN|143812676X}}: "The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, situated in western North Africa..."</ref><ref>David Seddon, ''A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East'' (2004), <!--books.google.com/books?-->{{ISBN|020340291X}}: "We have, by contrast, chosen to include the predominantly Arabic-speaking countries of western North Africa (the Maghreb), including Mauritania (which is a member of the Arab Maghreb Union)..."</ref><ref>Mohamed Branine, Managing Across Cultures: Concepts, Policies and Practices (2011), p. 437, <!--books.google.com/books?-->{{ISBN|1849207291}}: "The Magrebian countries or the Arab countries of western North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia)..."</ref>

===List of countries===

* {{flag|Benin}}
* {{flag|Burkina Faso}}
* {{flag|Cape Verde}}
* {{flag|Ivory Coast}}
* {{flag|The Gambia}}
* {{flag|Ghana}}
* {{flag|Guinea}}
* {{flag|Guinea-Bissau}}
* {{flag|Liberia}}
* {{flag|Mali}}
* {{flag|Niger}}
* {{flag|Nigeria}}
* {{flag|Senegal}}
* {{flag|Sierra Leone}}
* {{flag|Togo}}
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
** {{flag|Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha}}<br>([[United Kingdom Overseas Territories|United Kingdom Overseas Territory]])

=== Cities ===
Major and principal cities in West Africa include, geographically eastward:
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* [[Dakar]], Senegal
* [[Touba]], Senegal
* [[Serrekunda]], The Gambia
* [[Bissau]], Guinea-Bissau
* [[Conakry]], Guinea
* [[Freetown]], Sierra Leone
* [[Monrovia]], Liberia
* [[Bamako]], Mali
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* [[Abidjan]], Ivory Coast
* [[Yamoussoukro]], Ivory Coast
* [[Bouaké]], Ivory Coast
* [[Ouagadougou]], Burkina Faso
* [[Bobo-Dioulasso]], Burkina Faso
* [[Accra]], Ghana
* [[Kumasi]], Ghana
* [[Lomé]], Togo
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* [[Cotonou]], Benin
* [[Abuja]], Nigeria
* [[Lagos (Nigeria)|Lagos]], Nigeria
* [[Ibadan]], Nigeria
* [[Port Harcourt]], Nigeria
* [[Kano (city)|Kano]], Nigeria
* [[Benin City]], Nigeria
* [[Jos]], Nigeria
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