West Africa facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

LocationWesternAfrica

Western Africa (as the UN sees it) Maghreb

West Africa or Western Africa is the west part of Africa. According to the United Nations (UN), West Africa has seventeen countries:

Images for kids

Map of early diversification of modern humans, with haplogroup L2 entering West Africa.
Mansa Musa depicted holding a gold nugget from a 1395 map of Africa and Europe
French in West Africa circa 1913
A rhinoceros in Bandia Nature Reserve, Senegal. Credit: Corine REZEL.
Deforestation in Nigeria.
Satellite imagery from outer space of West Africa
A street and airport in the famous town of Timbuktu, Mali, showing the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style of the West African interior
A man in the Boubou (or Agbada), a traditional robe symbolic of West Africa
Jollof rice or Benachin, one of many Pan–West African dishes found only in West Africa
Supporters of ASEC Mimosas
The talking drum is an instrument unique to West Africa.
Kora-playing griots in Senegal, 1900. Both the Kora, a 21-stringed harp-lute, and the griot musical-caste are unique to West Africa.
The 13th-century Great Mosque of Djenné is a superb example of the indigenous Sahelian architectural style prevalent in the Savannah and Sahelian interior of West Africa. It is listed an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Praia, Cape Verde
Dakar, Senegal
Lomé, Togo
Porto-Novo, Benin
Niamey, Niger
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Banjul, Gambia
Conakry, Guinea
Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Monrovia, Liberia
Bamako, Mali
Georgetown, Ascension Island
Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

See also

In Spanish: África Occidental para niños

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West Africa Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.