Geography & Trade
Map
West Africa
West Africa can be defined by geography or culture. The United Nations usually includes the following 17 countries in its definition: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Mapping by Memory
Read through the countries in West Africa with your students. Divide the class into two and hand out a photocopy of a world map to each group. Give them two minutes to look at the map and try to memorize as many countries as possible. When you say “go”, have each team turn over the map and write down as many countries as they can remember in one minute. The group that gets the most correct answers wins. To debrief, go over the country names and locations on a world map together.
West Africa’s geography encompasses everything from tropical rainforests to deserts to coastal landscapes. This means the temperature changes from place to place, although the region is known for its mostly hot and humid climate.
Geography Facts
Here are Some Other Interesting Things about the Geography of West Africa:
- Timbuktu is located in the West African country of Mali, and Kalamazoo is located in Michigan in the United States. Now your students will know what it means to go “from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo”.
- The West African rainforest stretches between Sierra Leone and Ghana. It is home to one of the world’s most endangered primates—the Cross River Gorilla.
Eight of West Africa’s countries border the Atlantic Ocean. Local fishermen ply these waters every day in wooden boats decorated with flags and brightly painted slogans. Being situated on the Atlantic Ocean means West Africa is and always has been a major center of trade. This trade, however, was sometimes tragic, as was the case with the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade began in the mid-1400s. Until it was gradually abolished beginning in the early 1800s, millions of African men, women and children from the region were kidnapped and sold into slavery in places like Europe and North America. Because of this, parts of West Africa are still known as “the slave coast” today. Inactive slave-trading forts and castles dot the region’s shores. West Africa is rich in other trading commodities today. Cocoa, diamonds and gold are all found in West Africa.
Environmental Status West Africa
Many West African Exports Come with a Human and Environmental Price:
- Diamonds fuelled wars in countries like Sierra Leone.
- Cocoa is often harvested by child labor in countries like Ghana.
- Gold mines and oil fields frequently destroy the environment and impoverish communities.
In West Africa, like everywhere else in the world, geography and trade are connected. The land supplies the people with their means of livelihood, and everything from diamonds to oil are used to fuel economies.
The urban geography is also important. Students need to remember that, while the region does have millions of people living in extreme poverty, especially in rural areas, it also has thriving and wealthy urban centers with shopping malls and modern houses. Developed cities like Abidjan and Abuja are two examples. Young people there are into many of the same things as young people in North America—modern music, hanging out with friends and going shopping.