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West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa.The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom Overseas Territory).
Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African states, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states. West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the population history of West Africa. [1]
During the medieval period of Europe which corresponds roughly to the Golden Age of West Africa, several great empires and kingdoms sprang out from the Senegambia region, including but not limited to the great Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Jolof Empire, the Kaabu Empire, the Kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, Baol, Waalo and Takrur.
The Kissi people are a West African ethnolinguistic group. [5] They are the fourth largest ethnic group in Guinea, making up 6.2% of the population. [6] Kissi people are also found in Liberia and Sierra Leone. They speak the Kissi language, which belongs to the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. [7]
West African manuscripts by Siré Abbàs Soh, as communicated by Yoro Dyao, detailed six migrations from Egypt to Senegambia. [18] West African manuscripts contain record of the "enthronement of Askiyà Dāwūd (d. 1583) in 958/1551–1552. The texts of Cahiers n°s 2 and 5 record the same events, often described verbatim, for the earlier period.
In many parts of West Africa, there is an old chieftaincy tradition, and the Akan people have developed their own hierarchy, which exists alongside the democratic structure of the country. The Akan word for the ruler or one of his various courtiers is "Nana" (English pronunciation / ˈ n æ n ə /). In colonial times, Europeans translated it as ...
With exception to some parts of West Africa (e.g., Ntereso, Kintampo), prior to the late first millennium BCE, West African hunter-gatherers, who were the most widely spread cultural group of socially organized populations, were likely the only group to populate the forest and savanna regions of West Africa. [4]
West African mythology is the body of myths of the people of West Africa. It consists of tales of various deities, beings, legendary creatures , heroes and folktales from various ethnic groups. Some of these myths traveled across the Atlantic during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to become part of Caribbean , African-American and ...