Chapter 19: West Africa

Nigeria is a large country with a coastline on the Gulf of Guinea. It takes its name from the Niger River. Its climate moves from tropical rainforest to savanna and then steppe as you travel from south to north. Although it is one of the world's major oil producing countries, most of its people work and live on small subsistence farms. With more than 300 ethnic groups, there have been long periods of ethnic conflict. The government is working to build greater national unity.

Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad are located in the Sahel. From the A.D. 500s to 1500s three great African empires arose in this region. Today the people of the Sahel face a continuing struggle to keep grasslands from turning into desert. Most of these people are subsistence farmers or livestock herders.

West Africa also includes eleven countries that stretch along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Guinea. These countries have a good climate for agriculture and most people are farmers.