The Western Africa covers regions Sahel and Sudan, and also tropical forests of Equatorial Guinea. A climate because of winds - trade winds step-by-step-wet with variously expressed seasons of droughts and rains. In Sahele there is not enough vegetation, Sudan is dominated with savannas, at coast a strip of a tropical forests exists.
In a transient zone to Sahara and in Mauritania berbers and moors with more light leather live, to the South - first of all nigero-cordofan nationalities. Many Western Africans are followers of traditional religions. Also there is an islam which has come in Middle Ages, alongside with minority of the Christians who have appeared as a result of living at cost European missioners activity.
Before the arrival of Europeans to the Western Africa there were significant states, such as Ghana, Mali and Songai. Since XV century at coast the colonies of Portugueses, the Frenchmen and Englishmen, being engaged in trade in slaves, in particular with America have started to emerge.
The Western Africa for a long time was considered as " a tomb of the white person ". Tropical diseases, such as the malaria, a yellow fever or sleepy illness killed in XVIII century in the first year from 25 up to 75 percent of newly arrived Europeans. During the next years about ten percent died. Illnesses were distributed by huge amount of mosquitoes and flies tse-tse, except for its bad hygienic conditions during seasons of rains affected. In XX century the colonial borders in the Western Africa have become stronger, before the wave of independence in 1960 began.
The Western Africa is divided by contradictions between French-speaking and the English-speaking countries consisting not only in a language barrier but also in different mentalities and outlooks. Communications of former colonies with former mother countries are quite often closer, than with the next states. The Western-African community ECOWAS serves an integration in region and tries to create peace in different hot points (Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Cote d'Ivoir).
The road infrastructure is advanced poorly, railways exist only from inner regions to coast and are a heritage of colonial economic policy. Significant ports are Dakar, Conakry, Abidjan, Akkra, Lome and Lagos.
The states Sahelja are considered to be the poorest countries of the world, Nigeria, despite of rich oil resources, also strongly lags behind in development. At coast in an agriculture the monocultures intended for export grow. The most part of Western Africans is engaged in self-supply.
The Western Africa is the native place for more than half of African languages. The majority of them belong to Congo-Cordofan and Afro-Asian language groups. For traditional culture of the nationalities living in savannas and tropical forests the oral folklore and transfer of knowledge and also use of masks and dances in the ceremonial purposes have the big value.