WEST AFRICA

WEST AFRICA, name given to the region SW. of the Sahara, consisting of low lands with high lands behind, and through the valleys of which rivers flow down, and including Senegambia, Upper Guinea, and Lower Guinea, the coast of which is occupied by trading stations.

Formerly, trading stations belonged to the French, the English, the Germans, the Belgians, and the Portuguese, who severally forced their way into the inland territory connected with their several stations. Most of the regions are now independent.