West Africa
West Africa is the most densely populated area of Africa. It is in many ways both the continent's most difficult place for travel and potentially its most rewarding.Tap on the map to travel |
Photo: Baliola, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Popular Destinations
Ghana
Photo: Erik Cleves Kristensen, CC BY 2.0.
Ghana is a country in West Africa is a gratifying destination for first-time visitors to West Africa owing to its good infrastructure, political stability and widespread use of English.
Senegal
Senegal is a country in West Africa. Formerly a French colony, it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World.Destinations
Benin
Photo: Shubert Ciencia, CC BY 2.0.
Benin is a country in West Africa. You'll find culture through a large collection of palatial ruins and temples of the once powerful Kingdom of Dahomey.
Côte d'Ivoire
Photo: Axe, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Côte d'Ivoire is a country in West Africa, visited for its beaches, rainforest, wildlife and tourist villages.
Cape Verde
Photo: Ximonic, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Cape Verde or CV is a country in West Africa. It is located in a cluster of islands of the Atlantic Ocean, 570 km off the western coast of Senegal.
Burkina Faso
Photo: qiv, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, is a landlocked country in West Africa.
Gambia
The Gambia is a small, narrow country along the length of the Gambia River in West Africa, almost completely surrounded by Senegal.Guinea
Photo: julien harneis, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Guinea is a former French colony in West Africa. The country is sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.
Guinea-Bissau
Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
Guinea-Bissau is an off-the-beaten-path destination on the west coast of Africa.
Sierra Leone
Photo: Annabel Symington, CC BY 2.0.
Sierra Leone is on the West Coast of Africa. The potential for tourism is vast, but largely unrealised, despire the end of the Civil War in 2002, and tour operators are looking closely at what the country has to offer.
Togo
Photo: Ferdinand Reus, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Togo is a narrow country in West Africa, sandwiched between Ghana on the west and Benin on the east.
Liberia
Photo: Sahmeditor, Public domain.
Liberia is a country in West Africa. Established and formed by the American Colonization Society —…
West Africa
- Type: region
- Description: westernmost region of the African continent
- Neighbors: Central Africa and North Africa
- Category: cultural region
- Location: Africa
- View on OpenStreetMap
Latitude of centre
9.4894° or 9° 29' 22" northLongitude of centre
-2.6886° or 2° 41' 19" westWikidata ID
Q4412West Africa Satellite Map
© OpenStreetMap, Mapbox and Maxar
Also Known As
- Abkhazian: Tafriqt Umalu
- Achinese: Afrika Barat
- Afar: Batıs Afrika
- Afrikaans: Wes-Afrika
- Albanian: Afrika Perëndimore
- Albanian: Afrika perëndimore
- Amharic: ምዕራብ አፍሪካ
- Arabic: Katundan nga Apriká
- Arabic: أفريقيا الغربية
- Arabic: إفريقيا الغربية
- Arabic: إفريقية الغربية
- Arabic: الغرب الإفريقي
- Arabic: غرب أفريقيا
- Arabic: غرب إفريقيا
- Arabic: غربي أفريقيا
- Armenian: Արևմտյան Աֆրիկա
- Arpitan: Africa du Cuchient
- Arpitan: Africa du Ponant
- Asturian: África Occidental
- Avaric: Taltefa Afrika
- Azerbaijani: Qərbi Afrika
- Bashkir: Көнбайыш Африка
- Basque: Afrika mendebalde
- Basque: Mendebaldeko Afrika
- Belarusian: Заходняя Афрыка
- Bengali: পশ্চিম আফ্রিকা
- Bosnian: Zapadna Afrika
- Breton: Afrika ar C'hornaoueg
- Breton: Afrika ar C'hornôg
- Breton: Kornôg Afrika
- Bulgarian: Западна Африка
- Catalan: Àfrica Occidental
- Catalan: Àfrica de l'Oest
- Catalan: Àfrica occindental
- Central Bikol: Aprikang Solnopan
- Central Kurdish: ڕۆژئاوای ئەفریقا
- Chinese: Sai Hui-chiu
- Chinese: 西部非洲
- Chinese: 西非
- Chinese: 西非洲
- Chinese: 非洲西部
- Chuvash: Анăç Африка
- Croatian: Zapadna Afrika
- Czech: Západní Afrika
- Danish: Vestafrika
- Dimli (individual language): Afrika Rocawani
- Dutch: West-Afrika
- Dutch: West Afrika
- English: Western Africa
- English: West of Africa
- Esperanto: Okcident-Afriko
- Esperanto: Okcidenta Afriko
- Esperanto: Okcidentafriko
- Estonian: Lääne-Aafrika
- Finnish: Länsi-Afrikka
- French: Afrique de l'Ouest
- French: Afrique de l’Ouest
- French: Afrique occidentale
- French: Ouest-africain
- Galician: África Occidental
- Georgian: დასავლეთ აფრიკა
- Georgian: დასავლეთი აფრიკა
- German: Westafrika
- German: Westliches Afrika
- Ghanaian Pidgin English: West Africa
- Greek: Δυτική Αφρική
- Haitian: Afrik lwès
- Hausa: Afirka ta Yamma
- Hebrew: אפריקה המערבית
- Hebrew: מערב אפריקה
- Hindi: पश्चिम अफ्रीका
- Hindi: पश्चिमी अफ़्रीका
- Hindi: पश्चिमी अफ्रीका
- Hungarian: Nyugat-Afrika
- Icelandic: Vestur-Afríka
- Iloko: Akinlaud nga Aprika
- Iloko: Laud nga Aprika
- Iloko: Laud ti Aprika
- Inari Sami: Viestâr-Afrik
- Indonesian: Afrika Barat
- Irish: An Afraic Thiar
- Italian: Africa occidentale
- Japanese: アフリカ西部
- Japanese: 西アフリカ
- Japanese: 西部アフリカ
- Javanese: Afrika Kulon
- Kabyle: Tafriqt Umalu
- Kannada: ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಆಫ್ರಿಕ
- Kannada: ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾ
- Kara-Kalpak: Batis Afrika
- Kazakh: Батыс Африка
- Kinaray-A: Afrika Nakatungdan
- Kinaray-A: Nakatungdan nga Afrika
- Kirghiz: Батыш Африка
- Kongo: Afelika ya Lumonso
- Korean: 서부아프리카
- Korean: 서아불리가
- Korean: 서아프리카
- Kotava: Taltefa Afrika
- Lao: Laud nga Aprika
- Latin: Africa Occidentalis
- Latvian: Rietumu Āfrika
- Latvian: Rietumāfrika
- Lingua Franca Nova: Africa ueste
- Lithuanian: Vakarų Afrika
- Low German: West-Afrika
- Luxembourgish: Westafrika
- Macedonian: Западна Африка
- Malagasy: Afrika Andrefana
- Malay: Afrika Barat
- Malayalam: West Africa
- Malayalam: പടിഞ്ഞാറേ ആഫ്രിക്ക
- Malayalam: പടിഞ്ഞാറൻ ആഫ്രിക്ക
- Marathi: पश्चिम आफ्रिका
- Min Nan Chinese: Se Hui-chiu
- Mingrelian: ბჟადალი აფრიკა
- Moksha: Шиньмадомаширень Африкась
- Mongolian: Баруун Африк
- Mongolian: Өрнө Африк
- Mongolian: Өрнөд Африк
- N'Ko: ߊߝߙߌߞߌ߫ ߕߟߋ߬ߓߋ
- Northern Sami: Oarje-Afrihká
- Norwegian: Vest-Afrika
- Norwegian Bokmål: Vest-Afrika
- Norwegian Bokmål: Vestafrika
- Norwegian Bokmål: Vestlige Afrika
- Norwegian Bokmål: Vestre Afrika
- Norwegian Nynorsk: Vest-Afrika
- Norwegian Nynorsk: Vestafrika
- Occitan (post 1500): Africa de l'Oèst
- Oromo: Afrikaa Dhihaa
- Panjabi: ਪੱਛਮੀ ਅਫ਼ਰੀਕਾ
- Pedi: Afrika Bodikela
- Persian: آفريقاي غربي
- Persian: افريقاي غربي
- Persian: افریقای غربی
- Persian: غرب آفریقا
- Polish: Afryka Zachodnia
- Polish: Zachodnia Afryka
- Portuguese: Oeste africano
- Portuguese: África Ocidental
- Pushto: لوېديځه افريقا
- Romanian: Africa Occidentală
- Romanian: Africa de Vest
- Russian: Западная Африка
- Santali: ᱯᱟᱪᱮ ᱟᱯᱷᱨᱤᱠᱟ
- Scottish Gaelic: Afraga an Iar
- Scottish Gaelic: Taobh Siar Afraga
- Serbian: Западна Африка
- Serbo-Croatian: Zapadna Afrika
- Shona: Afurika ye Madokero
- Silesian: Zachodniŏ Afryka
- Sindhi: اولهه آفريڪا
- Skolt Sami: Viõstâr-Afrikk
- Slovak: Západná Afrika
- Slovenian: Zahodna Afrika
- Somali: Galbeedka Afrika
- Spanish: África Occidental
- Sundanese: Afrika Kulon
- Swahili: Afrika Magharibi
- Swahili: Afrika ya Magharibi
- Swedish: Väst afrika
- Swedish: Västafrika
- Tagalog: Kanlurang Aprika
- Tajik: Африқои Ғарбӣ
- Tamil: மேற்காபிரிக்கா
- Tamil: மேற்கு ஆபிரிக்கா
- Tamil: மேற்கு ஆப்பிரிக்கா
- Tatar: Көнбатыш Африка
- Thai: แอฟริกาตะวันตก
- Turkish: Batı Afrika
- Turkmen: Günbatar Afrika
- Tyap: Afrika Jenshyung
- Tyap: Fam Afrika Jenshyung
- Tyap: Fam Kwa̱imam Afrika
- Tyap: Jenshyung Afrika
- Tyap: Kwa̱imam Afrika
- Tyap: Wesafrika
- Tyap: West Africa
- Ukrainian: Західна Африка
- Urdu: مغربی افریقا
- Urdu: مغربی افریقہ
- Uzbek: G'arbiy Afrika
- Uzbek: Gʻarbiy Afrika
- Venetian: Africa Ocidental
- Venetian: Africa Ocidentale
- Venetian: Africa Ocidentałe
- Venetian: Africa Osidentałe
- Venetian: Africa Ozsidentałe
- Vietnamese: Miền tây châu Phi
- Vietnamese: Tây Phi
- Walloon: Afrike coûtchantrece
- Waray (Philippines): Katundan nga Aprika
- Waray (Philippines): Katundan nga Apriká
- Waray (Philippines): Natondan nga Aprika
- Waray (Philippines): Natondan nga Apriká
- Waray (Philippines): West Africa
- Welsh: Affrica Gorllewinol
- Welsh: Gorllewin Affrica
- Western Frisian: West-Afrika
- Western Panjabi: لہندا افریقا
- Western Panjabi: لہندا افریقہ
- Wolof: Sowu Afrik
- Wolof: Sowwu Afrig
- Wolof: Sowwu Afrik
- Wu Chinese: 西非
- Yakut: Арҕаа Африка
- Yiddish: מערב אפריקע
- Yoruba: Apa Iwoorun Afrika
- Yoruba: Apaiwoorun Afrika
- Yoruba: Iwoorun Afrika
- Yoruba: West Africa
- Yoruba: Ìhà ìwọ̀-oòrùn
- Yoruba: Ìwọòrùn Áfríkà
- Yoruba: Ìwọòrùn Áfíríkà
- Yoruba: Ìwọ̀orùn Áfríkà
- Yue Chinese: 西非
- Afrikay Rocawani
- ڕۆژاوای ئەفریقا
Popular Destinations in Africa
Escape to a Random Place
About Mapcarta. Thanks to Mapbox for providing amazing maps. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, excluding photos, directions and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page West Africa. Photo: Baliola, CC BY-SA 3.0.