Which countries go here?

[Figleaf]

According to the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, the following countries constitute West Africa:

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cabo Verde
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Liberia
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Togo

Map source: By Mondo Magic (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Mauritania is the area North of Senegal and west of Mali.

This board also covers predecessor countries and their monetary unions.

Peter

[FosseWay]

Strange that St Helena etc. go there. I've always put them in South America, mostly because they logically belong together with the Falkland Islands and the latter are clearly in South America. The islands in the middle are on the plate boundary like Iceland is, so geographically they can be either/or. But given that we have allocated Greenland to Scandinavia for historical and political reasons, I would allocate St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha to South America.

[<k>]

We have a tradition now on the forum of St Helena, Ascension and TDC being assigned to Africa. Having written topics for all these, I'd like to see it kept as that. Also, they are physically that bit closer to Africa than South America. What do our members think?

It would be interesting to see what the people of St Helena think, so I'll ask them and publish their reply, if I get one.

[Figleaf]

I followed UN practices, hoping they would be least controversial...

Peter

[FosseWay]

I'm not bothered either way tbh - but the question was asked, so I answered it!

If I want to find something I'm most likely to use the search function anyway, rather than searching on where in the file structure I think it might be.

[<k>]

The view from St Helena:

St Helena is closer to Africa than S. America and has ties to Africa, but much less so than to S. America.

Most of our food imports come from S. Africa.  We send people needing hospital treatment to S. Africa, and there are many Saints living in and around Cape Town.  I think sociologically it has to be Africa.

Hope that helps.

John Turner

Saint Helena Island Info

http://sainthelenaisland.info