MaliMali (ˈmɑːli; mali), officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered on the north by Algeria, on the east by Niger, on the northwest by Mauritania, on the south by Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, and on the west by Guinea and Senegal. The population of Mali is million. 67% of its population was estimated to be under the age of 25 in 2017. Its capital and largest city is Bamako.
SaharaThe Sahara (səˈhɑːrə, səˈhærə) is a desert on the African continent. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic. The name "Sahara" is derived from the Arabic word for "desert" in the feminine irregular form, the singular (صحراء //ˈSaHra), plural (صَحَارَى //ˈSaHaaraa), (صَحَار), (صَحْرَاوَات), (صَحَارِي).
ChadChad (tʃæd ), officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south.
NigeriaNigeria (naɪˈdʒɪəriə ), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of , and with a population of over 230 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west.
Burkina FasoBurkina Faso (bɜːrˌkiːnə_ˈfæsoʊ , -ˈfɑːsoʊ ; buʁkina faso, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of 20,321,378. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè (bɜːrˈkiːnəbeɪ ), and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.
BeninBenin (bɛˈniːn , bᵻˈniːn ; Bénin benɛ̃, Benɛ, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its population lives on the southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Porto-Novo, and the seat of government is in Cotonou, the most populous city and economic capital.
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both aspects. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With billion people as of , it accounts for about of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.
Fula peopleThe Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people (Fulɓe, 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫; Peul; Fulani or Hilani; Kanuri: Fillata; Fula; Pël; Fulaw; A̱fa̱taa) is an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, and regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan. The approximate number of Fula people is unknown, due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity. Various estimates put the figure between 25 and 30 million people worldwide.
SahelThe Sahel (səˈhɛl; ساحل ˈsaːħil, "coast, shore") is a region in Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.
AdobeAdobe (əˈdoʊbi ; aˈðoβe) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. Adobe is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of earthen construction, or various architectural styles like Pueblo Revival or Territorial Revival. Most adobe buildings are similar in appearance to cob and rammed earth buildings. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world.
Niger RiverThe Niger River (ˈnaɪdʒər ; (le) fleuve Niger (lə) flœv niʒɛʁ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta (or the Oil Rivers), into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean.
Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa, Subsahara, or Non-Mediterranean Africa, is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region, the term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN).
BerbersBerbers (بربر) or the Berber peoples, also called by their contemporary self-name Amazigh (æməˈzɪɡ) or Imazighen (ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ, ⵎⵣⵗⵏ; singular: Amaziɣ, ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ ⵎⵣⵗ; أمازيغ), are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migrations to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family.
Berber languagesThe Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa. The languages are primarily spoken and not typically written. Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh.
TogoTogo (ˈtoʊɡoʊ ), officially the Togolese Republic (République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, which covers and has a population of approximately 8 million, and has a width of less than between Ghana and its eastern neighbor Benin.
African UnionThe African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The intention of the AU was to replace the Organization of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments; the OAU was disbanded on 9 July 2002.
Trans-Saharan tradeTrans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara between West, Central, Eastern and Northern Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, the herding of sheep, goats, large settlements, and pottery. Cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara (Ahaggar) from 4000 to 3500 BC.
MaghrebThe Maghreb (ˈmʌɡrəb; al-Maghrib), also known as the Arab Maghreb (المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania (also considered part of West Africa), Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb also includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara (controlled mostly by Morocco and partly by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla.
LibyaLibya (ˈlɪbiə ; Lībiyā, liː.bi.jæː), officially the State of Libya (Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. Libya is made of three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost , it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world.
French colonial empireThe French Colonial Empire (Empire colonial français) comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire," that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the "Second French colonial empire," which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. At its apex between the two world wars, the second French colonial empire was the second-largest colonial empire in the world behind the British Empire.
