Background

West Africa is west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude . The Atlantic Ocean forms the western and southern borders of the region. The northern border is the Sahara Desert , with the Ranishanu Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at the Benue Trough, and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad. Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African nations, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more countries. The inhabitants of West Africa are, in contrast to most of Southern and Middle Africa, non- Bantu speaking peoples. Geography and climate West Africa, if one includes the western portion of the Maghreb ( Western Sahara , Morocco , Algeria , and Tunisia ), occupies an area in excess of 6 ,140 ,000  km 2 , or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous countries along the southern shore of the region. The northern section of West Africa is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel , a transitional zone between the Sahara and the savannahs of the western Sudan forests form a third belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160  km to 240  km in width. [ 2 ] Bahasa Melayu