West Africa West Africa West Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. West Africa has been defined as including 17 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, the island nation of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The population of West Africa is estimated at about /1e6 round 0 million people as of . Studies of human mitochondrial DNA suggest that all humans share common ancestors from Africa, originated in the southwestern regions near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola at the
History of Liberia the country, who constitute the majority of the population. Years of civil war have disrupted the country and its economy. Historians believe that many of the indigenous peoples of Liberia migrated there from the north and east between the 12th and 16th centuries AD. Portuguese explorers established contacts with people of the land later known as "Liberia" as early as 1462. They named the area "Costa da Pimentia" (Pepper Coast), or Grain Coast, because of the abundance of melegueta pepper, which became desired in European cooking. In 1602 the Dutch established a trading post at Grand Cape Mount but destroyed