West Africa territory in the south Atlantic Ocean. In the United Nations scheme of African regions, the region includes 17 states and the island of Saint Helena, an overseas territory: Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Niger are mostly in the Sahel, a transition zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanian Savanna, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria compose Guinea, the traditional name for the area near the Gulf of Guinea, Cape Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean, Mauritania lies in the Maghreb, the northwestern region of Africa that has historically been
Gold Coast (region) more territory inland in the late 19th century after the Anglo-Ashanti wars. In 1957, the territory of Gold Coast was granted independence as Ghana. Gold Coast (region) The Gold Coast was the name for a region on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa that was rich in gold and also in petroleum, sweet crude oil and natural gas. It now forms the country of Ghana. The Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Pepper Coast (or Grain Coast) were named after the main export resources there. Early uses of the term Gold Coast refer literally to the coast and not the interior.