French West Africa

Meaning

Proper Noun

• A geographical group of French colonies in West Africa under the supervisory authority of a single governor-general, comprising the following colonised countries (present names as independent republics in parentheses if different): Dahomey (Benin), French Guinea (Guinea), the French Sudan (Mali), Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta (Burkina Faso). The last governor-general was also the first of two successive High commissioners, charged with the transition to independence as independent republics, without a common administrative level.

Origin

• English rendering of French Afrique Occidentale française.