2022/08/25

區域介紹

西部非洲

#幾內亞灣 #石油 #音樂 #足球 #黃金 #血鑽石 #法國殖民 #ISWAP #博科聖地 #部落衝突 #GulfofGuinea #FossilFuel #music #football #BloodDiamond #FrenchColony #IslamicState #BokoHaram #TribalConflict

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基本資料

沿著撒哈拉沙漠往西南方走,便是眾多幾內亞灣國家所在地:西部非洲(簡稱西非)。這大概是台灣人最陌生的一塊區域了,許多名字只有在世足賽當中聽過,打開地圖也分不出誰在哪裡。
西非有16個國家,除了幾個內陸國家,其餘大多圍繞著幾內亞灣,密密麻麻的,是非洲平均國家面積最小的一個區域。這裡有著豐富的石油和礦產資源,有些國家甚至以黃金和鑽石礦聞名,但民眾多半沒有享受到財富。這裡曾是法國殖民重鎮,有8個國家官方語言為法語,並使用共同貨幣「西非法郎」,但「去殖民化」到現在仍沒有個共識。這裡也有著嚴重的種族衝突,內戰、屠村等新聞層出不窮。然而現在,西非有著更令人頭痛的問題,極端主義組織伊斯蘭國(IS),恐怕要在這裡東山再起了。

If you travel southwest along the edge of the Sahara Desert, you will reach West Africa where many coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea are situated. This is probably the area which the Taiwanese people are the least familiar with so far.  Most have probably only heard the names of these countries during the world cup but could not find them on a map. 

There are 16 countries in West Africa. Most of them densely situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, except for a few land-locked states. This region has the smallest average country size by area in Africa. The region boasts of rich fossil fuel and mineral reserves and some countries are even known for their gold and diamond mines. However, the people of these countries largely don’t benefit from the wealth these resources bring. This region used to be an important French colony, leading to eight countries adopting French as their official language and the West African CFA franc as their common currency. However, countries in this region still cannot find common ground on decolonization. Tribal conflict is a severe problem in this area. News about civil wars and village massacres are not news anymore. But now, West Africa faces an ever more unsettling threat: the Islamic State (IS), an extremist group, is likely to make a comeback here. 

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