Meet the Tribes in Africa|| West Africa

Accepting that definition of the North, it means that West Africa comprises the Atlantic Coastal Countries heading south from Mauritania and turning west through Nigeria and the Cameroons into the Equatorial Forest region. There are several tribes throughout the West including:

Yoruba

The Yoruba living almost exclusively in Nigeria’s South West number over 40 million so are comfortably the largest tribe in the whole of West Africa.  The huge conurbation of Lagos is primarily Yoruba with the people still recognizable as from a specific tribe simply on language. However, although other towns exist in the wider Yoruba region, many still live a tradition rural subsistence life.

Ashanti

Numbering around 9 million, the Ashanti of Ghana have their own language although the colonial language, English, is understood in cities. Their religion involves the supernatural and spiritual with ancestors very important in family life. Those aspects are more evident in rural areas away from Ghana’s capital, Accra.

Mbenga

The best known of the Pygmy Ethnic Group are the Mbenga who are found in the West Congo Basin. There are a dozen different pygmy groups with the Mbenga one that speaks Bantu and Ubangian. They are hunter-gatherers largely dependent on what the forests can provide. They trade with neighbors for other things they need. Accurate numbers are difficult to ascertain but educated guesses suggest around half a million live in the Congo rainforest.