PENNSVALLEY
92
COPYRIGHT
Western Africa
Lesson 47:
Natural Resources and Economy
of Western Africa
ThenationsofWesternAfricaare verypoor.Most peoplemakea living from theprimary industries
of agriculture, fishing, and timber. In the mountainous regions, mining produces minerals such as
bauxite, iron ore, rutile, diamonds, gold, and phosphates. Unstable governments, military coups, civil
war, and social unrest among the many ethnic groups create severe problems for the already weak
economies ofWesternAfrica.
ACTIVITY 1:
Ask your teacher for a blank map of Africa and the economic picture symbols from the
Blackline
Master File (BLM)
.
1) Using the chart of Western Africa Products and Industries as a resource, paste the product
symbols to the countries inWestern Africa that we have studied.
Remember
, countries of Western
Africa have products in common, so picture symbolsmay be usedmore than once.
2) In parentheses, behind each symbol on your map, write
1
to represent a primary industry,
2
to
represent a secondary industry, and
3
to represent a tertiary industry.
WesternAfrica Products and Industries
Country
Major Products and Industries
CapeVerde
bananas, coconut, sugar cane, salt, volcanic rock, food processing
Senegal
peanuts
, sugar cane, cereal grains, rice, cotton, palm kernels,
fishing
phosphates, iron ore, petroleum reserves,
tourism
Gambia
peanuts
, rice, tin, food processing,
tourism
Guinea
coffee, timber, fish, tropical fruits, rice, food processing
bauxite
, iron ore, gold, diamonds, uranium,
Guinea-Bissau peanuts, cashews
, palm kernels, timber, fish and shrimp, food processing
Sierra Leone cocoa, coffee, palm kernels,
diamonds, gold, iron ore, bauxite,
rutile (used to produce titanium), chromite (used in chromium to increase
hardness inmetals),
tourism
Liberia
rubber
, rice, coffee, timber, fish,
ironore,
diamonds, gold
IvoryCoast
coffee, cocoa
, rice, bananas, timber, fish, cotton, tobacco
off-shore oil/ gas, iron ore, copper, bauxite, nickel, uranium, diamonds
Burkina
cotton
, peanuts, cereal grains, sugar cane, cattle, goats,
manganese (amineral used to strengthen steel), limestone
Ghana
cocoa, timber
, fish, rubber,
gold
, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, oil/natural gas,
Togo
cocoa, coffee
, cotton, rice, yams, cassava, corn,
phosphates
Nigeria
cocoa, rubber, peanuts, palm kernels,
oil
, iron ore, coal, lead, zinc
paper products, tobacco products, cement, and consumer goods.
Benin
cotton, cocoa, coffee, palm kernels,
off-shore oil, limestone, gold
