Społeczności polskie i polonijne w Afryce Zachodniej
Polish communities and Polish diaspora in West Africa

Summary/Abstract: The article points to the stay and activity of Poles in West Africa since the first links were forged until the present day. Initially they were present there as sailors serving under foreign flags. Later they were joined by the military and sailors who found themselves abroad. In the 19th c. and the interwar period, Polish civilian emigrants arrived there, although only as individuals. Another group were military emigrants who were present in the German colonial army and served in the French Foreign Legion. A larger group consisted of soldiers and officers of the Polish Army who were evacuated to Great Britain after 1939. Together with British soldiers, they transported planes from West Africa to Egypt, and then the planes fought against German troops. After completing their tasks, they returned to the European continent.The establishment of Polish communities and Polish diaspora in West Africa occurred after World War II. It was then that a small number of war emigrants concentrated there, along with Polish specialists, scientific and technical staff as well as missionaries, Polish-African families and representatives of Polish diaspora from other parts of the world. Until 1989, West African countries employed about 5 thousand specialists, and some of them were accompanied by families. The importance of scientific and technical staff declined after the fall of the communist regime. Since then, only a few specialists have gone to this region of the world.Contemporary Polish communities and Polish diaspora in West African countries are small, together constituting a community of about 700 people. Almost half of them have found a place to live or work in Nigeria, which has the largest economy and population. Other countries have much smaller communities.

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