Template talk:Africa topic

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Western Sahara

It appears illogical to show Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Western Sahara separately in the template, as they are one and the same territory. I suggest that it is shown once (say, as Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) with a footnote referring to the other name. Davshul (talk) 09:41, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

How are these two the same? I'm sure you're aware that Western Sahara is claimed and divided by two states, the SADR included. But to synonymise it with SADR alone would be to ignore Morocco's perspective. In any case, it is classified as a "disputed territory" by the United Nations, and many articles will link to "... of Western Sahara". Nightw 12:26, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Western Sahara is exactly the same as the Territory claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. However, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic does only control part of the territory it claims. The rest of Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco. I therefore agree with Night w that these are not the same because a territory is not the same as an entity that claims this territory. -- 79.238.172.45 (talk) 05:07, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, Western Sahara is the same as the territory claimed by the Sahrawi Arab DEmocratic Republic. BUT: (Anybody, please correct me if I'm wrong) Afair, the Sawrabi Democratic Republic does not control all of the territory it claims. Part of Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco. In addition to that, Western Sahara is a territory while SADR is a (non-recognized) country which is not the same. Of course, I don't see a fundamental problem with combing a country and its territory into one article, however in case of disputed territories, there may be cases where this doesn't make sense. By the way, you wouldn't consider West Germany (as it existed in the cold war, before it recognized the East) the same as Germany because it claimed all of Germany, would you? -- Dynam1te3 (talk) 04:33, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Compare People's Republic of China and Republic of China: these are two governments which claim the same territory, but they require separate entries for many topics (see Template:Asia topic). In this case, some articles can just be redirects, e.g., Wildlife of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Wildlife of Western Sahara. But Politics of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is different from Politics of Western Sahara. Goustien (talk) 22:54, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Proposal for topic templates

A centralised proposal regarding the use of superscript notes in navigation boxes is under discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries. The disussion will affect this template. Nightw 12:02, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

In the Template, I have split the British territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha into its three constituent island parts of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, as most articles appear to refer to these islands separately. However, it may also be preferable to format the template so that it also catches references to the complete territory. Davshul (talk) 13:10, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

I personally would have preferred it to stay as the original, as that is the political unit. I'm surprised that most articles refer to it separately, could you show evidence? Another solution would be to cover any nonexistent pages with a disambiguation to each of the island's pages. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 13:54, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

If you view the category tree of Category:Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, you will find only seven artcles listed for the territory as a whole, with an estimated couple of hundred articles listed under the specific islands. Davshul (talk) 14:03, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Interesting, I dislike that situation, but c'est la vie. In that case it seems more pragmatic to have the islands as you have done, perhaps with redirects in the opposite direction. I can't think of a way to have both the islands and the unit though, so picking one I suppose we have to use islands. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 14:09, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

One could use the same formula as used for the United Kingdom and its constsituent parts in the Europe topic template, but I personally believe that that would be over-kill having regards to the relative size of this territory. Davshul (talk) 14:48, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

In a perfect world, the combined articles would be more developed. As it stands, maybe just a clarifying footnote. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 15:02, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

I think that whether these islands should be combined into one link or not should depend on the particular topic in question. For instance, Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha share one dialling system and one country code while Ascension island has its own system. For this reason, it would make sense to link to Telephone numbers in Saint Helena and Telephone numbers in Ascension but not to Telephone numbers in Tristan da Cunha which redirects to Telephone numbers in Saint Helena. -- 79.238.166.39 (talk) 00:53, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

I just noticed that it is possible to make this template show different content depending on a parameter. We could call the parameter SAT; SAT=ST would create one link for Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha and a second one for Ascension island; SAT=SAT would result in one link for the 3 islands as a whole, SAT=seperate would cause 3 seperate links etc. -- 79.238.172.45 (talk) 05:13, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

done. -- Dynam1te3 (talk) 03:20, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

I have changed the hack that I made. The template will now no longer use the parameter; It will show different links depending on the prefix or suffix used. This means that we have to hard-code which articles are seperate and which ones are combined inside the template. To me, this seems much better than duplicating this information in all TOPIC in COUNTRY articles. -- Dynam1te3 (talk) 04:24, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Southern Sudan

When will Southern Sudan be added to the template? It is clear it will win independence and should now at least be in the same category as dependencies, I think. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.61.234.225 (talk) 17:52, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

It will win independence, but until then it remains part of Sudan, not a dependency. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 08:25, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

I concur. Outback the koala (talk) 17:45, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but it could be considered an "other territory" just like Western Sahara, which is also not a dependency but according to Marocco is a part of Marocco. People will probably want to search information about Southern Sudan through this template before its acctual independence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.61.234.225 (talk) 16:32, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

As many articles could not be created till independence, Foreign relations of Southern Sudan, etc., having it in the template would serve little purpose. The final name of the country still isn't known. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 17:39, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

It's South Sudan and someone recently added it. Country code is +211. 80.42.232.212 (talk) 19:35, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from 68.38.143.81, 2 September 2011

change capital of libya from redirecting to tripoli to give two options: 1 for capital of TNC and one of Great Arab...

68.38.143.81 (talk) 02:27, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

The redirect is in place at Capital of Libya which is not semi-protected. However, our article on the TNC states that they are moving to Tripoli, regarding that as the national capital, so the redirect is still valid. Warofdreams talk 12:06, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Ascension island

This is a minor point but I can't change it myself because of the template protection- on the Economy of Africa template under Dependencies and other territories there is a link to Economy of Ascension Island. Information on the economy can already be seen on the Ascension Island page, and given the relatively small population I would suggest that this link be changed to a section link: Ascension Island. I noticed this from the most wanted articles page, and there are also red links to climate and demographics which i am sure could be resolved in much the same way. Thanks, --Cutiekatie (talk) 16:16, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

This is solved by creating redirects, which I've now done for Economy, Climate, and Demographics. The template can not be edited to tailor to each individual instance, but the redirect mean readers end up at appropriate places, and also mean that if a main article is later created for the subject readers will automatically be sent there. If you see any more of these situations, just make the redirect. Regards, CMD (talk) 17:11, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Public holidays

Just curious about the reversal of my edit. Did it result in any mus-categorization? -- 签名 _sig at 12:08, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

This template is used for a wide variety of topics, from politics to literature to public holidays. Placing a specific category on it will result in all uses appearing under that category. CMD (talk) 01:34, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Did it actually happen? The code around the category should have prevented it. -- 签名 _sig at 06:21, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

I wasn't sure what was happening, as the articles didn't appear to me at Category:Lists of public holidays by region, so I reverted out of caution. They still don't appear for me. Are they there for you? (I have Niger but it appears to be actually written in that article) CMD (talk) 07:55, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

No yet. It can take time to update. Someone might need to edit the articles first. -- 签名 _sig at 08:03, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Ah yes, the articles need to be edited. Don't know why that is. My apologies. CMD (talk) 08:15, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 March 2014

120.28.121.48 (talk) 02:09, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Jackmcbarn (talk) 03:02, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Spanish and Portuguese dependencies

I can see that the Spanish and Portuguese dependencies (Canaries and Madeira etc) were removed without any discussion, I thought geographically they were still part of the African continent. I could try to put them back, but don't want to break the template...Jokulhlaup (talk) 16:04, 23 May 2015 (UTC)

Because they aren't dependencies or special territories. The Canaries are a region of Spain as the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. They are like Toledo, Barcelona or Malaga.--Adri Ferriol (talk) 11:48, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

And they're in Africa, hence their appearance in this template. CMD (talk) 11:59, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Demographics of Madeira

Could someone please add this article? I don't want to break the template Gbawden (talk) 19:52, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Madeira, along with the Canaries and the plazas de soberania, was removed repeatedly by the same editor, starting here. Considering the opposition to these edits in the previous section, I've restored them again. SiBr₄ (talk) 22:41, 18 December 2015 (UTC)