North Africa: Perhaps among the least visited of all the provinces (right up there with Syria) North Africa is a sheer waste of time to any French player unless he needs it to capture Tunis.
North Africa is also a waste of time for Italy early on because the Western Mediterranean will do just as well to get into the Atlantic. In one game I played recently, Italy moved Tunis to North Africa in Spring 1902, then back to Tunis in the fall, then back to North Africa in Spring 1903, and back to Tunis in the fall. Needless to say, he was wasting his time trying to figure out who to attack and fell apart quickly.
Later in the game, the major Atlantic power will probably seek to seal up the Atlantic by keeping fleets in MAO and Portugal, which can only be dislodged if Spa, WES and NAF are all occupied. Unfortunately, another fleet in IRI, NAT or ENG can prevent this from happening.