Myths and Facts about Africa

A presentation of my thoughs mixed with those of Jacob Crawford in his excerpt that can be found at http://crawfurd.dk/africa/

Most people frequently use the word Africa, not only for the continent,
but also as a common denominator for 50 countries, 720 million people and 1000
languages. We say "Africa" when we don't remember the names of the countries and
many people wrongfully believe there is a common language called "African". We
also use terms like "African culture", "African music" or "African
religion" even though there is no single culture, music or religion for all of
the countries/regions. A first step to understanding "Africa" is to acknowledge
that it consists of a huge number of religions, tribes and groups of people each
with a very different history.

I have noticed that most people who've neber been in Africa think its a huge country with all its citizens living in the same conditions, eating the same food, dancing at the same rythm,listening to the same music and speaking the same language. In Senegal alone, there are more than 10 spoken languages, ethnic groups, cultures.....

''Quite describing for our view on Africa and it is history, "Africa" is
not even an African word. The origin of the word is still a little uncertain,
but it is credible to see a connection from Latin (Africa = sunny) and Greek
(Aphrike = not cold). The Romans were the first to use the name. For them it
covered Tunisia and the most northern parts of Algeria and Libya. They could
also have been inspired to the name from some of the first people they met on
the continenent: The Afri, which were a berber tribe in the Carthage area. Egypt
was already known territory, but further South was unknown land. Around 2,000
years ago "Aethiopia" seems to have been used to describe the land found south
of Sahara, but Europeans later used "Africa" to describe the entire continent.
This is why we began to see Africa one land with only one kind of people.
Strangely enough it changed from the land of sunshine and warmth to "the dark
continent". The story is much more complex than that: a more fulfilling
explanation can be found in the excellent book "Wonders of the African World" by
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr

It has always been comfortable and easy for Westerners to see Africa
as a whole. Africa used to be somewhere far away with dark skinned people,
having customs so different from our own: A land of fairytales or sometimes
horror. Today we are a bit wiser, but it still seems like an impossible task to
really understand the amounts and numbers we are dealing with in Africa... the
cultural diversities – and the social disparities.
The African continent is
so vast, varied and rich in every way. It is fantastic and completely
incomprehensible. Nothing compares to all this and yet we try to make it all fit
into a small word of 6 letters. It is almost an insult! It is Impossible! No
word can hold so much ...but in some way it does.
When used to generalise
and simplify the word can be harmful, but most people on the continent proudly
describes themselves as Africans. Sometimes the African identity is even
stronger than the actual nationality. Historically this could be due to the fact
that most nations and borders in Africa are a European-colonial invention.
Before colonialism there were around 10,000 kingdoms, but no countries called "Kenya", "Ghana", "South Africa" or "Ivory
Coast". Independence gave birth to the nations we know today, but also to a
pan-African feeling. Generalising again, I risk saying that Africans all over
the world calls each other "brothers and sisters". Obviously the colonial
exploitation had given the Africans some kind of a common history. But long
before any white man sat foot in Africa the tribes and people had already been
mixed together and switched homelands several times. Obviously there ARE
similarities between tribes and people in Africa.''

Even it it has been misused and people dont always know the meaning of the word 'Africa'. I love the word for everything it has to offer. I love the word Africa for every bit of history that has been written about it. I love the word Africa for the thousands and thousands of cultures it describes. I love the word Africa for the thousands and thousands of people who identity to it and call themselves African. I love the word Africa for every emotion that could be read and felt at its sound. Keep it Up Africa!!! We Love u