The Dark Continent, Africa, was poorly known to the world in the 19th century even though its exploration began in the 18th century. Africa had a rich and vast cultural heritage which went back to 6,000 B.C. Before colonization about 2,000 languages existed in Africa belonging to the language families of (a) Afro Asiatic, (b) Nilo Saharan, (c) Niger Congo, (d) Khoi-san, and (e) Austronesian.

     Early in the 19th century, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium began colonization efforts and came to Africa to claim territory. In 1884 what is called the “Scramble for Africa” occurred where many of these countries competed with each other for African territories. The leaders of these countries met at the Berlin Conference in 1885 and agreed to divide Africa along the borders that they currently held. These borders were made without considering the various ethnic groups living there, but instead were based on the colonial power that was most the dominant. Many local language speaking groups and tribes were forced to split up and live in different territories. This resulted in large changes in the language and the cultural heritage of these people. Some of the long term effects of these border changes included:

1. Change in culture: Villagers became attracted to western luxuries and migrated to towns, causing native language speakers to become a minority.

2. Change in religion: Conversion activities of missionaries resulted in culture and language changes resulting in native language speakers becoming a minority.

3. Wiping out Ethnic Identity: The fundamental rights of local natives are cancelled as a result of the slave trade and mass migration of the labor force to plantations. All native language speakers were compelled to start using colonial languages. Again the result was that the native language speakers became a minority.

     As a result of this process, many local languages died out. Some became endangered as Pidgin and Creole languages emerged. Linguists note that the emergence of Pidgin and Creole languages is a strong indication of a community losing their ethnic identity. A pidgin language is a simplified language that develops so that two or more groups who do not have a language in common are able to communicate. It is a type of “lingua franca” that is used in trading situations. A Creole language is a language which has become stable and has originated from a native pidgin language.

     Today the African continent continues to have many conflicts and border disputes. Reports show that there are about nine million refugees and internally displaced people there. Artificial boundaries created by the colonial rulers have left many native communities within a country in a disorganized state. This situation is considered to be a root cause of many of the problems in Africa today.

     This statement recently made by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria is very relevant in this regard. He said, “Colonization brought the genocide of our Identity, of our History, of our Language, of our Tradition.”

     Today Africans are working to bring the various ethnic groups together. They are trying to rebuild their cultural and linguistic heritage to achieve stable and functioning communities.

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Picture Source:

“Colonial Africa in 1914”.  Wikipedia.org. Accessed 11 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ColonialAfrica_1914.png>
Used under Wikipedia’s creative commons license. <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>