While to others, it’s an ivory-tusked elephant standing before the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro. But have you ever stopped to ask what is the original name of Africa? Did the continent have another name in the first place?
Africa is the second-largest and second most populated continent after Asia. The continent covers over 11.7 million miles squared, and to over 1.2 billion people, the word Africa is synonymous to home. It boasts of an unmatched linguistic, ethnic and cultural variety among these people.
The population accounts for about 16% of the world’s populace. Despite all you may know about the continent, do you ever ask yourself questions such as what was Africa called in ancient times? Or was Africa called Asia? And many other queries of this sort? Well, the origin of the continent’s identity remains a mystery.
What was Africa called before Africa?
The Kemetic or Alkebulan history of Afrika suggests that the ancient name of the continent was Alkebulan. The word Alkebu-Ian is the oldest and the only word of indigenous origin. Alkebulan meaning the garden of Eden or the mother of mankind.
The word Africa came into existence in the late 17th century. Initially, it was used to only refer to the northern part of the continent. Around that time, the continent had been colonized, and the Europeans ruled over its people as slaves. They influenced the change of identity from Alkebulan to its present name.
What is the other name of Africa?
Before the European settled for the word Africa, the continent was called many other names. They include Corphye, Ortegia, Libya, and Ethiopia.
Other names such as the land of Ham (Ham means dark skins), mother of mankind, the garden of Eden, dark or black continent, Kingdom in the sky, and the land of cush or kesh (referring to the Cushites who were ancient Ethiopian) were used.
Why is Africa called Africa?
There exist many theories explaining the origin of the name of this continent. At the time of writing, no one knows the source for sure. However, the theories below shed some light on how this second largest continent with the second largest population acquired its befitting name.
