According to history scholars, the name Africa came into existence in the late 17th century. The name was only initially used only to refer to the Northern parts of Africa. During this period colonialism was in practice, the Europeans roamed Africa and ruled over her people as slave masters.
This influenced the change of name from Alkebulan to Africa. The word Africa was initiated by the Europeans and came into Western use through the Romans after the three Punic battles (264 BC to 146 BC) led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and the people of Carthage which is present-day Tunisia.
Various theories suggest that the word Africa is derived from both a greek and Latin origin. The Greek word “Phrike” meaning cold and horror, and the Latin word “Aprica’’ meaning sunny.
Yet, historians from several continents have argued against this propagated African name
According to another school of thought, the name Africa has always been in existence before the Romans invaded the land. According to Motosoko Pheko, an African history scholar he writes that, “The name Africa ‘Alkebulan’ has been interpreted as, meaning mother of Nations or mother of mankind, but Africa is also one of the oldest name of names of this continent.” He further argues that the thought that claims that the name Africa never originated from the people and was created by the Romans is totally false. He buttresses his point by indicating that the Greeks occupied Africa in 332 BC, followed by the Romans in 30 BC. The Greeks according to him, already knew Africa with the name Africa. He adds that the name Africa had various pronunciation due to Africa’s diversity in language. It is estimated that there are over 6,000 languages in the world and over 3,000 of them are from Africa. In his essay, he writes “Greeks had earlier called Africa ‘Aphrike’ as they could not pronounce the existing name Af-Rui-ka”.
Furthermore, some African historic scholars have suggested that the name Alkebulan is not in relation to the name Africa. These scholars claim that the said name Alkebulan isn’t of an Arabic origin neither is the meaning. The word Alkebulan in Arabic, Al is a prefix leaving just kebulan as a word, and so far the word is non-existent in Arabic, they claim.
The history of the continent is known but the true name and its origin still raise controversies to date. What are your thoughts?
