AFRICA
DISCOVER AFRICA
N WEST AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRI
NORTHERN AFRICA
ICA
EAST AFRICA
SOUTHERN AFRICA
“Several languages spoken in Africa belong to language families concentrated or originating outside of the African continent: for example, Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, is an Austronesian language.�
Language
Language There are 1,250 to 2,100 languages spoken natively in Africa. About a hundred of the languages of Africa are widely used for inter-ethnic communication. Arabic, Somali, Berber, Amharic, Oromo, Swahili, Hausa, Igbo, Fulani and Yoruba are spoken by tens of millions of people. If clusters of up to a hundred similar languages are counted together, twelve are spoken by 75 percent, and fifteen by 85 percent, of Africans as a first or additional language. Most languages spoken in Africa belong to one of three large language families: Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger– Congo. Another hundred belong to small families such as Ubangian (sometimes grouped within Niger-Congo) and the
various families called Khoisan, or the Indo-European and Austronesian language families which originated outside Africa; the presence of the latter two dates to 2,600 and 1,500 years ago, respectively. In addition, the languages of Africa languages include several unclassified languages and sign languages. Afroasiatic languages are spoken throughout North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and parts of the Sahel. There are approximately 375 Afroasiatic languages spoken by over 350 million people. The main subfamilies of Afroasiatic are the Berber languages, Semitic languages, Chadic languages and the Cushitic languages. Some of the most widely spoken Afroasiatic languages include Arabic (a Semitic language, and a recent arrival from West Asia), Somali (Cushitic), Berber (Berber), Hausa (Chadic), Amharic (Semitic), and Oromo (Cushitic).
Language
Of the world’s surviving language families, Afroasiatic has the longest written history, as both the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egyptian are members. Some of the better known Nilo-Saharan languages are Kanuri, Fur, Songhay, Nubian, and the widespread Nilotic family, which includes Luo, Dinka, and Maasai. The NiloSaharan languages are tonal. The Niger–Congo language family is the largest group of Africa (and probably of the world) in terms of the number of languages. One of its salient features is an elaborate noun class system with grammatical concord. The vast majority of languages of this family are tonal such as Yoruba and Igbo, Ashanti, and Ewe language. Afrikaans is Indo-European, as are the lexifiers of most African creoles. Afrikaans is the only Indo-European language known to have developed in Africa, thus it is an African language. Since the colonial era, Indo-
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Language
European languages such as Afrikaans, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish have held official status in many countries, and are widely spoken, generally as lingua francas. In earlier historical times, other Indo-European languages could be found in various parts of the continent, such as Old Persian and Greek in Egypt, Latin and Vandalic in North Africa, and Modern Persian in the Horn of Africa. Due partly to its multilingualism and its colonial past, a substantial proportion of the world’s creole languages are to be found in Africa. After gaining independence, many African countries, in the search for national unity, selected one language, generally the former colonial language, to be used in government and education. Of the 1 billion Africans (in 2009), about 17 percent speak an Arabic dialect. About 10 percent speak Swahili[citation needed],
Language
the lingua franca of Southeast Africa; about 5 percent speak a Berber dialect[citation needed]; and about 5 percent speak Hausa, which serves as a lingua franca in much of the Sahel. Other important West African languages are Yoruba, Igbo and Fula. Major Horn of Africa languages are Amharic, Oromo and Somali. Important South African languages are Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. English, French, and Portuguese are important languages in Africa: 130, 115, 30 million Africans speak them as either native or secondary languages. Portuguese has become the national language of Angola. Through (among other factors) sheer demographic weight, Africans are increasingly taking ownership of these three world languages and having an ever greater influence on their development and growth. Some linguistic features are particularly common among languages spoken in
Africa, whereas others are less common. Such shared traits probably are not due to a common origin of all African languages. Instead, some may be due to language contact (resulting in borrowing) and specific idioms and phrases may be due to a similar cultural background.
Language
“Religion in Africa has been a major influence on art, culture and philosophy. “
Religion
Religion Today, the continent's various populations and individuals are mostly adherents of Christianity, Islam, and to a lesser extent Traditional African religion. In Christian or Islamic communities, religious beliefs are also sometimes characterized with syncretism with the beliefs and practices of traditional religions. The majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam. African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic religions are widespread throughout Africa. They have both spread and replaced indigenous African religions, but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems. The Bahá’í Faith in Africa has a diverse
Christianity
Religion
Islam
African religion
Religion
history. It is the 3rd most widespread organized Abrahamic religion in Africa after Islam and Christianity after its widescale growth in the 1950s and extend in the 1960s. Christianity is now one of the two most widely practiced religions in Africa and is the largest religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most adherents outside Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea are Roman Catholic or Protestant. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Islam is the largest religion in Africa, with 47% of the population being Muslim, accounting for 1/4 of the world’s Muslim population. Adherents of Judaism can be found scattered in a number of countries across Africa; including the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, the Abayudaya of Uganda, the House of Israel in Ghana, the Igbo Jews of Nigeria and the Lemba of Southern Africa. Hinduism has existed in Africa mainly
Religion
since the late 19th century.It is the largest religion in Mauritius, and several other countries have Hindu temples. Hinduism is said to be the fastest growing religion in Ghana. Buddhism is a tiny religion in Africa with around 250,000 practicing adherents, and up to nearly 400,000 if combined with Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion as a common traditional religion of mostly new Chinese migrants (significant minority in Mauritius, RĂŠunion, and South Africa). About half of African Buddhists are now living in South Africa, while Mauritius has the highest Buddhist percentage in the continent, between 1.5% to 2% of the total population. Other faiths are practiced in Africa, including Zoroastrianism and Rastafarianism among others.
Protestant
Religion
Catholic
Religion
“Over several centuries traders, travelers, invaders, migrants and immigrants all have influenced the cuisine of Africa.�
Cuisine
Cuisine Traditionally, the various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products, and do not usually get food imported. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features a lot of milk, curd and whey products. Depending on the region, there are also sometimes quite significant differences in the eating and drinking habits and proclivities throughout the continent's vast populations: Central Africa, East Africa, the Horn of Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa each have their own distinctive dishes, preparation techniques, and consumption mores.
Cuisine
In Central Africa with the exception of the widespread adaptation of cassava, peanut, and chili-pepper plants, which arrived along with the slave trade during the early 16th century. These foodstuffs have had a large influence on the local cuisine, if perhaps less on the preparation methods. Cassava plants are also consumed as cooked greens. Groundnut (peanut) stew is also prepared, containing chicken, okra, ginger, and other spices. Another favorite is bambara, a porridge of rice, peanut butter and sugar. Around 1000 years ago, Omani and Yemeni merchants settled on the Swahili Coast. Middle Eastern influences are especially reflected in the Swahili cuisine of the coast – steamed are cooked rice with spices in Persian style; saffron, cloves, cinnamon and several other spices; and pomegranate juice. Several centuries later, the British and the Indians came, and both brought with them foods such as Indian
Cuisine
spiced vegetable curries, lentil soups, chapattis and a variety of pickles which have influenced various local dishes. Some common ingredients used in this region include oranges, lemons, limes, chilli’s, capscium peppers, maize and tomatoes. North Africa lies along the Mediterranean Sea and encompasses within its fold several nations, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Egypt. This is a region marked by geographic, political, social, economic and cultural diversity, and the cuisine and the culinary style and art of North Africa are also as diverse as the land, its people and its history. The roots to North African cuisine can be traced back to the ancient empires of North Africa; particularly in Egypt, where many of the country’s dishes and culinary traditions date back to antiquity. Most of the North African countries have several similar
Cuisine
Cuisine
dishes, sometimes almost the same dish with a different name (the Moroccan tangia and the Tunisian coucha are both essentially the same dish, a meat stew prepared in an urn and cooked overnight in a public oven), sometimes with a slight change in ingredients and cooking style. To add to the confusion, two completely different dishes may also share the same name (for example, a “tajine” dish is a slow-cooked stew in Morocco, whereas the Tunisian “tajine” is a baked omelette/quiche-like dish). There are noticeable differences between the cooking styles of different nations, from the sophisticated, full-bodied flavours of Moroccan palace cookery to the fiery dishes of Tunisian cuisine and the humbler, simpler cuisines of Egypt and Algeria. The cooking of Southern Africa is sometimes called “rainbow cuisine”, as the food in this region is a blend of many cultures: indigenous African tribal societies,
Cuisine
European, and Asian. To understand indigenous cuisine, it is important to understand the various native peoples of southern Africa. The indigenous people of Southern Africa were roughly divided into two groups and several subgroups. There are also several types of traditional and modern alcoholic beverages including many European-style beers.
Cuisine
References ___ Official and Spoken Languages of African Countries." African Languages by Countries. Web. 28 Nov. 2015. <http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/ african_languages.htm>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Africa>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_cuisine>.
"Google." Google. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <https:// www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=religion of northAfrica>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFrica_cuisine>.