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In this video, I explore the history behind the old names of African countries and how they changed over time. I discuss Abyssinia, a name rooted in the Arabic term "Al-Habash," and its transition to Ethiopia, reflecting an ancient Greek origin tied to its biblical legacy. I also cover Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast under colonial rule, renamed to honor the ancient Ghana Empire, and Zimbabwe, known as Rhodesia during British colonization, later adopting its native name referencing the Great Zimbabwe ruins. Describing how Burkina Faso transitioned from Upper Volta, a colonial name tied to the Volta River, to a name meaning "Land of Incorruptible People." Understanding how The Congo's name evolved from Zaire, derived from a Kikongo word meaning "river," while Benin replaced Dahomey, drawing inspiration from the historic Benin Kingdom. Learning how Eswatini and Lesotho returned to native names from colonial ones, Swaziland and Basutoland, respectively. And finally getting into how Namibia shed its colonial - and overly descriptive - South West Africa name, adopting one inspired by the Namib desert. PLus how Tanzania combined Tanganyika and Zanzibar, with roots in Swahili and Persian words.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Africa and its Country Names
00:27 Abyssinia to Ethiopia
02:04 Raid
04:09 Gold Coast to Ghana
05:56 Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
07:55 Upper Volta to Burkina Faso
09:02 Kongo to Zaire to Congo
10:03 Dahomey to Benin
12:03 Swaziland to Eswatini
12:28 Basutoland to Lesotho
12:50 South West Africa to Namibia
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Today Africa has 54 to 55 countries. It depends on whether you count Somaliland, I do. And each
0:07
of those countries obviously has a name but they didn't always have the same one, either
0:12
going back to a colonial name that they were known by or even an older native name
0:17
First, the one on the thumbnail, how Ethiopia used to be called Abyssinia
0:32
Abyssinia was the historical name for the Ethiopian Empire, which existed for a gigantic
0:37
period of time from 1270 to 1974. Interestingly, despite being surrounded by hostile forces throughout most of its history
0:46
The Empire maintained a kingdom centered on its ancient Christian heritage and it was
0:52
known as Abyssinia. A name believed to have derived from the Arabic term Al-Abbash, referring to the Abesha people
0:59
who inhabit the Ethiopian highlands. The term itself may have roots in the Gez words ʾbz meaning to mix, possibly describing
1:08
the intermingling of people in the region. travelers and Arab traders popularized this name during the medieval period and it persisted well
1:18
into the 20th century when the shift to Ethiopia began taking place. But interestingly the transition
1:24
to the name Ethiopia reflects the country's ancient identity too. The term comes from the
1:29
Greek word Ethiopia which means something like land of burned faces joining the two Greek terms
1:36
eto meaning i burn and ops meaning face. It was used by ancient Greeks to describe the region's
1:42
people. Emperor Aili Selassie cemented Ethiopia as the official name in the early 20th century
1:48
to emphasize the nation's connection to its long-standing biblical and historical legacy
1:54
as Ethiopia is mentioned multiple times in the Bible. And since then Abyssinia fell into this
2:00
use and Ethiopia became the most used term for the country. Now guys, before we keep going
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4:09
Then we have a different example. While Abyssinia was already another native name
4:13
Ghana used to be called a colonial name, the Gold Coast. Before its independence, Ghana was called the Gold Coast
4:20
a name given by European traders in the 15th century due to the vast amounts of gold found along its shores for trading
4:27
The Portuguese were the first to establish trading posts followed by the Dutch, the British, and others who all sought to profit from the region's gold
4:35
and later its people through the slave trade. The name Gold Coast served as a reminder of its economic importance to those foreign colonial powers
4:45
Actually, one pretty interesting colonial power that existed there was Denmark, which isn't very known for having a colonial empire, but they did try every now and then
4:54
and this is an example of that. Essentially, this was the place on the coast of Africa where gold was traded
5:00
In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from British rule
5:06
Its leaders chose the name Ghana to honor the ancient Ghana empire
5:10
which, though geographically located in modern-day Mali and Mauritania, represented a legacy of strength, wealth, and African heritage
5:18
The name is derived from the Soninka word meaning warrior king, reflecting a proud and sovereign identity that they wanted to take as their own too
5:28
In fact, there were various coast countries along West Africa which almost all changed their names to a new modern term
5:36
Ivory Coast or rather Cote d'Ivoire being the only one who kept it
5:40
In this 1729 map of West Africa, we can see how a portion of it was the Grain Coast
5:46
roughly where Sierra Leone and Liberia are or how Togo, Benin and Nigeria were part of the slave coast
5:52
each of the terms referring to the main good that Europeans traded there. Another really fascinating example is how the country we today know as Zimbabwe
6:01
used to be called Rhodesia. Rhodesia's establishment as a country is absolutely fascinating
6:07
It's connected to a specific single man and his role in British colonialism in South Africa
6:14
Cecil Rhodes. In a super summarized way, he was an English mining magnate who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896
6:24
He and his British South Africa company pretty much ruled South Africa
6:29
They founded the South African territory of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and part of Zambia too, which the company named after him in 1895
6:37
I read this book recently called Merchant Kings which covers this exact story along with the stories of the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company as well as the Dutch West India Company and a couple more like the Hudson Bay Company in Canada
6:52
It's a very fascinating book if you're interested in this part of history and I don't know
6:57
I found it super fascinating to learn how companies pretty much had monopolies not only
7:02
of trade but of ruling and controlling specific territories during the colonial era
7:07
But anyway, this specific territory that is now Zimbabwe was established by British colonists
7:12
and named after Cecil Rhodes As African countries broke free of European rule the same happened here In 1965 it unilaterally declared independence but still used the Rhodesia name
7:24
However, in 1980, they adopted the name Zimbabwe, derived from a word that I'm gonna try my best to pronounce correctly
7:31
Zimbabwe, meaning houses of stone in the Shona language, referencing the Great Zimbabwe ruins
7:38
Great Zimbabwe was a city in the southeast hills of the modern country. It was settled from 1000 AD and served as the capital of the old kingdom of Zimbabwe from the 13th century
7:49
I guess the change was, of course, to move away from the colonial past and embrace their own native heritage
7:55
And yet another example of these old colonial names is the old name of Burkina Faso, which used to be called Upper Volta
8:03
Upper Volta, or in French, Haute Volta, was a colony of French West Africa established in 1919
8:09
in the territory occupied by present-day Burkina Faso. The colony was actually dissolved in 1932, with parts being administered by other colonies like Cote d'Ivoire
8:19
French Sudan, and the colony of Niger, but it coincides almost exactly with the modern Burkina territory
8:25
The choice of the old colonial name, Upper Volta, was made in connection with the Volta River
8:29
being located in the upper part of its basin. Interestingly, the colors on the flag, despite matching the colors of the German imperial flag
8:39
it's kind of a one-for-one copy of it, it doesn't come from there. It comes from the names of the tributaries of the Volga River
8:45
which are the Black Volta, the Red Volta, and the White Volta. They became independent in 1954 and kept the name until, in 1984
8:53
they changed it to Burkina Faso, combining words from the native Mossi and Diula languages
8:59
to mean land of incorruptible people. We can, however, return to an example of older native names too, as is the case with Zaide
9:08
which we today know as Congo. Zaide is an adaptation that Portuguese explorers made of
9:13
the Kikongo word nzadi, meaning river, referring to the Congo River. Upon their arrival, they
9:18
interacted with the locals and chose this term to name the region, which was then taken and adopted
9:23
by other European powers that arrived in the region. As the Belgians became the main colonizer
9:29
the term Congo began being used, from Congo with a K and Old Bantu Kingdom, which occupied the
9:35
mouth of the river around the time that the Portuguese first arrived in around 1483
9:40
Interestingly, the native Congo Kingdom name was also taken from Kekongo and meant river as well
9:46
so we have a kind of odd situation where the old name meant the same as the new name, it's just
9:51
a different word or a different interpretation of the original word. After independence
9:55
they kept the Congo name, briefly returning to Zayde between 1971 and 1997 and then going back
10:02
to Congo again. Another predecessor of a modern country name is Dahomey, which we now know as
10:09
Benin. And a very similar situation happens compared to what we saw with Ghana. Modern Benin
10:14
takes its name from the ancient kingdom of Benin, which didn't exist anywhere near where modern
10:20
Benin is, located instead in Nigeria. It was an Edo people kingdom and its old capital of Edo
10:27
is now called Benin City, being outside of Benin within Nigeria. And this sea area in general is
10:34
also still called the Bight of Benin. The name comes again from the interpretation made by
10:40
Portuguese explorers at the time. The native word was Ubbini, which referred to how the Edo
10:45
called their homeland being translated to something like Land of Peace. Eventually the Old Kingdom of Benin disappeared being absorbed by French and British colonies However when the Homi a separate and independent kingdom to the west came to be a French colony gained independence they later
11:02
decided to take the name as their own, getting rid of the Homi and adopting Benin in 1975
11:08
The reason why is a little unsure, but it seems that the Homi was more connected to a specific
11:14
ethnicity and Benin was more broad. Since the country has so many ethnic groups, they wanted a
11:20
name that would include all of them. And so they chose this one, also paying homage to the ancient
11:26
kingdom as well. The homie itself has a pretty odd origin story. It's widely cited, but a lot of
11:32
historians believe it to not be true. It has to do with this legend of an interaction between a local
11:38
king and a chieftain and him like wanting to build a house inside of his territory. It doesn't really
11:45
seem like it's true, and so it's kind of uncertain where the term comes from. The farm people, the
11:50
kingdom's dominant ethnic and linguistic group also contributed to the early identification of
11:54
the territory by Europeans. Many maps refer to the region as the Fawn Kingdom, leaving a bit of
11:59
a mystery as to why the homie was used. One name that stayed the same, essentially, and just changed
12:06
the language in which it is written is the case of Iswatini, which we used to know as Swaziland
12:12
Both names mean the land of the Swazis, the local people. In 2008, their king announced that the
12:18
kingdom would be renamed, removing the English place name used during colonialism and readopting
12:23
their own indonym in celebration of their 50th year since regaining independence. Its fellow
12:29
landlocked neighbor of Lesotho has a similar situation, previously being called Bazutoland
12:34
The name Lesotho translates to land of the Sesotho speakers in the native language, Sesotho being
12:39
that language itself. Bazutoland was the British colonial name. Abandoned in 1966 upon independence
12:46
It meant the land of the Basutu people, also known as the Soto people
12:50
Nearby, we have another example of a colonial name that was then left behind, which is Namibia
12:56
It used to be called Southwest Africa. This one doesn't need much explanation
13:01
It's the geographical location of the territory within the African continent. It was first a German and then a British colony
13:07
When it achieved independence in 1990, Namibia was the chosen name, derived from the Namib desert, the oldest desert in the world
13:14
by the way, I found out while making this video, and the word Namib itself is of the native language
13:20
Nama and means vast place. And finally Tanzania, which used to have two different names because it
13:26
was separated into two different entities, Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The name is simply a merger of the
13:33
two previous names. It was adopted in 1964 when they became independent from the British together
13:38
The previous names of the two separate territories, however, of course mean different things. Zanzibar
13:43
came from the Persian Zangbar, a compound of Zang meaning black and bar meaning coast
13:49
referencing to the fact that they are islands, I guess. While Tanganyika originates from the region's largest lake, Lake Tanganyika, whose name
13:57
is derived from two Swahili dialect words, Tanga meaning sail and Nika meaning wilderness
14:03
or uninhabited plain. Are there any old names that you know of that you think are interesting and that I didn't
14:10
mention, either in Africa or anywhere else? Let me know in the comments. The next video on this series is going to be for America, maybe just South America
14:18
So if you have any suggestions for that, let me know too. Thank you so much for watching this video and I will see you next time for more general knowledge
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