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Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Giftedgreen: 10:46am On Oct 01, 2013
Today marks 53 years since Nigeria gained independence from its British colonial masters, and like every other patriotic Nigerian we want to desist from the pessimistic habit of asking what Nigeria has achieved since independence and embrace a cheerful mood instead and celebrate Nigeria’s Independence and wish her many more prosperous years ahead.

Nigeria is not the only country that gained independence in the year 1960, in fact 17 other countries gained independence in the year 1960, sixteen in Africa and Cyprus in Europe. How these countries got their names can be quite interesting or boring, why don’t you read on to find out.

1.Nigeria

Flora Shaw invented the name Nigeria. Who is Flora Shaw? She was a British journalist who later became the wife of Lord Fredrick Lugard. Remember Lord Lugard? The guy who amalgamated northern and southern protectorate? The first Governor-General of Nigeria? Yes, that Lord Lugard, and yes he married Flora Shaw. Flora Shaw suggested the name “Nigeria” in a letter to the Times of London, in January 8th 1897. She referred to the area as Nigeria, after the Niger River. Interestingly, the word Niger is Latin for black, so it is left for you to decide if she was referring to River Niger or a nation of Black people.

2.Cameroon

Cameroon got its name from the Portuguese who, upon arriving on the coast in the 1400s found seafood in such abundance that they decided to call the main estuary Rio dos Camaroes, or River of prawns.

Unfortunately, today, the people of Cameroon import most of the seafood they consume, while local fishermen are going out of business, and you taught Nigeria has a serious problem with mismanagement of resources.

3.Senegal

The country takes its name from River Senegal. And how did River Senegal get its name? The most popular etymology from Wolof people state that the name derives from the local term “sunu gal” to mean “our canoe” or more precisely “our pirogue” because when the colonist came that’s what they people kept saying… The colonist thought they were learning the name of the country.

The story goes that when a Portuguese captain came across some Wolof fishermen and asked them what the name of the river was, they believed he was asking who their fishing boat belonged to and they simply replied “it is our boat” (sunu gaal)

4.Republic Of Togo

Modern day Togo and its surrounding region were formally called “The Slave Coast”, this is because, and as you can guess the region used to be a major trading center for Europeans searching for slaves.

It was called “the Slave Coast” for about 200 years until a treaty was signed at Togoville with Germany and this area became the Germany colony of Togoland.

Togo’s name comes from Togodo, which means ‘behind the lake’ in ewe – a reference to Lake Togo.

Since 1884, Togoland and later Togo became synonymous for the entire region under colonial control. The term Togolese first appeared after World War I, and population increasingly identified with this term, culminating in 1960 with the choice of Republic of Togo as the Official name.

5.Burkina Faso

Burkina was called Upper Volta (land of the Upper Volta River) whose main tributaries originate in the coutry. The Volta itself is a Portuguese word for twist or turn.

The country got its name using a word from each of the country’s two major native languages, Moore and Dioula. Figuratively, “Burkina” from Moore may be translated to “men of integrity” while “Faso” means “fatherland” in Dioula. Burkina Faso is thus meant to be understood as “Land of the upright people” or “Land of honest People”

The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou. Written as “Wogodogo” in the Moore dialext, it literally means “You are welcome here at home with us"

6.Central African Republic

Central African Republic is a self descriptive name from its French name “Republique centrafricaine”

Central African Republic was a French colony known as Ubangi-Shari, because the land is split between the basins of Ubangi and Shari Rivers.

When colonialism started collapsing, Barthelemy Boganda, a nationalist leader of the present day Central African Republic announced his plan to unite much of the continent under the name “the United States of Latin Africa”. That didn’t work out, but, under the advice of the outgoing French colonial official, Boganda did rename the newly independent Ubagi-Shari as “Central African Republic” with the intent of convincing his neighbor to join this republic. But the plan never worked out and Bogander died of a mysterious plane accident eight years before he was to take over as president.

Conspiracy theorists please gather around and find someone to blame for his death

7.Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo

Both countries gets its name from the river, the river gets its name from the ancient Kingdom of Kongo which inhabited the lands at the mouth of the river around the time of its discovery by the Portuguese and whose name derives from its people, the Bakongo, an endonym said to mean “hunters” (Kongo: Mukongo, nkongo)

8.Somalia

The overwhelming majority of Somalis trace their genealogical origin to the mythical founding father, Samaale or Samaal. Their name derives from Samaal, their eponymous ancestor.

9.The Republic of Madagascar

It was Marco Polo who gave the island its name. Madagascar got its name from Marco Polo in his memoirs where he described an African island of untold wealth called “Madeigascar” although it was accidental since he intended to say Mogadishu. Hence early reference to the Island as Madeigascar or Mogalasio, this eventually became Madagascar about the 16th century.

10.Cote d’Ivoire

Elephant, with their ivory tusk were once numerous in the region formerly known as Ivory Coast. It was named Ivory Coast when people began trading ivory there. The French called it Cote d’Ivoire while the Portuguese called costa do marfin, all literally meaning Ivory Coast. The name Ivory Coast reflected the major trade that occurred on that particular stretch of the coast: export of ivory. There was a Grain Coast, Gold Coast and Slave Coast, if you ask us these seem like very obvious ways to name places.

The country retained the name – Ivory Coast – through the colonial rule and independence, but in 1986 the government of the country declared Cote d’Ivoire (or, more fully, Republiqeu de cote d’Ivoire) to be the formal name of the country for the purpose of diplomatic protocol and officials refuse to recognize or accept any translation from French to any other language in its international dealings

11.Chad

Chad got its name from Lake Chad with Chad being a local word for “a large expanse of water”. Chad is name derives from the Kanuri word “Tsade” (lake)

12.Cyprus

There are no specific sites citing how Cyprus got its name, but there are implications that it was named after the Mediterranean cypress tree

Another folk etymology is that Cyprus derives its name from “copper” since the island’s supply gave Greek and Latin gave words for metal.

13.Gabon

The Nations present name originated from “Gabao”, Portuguese for “cloak” which is roughly the shape of the estuary of the Komo River

14.Mali

Mali is named for pre-colonial empire that didn’t have the same border as its modern namesake

The name “Mali” is derived from “Malinke”, the name of the people who established the Mali Empire in 1230. Malinke is the name their neighbor’s gave them. It’s a corruption of their name for themselves – Madinka (which means “People of Manden”, their homeland in the Niger region)

15.Niger

The name Niger is derived from the phrase gher n-gheren which means “river among rivers” in Tamashek language.

16.Mauritius

The name of Mauritius was named to honor Prince Maurice de Nassau by Dutch Explorers. The French claimed it in 1715 and renamed it “Ile de France”. In 1810, Mauritius was captured by British and renamed back to Mauritius

17.Benin Republic

Benin republic derives its name from bright of Benin, a water body located in the southern region of the country.

During the colonial period Benin used to be known as Dahomey (On the belly of Dan) an ancient kingdom located in the south of what is modern-day Benin Republic

- See more at: http://giftedgreen.com/2013/?q=Other-Countries-Turning-53-This-Year-and-How-They-Got-Their-Names#sthash.EUFQcbOW.dpuf
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by debayun(m): 10:59am On Oct 01, 2013
Nice info op dis adds to my encyclopedia I pray dis makes front page
So odas can gain 4rm dis too
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by 247notire(m): 11:07am On Oct 01, 2013
Gud info here.tanx OP. Fp pls!
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Giftedgreen: 11:07am On Oct 01, 2013
^^
Thank you for your feedback
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Tolexander: 11:33am On Oct 01, 2013
Thanks OP for the info!

But who are these people fabricating some stories and peddling them to us when we were young taking advantage of our innocence and naivity.

I can remember they said some yorubas who couldn't understand what the europeans were asking them had to respond 'igi lan di'(we only gathering woods) now corrupted to England making the place to be called england today. Likewise 'a me ri ka'(oh i can't read it) when they couldn't read what was given to them to read. The 'a me ri ka' now corrupted to America.

Then Burkina faso is said to be formed from 'buki na faso'(buki also farted) corrupted.
And these set of people were the one telling us india vs nigeria ended in 99 1.

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Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Nobody: 11:50am On Oct 01, 2013
Tolexander: Thanks OP for the info!

But who are these people fabricating some stories and peddling them to us when we were young taking advantage of our innocence and naivity.

I can remember they said some yorubas who couldn't understand what the europeans were asking them had to respond 'igi lan di'(we only gathering woods) now corrupted to England making the place to be called england today. Likewise 'a me ri ka'(oh i can't read it) when they couldn't read what was given to them to read. The 'a me ri ka' now corrupted to America.

Then Burkina faso is said to be formed from 'buki na faso'(buki also farted) corrupted.
And these set of people were the one telling us india vs nigeria ended in 99 1.
LMAO...I heard these stories too, but I've always known they were just fabricated.
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Caseless: 11:51am On Oct 01, 2013
I like that of burkina faso and it's capital, ouagadogou.; using d two majo languages to name d country and d capital named using one. The names sound akward in those languages, but they are rich and sumtuous when translated into english.
Madagascar and senegal's event came too funny to me. D former due to language barrier and d latter came as a result of mistake.
Mauritius was named 'ile france' and late captured by d british and renamed mauritius. 'Ile france'? This sounds yorubaish to me.

1 Like

Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Bigcake: 12:32pm On Oct 01, 2013
The name Akpabuyo came as a result of Atimbo River which encircles d whole Calabar up to Bakassi and emptied in d atlantic occean. Akpabuyo is an Efik word which means ''Akpa'' a River, ''Buyo'' has crossed. Therefore meaning a river has crossed the both lands of Calabar and the Timbo Bakassi axis. The name Gej came as a result of dis statement.'' I ONCE HAD NO SHOES''
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Brimmie(m): 12:39pm On Oct 01, 2013
Interesting Thread!
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Brimmie(m): 12:43pm On Oct 01, 2013
Tolexander: Thanks OP for the info!

But who are these people fabricating some stories and peddling them to us when we were young taking advantage of our innocence and naivity.

I can remember they said some yorubas who couldn't understand what the europeans were asking them had to respond 'igi lan di'(we only gathering woods) now corrupted to England making the place to be called england today. Likewise 'a me ri ka'(oh i can't read it) when they couldn't read what was given to them to read. The 'a me ri ka' now corrupted to America.


Then Burkina faso is said to be formed from 'buki na faso'(buki also farted) corrupted.
And these set of people were the one telling us india vs nigeria ended in 99 1.

You this guy!! grin grin And i remember.. "Nine ji ri ya" !!
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by ProfessorPeter(m): 12:49pm On Oct 01, 2013
So the meaning of Nigeria is black. No wonder, no stable light for 99years after amalgamation. Pastors,and imams, Okija priests,Ifa priests. Sango priests, Ombatse priests, come let us change the name of this country
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Bigcake: 12:49pm On Oct 01, 2013
The name Calabar was coined from the Efik word ''Akanaba'' which is translated in english as '' The survival of the fittest''. But was latter pronounced Calabar by the Europeans who cldnt pronounce it well.
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Tolexander: 7:36pm On Oct 01, 2013
Brimmie:

You this guy!! grin grin And i remember.. "Nine ji ri ya" !!
you self were fed those stories? You must have gat my childhood experience also!
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by Tolexander: 7:51pm On Oct 01, 2013
Bolushalom: LMAO...I heard these stories too, but I've always known they were just fabricated.
you must be very intelligent from childhood.
Re: Other Countries That Gained Independence In 1960 And How They Got Their Names by smileyoo: 12:31pm On Feb 13, 2017
good piece, very educative and interesting.

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