African Script

The other day I ran across an article on the Nsibidi script, a system of written symbols that members of the Ekpe secret society of the South East region of Nigeria used to communicate hidden information with. A sample of this is shown below:



The origins of these symbols date way before colonization, but, from my understanding, the use of these symbols died out as the influence of Ekpe secret society lessened.

The article was a not-so-deep exploration of indigenous African writing systems and languages. It brings to mind the consensus that Africans never had a written system before the advent of Europeans. For instance, Nigerian traditional languages, when written, are done so with the Roman alphabet.

Anyways, I was fascinated, looked more into the topic, and found more writing systems.

Ge'ez:



This has shared origins with Arabic script, and is often refered to as Ethiopic writing. Mostly used by Ethiopians and Eritreans for Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre languages. Oldest discovered forms date back to 9th century BC.



Osmanya:



The writing script for Somalian languages. Invented early 20th century.


The Vai Syllabary:



Written expressions of the Vai Language in Liberia and parts of Sierra Leone. Was coined in early 19th century.


Bamun Script:



Script used among Bamun language speakers of Cameroon. Origins also date as far back as nineteenth century. It is rarely used today.



KikaKui:





This is the writing used for the Mende speaking people of Sierra Leone. It was actually popular at about the time it was invented - which I think was about the mid-nineteenth century.  It's rarely used too .

N'Ko:



Popularized in Gineau. Originated in 1949.



Madombe:



This one was created in 1978 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Apparently it's used for Swahili and Lingala.  Sorry for the gigantic picture.



One thing strikes me here: Aside from the Nsibidi script, which is not as complex a writing system as is the average script, and the Ethiopic Ge'ez, the others were created quite recently. The story behind them seems to be that their inventors created them as a retort to the myth that Africans were without culture and civilization. Not that it should matter because at the time of their creation, they did attract some devotion to indigenous identity. It's actually kind of sad to hear that some are being replaced with Roman numerals because they don't seem relevant to modern demands.

Now, this has less to do with Nigeria as it does with Africa as a whole, which is why not many might be interested in this topic but I just thought it was interesting. We are beginning to espouse the teaching of traditional languages in school, and this is good.  I think that the revival of these scripts in their respective countries might inspire some course towards an African-centered approach to education. What do citizens of the countries relevant to this topic think of this discussion?

What does anyone think about this in general?

wetin be this?

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There are also sculptures whose decorations served as writing in the past. Unfortunately these things have been killed off with secret societies.
Writing was used by secret societies throughout Africa.