major466:

Exactly my point. It sound so Arabic. The name itself is ridiculous because African Civilization predates Arab Civilization by thousands of years. As it is today, there's no record of the original name of Africa as far as archeology is concerned.

Is it possible that after dispersal from the Nile valley, that people used their tribal identity more than their collective identities, making their point of dispersal the only place the name is remembered and used?

Idrismusty97:
It is the Romans, Maybe the word just have a greek history(Many words do) but it is definitely the Romans that named the continent. And it means "Land of Afer" not "Sunny continent".





http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Africaweb/factfile/africauniquefact5.htm

The word "Afer" have four possible meanings/origin;
But the most likely origin is the "Berbers tribe" in Algeria as many researchers have concluded.

But it was the North Africa empire(The Carthage) the Romans clash with before they named them "Africa" so they are the true Africans! Whether they came from Europe or Pluto they fought with the Romans in "African soil" and earned that name.

Thanks for the info. But do Tunisians wish to remain African?

9jii:

It was called 'Sudan'

? Sudan? It may have served as the reference name for a time. I think also Niger.

lonelydora:
So what happened to the name? Whose oral history? Was/Is the person born some 5000 years ago?

I think that the fact that the name is recognized in the Nile valley is of great significance. Its an important communication point for ancient Africa.

[quote author=ROSSIKE post=27176548]Look, there was no specific name for the continent which everyone identified with. Just as there is no single name for God. How can there be a single name for Africa? Each race or group had its own name for it. The Greeks called it ''Ethiopia'' - everywhere south of Egypt. Later, Arabs called it 'Bilad Al Sudan' etc etc. Africans themselves rarely propagated a name for the entire land mass of Africa. It's normaly those that see themselves as conquerors or explorers who go naming entire continents. Europe itself may have been so named by ancient migrating Africans and semites who first populated it.

''Another theory suggests that [the term Europe] is based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun), cognate to Phoenician ereb "evening; west".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe [quote]
I agree, wouldn't Al Kibula be one of those names? Most of African history is yet to be recorded you know.

Hmmm... Interesting read..

Idrismusty97:
That isn't meant to be an insult. Just letting you know the Arabs are racists so are the Jews. Stop getting attached to them because of some silly foreign religions.

We are all racists. The concept of 'them and us' is racism. Wake up from that mentality and embrace the human race as a whole. I am not without that flaw but I am working on it.

I believe each tribe called it something different.

Idrismusty97:
It is the Romans, Maybe the word just have a greek history(Many words do) but it is definitely the Romans that named the continent. And it means "Land of Afer" not "Sunny continent".





http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Africaweb/factfile/africauniquefact5.htm

The word "Afer" have four possible meanings/origin;
But the most likely origin is the "Berbers tribe" in Algeria as many researchers have concluded.

But it was the North Africa empire(The Carthage) the Romans clash with before they named them "Africa" so they are the true Africans! Whether they came from Europe or Pluto they fought with the Romans in "African soil" and earned that name.

The Afars are a tribe in the Horn of Africa.

Africa was named after me

In honour of me.

Maakhir:
Africa was named after me

In honour of me.

*Laughs*

Now we know your real name.

muafrika:
? Sudan? It may have served as the reference name for a time. I think also Niger.

Sudan ,Ethiopia, Niger,

Original name of Africa is Ethiopia. I think Roman Emperor called Africanus (I forgot his first name) named the continent Africa.

^ seems he defeated Carthage, might have something to do with that.

muafrika:
Al Kibula.

Before "Africa," this was the continents name.

Oral history.

From what tribe did you get this oral history?
It sounds Arab

macof:


From what tribe did you get this oral history?
It sounds Arab

From a South Sudanese. Those guys have a wealth of knowledge on African history.

I know, it sounds a little Arabic. Especially the prefix. May be it was an African name Arabized?

Thank you all... I am learning much.