The concept of nation states in Africa only arose after the Berlin Conference in 1884 and the following scramble for Africa by European superpowers of the time, which makes the concept a little over a century old. It therefore should not be a surprise that the names of most African countries are remnants of a colonial legacy.
Nearly every country on earth is named after after one of four things—a directional description of the country, a feature of the land, a tribe name or an important person, most likely a man. For the most part, Africa mirrors this trend with a few exceptions. The stories of how African countries got their names ranges from the more mundane, to the fantastical and sometimes even the mind-boggling.
Take Kenya for example.
… when the British came upon an imposing snow-capped mountain that the Kikuyu people called Kirinyaga (Where God dwells.) As they struggled to pronounce, Kirinyaga, they called it Mt. Kenya – the country would be named after this mountain.
Check out the others over at Quartz.
(Image Credit: Martin23230/ Wikimedia Commons)
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3 Ballot questions in this Novembers election will effectively shut down about 20% of Colorado's Public Libraries (basically all the libraries that do NOT have a publicly elected board are screwed).
America is dumb enough, I can't imagine how much dumber they can afford to get - I guess I'll find out after November.
I don't even remember the last time I was at a library but I know my sister goes a lot.
I agree vonskippy, America needs libraries now more than ever.
While most public schools do have libraries, Matt, the schools frequently are not open at night or on the weekends. Due to budget cuts, much is often lacking in the school library. The library is the only place where research may be conducted.
Geez, thanks for your kind words about a WHOLE country. Next time I hear about some stupid silly thing some American Nobel prize winner has done, I'll remind myself that America has no brains.
Be careful when you decide to dismount your high horse. The fall is gonna be a long one.
In San Francisco they built a new library to replace the old one. The new one looks like an art gallery and has half of the space of the old library.
Do you know what they did with the half of the books that would not fit in the new library? They threw them out!
After building the new art gallery, um, library, they then staffed it with the $100,000 a year management that Peg mentions.
I have not been to the library in years because the book section I am interested in went from six or eight 8 foot tall by 20 feet long racks of books, down to six or eight 3 feet tall racks of books maybe 6 feet long.
Happeh, "Do you know what they did with the half of the books that would not fit in the new library? They threw them out!"
What else would they have done with them? People get SO offended when books get thrown away (after "weeding" the shelves, aka deaccession) but where are they supposed to go? Books are thrown out when they haven't been circulated in years or are in poor condition or are hopelessly obsolete. Some are removed via book sales (and often come back in a donation a couple of years later), but then what?
As for the "art gallery" library... people don't see a lot of need for libraries these days, at least not in the traditional "book storage unit" sense. Do you want them to cling to the old ways and hemorrhage in gate counts? Several libraries I know have in recent times remodeled to add cafe areas, a lot more reading spots, better environment overall, etc, because that's what people tend to use them for. A dingy beige, metal-shelved library is NOT going to compete with a stylish Barnes & Noble that lets patrons still read for free and visit a Starbucks and use the wifi while they're there.
Which is not to say that the redesigned library is not a poor space. Politics and flashy design can affect libraries as much as any other institution. The public library in (I think) Seattle has an unusual spiraling ramp to take patrons through the Dewey numbers. Cool and different? Sure. Useless compared to a more usual layout? You bet.