Erasing African  Memory:  Role of Colonialism in Distorting Geographical Names in Africa

Abstract:
 This paper investigates the rich culture of naming places in Africa, or what is known as geographical names, which are the names given to natural and manmade landmarks, such as seas, mountains, forests, cities, roads, streets, etc. The science that deals with the geographical field is called «toponymy». In this regard, the current paper focuses on the significance of the geographical name and the function it plays in preserving the community›s culture and heritage, as well as the moral strength it achieves in the community›s survival, harmony, and continuity, as there is no nation without its proper geographical names. Here arises the problem of this paper, which is the colonial self-appropriation of the African toponym by replacing it with a European name or distorting its spelling. This Colonial self-appropriation was a systematic process aiming at seizing the African land and cutting the Africans psychologically from their land. Moreover, the current paper provided some examples of colonial interference in geographical naming in Africa such as natural landmarks, mountains, lakes, countries› names, cities, streets, etc. This paper also looked at some forms of orthographic and semantic distortions of the African toponyms and discussed some efforts related to the renaming of African places as a result of the decolonization movements throughout the African continent. The present paper is nothing more than a hint at a serious and complex topic that deserves to be devoted to in-depth studies.