Glossary

AfCFTA

The African Continental Free Trade Area, agreed in Kigali in 2018, with trading since January 2021. By number of countries it is the largest free trade area in the world.

In the lessonsAfrican Continental Free Trade Area

African Union

The union of 55 African member states, founded in 2002 as successor to the Organisation of African Unity (1963), with its headquarters in Addis Ababa.

In the lessonsOrganisation of African Unity

Afro-descendant

A person of African descent, especially one living outside Africa. The term became widely used in the early 2000s, including in United Nations texts. AfroSwissters is led by Afro-descendant women.

In the lessonsTilo Frey

Amazigh (Berber)

The Indigenous peoples of North Africa and the Sahara, and their languages, Tamazight. Many prefer Amazigh (plural Imazighen) to the older outside name Berber. Numidia, the Almoravids and the Almohads were Amazigh states.

In the lessonsNumidiaAlmoravids and Almohads

Apartheid

Afrikaans for ‘separateness’: the system of laws in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s that divided people by an assigned ‘race’ and denied the majority political rights. It ended with the elections of 1994.

In the lessonsSouth AfricaSwitzerland and apartheid

Archaeology

The study of the past through material remains: buildings, tools, bones, seeds, pottery. For much of Africa’s history before 1500 it is, together with oral tradition and linguistics, the main source.

In the lessonsSwiss archaeology at Kerma

Asantehene and the Golden Stool

The Asantehene is the king of Asante. The Golden Stool, which according to tradition came down from the sky for Osei Tutu around 1700, embodies the soul of the nation; no one sits on it.

In the lessonsAsanteYaa Asantewaa

Asiento

A Spanish licence granting a foreign company the right to deliver enslaved Africans to Spain’s American colonies. Britain held it from 1713, through the South Sea Company.

In the lessonsSwiss money in the slave trade

Askia

The title of the rulers of the Songhai Empire from 1493, beginning with Askia Muhammad.

In the lessonsSonghai Empire

Bantu languages

A family of about 500 related languages spoken across central, eastern and southern Africa, from Kiswahili to isiZulu. They spread over some 3,000 years with farming communities from the region of today’s Nigeria and Cameroon.

In the lessonsBantu expansion

BCE and CE

Before the Common Era and Common Era: the same count of years as BC and AD, without the religious reference. 300 BCE is 300 years before year 1; there is no year 0.

Berlin Conference

A meeting of fourteen states in Berlin from November 1884 to February 1885 that set rules for claiming African territory. No African was present; Switzerland did not take part.

In the lessonsBerlin Conference

Caliphate

A state led by a caliph, a ruler who claims to succeed the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community. The Fatimid Caliphate and the Sokoto Caliphate are African examples.

In the lessonsFatimid CaliphateSokoto Caliphate

Chartered company

A trading company given special rights by a state, such as a monopoly on certain trade or the power to govern territory. The South Sea Company and the British South Africa Company were chartered companies.

In the lessonsNdebele kingdomSwiss money in the slave trade

City-state

A city that governs itself and its surroundings as an independent state. The Swahili towns of the East African coast and the Hausa cities were city-states.

In the lessonsSwahili city-statesHausa city-states

Colonialism without colonies

A term historians use for the way Swiss people, firms and institutions took part in and profited from colonialism, although Switzerland never had colonies of its own.

Concession

A grant by a state of land, mining or building rights to a company or a person. Napoleon III granted Geneva financiers land near Sétif; Menelik II granted Alfred Ilg the railway concession.

In the lessonsA Geneva company in AlgeriaAlfred Ilg and Menelik II

Dating methods

Ways of measuring how old a find is. Radiocarbon dating works for organic material up to about 50,000 years old; older finds, such as those from Jebel Irhoud, are dated with methods such as luminescence, which measures when a stone was last heated or exposed to light.

In the lessonsJebel IrhoudOmo Kibish

Decolonisation

The end of colonial rule and the founding of independent states. In Africa it ran mainly from 1951 (Libya) to 1975; minority rule in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa ended between 1980 and 1994.

In the lessonsGhanaWars against Portuguese ruleSouth Sudan

Diaspora

People living away from the region of their ancestors, and their communities. The African diaspora includes the descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas as well as more recent migrants, for example in Switzerland.

In the lessonsAdwaPan-African congresses

Equal-area projection

A way of drawing the round Earth on a flat map that keeps the sizes of areas correct. The lesson map uses one, so Africa appears at its true size, which many common world maps shrink.

Federal Charter (Bundesbrief)

A Latin pact of mutual aid between Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, dated early August 1291 and kept in Schwyz. It was made the founding document of Switzerland in the 19th century.

In the lessonsTwo founding pacts

Forced labour

Work extracted under threat of punishment. Colonial regimes imposed it widely, for example for rubber in the Congo Free State and for cotton in German East Africa.

In the lessonsCongo Free StateMaji Maji

Ge’ez

The ancient language of Aksum and its script. Ge’ez is still the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches, and its script writes Amharic and Tigrinya today.

In the lessonsAksum

Genocide

Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as defined by the UN Convention of 1948. In 2021 Germany recognised the killings of Herero and Nama in 1904–08 as genocide.

In the lessonsHerero and Nama

Gold Coast

The European name for the coast of today’s Ghana, after its gold trade, and from 1874 the name of the British colony there. At independence in 1957 it took the name Ghana.

In the lessonsThe transatlantic slave tradeThe Basel Mission

Good offices

Diplomatic help by a neutral country to bring the parties to a conflict together, for example by hosting talks or passing on messages. Switzerland offered them during the Algerian negotiations of 1961–62.

In the lessonsThe Évian talks

Green Sahara (African Humid Period)

A long wet phase, roughly 11,000 to 5,000 years ago, when stronger monsoon rains turned much of the Sahara into grassland with lakes and rivers. Its end pushed people towards the Nile and the savannas.

In the lessonsTassili n’Ajjer

Griot (jeli)

In West Africa, a hereditary keeper of history, genealogy and music, attached to families and rulers. Griots still perform the epic of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire.

In the lessonsMali EmpireTwo founding pacts

Hieroglyphs

The picture-based writing of ancient Egypt, combining signs for sounds and for ideas, in use for more than 3,000 years. It was deciphered in 1822, with the help of the Rosetta Stone.

In the lessonsAncient Egypt

Homo sapiens

The scientific name of our species, modern humans. The oldest known fossils, from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, are about 300,000 years old; all people alive today belong to it.

In the lessonsJebel IrhoudOmo KibishShared ancestors

Human zoo (Völkerschau)

A show in which people from other continents were put on display to European audiences, staged according to stereotypes. Zürich and Basel hosted such shows especially often between 1855 and 1940.

In the lessonsThe “village” of 1896

Indian Ocean trade

Seaborne trade, driven by the monsoon winds, that linked East Africa with Arabia, India and China. Aksum, the Swahili towns and the Somali coast took part in it for centuries.

In the lessonsAksumSwahili city-statesAjuran SultanateThe transatlantic slave trade

Indiennes

Printed cotton fabrics, first made in India and later in Europe, including in Neuchâtel, Basel and Glarus. They were among the main goods exchanged for captives on the West African coast.

In the lessonsSwiss money in the slave trade

Kgotla and kgosi

In Botswana, the kgotla is the public assembly and meeting place of a community; the kgosi is its traditional leader. The kgotla still plays a part in local decisions.

In the lessonsKgotla and Landsgemeinde

Kiswahili

A Bantu language that grew up in the trading towns of the East African coast, with many words from Arabic. Tens of millions of people speak it today, and it is an official language of the African Union; this website offers its guides in Kiswahili too.

In the lessonsBantu expansionSwahili city-states

Landsgemeinde

An open-air assembly of a canton’s citizens, who vote by a show of hands. It survives in Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden.

In the lessonsKgotla and Landsgemeinde

Legend and hagiography

A legend is a traditional story that may contain a historical core. Hagiography is writing about the lives of saints; the story of the Theban Legion is known from such texts, the oldest written down around 440.

In the lessonsThe Theban Legion

Liberation movement

An organisation fighting, politically and often also with arms, to end colonial or minority rule, such as the FLN in Algeria, FRELIMO in Mozambique and the ANC in South Africa.

In the lessonsGhanaWars against Portuguese ruleThe Évian talks

Lukasa

A carved wooden memory board of the Luba, set with beads and shells. Trained court historians ‘read’ it to recall kings, places and events.

In the lessonsLuba and Lunda

Manden Charter

The founding rules of the Mali Empire, proclaimed according to tradition at Kurukan Fuga in 1236 and passed on orally. UNESCO added it to its list of intangible heritage in 2009.

In the lessonsMali EmpireTwo founding pacts

Mansa

The Manding title of the ruler of the Mali Empire, often translated as king or emperor. Mansa Musa ruled in the early 14th century.

In the lessonsMali Empire

Mercenaries and the Foreign Legion

Soldiers who serve a foreign state for pay. Swiss mercenaries served European armies for centuries; Switzerland banned recruitment for foreign service in 1859, but many still joined the French Foreign Legion, founded in 1831.

In the lessonsSwiss soldiers in colonial armies

Meroitic script

The writing of the kingdom of Kush, in use from about the 2nd century BCE. Its signs can be read aloud, but the Meroitic language is still only partly understood.

In the lessonsKush: Napata and Meroë

Mission society

An organisation that sends missionaries to spread Christianity, often also running schools, hospitals and trading firms. Founded in 1815, the Basel Mission was one of the largest Protestant mission societies.

In the lessonsThe Basel MissionThe Mission romande in southern Africa

Mogho Naba

The title of the king of the Mossi kingdom of Ouagadougou, in today’s Burkina Faso, an office that still exists.

In the lessonsMossi kingdoms

Nubia

The Nile valley between southern Egypt and central Sudan. It was home to Kerma, Kush and the Christian kingdoms of Nobadia, Makuria and Alodia.

In the lessonsKermaKush: Napata and MeroëChristian NubiaFunj Sultanate of SennarSwiss archaeology at Kerma

Oba

The title of the king of Benin, in today’s southern Nigeria; Yoruba rulers use it too. The Oba of Benin still reigns as a traditional ruler.

In the lessonsKingdom of Benin

Ochre

A natural earth pigment, red to yellow, coloured by iron oxide. People processed it at Blombos Cave some 100,000 years ago, among the earliest evidence of paint-making.

In the lessonsBlombos Cave

Oral tradition

History passed on by speech, song and performance from one generation to the next. Historians weigh it against written and archaeological evidence; many dates marked ‘by tradition’ in these lessons come from it.

In the lessonsJolof EmpireKubaTwo founding pacts

Pan-Africanism

The idea and movement that the peoples of Africa and of the African diaspora share a history and a future and should act together. Its congresses from 1900 onwards helped to prepare independence.

In the lessonsPan-African congresses

Peer review

Before a scientific article is published, independent experts check its methods, data and conclusions. Journals such as Nature, Science and PNAS work this way; the source library marks peer-reviewed articles.

Pharaoh

The title of the rulers of ancient Egypt. From about 750 to 656 BCE, kings from Kush ruled Egypt as pharaohs of the 25th dynasty.

In the lessonsKush: Napata and MeroëSwiss archaeology at Kerma

Polygenism

The 19th-century theory, promoted among others by Louis Agassiz, that human groups were created separately. Genetics has refuted it: all living people belong to one species with a common origin in Africa.

In the lessonsLouis Agassiz and Renty

Primary and secondary sources

A primary source comes from the time itself: a letter, a chronicle, a photograph, an object. A secondary source is later research that interprets primary sources, such as a book or a journal article. The source library lists both.

Provenance research and restitution

Provenance research traces how an object changed hands since it was made. Where it shows that an object was looted or taken under duress, museums may return it, or transfer its ownership, to its country or community of origin.

In the lessonsBenin City, 1897Benin objects in Swiss museums

Queen Mother

In Akan states such as Asante, a female office with real political power: the queen mother advises the ruler and helps to choose him. Yaa Asantewaa was queen mother of Ejisu.

In the lessonsYaa Asantewaa

Scramble for Africa

The rapid division of almost the whole continent among European states between about 1880 and 1914.

In the lessonsBerlin Conference

Sultanate

A state ruled by a sultan, a Muslim ruler with worldly authority. Adal, Ajuran, Sennar and Darfur were sultanates.

In the lessonsAdal SultanateAjuran SultanateFunj Sultanate of SennarDarfur Sultanate

Swiss Confederation

The alliance from which Switzerland grew: from the late 13th century, valley communities and towns joined in pacts of mutual help. The federal state with a constitution dates from 1848.

Trans-Saharan trade

Caravan trade across the Sahara between North and West Africa, regular from about the 8th century with camels. Gold, salt, copper, cloth, books and also enslaved people travelled along its routes.

In the lessonsGhana (Wagadu)The transatlantic slave trade

Triangular trade

The Atlantic circuit in which ships carried goods such as cloth and weapons from Europe to Africa, enslaved people from Africa to the Americas, and sugar, coffee or cotton back to Europe.

In the lessonsThe transatlantic slave tradeSwiss money in the slave trade