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.
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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)
Source: neatorama