Chapters VI & VII
Tongues
& Empires
250+ languages · 40 kingdoms · one continent
Africa is not a country with a language. It is a continent with over 2,000 of them, belonging to four great families — Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan — each as different from the others as English is from Japanese. Many of the continent's empires were built precisely on the ability to trade across those tongues, using language as currency as much as gold or salt.
The empires below rose and fell over three thousand years. Each one controlled territory across several language groups, and most invented or adapted a script to write their laws and praise-poems down. The languages outlived every empire that tried to organise them — and most are still spoken today.
Chapter VI — The Tongues
Two hundred and fifty languages
A selection from the archive. Each is a door — open one and you change how you see the world.
Acholi
Nilo-Saharan
Adamawa-Ubangi
Niger-Congo
Adja/Mina
Niger-Congo
Afar
Afro-Asiatic
Afrikaans
Agalega Creole
Algerian Arabic
Afro-Asiatic
Amharic
Andaandi-Dongolawi
Angolar
Niger-Congo
Annobonese Creole
Anyi
Niger-Congo
Ateso
Nilo-Saharan
Attié-Akyé
Awjilah/Awjili
Bainouk
Atlantic-Congo, Nig…
Balanta
Atlantic-Congo
Balanta-Ganja
Niger-Congo
Balengue
Niger-Congo
Bambara
Mande
Banda
Ubangian
Bandi
Niger-Congo
Bantu
Bantu
Baoulé
Niger-Congo
Bari
Nilo-Saharan
Bariba
Niger-Congo
Basaa
Niger-Congo
Baseke
Niger-Congo
Bassa
Niger-Congo
Bassar
Gur
Beja
Afro-Asiatic
Beja-Bedawiyet
Afro-Asiatic
Bemba
Bantu
Benga
Niger-Congo
Berber
Afro-Asiatic
Berta
Nilo-Saharan
Bete
Biafada
Niger-Congo
Bilen
Afro-Asiatic
Bissa
Gur
Bissio
Niger-Congo
Bobo
Gur
Bongo-Bagirmi
Bongo-Bagirmi
Bube
Niger-Congo
Buduma
Nilo-Saharan
Bujeba
Afro-Asiatic
Cape Verdean-Creole
Central Atlas Tamazight
Chapter VII — The Empires
Great houses of the continent
Forty kingdoms arranged by region. Each built its own capital, its own cloth, its own way of reading the sky.
