Africa News of Friday, 4 June 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
These African countries changed their names after independence
African flags at the headquarters of AfDB in Ivory Coast
The process involved in changing one's name would most likely not be as cumbersome as that of a country seeking to change its name.
The last time an African country changed its name was in 2018 when the King of Swaziland announced during independence day celebration that the country had abandoned Swaziland and was from then on known as Eswatini.
Over in West Africa, specifically Africa's most populous nation, there is a proposal for lawmakers to consider changing the name of Nigeria to the United African Republic.
Whiles any such change will involve a long laborious constitutional change, signs are that it will likely not happen as nationals have largely mocked the idea put forth by a tax consultant in Lagos.
GhanaWeb looks back at some African countries that have previously changed their names:
1. Gold Coast changed to Ghana after independence in 1957.
2. Mali was previously know as French Soudan, a name ditched after independence in 1960.
3. Belgian Congo changed to Congo Democratic Republic after independence from Belgium in 1960.
4. British protectorate of Bechuanaland changed to what is known presently as Botswana as soon as they got independence from British in 1966.
5. French Congo or 'Moyen Congo' changed to the Republic of Congo [currently referred to as Congo Brazzaville] name was changed after independence in 1960.
6. Mozambique was intitiall;y known as Portuguese East Africa until independence in 1975
7. Portuguese Angola or Portuguese West Africa changed to Angola after independence in 1975.
8. The Spanish colonies of Rio Muni and Fernando Po united to become Equatorial Guinea when the Central African country got independence in 1968.
9. South-West Africa changed to Namibia when they broke away from South Africa in 1990. At a point they were also known as German South-West Africa [1884-1915], that wa before the Germans lost WW I.
In part two of this piece we will also look at previous names for countries like Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho and Rwanda.
