Africa
–noun

- Continent South of Europe and between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. 30,303,000 sq. km.

- The second-largest continent, connected to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez and lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

- The second-largest continent, after Asia; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean.

Africa has been the home of great civilizations, particularly in Egypt, along the Mediterranean Sea. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European nations colonized much of the continent (see colonialism). In the twentieth century, the colonies became independent countries.

African
–adjective

1 .Also, Africa, of or from Africa; belonging to the Black peoples of Africa

–noun

2. A native or inhabitant of Africa.

3. (Loosely) a black or other person of African ancestry.

 

Bantu
–noun

1. A member of any of several Negroid peoples forming a linguistically and in some respects culturally interrelated family in central and southern Africa.

2. A grouping of more than 500 languages of central and southern Africa, as Kikuyu, Swahili, Tswana, and Zulu, all related within a sub-branch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian family.

–adjective

3. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Bantu or the Bantu peoples.

Non-Bantu, noun, adjective

 

Negroid
-adj

Of or being a major human racial classification traditionally distinguished by physical characteristics such as brown to black pigmentation and often tightly curled hair and including peoples indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa.

-noun

A member of this racial classification.

 

Race
–noun

1. A group of persons related by common descent or heredity.

2. A population so related.

3. Anthropology.

a. Any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.

b. An arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin colour, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.

c. A human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.

4. A group of tribes or peoples forming an ethnic stock: the Slavic race.

5. Any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race.

6. The human race or family; humankind: Nuclear weapons pose a threat to the race.

–adjective

Of or pertaining to the races of humankind.

 

—Synonyms

1. Tribe, clan, family, stock, line, breed. Race, people, nation are terms for a large body of persons who may be thought of as a unit because of common characteristics. In the traditional biological and anthropological systems of classification race refers to a group of persons who share such genetically transmitted traits as skin colour, hair texture, and eye shape or colour: the white race; the yellow race. In reference to classifying the human species, race is now under dispute among modern biologists and anthropologists. Some feel that the term has no biological validity; others use it to specify only a partially isolated reproductive population whose members share a considerable degree of genetic similarity. In certain broader or less technical senses race is sometimes used interchangeably with people. People refers to a body of persons united usually by common interests, ideals, or culture but sometimes also by a common history, language, or ethnic character: We are one people; the peoples of the world; the Swedish people. Nation refers to a body of persons living under an organized government or rule, occupying a defined area, and acting as a unit in matters of peace and war: the English nation.

 

Identity
-noun

1. The set of behavioural or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.

2. The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.

 

Azania
–noun

The indigenous name applied to South Africa by indigenous black nationalists or liberationists.

 

Patriotism
–noun

Devoted love, support, and defence of one's country; national loyalty.

 

Source:
Dictionary.Com

Page Last Updated 25 May 2010