How Colonialism Spread European Languages Across Africa

In a chapter from his book, Immigrant Tongues, Patrick Foote of Name Explain traced how European colonization of much of Africa and the resulting colonial administration and education established non-indigenous languages such as English, French, and Portuguese as official or widely used languages in many countries.

When we think of African languages, I’m sure many of us will think of the land’s indigenous tongues like Swahili, Zulu, and Yoruba. …If you look into the official tongues of African countries, in many cases, you’ll notice that European languages like English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese often get these titles.

Despite the spread of colonial languages, African languages remain widely spoken across the continent.

Immigrant tongues are spoken by millions up and down the continent due to the quick and brutal colonization of the land in the late 19th century. …Africa’s native tongues have survived. …Homegrown languages like Yoruba, Swahili, and Hausa are still spoken by millions.