why is africa called as dark continent?

Answer 1

it is fully covered with thick forests & there lives black people.

Answer 2

A former name for Africa, so used because its hinterland was largely unknown and therefore mysterious to Europeans until the 19th century. Henry M. Stanley was probably the first to use the term in his 1878 account Through the Dark Continent.

Answer 3

Till recently nobody knew there was continent there

it was separated from the know world because of the Sahara desert and the surrounding ocean so no one knew it

the only know world were Asia (India center of attraction ) and Europe

America Australia an Africa came late to the scene

but remember one thing still there was life in Africa

it seems life begun in Africa its our Home land

Answer 4

Its not bcos of the ppl...its bcos Africa enjoys the most of the equator and has the largest land covered by forest. Hence the Dark continent. Infact in the works of John Conrad "The heart of darkness" Africa was described as a continent which is yet to be discovered...hence unknown...hence associated with Black!

Answer 5

In 19th Century Europe and the Western world, the area was sometimes referred to as Black Africa. Africa as a whole was commonly known as 'the Dark continent", a term that was usually intended to refer to the Sub-Saharan region. This was partly due to the skin color of its indigenous inhabitants and partly because much of it had not been fully mapped or explored by Westerners. These terms are now obsolete and often considered to be pejorative. Further, they are misleading, as black Africans are indigenous to much of North Africa, as well.
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Answer 6

Equatorial region of the Africa was heavily forested and was not penetrated, was coloured Black on the map(find an old map and look at it), most of the continent was like that.

Hence called a dark Continent. It also implies Unknown, unexplored.

Answer 7

No Condition is Permanent. World music, and African music in particular, often falls into two categories: pleasant and inoccuous, or the fetishized other. Even speaking of "African" music is misleading. Senegalese mbalax doesn't sound that much like Camaroonian makossa. And I don't say this as some great authority; I'm still just at the beginning of the learning curve. So come along with me. There's the broad Benne Loxo du Taccu, the sidebar of Mudd Up!, the great (and self-explanitory) African Hiphop, Stern's Music (this link going to a more accessible Thione Seck), Aduna (for Francophones— my middle-school French gets me by, but I'm really there for the music), Du Bruit (more Francophones, with an emphasis on vinyl sharities), and Worldly Disorientation (which covers all sorts of world music, but has some excellent African stuff). Have I missed anything great? Recommend it in the thread. I tend to prefer the psychedelic and dubby stuff more than straight folk styles, but that's me.


reff:http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/46769

Answer 8

africa, for a large part of the 16th century (when colonialisation started), remained a mysterious, unknown landmass. it was covered with thick forests and was difficult to explore. thus, it was called as dark continent because it always "stayed in the dark" to the Europeans, until they managed to explore its interiors

Answer 9

HI FRIEND!! THIS NAME WAS GIVEN BY THE BRITISHERS IN WORLD WAR TIMES.BECAUSE ONLY AND EXCLUSIVELY THE BRITISHERS KNOW THAT AFRICA IS FULL OF GOLD AND HAVE VALUABLE TREES AND OTHER VALUABLE THINGS.SO THEY WANTED THAT NO OTHER COUNTRY OR EMPIRE CAN GO THERE AND LOOT THE VALUE ABLE THINGS.AND NOW ALSO AFRICA IS CALLED DARK CONTINENT BECAUSE MOST OF COUNTRIES OF AFRICA R UNDER-DEVELOPED AND MOST OF PEOPLE R STILL BELIEVE IN MANY SUPERSTITION AS THEY R ILL-LITERATE AND ALSO VERY USUALLY AND COMMONLY CIVIL WAR R HAPPENING.SO THIS YOUR ANSWER.I HOPE U HAD UNDERSTAND*.

Answer 10

it is fully covered with thick and dense forest. Besides, people lives there has dark complexion bcoz of the earth's equatorial line passes thru midst of africa and sun rays are directly & straight falls on this region..

Answer 11

Mainly because of the colour of the skin of the human beings who inhabit this continent.