African Ethnographic Maps, with a new Example from Northern Nigeria

Extract

There is little evidence to show that ethnic differences in Africa result in problems of lesser magnitude at the present day than in the past. In recent years the problems of ‘minorities’ have had to be considered in Nigeria, while in the Republic of Congo (Léopoldville) ethnic conflicts and the reappearance of past tribal enmities have produced numerous tragic situations during the last twelve months. The frontiers of Africa were delimited by the European powers half a century or more ago and their absurdity in relation to ethnic groups has been demonstrated recently in papers by Barbour and Prescott. They were drawn in ignorance of the different groups of people through which they passed and have now been inherited by independent African governments who will have to face the problems which have been created. To solve them these African governments will need to know more of ethnic groups and their distributions than did their European predecessors and the need for more adequate ethnographic maps is likely to increase rather than diminish.

Résumé

CARTES ETHNOGRAPHIQUES DE L'AFRIQUE, AVEC UN NOUVEL EXEMPLE DU NORD DE LA NIGÉRIA

Sauf quelques exceptions, il y a eu une manque de cartes ethnographiques satisfaisantes de l'Afrique, surtout de celles basées sur des chiffres. La formation de la nouvelle carte de groupes de tribus du nord de la Nigéria a été limitée par les chiffres du recensement de 1952, mais elle montre les districts dans lesquels se trouvent les divers groupes de tribus et elle indique aussi, d'une façon générale, l'importance numérique des divers groupes comparée au montant de la population de chaque district.