How Africa Can Rewrite Its Own Narrative From Maps and History

The conversation with Fara Ndiaye, the co-founder and deputy executive director of Speak UP Africa, that is leading the Correct The Map campaign alongside Africa No Filter centered around the urgent need to replace the traditional Mercator map that was drawn in the 16th century to serve the purpose of the colonial masters, reducing the size of the continent by almost half. She believes that the distortions are more than a technical detail because maps are political tools, and they frame our imagination about who is central and who is marginal. Hence, it is important and urgent to affirm Africa's real place in the world and encourage the new generation to see their continent as vast, central, and indispensable.

“This map was created in the 16th century for a very specific purpose. And at the time, colonial powers needed to further emphasize that Europe was the center of the world. So they created a map that served their purpose. Now we're in 2025, we need a map that serves our current purpose [....] The idea that Africa is smaller or less consequential, and in reality, Africa is resource rich, has the fastest growing workforce and is poised to be a key driver of global growth. Accurate maps can help shift these perceptions, create confidence in Africa's economic scale, and attract more fair investments and policy attention”, Ndiaye explained.

The act of challenging the accepted record to reveal a deeper truth is one of the most profound ways we honor history. To mark the International day for the remembrance of slave trade and its abolition celebrated every year on August 23rd, Pan-African Frequency is joined by the convener of the African Reparation Hub, Dr. Catherine Namakula to discuss the role and agenda of the African Union on reparations of the slave trade era and how remembering this painful chapter of history can be a source of empowerment for Africans.

The history of African people in many instances and their current reality is shaped by ideologies of racial supremacy and the realities of racial discrimination. I should say that also the legacies of enslavement have never been confronted and even resolved. We had the Durban Declaration and Program of Action where we had a lot of hope. Humanity came to Durban and deliberated so much about the abolition of slavery, declared it a crime against humanity, and that's where the language of reparation comes from. But still that document has not been implemented and there are several excuses that are given for that [...] The African Union's position has been that this agenda has always been part of the decolonization agenda of the continent [....] The continent is writing its own history now that demonstrates its greatness. Organized and governed before it was destroyed by enslavement, which was manipulated for the benefit of others to the detriment of its people”, the expert highlighted.

Furthermore, Professor of History and International Relations at the United States International University, Nairobi, Kenya, Professor Macharia Munene described that the international day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition is significant particularly for Africans.

“The day is important and significant, particularly to the African peoples, who were the main subject of the international slave trade and slavery, particularly the extraction of people from Africa to go and build what became the West [....] One of the most important ways in which the African development and well-being is undermined is the continued intellectual dependence of the Africans on the former slave dealers, because they control the tribunal, they control the narratives, and sometimes those narratives would be to the glorification of that period and that glorification is in adverse relationship with the actual Africans. There is very little development that can take place, material, economic or otherwise, as long as there is this unnecessary and improper dependency of peoples of African descent in Africa like intellectual outsourcing, dependence on the outside extra-continental forces, for it to do what is right”, the Professor noted.

Tune in to listen to the full conversation with our guests on the Pan African Frequency podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.

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