THE separation of African people into conflicting political, religious, economic and cultural entities or states is a result of the divisive politics continually invented by Europeans at their different strategic planning forums of colonising and looting Africa of her people, wealth and heritage.
A careful study of African culture, languages and civilisation, will show that African people are historically one.
They have one civilisation.
There are no cultural or religious differences among them.
Their societies are designed, structured and organised the same way.
Variations are in form, not in content.
Their counting methods of giving names to numbers based on the fingers of their hands and, in some instances toes, are so similar and almost identical as to leave no doubt that they indeed belong to the same culture and civilization and are therefore one.
For instance, in the languages of the Bram and Makanye of Guinea Bissau, the number five is denoted by the word for ‘hand’.
Ten is ‘two hands’.
Nine is ‘hand and hand less one’.
Nineteen is ‘two hands and hand and hand less one’.
In Hausa, to indicate five, one hand is raised with the finger tips bunched together.
For ten, both hands are brought together with all the fingertips touching.
A fascinating example of the intimate relationship between words for numbers and finger counting is that of the Zulu.
The finger gestures start with the left hand with palms up and fingers bent.
One is ‘nye’, indicated by extending the left small finger.
Two is ‘bili’, indicated by extending the left small finger and the ring finger together.
Three is ‘thathu’, indicated by extending three outer fingers together.
Four is ‘ne’, indicated by extending four fingers.
Five is ‘hlanu’, indicated by extending five fingers.
Six is ‘isithupa’, indicated by extending five fingers of the left hand and the right thumb. Seven is ‘isikhombisa’, indicated by extending the five fingers of the left hand and the thumb and index finger of the right hand.
Eight is ‘isishiyagalombili’ which means ‘leave out two fingers’.
This is indicated by extending five fingers of the left hand and three fingers of the right hand.
Nine is ‘isishiyagalunye’ which means ‘leave out one finger’.
This is indicated by extending five fingers of the left hand and four fingers of the right hand.
Ten is ‘ishumi’, indicated by extending all the fingers of the right and left hand.
The most striking example which indicates a common civilisation, culture and origin of African people and their numeration methods and languages, are the names they give to numbers.
These are so similar to the point of being identical.
For instance: One (1) is ‘imwe’ in Kamba and Shona, ‘imweri’ in Taita, ‘mwe’ in Rwanda, and ‘nye’ in Zulu.
Two (2) is ‘mbili’ in Swahili, ‘mbiri’ in Shona, ‘ili’ in Kamba, ‘iwi’ in Taita, ‘bili’ in Rwanda and Zulu.
Three (3) is ‘tatu’ in Swahili, Shona and Rwanda, ‘itatu’ in Kamba, ‘idadu’ in Taita, and ‘thathu’ in Zulu.
Four (4) is ‘nne’ in Swahili, ‘inya’ in Kamba, ‘inya’ in Taita, ‘ina’ in Shona, ‘ne’ in Rwanda.
Five (5) is ‘tano’ in Swahili, ‘itaano’ in Kamba, ‘isanu’ in Taita, ‘shanu’ in Shona, and ‘tanu’ in Rwanda.
Six (6) is ‘thanthatu’ in Kamba, ‘tandatu’ in Rwanda, ‘tanhatu’ in Shona, and ‘irandadu’ in Taita.
Eight (8) is ‘nane’ in Swahili, ‘nyaanya’ in Kamba, ‘inyanya’ in Taita, and ‘munani’ in Rwanda.
Nine (9) is ‘keenda’ in Kamba, ‘ikenda’ in Taita, and ‘icyenda’ in Rwanda.
Ten (10) is ‘kumi’ in Swahili, ‘ikumi’ in Kamba, ‘ikumi’ in Taita, ‘gumi’ in Shona, ‘cumi’ in Rwanda, and ‘tshumi’ in Zulu.
Eleven (11) is ‘kumi-na-moja’ in Swahili, ‘ikumi-na-imwe’ in Kamba, ‘ikumi-na-imweri’ in Taita, ‘cumi-na-mwe’ in Rwanda, and ‘gumi-ne-imwe’ in Shona.
Twelve (12) is ‘kumi-na-mbili’ in Swahili, ‘gumi-ne-mbiri’ in Shona, ‘ikumi-na-ili’ in Kamba, ‘ikumi-na-iwi’ in Taita, and ‘cumi-na-bili’ in Rwanda.
Twenty (20) is ‘miongo-ili’ in Kamba, ‘mirongo-iwi’ in Taita, ‘makumi-a-bili’ in Rwanda, and ‘makumi-maviri’ in Shona.
Thirty (30) is ‘miongo-itatu’ in Kamba, ‘mirongo-idadu’ in Taita, and ‘mirongo-itatu’ in Rwanda.
Forty (40) is ‘miongo-ina’ in Kamba, ‘mirongo-inya’ in Taita, ‘mirongo-ine’ in Rwanda, and ‘mirongo-muna’ in Ndau.
One hundred (100) is ‘iana-yimwe’ in Kamba, ‘zana’ in Shona, ‘ijana’ in Rwanda, and ‘ighana’ in Taita.
In Kwanyamba (southern Africa), six (6) is ‘tano-na-mwe’; seven (7) is ‘tano-na-vili’; eight (8) is ‘tano-na-tatu’; nine (9) is ‘tano-na-ne’.
Translated into Shona, the Kwanyamba names for numbers six (6) to nine (9) above would read: ‘shanu-ne-imwe’; ‘shanu-ne-mbiri’; ‘shanu-ne-nhatu’; ‘shanu-ne-ina’.
One hundred (100) in Ziba is ‘tsikumi’, referring to a string of 100 cowrie shells; 1 000 is ‘likumi’, referring to a bundle of 10 strings of cowrie currency; 10 000 is ‘kakumi’, a heap of 10 bundles.
All these words are recognisable in Shona and several other African languages across the continent.
And the system of counting using fingers of the hand and, in some cases toes of the feet, is prevalent throughout Africa.
In the Banda language of Central Africa for instance, the word for Fifteen (15) means ‘three fists’.
The Mende of Sierra Leone say “five men finished” to mean “one hundred,” which means one person has 10 fingers and 10 toes which give us 20, therefore, 20×5 give us 100.
The examples above leave no doubt that Africans are indeed one people.
They belong to the same civilisation and have the same worldview and culture.
The current divisions and conflicts along the lines of religion, languages, politics, culture and civilisation alleged among Africans, are the work of the enemies of Africa and her progress.
Africans should therefore shun them with the contempt that they deserve and come together as a formidable force to repulse their common enemies and forge ahead as a people and a race.
NB: The bulk of information in this article has been sourced from Africa Counts by Claudia Zaslavsky.