Africa — What You Call Citizens By Country Their Nationalities

Sunday, 21 May 2023

By: TB Obwoge

Africa — What You Call The Citizens By Country

What do you call the citizens from their respective countries

It is easy to say a person from America is called an American. Same with those from Britain. I was casually having a conversation with a Kenyan man who called me stupid along with a few other things in Kiswahili. Kenyans call their teachers math teacher, science teacher, yet call their English teachers ‘teachers of English’.

This made me create this list of correctly identifying citizens from the respective African countries.

He called me stupid because how would I know if English teachers were from England or not. The insults kept coming and then I replied well people from America don’t think their English teachers are all from England.

Oh well the insults didn’t stop, here I’ve listed the nationalities of Africans and their countries.

Someone from Togo is called Togolese, even their language is called Togolese. Though their languages are Ewe & Kabiye, Ewe is spoken also by the ‘Voltarians’.

Ewe tribe of Ghana situated in the ‘Volta Region’ of Ghana. People living in Ghana are called Ghanians but most pronounce it as CAN-IONS which I’m not one of those people.

Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia are all easy ones, Nigerians, Kenyans, Tanzanian, Ugandans, Ethiopians. As with Rwanda citizens you can use these terms Rwandan and/or Rwandese. Somalia, Somalians are the name for the citizens.

Benin people are called Beninois (ˌbɛniːˈnwɑ) and Beninese. The official language of Benin is French like most West African nations except Nigeria and Ghana.

Burkina Faso citizens are called Burkinabè, Burkina Faso means ‘Upper Volta’, their official language is also French.

Cameroonians is natural for those from Cameroon, where French is the official language along with English. It's also called Cameroun which is the French spelling.

The Central African Republic citizens are called Central African, when I monitor the news in that country their local paper reports on news from Chad as well. It's like Americans people don't think Americans should use that as a nationality. Because people think Americas the area is a continent.

Like Central American is also an area, people say they're Central African but that is a nationality as well as an area.

Below is a news paper from the country Central Africa. It's given the label of a poor country even though it is very rich in resources.

People from Republic of Equatorial Guinea are called Guinean. As with the country that Guinea is often confused with Gabon. People from Gabon are called Gabonese. The country of Gabon’s full name is Republic République Gabonaise in French of course.

People from Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe are called ‘Sao Tomean.'

People from Union of the Comoros are called Comorians.

People from Republic of Djibouti are called Djiboutians.

The republic recognizes two official languages: French and Arabic. However, Somali is the most widely spoken language, although it is rarely written and is not taught in the schools. The use of Afar is mostly restricted to Afar areas. Many Djiboutians are multilingual.

Source: Encyclopedia Britanica

People from State of Eritrea are called Eritreans.

Nine official languages: Tigrinya, Tigre, Saho, Kunama, Rashaida, Bilen, Afar, Beni, Amir, and Nera. Most people speak Tigrinya, and the government also uses Arabic.

Source: Eritrea Profile.PDF

People from People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria are called Algerian. Where the official language is Arabic. Arab Republic of Egypt citizens are called Egyptians. Islamic Republic of Mauritania, citizens are Mauritanian or Mauritanians.

Kingdom of Morocco are called Moroccans. Those from Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic are called the Sahrawi, or Saharawi people.

Republic of Tunisia citizens are called Tunisians.

Republic of Angola, people there are called Angolan.

Republic of Botswana Batswana (singular Motswana).

The country’s whole population is characterized as Batswana (singular Motswana) whatever their ethnic origin. Tswana ethnic dominance (Tswanadom) in Botswana can be dated to the eight Tswana states, which ruled most of the area in the 19th century.

Kingdom of Lesotho people are called:Nationality: Noun — Mosotho (sing.); Basotho (pl.) Adjective — Basotho. Ethnic groups: Basotho 99.7%; Europeans 1,600; Asians 3,000. Religions: 80% Christian, including Roman Catholic (majority), Lesotho Evangelical, Anglican, other denominations.

Source: Nationsonline.org

Republic of Malawi people from Malawi are called Malawians. People in Malawi speak Chichewa, seeing it written it looks very much similar to Swahili (Kiswahili)

Some words also sound and appear the same as I learned from my friend John living and attending University in the country.

Republic of Cabo Verde Cape Verdeans, also called Cabo Verdeans they too like Ghana had the Portuguese in their country in earlier years. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire are Ivorian. Republic of the Gambia are called Gambians.

Republic of Liberia are called Liberian, which were people enslaved in America that were relocated back into West Africa. Which is why the flag looks much like the flag of the US.

Republic of Mali their nationality is Malian or Malians. Republic of Niger sometimes called Nigerois but the official term used is Nigerien. Republic of Senegal nationals are called Senegalese. Republic of Sierra Leone citizens are called Sierra Leonean(s).

Sudan and South Sudan citizens are called Sudanese.

Republic of Zambia people are called Zambians. Republic of Zimbabwe citizens are called Zimbabweans. South Africa is simple, South Africans. There is also Somaliland which is not a part of the 55 countries in the African Union. Citizens are called Somalilanders.

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©️TB Obwoge 2023 All Rights Reserved