What is the old name of Africa?

Answer 1

The name 'Africa' has its history in the distant past, 'Afri' was the name of several Semitic peoples who dwelt in North Africa near Carthage. Their name is usually connected with Phoenician "afar" meaning 'dust.

The name may also perhaps be associated with the Berber word "ifri" meaning 'cave', in reference to cave dwellers.; Africa or Ifri or Afer is name of Banu Ifran tribes people from Algeria and Tripolitania or Berber tribe of Yafran.

The point is that in ancient times the people of North Africa were referred to by the Mediterranean peoples as the 'Africans', and it is from this derivation that the continent on which they lived was called Africa.

Answer 2

A place the size of Africa can not have an original name even in the days when Africa was referred to as Africa it was named by those that lived to its north and like those that lived on the continent had no Idea of the size or nature of what they were dealing with. the best you could do is to come up with the name each separate group or tribe had thought up for their land. The only authority would have to be the first to circumnavigate it ind see it as a whole.

Answer 3

Many African countries had French, German, or British names. They changed their names to be African names to represent their freedom from their colonizing countries. Hope this helped!