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African Writing Systems

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Mandombe script Writing is a means by which people record, objectify, and organize their activities and thoughts through images and graphs . Writing is a means to inscribe meanings that are expressed through sounds. urther, writing provides an aspect of historicality. !"# This means that writing facilitates the proper recording and transmissions of events and deeds from one generation to another. Most of the worlds written script originated from the Semitic script. The $ree%s converted the Semitic script into what was to become the &'nglish script& of the western world. (rabic and )ebrew retained the basic format of the Semitic script, employing vowel characters and not letters. *hinese script developed uni+uely. It is rather interesting to note that no alphabet is known to have ever been formed by Europeans. We are very familiar with the (frican 'gyptian hieroglyphic script and the (frican 'thiopian $eez script, which date as old as ,--.* and /-- .* years respectively.

)owever forgotten by no coincidence are many other ancient (frican scripts that are uni+ue and expressive in their own ways. Scripts created and used for hundreds of years from Sudan to 0igeria. 1t appears that one of the main reasons why these great (frican script were lost in the sands of )istorical time, is the direct mechanism of the colonial operation. *olonialism was internationally justified on a premise that the (frican was less than a human, this stamped by the infamous "23/ &*ode 0oir&. !4# To this goal, all evidence of (frican advanced s%ills would have been suppressed, boo%s destroyed and higher s%ills silenced. 1n a time when only the 0obles of the West could read and write, if a slave, who was portrayed as an animal 5still written in the 6S constitution as ,7/ths a human in the &three8fifths clause& !,#9 could read and write in his native language with advanced s%ill, it would be impossible to maintain his being less than human. )ere we loo% at some of the great forgotten scripts of the (frican continent.

Contents

" 'thiopic Script 4 'gyptian Script , Sudan Script : (fan ;romo script / .assa Script 3 <ai Script = Mende Script 2 0sibidi Script > 'do7.enin Script

"- Tifinagh Script "" .amun Script "4 ?u%a%ui Script ", 0&%o Script ": Mandombe Script "/ Shumom Script and @rint @ress "3 *ontroversy

Ethiopic Script

'thiopic is an (frican Writing System designed as a meaningful and graphic representation of %nowledge. 1t is a component of the (frican ?nowledge Systems and one of the signal contributions made by (fricans to the world history and cultures. 1t is created to holistically symbolize and locate the cultural and historical parameters of the Ethiopian people. The System, in its classic state, has a total of "24 syllographs, which are arranged in seven columns, each column containing 43 syllographs. 'thiopic is a %nowledge system because it is brilliantly organized to represent philosophical features, such as ideography, mnumonics, syllography, astronomy, and grammatology. !:#

Egyptian Script

Sudan Script

.y the third century .* a new indigenous alphabet, the Meroitic, consisting of twenty8three letters, replaced Egyptian script. The Meroitic script is an alphabetic script originally derived from 'gyptian hieroglyphs, used to write the Meroitic language of the ?ingdom of MeroA7?ush. 1t was developed sometime during the 0apatan @eriod 5about =-- 8 ,-- .*9, and first appears in the 4nd century .*. or a time, it was also possibly used to write the 0ubian language of the successor 0ubian %ingdoms. The Meroitic script is very similar to the 'gyptian Writing System. 1t was used by the Meroe people, a civilization of the Sudan. The system is written from right to left, unli%e the 'gyptian system which can be written right to left, left to right, and vertically. !/#

Afan Oromo script

1t is the language by more than 4/ million ;romo and neighboring peoples in Ethiopia and language as B$allaB, a term that is resented by ;romo people and no longer used.

enya. ;lder publications refer to the

!assa Script

"IS#O$% of the !assa Script& '(() !C 5*iberia, West (frica9 Many people today are unaware of the genius of the (frican. (lthough they might admit to a complex verbal language structure, it may come as +uite a surprise to many that (frican people have a multitude of written languages. 1n Ciberia the .assa people have a written script. The ?pelle, $ola, Corma, $rebo, <ai and ?issi also are %nown to have their own written language. Most of these scripts have diminished over time, as a result of abandonment. )ad )anibal visited Ciberia in /-- ..*., particularly ?powin5Tradetown9 and .assa *ove, he would have witnessed the .assa script in use. The script is called <ah by the .assas, which is translated to the phraseD To throw sign. 0ot to be confused with the <ai ethnic group, who also have their own written script as mentioned above. <ah was initially the throwing of sign or signals utilizing the natural environment. Teeth mar%s would be left on leaves and placed in a discrete location for the intended reader. Messages where also carved in the bar%s of trees. 'ventually this evolved into a complex written language. Euring the era of the Trans8(tlantic slave trade, many .assas avoided slave traders by utilizing <ah5.assa Script9. Euring the colonial, and on through to the neo8colonial period in (frica, a decline in the usage of <ah script caused by external cultural forces, almost brought this written portion of the .assa language to extinction. Er. lo Earvin Cewis in the ">--s would re8discover the script in South (merica. .assas that were sold into slavery now living in .razil and the West 1ndiesF %ept the tradition of writing alive, passing it from generation to generation. Through his travels, Er. Cewis was astonished to find out that he, being a .assa himself, %new nothing of any such writing amongst his people bac% in Ciberia. This discovery put Er. Cewis on a determined path to learn, teach and revive the script in Ciberia. Cewis attended Syracuse 6niversity and earned a doctorate in *hemistry, where he was %nown as the (frican @rince. Er. Cewis returned to Ciberia by way of Eresden, $ermany where a company manufactured the first printing press for the .assa alphabet. 1n Ciberia, he established an institution for learning <ah. (mong his students were, former Senator 'dwin (. Morgan, *ounselors Gacharia Hoberts and Iacob Cogan. ear, mis8 trust, sabotage and colonial thin%ing Ciberians would lead to Er. CewisJ untimely deathF leaving an open legacy yet to be completed. !3# !=#

+ai Script

West (frica "2">

The actual origins of this script are enmeshed in mythology. This script said to be invented by inspiration by Momolu Euwalu .u%ele at about "2">. Some suggest that he developed this script from coming into contact with the .assa Ciberian script in his sojourns. !2#

,ende Script

Sierra *eone

-sibidi Script

The -igerian 0sibidi is an indigenous adaptable and fluid writing system of two dimensional signs, three dimensional forms of pictographs and ideographs and pantomimed gestures. 1t originated as an esoteric form of %nowledge understood by a select group of

people mostly members of a secret society in Southeastern 0igeria which some sources lin% to the 'jagham and later spread to 'fi%, 1gbo, 1bibio, 'fut, (nnang and .anyang spea%ing areas. Some of the signs of the 0sibidi spread to the *aribbean and .razil during the slave trade.

Edo.!enin Script

.enin and 'do people of southern 0igeria have developed a chromatographic system of writing. That is a writing based on different color combination&s and graphs. (ba (bhuluime of 0igeria brought the chromatographic writing system to our attention. The system is also called +uantography or pictography. This system of color writing and tradition needs to be further investigated. (ccording to Mr. (bhuluime, there is a published wor% entitled B(frican ScienceD The (rt of *olour WritingB by (ba ;ta in ">>>. We hope to provide additional information on color writing in the future. SourceD httpD77afri%afriend.:bb.ru7viewtopic.phpKidL",::MpL4

#ifinagh Script

*ibya

!amun Script

Cameroon, West (frica

ukakui Script

Sierra *eone

-/ko Script

0uinea

,andombe Script

$epublic of Congo

Shumom Script and 1rint 1ress

Shumom Script and 1rint 1ress of Cameroon The Shumom people are the people of *ameroon in West (frica. Their country is located between 0igeria in the West, '+uatorial $uinea, $abon and *ongo .razzaville in the South and *had and *entral (frican Hepublic in the 0orth. Within *ameroon, the land of the Shumom people is located in the northern part. 1t is a land of massif plateau and mountains, valleys and vast forested land, a part of the great e+uatorial forest of West and *entral (frica. oumban is the administrative capital of the district. 1n the beginning of the 4-th century or perhaps earlier, the people of *ameroon were able to accomplish one of the most remar%able (frican achievements of the centuryD the invention of a self2sustaining and self governing writing system and a !ron3e cast printing set device to document the histories of the people. Sultan 1brahim 0joya, whose father was %illed resisting the $erman invaders, led the invention. The invention that started in the late nineteenth century 5"2>/ or "2>39 was completed by the beginning of the 4-& century in ">-,. .y the time of the $ermans arrival, the writing system was in use in conjunction with the .amum language, which is a tonal language, which means the meanings of a word will vary depending upon the tone with which the sound of the word is uttered. The system went through seven stages of development. The first stage had over five hundred pictographs and the last stage has had only ,/ syllographs, graphs designed to represent all the phonetic and tone sounds in the .amum language of the Shumom people. ?ing 0joya opened a school in umban where many are trained to become literate and promote leaming in their own language. Several manuscripts and documents were produced, including the histories, laws and customs of the people and their neighbors. Two systems of writing were taught at the schoolD the Hoyal and the popular scripts. #ragically the most important documents are taken away by colonial masters out of Cameroon and they are housed in the 4rench and !ritish ,useums. #he 0ermans and later the 4rench did not want to see the flourishing of a literary tradition among the !amums. -ot only they killed or e5iled their leaders6 they also violently banned the use of Shumom& thereby condemning the people to colonial dark age. The remar%able accomplishments of the *ameroonians is in line with the long and glorious traditions of the inventions and use of writing systems, perhaps beginning with the hieroglyphics of the (ncient 'gyptians whose earliest pictographic writing now dated to be ,:--..*. The Shumom writing system was invented and used in such a participatory democracy where all the members of the society are as%ed by the %ing to participate in the project. ?ing 0joya, the able and visionary leader, ordered his constituency to contribute symbols for the writing system. 1n so doing not only he succeeded in ensuring a wide range of ideographic ideas to choose from, but he also paved the way for eventual acceptance of the system by the whole nation. This process combined with mythology would place the system as permanent cultural asset and legacy of the people.

?ing 0joya mythologized the invention of the Shumom writing system as followsD BWhen ?ing 0joya was asleep one night he had a dream. ( man came and before him sayingD &;h ?ing, ta%e a wide, flat piece of wood and mar% on it a man&s hand. Then wash the board and drin% the water.& The %ing too% a plan% and made a mar% as the man directed, and handed it to that man who also made a mar% thereon and returned the plan% to the ?ing. 1n the dream there were many people sitting around, all schoolboys, and they had paper in their hands. They all made mar%s thereon and passed on what they mar%ed to their neighbors. BWhen it was daylight the ?ing too% a wide plan% and mar%ed thereon a man&s hand. )e then washed the plan% with water and dran% it, as the man in the dream directed. The ?ing now summoned many of his courtiers and told them to mar% out many things and to give names to all these things so that the result would be a boo%. 1n this way man&s speech could be inaudibly recorded. B0joya as%ed whether the populace would be able to understand this silent speech. )is courtiers repliedD &0o, if things are done as you wish, no one will be able to interpret these mar%s.& 0joya as%ed whether it would not be as well to carry out his suggestions, and they repliedD &1t is no use, no one will understand the meaning of these mar%s.& 0joya said to themD &$o, sleep and ponder over the matter till it become clear.& BThe next day he summoned all his courtiers again and as%ed them, sayingD &What now do you thin% about this matter, this boo% businessK& They replied that if he did as he suggested no one would be able to interpret the mar%s. 0joya said he agreed with them, and told them to leave the matter with him and he would try, and if the problem were too much for him he would abandon it. 0evertheless his courtiers were to ma%e many signs, all different, and to bring them to him. )e also made many signs. BThe ?ing now collected all these signs, and called in Moma and 1siah 5two Mohammedan Mallams9 to help him plan. ive times he consulted with these two and by then he understood enough. When 0joya consulted with them again the problem was solved. Then he called together many of his courtiers and taught them the signs. Many people learned and ?ing 0joya was very pleased.B4 ing -7oya/s magnum opus in the royal script ran to 8&8(( pages and its replica is now with the 1itt2$ivers ,useum of O5ford. The published text regarding the writing system was the combined wor%s of MEW Ieffreys and Madam Eugast of rance in ">/- under the titleD C&'criture des .amum and it was published in rance. ?ing 0joya had also successfully surveyed and produced a map of his nation. This is also a remar%able feat by itself. Iust imagine the natural and progressive development of the people of *ameroon without the rude and violent and destructive intervention of 'uropean colonialismN

HefD

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Controversy
When many of these scripts were re8discovered, the (frican historian discoverers were again by no coincidence +uic%ly labeled to have been the formulators of these ancient scripts, and a propaganda tale was spread in all cases that these scripts were invented recently by each discovering researcher in an amusingly identical fashion of them setting out to create these written languages Ee 0ovo just to prove that (fricans too could create written language, and in all cases they were &coincidentally& described to have meditated or been aided by visions to carry out this daunting tas%. This bemusing fallacy has been debun%ed as evidence of ancient use of these scripts have been found in all cases.