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Why is Africa still called the “Dark Continent” in today’s dictionaries?

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  • Everyone
2025.08.01
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  • Africa is home to the greatest diversity of languages, ethnicities, and cultures in the world.
    And yet, for many, Africa still conjures up only words like famine and disease.
    Where do these one-sided images come from?

    As part of its “Recognize Africa Accurately” project, the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) recently reviewed how major global dictionaries and encyclopedias describe Africa.
    The investigation covered 20 widely used sources, including Britannica, Collins, Oxford, Merriam-Webster, and Wikipedia.

    The results were alarming.
    Many of these sources described Africa only in terms of poverty, hunger, corruption, and military dictatorship.
    For example, Britannica states that “most African governments are ruled by the military or a single-party system,” while Wikipedia defines Africa as “the continent most vulnerable to climate change”—generalizing an entire region as a singular, helpless victim.

    Of course, Africa does face real social challenges.
    But to define an entire continent—made up of 54 unique countries with diverse political systems, cultures, and levels of development—through a single, negative lens is not only factually misleading, but dangerously reinforces long-standing prejudices.

    What’s worse is the language itself.
    Terms like “Dark Continent,” “Black Africa,” “Pygmy,” “Bushman,” and “Hottentot” are still found in modern dictionaries without any warning or contextual explanation.
    Many of these terms were used during the colonial era to depict Africans as inferior or uncivilized, and are now widely recognized as offensive or outdated.
    Yet today, users are still being exposed to them as if they were neutral or acceptable.

    This is deeply problematic, because dictionaries and encyclopedias serve as standards of knowledge and shape how young people view the world.
    Across the globe, students are still being taught to see Africa as a continent of crisis.
    We cannot ignore the fact that a single word, a single sentence, can plant the seeds of bias and discrimination.

    VANK has previously succeeded in correcting errors in major dictionaries, such as the mislabeling of “East Sea” as “Sea of Japan” or misrepresentations of Korea’s history and culture.
    This campaign for Africa is a continuation of that effort.
    We are preparing formal requests to publishers demanding that they revise outdated descriptions and add warning labels to discriminatory terms.

    But this movement is not just about correcting dictionary entries.
    It’s about taking action, as global citizens, to protect the values of diversity and coexistence.
    Africa is not a subject of pity or charity—it is a cultural force and a partner in global cooperation.
    This small petition could become the first step in changing how our world is understood.

    We need your support.
    We are not just pointing out a problem—we are calling for a fairer, more accurate standard of global knowledge.
    It’s time for dictionaries to reflect the true diversity and voices of our world.
    Your attention can be the beginning of a new perspective.
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