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Mythology Worlds
Africa
Cradle of Humankind
Keep In Mind
there are over a thousand different ethnic groups in Africa, each with its own traditional belief system and set of stories.
There is no "African mythology" any more than there is an "Asian mythology" or a "European mythology".
Despite centuries of colonization and exploitation by Arabs, Europeans, Asians, and freed slaves from the U.S.A., Africa's mythical legacy lives on.
Modern Africa is divided between the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south, and both are heavily syncretized with native myths and belief systems.
Most of Africa was nonliterate back in the day, which means African myths were not written down until the 1800s...and even then, they were influenced by the European Christians who recorded them.
Most African people never saw the printed word until the 1950s.
However, on this website, Africa myths are decolonized of any Judeo-Christian or European influences carried over from the Scramble For Africa.
For example, any explicit parallels to Bible stories are omitted or changed to reflect local cultures.
The great sky god of each African tribe is referred to as "the Supreme God" instead of as "God" God.
While the Supreme God Mbombo is typically described as "white", he is portrayed on this website as a "Black" African.
No, that's not racist! Please don't bark up the wrong tree!
The Supreme God of Africa
Amma
Dogon, Mali
Wele
Abaluiya, Kenya
Kagn
Khoi-San, Kalahari region
Khonvoum
Mbuti foragers, Congo forest
Mbombo
Kuba, D.R. Congo
Nyame
Ashanti, Ghana
Zanahary
Malagasy, Madagascar
Unkulunkulu
Zulu and Xhosa, South Africa
Juok
Shilluk, South Sudan
Imana
Nyarwanda, Rwanda
Ngai
Masai and Kikuyu, East Africa
Waaq
Cushitic peoples, Horn of Africa
Mawu-Lisa
Fon (Dahomey), Benin
Leza
Various nations of Southern Africa
African Creation Stories
Mwuetsi then makes another attempt to "have fun" with Morongo, but he gets bitten by a venomous snake.
As Mwuetsi starts dying, all life starts dying.
His human children then strangle him and bury him into the ground.
The Supreme God Leaves Humankind
Gods of the Yoruba
Nigeria, Benin, Togo
Heroes and Monarchs
African Trickster Tales
This next story contains content from Anansi, who has blocked it in your kingdom on copyright grounds.
Animal Stories
African Mythical Creatures
The Final Chapter
Origin of Death
When Africans were taken away to America as slaves (after having been captured by other Africans to be sold to Europeans), they brought their mythic traditions with them to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the U.S. of A.
The enslaved Africans in Brazil and the Caribbean created new religious movements such as Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria, Jamaican Obeah, and
Brazilian Candomble.
These Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean traditions can be viewed on the webpage about Latin American and Caribbean folklore.
The enslaved Africans in the U.S. of A. created the tales of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear, Br'er Fox, and other characters.
These were compiled by the storyteller Joel Chandler Harris in his Uncle Remus stories.
The Br'er stories can be found on the U.S. American folklore webpage.
Non-governmental organization ads and LiveAid from the late 1900s have no place here.
They present degrading, insensitive, and outdated images of Africa and other World Majority places that we do not condone on this website.
ALso, if anyone comes to this website just to comment that Africans didn't invent the wheel and didn't build anything other than mud huts (which--guess what--most people in Europe used to live in too), they will be ignored.
By the way, the wheel was invented in what is now Ukraine.
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