“I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me” – Kwame Nkrumah

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. In southern African culture, the “self” is not separate from the world, it is united and intermingled with the natural and social environment. There is a Xhosa proverb that is common to all African cultures and languages, “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” (“A person is a person through persons”).

The vast majority of people living in Africa are indigenous; however, people from all over the world have migrated to Africa for hundreds of years.

Arabs began crossing into North Africa from the Middle East in the 7th century, A.D., bringing with them the religion of Islam. Europeans began settling in the southern portion of the continent in the mid-17th century, as did South Asians, who settled in the areas of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.