Why Are African Fauna And Flora Still Named After Europeans?
What is a Rothschild Giraffe? Or for that matter a Reticulated Giraffe? Lake Victoria in the middle of Africa? Or Victoria Falls in Zambia? How about Thompson Falls in Kenya? My favorite one is a Barbary Lion versus just a lion. The list goes on. Fauna and Flora bearing names of no historic relevance to that particular region. Expanding the conversation around what it means to have the tainted imagery from colonial exploitation under the guise of exploration in Africa.
I have always wondered who Barbary was to get a sub species of lions named after him. Or why there was a need for a Rothschild Giraffe. Everyone knows what a giraffe is, not everyone knows about the Rothschild name. Same goes for waterfalls, everyone knows what they are but not everyone knows about Thompson and his expeditions to Africa. In fact, not everyone knows about the true purpose of African explorations in the early 1800-1900's other than the slave trade.
European monarchies funded expeditions to the New World for economic purposes. This made sense business wise. It makes sense - minus the gory details of mass killings, forced enslavement, loss of land, rights, and freedom. From a scientific standpoint, it provided the expansion of nomenclature and specimens but at a consequence- or as I personally call it negligence- to the local populations that inhabited these regions.
White supremacy assumes the local inhabitants have no civil or intelligent understanding and thus would not have a name for the 2nd largest fresh water lake on the planet, and the biggest on the continent itself. It assumes that the giraffe is not enough, that it needed an endorsement from Rothschild to distinguish it ignoring the difference in coat color and pattern designs.
It is time black people ask themselves some serious questions. What does it mean to be free if your brother and sister is still enslaved? The mental colonization through imagery and naming is a powerful tool that has been identified in America. Results from awareness has led to many states changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. It has lead to movements that have taken down statues that commemorate leaders of racist and oppressive leaders.
I believe that the conversation has to be expanded to include names of animals and national landmarks. I believe it should be an international conversation that encourages native people to seriously inspect their history and decide what parts of it they want to alter as they teach new generations of pride and nationalism. Not this hate bs everyone is on. If you think for one minute I'm talking about divisiveness then you fail to understand my point.