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African Urban History, Place-Naming and Place-Making

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Land Issues for Urban Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Part of the book series: Local and Urban Governance ((LUG))

Abstract

African urban history can contribute towards understanding present-day land governance issues of SSA cities, through a post-disciplinary approach across disciplinary and sub-disciplinary boundaries. The chapter explores precolonial and colonial building forms, and the impact of colonial policies towards towns or townships, which discouraged Africans from urban living. Banished to peri-urban settlements, they lived in temporary structures, often under threat of demolition and displacement. A sense of place identity and attachment is difficult in such circumstances, but place-naming and community histories can help build local civil society so that better rules for land governance, both formal and informal, can be negotiated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Boma was a Swahili word, perhaps originating from the Persian word for a garrison place of shelter and was incorporated into African languages; in south-central Africa the equivalent word, kraal (also spelled craal or kraul) was of Dutch and Portuguese origin.

  2. 2.

    Berlin was considered the densest tenement city in Europe in 1900 at an estimated 1350 people per hectare, with New York at 1300, but Huchzermeyer claims 5000 for the Huruma district of Nairobi based upon her own field work in 2008.

  3. 3.

    The 300 projects (each over US$30 million in value) were grouped into sectors (energy and power, transport, real estate, water, mining, oil and gas, shipping and ports). Projects in the real estate sector with a housing component (for mostly high-income groups) were Kigali’s Investment City, South Africa’s Modderfontein City, Lagos’ Eko Atlantic City, and Kenya’s Konza Technopolis.

  4. 4.

    The origins of the name Tshwane have been disputed [https://africanlanguages.com/south_africa/place_names.html]

  5. 5.

    Ekurhuleni superseded the Eastern Gauteng Services Council, the Khayalami Metropolitan Council, and the previous administrations of Alberton, Benoni, Boksburg, Brakpan, Edenvale/Lethabong, Germiston, Kempton Park/Tembisa, Nigel and Springs.

  6. 6.

    Langalibalele (c1814–1889) was in 1873 imprisoned on Robben Island, and on his release settled near the Pinelands forestry plantation (first known as Langalibalele’s Location, then Kwa Langa, meaning place of Langa).

  7. 7.

    James Mpanza (1889–1970) was a squatter leader known as “the father of Soweto”, who led a land invasion in 1944. Figure 20.8 shows a kiosk for sale of water functioning as a social meeting place.

  8. 8.

    John Sydney Marwick (1875–1958) as manager of the Municipal Native Affairs Department in Durban (1916–1920) was largely responsible for the oppressive Durban System for funding African services, but his good name came from his rescue of 7000 Zulu workers left stranded at the commencement of the Anglo-Boer War.

  9. 9.

    Other stranger quarters in Kano were the Sabon Gari, Gwagwarwa and Fagge.

  10. 10.

    Woodlanda and Kabulonga are high-income housing areas; Kaunda Square is a district where the council settled urban migrants; and Kalingalinga was one of Lusaka’s earliest squatter settlements, associated with the main opposition political party.

  11. 11.

    Cambridge University, whose archeologists excavated the early colonial settlements, initiated a Legacies of Slavery research project in 2019: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/news/122-legacies-of-slavery

  12. 12.

    Cape Verde’s official UNESCO application says: Morna is a performative genre from Cape Verde that combines voice, music, poetry and dance. It is a musical expression whose practice makes no gender distinction. Usually sung by a single person, it is accompanied by acoustic instruments, especially the guitar. It appeared in the nineteenth century, evolving from the mixing of musical styles with strong African roots, with melodies from Europe. [https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/morna-musical-practice-of-cabo-verde-01469]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anglia Law School, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, Essex, UK

    Robert Home

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  1. Anglia Law School, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, Essex, UK

    Robert Home

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Home, R. (2021). African Urban History, Place-Naming and Place-Making. In: Home, R. (eds) Land Issues for Urban Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Local and Urban Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52504-0_20

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