According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) during the time of the Roman empire, the term became accepted as a replacement for the word "Libya" which meant the land of the Lebu or Lubins in Genesis.
Geographically, Libya meant only the north coast of the continent and at first, so did Africa. By the end of the first century A.D., Africa came to mean the entire continent. The etymology, the origin of the term Africa is not so precisely agreed upon and, according to UNESCO, its origin is credited to one of seven theories:
The Afarak, also known as the Aourigha, were a Berber people who lived south of Carthage. The terms "Afarik" or "Africa" were used to denote the land of the Afarak.
Some believe that the word comes from the Latin adjective "aprica" which means "sunny" or the Greek aprike, which means "free from cold".
The Phoenician root "faraqua", which suggests a separation or in other words, diaspora. The same root is found in some African languages, like Bambara.
In Sanskrit and Hindu, the root Apara or Africa denotes that which, in geographical terms comes "after," or in other words the west. From the geographical position of India, the Asian country from which the Hindus originated, Africa is the western continent.
Another school of thought states that the word "Africa" comes from two Phoenician terms, one of which means an ear of corn, which was a symbol of fertility in that region, and the other Pharikia, which means land of the fruit.
A historical tradition states that a Yeminiter chief named Africus invaded north Africa in the second millennium before our era and founded a town called Afrikyah. Some say it is more likely that the Arabic term "Ifriqiya" is the Arabic translation of the word "Africa."
Another theory states that Afer was a grandson of Abraham and a companion of Hercules."
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