History NationalStereotypes / Africa

* Egyptian women have a reputation as {{Belly Dancer}}s; Egyptians kind of brought this one on themselves, as Egyptian movies (the most popular ones in the Arab world) always have one.

* Africans of any nationality are conspicuously absent from beat 'em up videogames, especially as this medium is usually presented as some sort of tournament involving fighters from "all over the world". This often leads to cries of ignorance and prejudice in fan forums. North American, European and Asian characters make up the lion's share of characters and in the main beat 'em up series, ''[[{{Franchise/StreetFighter}} Street Fighter]]'''s Elena, a native of Kenya, is one of the few African fighters depicted. Arguably, this might be explained by HollywoodAtlas. Beat 'em ups rely heavily on exploiting well-known National Stereotypes when presenting characters (especially the pioneering ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series), and for many people, African culture, iconography, and the multitude of nationalities therein all blend into one big melange, which Elena, as a Savannah-dwelling, Maasai-inspired Kenyan covers off nicely. It's far easier to design characters from [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman England]], [[LatinLover Italy]], [[AllChinesePeopleKnowKungFu China]], [[IKnowKarate Japan]], etc. because there are ''such'' distinct, iconically familiar, universally recognizable national character/appearance traits that can be referenced and parodied for these countries -- put simply, most of the game-buying public could not tell the difference between Kenyan and Tanzanian culture.

* Similarly, people seem to think that Africa is just jungles and savanna with no cities or towns, just loads of small rural villages that are many miles apart. The fact that Africa hosts a wide variety of biomes and many major cities are usually forgotten.

** AmoralAfrikaner: White upper-class South Africans are either "Rooineks" (British white South Africans) or "Afrikaners" (die-hard Nationalists and apartheid supporters). Usually, they will wear khaki shirts and live in a big mansion or a hovel, lamenting the good old days when apartheid was still in effect. They are all viciously racist and bluntly call their servants "boys" and all black people "kaffirs". Middle class apparently doesn't exist, even though in reality South Africa has the largest middle class of any African nation. There also seem to exist no white South Africans of anything other than British or Dutch descent in popular culture, despite the fact that there are also a lot of people with Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Jewish, and Lebanese ancestry.

* Somali people are usually portrayed as being very tall and very skinny. In the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, they (as well as other peoples from the Horn of Africa) are stereotyped as not being real "Africans" or [[ButNotTooBlack not looking black enough]], under the assumption that they descend from Arabians and other multiracial invaders. In reality, most people in Somalia have lived in the Horn of Africa for thousands of years. And despite their location on a major trade route (between the Middle East and North Africa on one hand and Central Africa and South Asia on the other), they show [[http://www.thegeneticatlas.com/DNA_Somalia.jpg surprisingly little genetic admixture]].

* Best known for being a former French colony between 1830 and 1961. The Algerian War for Independence (1954-1961) was one of the most well known conflicts for independence, immortalized in the film Film/TheBattleOfAlgiers (1966). Various internationally famous Frenchmen were also born in Algeria before usually moving back to France afterwards, like novelist Creator/AlbertCamus, fashion designer UsefulmNotes/YvesSaintLaurent and boxer Marcel Cerdan (with whom Music/EdithPiaf had a relationship).

* Most African-Americans are of Nigerian descent. So are most Black Canadians, though a substantial majority of that group trace their Canadian origins to the Caribbean and identify much more with that region.

* The continent itself calls images of DarkestAfrica with diamond mines, [[HungryJungle jungles]], savanna, undiscovered civilizations or creatures, elephants, giraffes, okapis, [[KillerGorilla gorillas]], [[ManiacMonkeys chimpanzees, baboons, meerkats, makis]], hippopotamuses, [[RhinoRampage rhinoceroses]], [[PantheraAwesome lions, leopards, cheetahs, panthers]], [[HeinousHyena hyenas]], jackals, ostriches, [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile crocodiles]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent pythons, black and green mambas, tortoises, geckos, chameleons]], antelopes, wildebeest, gazelles, water buffaloes, warthogs, [[CirclingVultures vultures]], mosquitoes, [[ManEatingPlant flesh eating plants]], etc. Usually whenever people visit Africa they almost trip over all these omnipresent animals, which they invariably always encounter at a dangerous moment. Luckily, they can always escape by [[VineSwing swinging on surprisingly strong vines]].

* [[HollywoodNatives Out-of-date, racist images]] of Africa that crop up a lot in old novels particularly, have their roots in colonial times (AncientAfrica). Black Africans are depicted as childlike, primitive, superstitious people who still worship idols, believe in voodoo and witchcraft, and live in huts. They defend themselves with spears and shields. White colonists can easily trick them by selling them worthless junk in exchange for valuable items [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology or scare them with modern technology]].

* In addition, it's a common stereotype that all black Africans essentially look like West Africans, with none of the variety in phenotypes found in Europe or Asia. This stereotype is especially common in the US, because it's assumed that all Africans look like Afro-Americans or Afro-Caribbeans, who are mostly descended from West Africa. As a result, black Southern African phenotypes in particular are extremely rare in depictions of black Africans.
* Similarly, people seem to think that Africa is just jungles and savanna with no cities or towns, just loads of small rural villages that are many miles apart. That North Africa looks nothing like this (especially Egypt) is usually forgotten.
* Also, it's often thought that most Africans still practice voodoo and/or nature religions, like "primitive tribes" used to do. In reality, Christianity and Islam are the largest religions on the continent. On the other hand, voodoo is actually still practiced to an extent in some West African countries like Benin, and other traditional religions also persist across Africa (albeit often [[InterfaithSmoothie syncretised with Christianity or Islam]]).
* [[HollywoodNatives Out-of-date, racist images]] of Africa that crop up a lot in old novels particularly, have their roots in colonial times (AncientAfrica). Black Africans are depicted as childlike, primitive, superstitious people who still worship idols, believe in voodoo and witchcraft and live in huts. They defend themselves with spears and shields. White colonists can easily trick them by selling them worthless junk in exchange for valuable items [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology or scare them with modern technology]].

** If they are not hunting wild animals they'll be eating maniok. Their favorite pastime is playing the djembé while everyone dances and jumps around like crazy. When they cross a lake by pirogue they will be [[AfricanChant singing in unison]] while paddling.
*** Sometimes there actually is a white person living in the African jungle. He or she is usually RaisedByWolves or apes, or just GoingNative. They'll spent their time [[VineSwing swinging from a vine]], living in a TreehouseOfFun and protecting all animals from the [[EvilPoacher evil poachers]]. If it's a woman, she will be a JunglePrincess dressed in a FurBikini. As always these white jungle people will be called "savage" despite actually being able to speak enough English to be understandable, wearing enough LoinCloth to avoid the censors and having enough manners to not repulse the audiences. They will rule over the jungle animals and even the local black tribes, who in comparison will still be more primitive than our MightyWhitey NatureHero.

** This is also where the idea of "backwards Africa" comes from. Most utilities found in the continent are very primitive and out-of-date. Black Africans are often portrayed as being [[HopelessWithTech too stupid]] or lazy to make something better or more useful out of them. Of course, not all Western countries really bother to provide them with better and more modern stuff anyway.

** All African countries are constantly torn apart by tribal warfare between ill-disciplined thugs wielding machetes and AK-47s and committing genocide. They will exploit young boys into becoming child soldiers and excess in gruesome murder, torture and rape crimes. This trope is ''usually'' thought of as applying specifically to sub-Saharan Africa (except for South Africa, which has its own, relatively specific set of stereotypes).
* Africans of any nationality are conspicuously absent from beat 'em up videogames, especially as this medium is usually presented as some sort of tournament involving fighters from "all over the world". This often leads to cries of ignorance and prejudice in fan-forums. North American, European and Asian characters make up the lion's share of characters and in the main beat 'em up series, ''[[{{Franchise/StreetFighter}} Street Fighter]]'''s Elena, a native of Kenya, is one of the few African fighters depicted. Arguably, this might be explained by HollywoodAtlas. Beat 'em ups rely heavily on exploiting well-known National Stereotypes when presenting characters (especially the pioneering ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series), and for many people, African culture, iconography and the multitude of nationalities therein all blend into one big melange, which Elena, as a Savannah-dwelling, Maasai-inspired Kenyan covers off nicely. It's far easier to design characters from [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman England]], [[LatinLover Italy]], [[AllChinesePeopleKnowKungFu China]], [[IKnowKarate Japan]], etc. because there are ''such'' distinct, iconically familiar, universally recognizable national character/appearance traits that can be referenced and parodied for these countries -- put simply, most of the game-buying public could not tell the difference between Kenyan and Tanzanian culture.

* In the 1950s Egypt finally got noticed by the rest of the world again, when UsefulNotes/GamalAbdelNasser became head of state and turned the centuries old monarchy into a republic. In 1956 he also caused a major economical crisis when he nationalized the Suez Canal, which led various western powers to go to war with Egypt. Since then the only major events that attracted international interest were the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 and the 2011 Egyptian revolution which ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power.
* Culturally the world knows three world famous Egyptians: legendary and influential singer Umm Khultum, film icon Omar Sharif, and more recently football (soccer) star Mohamed Salah.

* Known for Berbers, carpets and scimitars.

* Only known in the West for genocide and arresting people who give teddy bears Muslim names. It is now divided into the Muslim Sudan in North Africa and the Christian South Sudan in East Africa.

* Muslim Sudan is like the Congo, but hotter, sandier and with people yelling "Allahu Akbar!"

** AmoralAfrikaner: White upper class South Africans are either "Rooineks" (British white South Africans) or "Afrikaners" (die-hard Nationalists and apartheid supporters). Usually they will wear khaki shirts and live in a big mansion or a hovel, lamenting the good old days when apartheid was still in effect. They are all viciously racist and bluntly call their servants "boys" and all black people "kaffirs". Middle class apparently doesn't exist, even though in reality South Africa is the ''most'' middle-class African country. There also seem to exist no white South Africans of anything other than British or Dutch descent in popular culture, despite the fact that there are also a lot of people with Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Jewish and Lebanese ancestry.
** South African TV characters in non-South African programmes are disproportionately white. This has a partial justification because of apartheid -- whites are more likely to be able to afford to leave the country. Still, said justification is getting pretty dated by now, given the size of the non-white middle class these days (a recent news story claimed that more black than white folks were emigrating, make of that what you will). White South Africans will ''always'' be [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra racist]] and stinking rich. This is probably because of [[TheLawofConservationofDetail The Law of Conservation of Detail]]. South Africa is where most white sub-Saharan Africans are from; if writers were looking for a black African character, they would likely pick [[{{Main/Bulungi}} some other African country]].

** South African comedian Creator/TrevorNoah remarked that whenever a South African tries to speak German, it sounds like an Adolf Hitler speech to Germans. All Germans hear a [[BlackSpeech South African accent]] in spoken German and think "Hitler".

* Music fans known it solely for being the birth place of Music/FelaKuti.

* '''Ethiopia''''s pretty much only known in the West now for its horrific famines, thanks to that particularly brutal one it suffered through in the 1970s and '80s that led to Live Aid, Band Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas?", etc. Otherwise it's lumped in with the rest of sub-Saharan Africa in terms of being thought of as a heavily pagan, juju spirit-believing culture, although UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity was introduced in the 4th century, Judaism even earlier, and there is a decently large Muslim population.

* Somali people are usually portrayed as being very tall and very skinny. In the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, they (as well as other peoples from the Horn of Africa) are stereotyped as not being real "Africans" or [[ButNotTooBlack not looking black enough]], under the assumption that they descend from Arabians and other multiracial invaders. In reality, most peoples in Somalia have lived in the Horn of Africa for thousands of years. And despite their location on a major trade route (between the Middle East and North Africa on one hand and Central Africa and South Asia on the other), they show [[http://www.thegeneticatlas.com/DNA_Somalia.jpg surprisingly little genetic admixture]].

* Somalis are mostly depicted as being Muslims with [[MassiveNumberedSiblings many children]]. Four children is a small family to them. So many Somalis have fled the problems in their country and migrated to Europe that they're seen as a problem by some people there.
* Since the 2000s Somalia is seen as an increasingly poor, backwards and primitive country in the West. Women are still forced to undergo inhuman circumcisions at a young age and when you travel by sea [[RuthlessModernPirates pirates]] will attack your ship.

* Known for their Civil War during the Cold War between the Communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and anti-Communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), with Cuba being involved in supporting the MPLA.

* Often referred to as "Africa in miniature" due to having all the major environments of Africa in one country, with mountains, coast on the west, savanna in the center, rainforest in the south and desert in the north.

* Notable for declaring itself an post-colonial empire, but in reality, it was just a military dictatorship disguised as an constitutional monarchy with its leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa expending one-third of the country's budget on a lavish coronation ceremony inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation. Needless to say, it was a short-lived experiment as Bokassa was ousted and the republic restored.

* Known mostly for getting into a war with Libya fought mostly with Toyota pickups. And winning. To the dismay of the company, which would rather prefer to be associated with less warlike applications, the "Toyota War" endowed the humble Toyota Hilux an otherwise positive reputation of a truck that will take any punishment and work in any environment.

* The most famous animal is the Congolese gorilla, who lives in the mountainous areas.

** As a result, many people only recognize Africa only as "that place where black people come from."

* Birthplace of Creator/JRRTolkien.

* In more recent times the country is mostly known for the twenty-year-old civil war that ravaged everything and created an absence of a functioning central government during that time. Somalia is often said to be a real-life example of [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies anarchism.]] Depending on the writer's [[AuthorTract political views]], this situation will be [[MarySueTopia heavily romanticized]] or [[AnarchyIsChaos unbelievably grim.]]

* Also, it's often thought that most Africans still practice voodoo and/or nature religions, like "primitive tribes" used to do. In reality, Christianity and Islam are the largest religions on the continent. On the other hand, voodoo is actually still practiced to an extent in some West African countries like Benin, and other traditional religions also persist across Africa (albeit often [[InterfaithSmoothie syncretised with Christianity]]).

** Egyptians are also frequently portrayed as hypnotists and/or {{fortune teller}}s, the latter probably due to the longstanding misconception that {{Romani}} people (often stereotyped as fortune tellers) are of Egyptian extraction--which is where the anti-Romani slur "gypsy" originated--when in reality they came from northern {{India}}.

** Egyptians are also frequently portrayed as hypnotists or fortunetellers or both.