theatlantic: An Amazing, Dizzying Map of All the Languages and...

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theatlantic:

An Amazing, Dizzying Map of All the Languages and...

theatlantic:

An Amazing, Dizzying Map of All the Languages and Races in South Africa

When I briefly lived in South Africa a few years ago, I was surprised to find that most people in the newsroom where I was interning spoke at least two languages: English and a Dutch dialect called Afrikaans. On top of that, some people in Cape Town also spoke isiXhosa, the most common native language in the area. 

When you come from a country where most people are monolingual, that alone is impressive. But it was also a near-daily reminder of South Africa’s turbulent history, during which its land was taken over first by the Dutch and then the British, both of whom clashed with and ultimately marginalized all the various native peoples.

These maps, made by Cape Town developer Adrian Frith, show the true extent of how cacophonous all these little slices of South African life really are. (Click here for the interactive version). All the various linguistic and racial groups seem like they largely clung together—”coloured” or mixed-race people live predominantly in the country’s west, for example.

Read more. [Image: Adrian Frith]