Special Features of the Thesaurus

African languages and ethnic groups

In principle the preferred term for languages and ethnic groups is the name without a prefix. There are cross-references to variant spellings and names with prefixes, e.g. Swahili, Used for Suaheli and for Waswahili. Individual ethnic groups are always linked through a geographical heading for peoples to the country or countries in which they live, either directly or via another ethnic group (of which they are a subgroup). Thus the term ‘Ghanaian peoples’ encompasses amongst others the Adangme and Akan, and via the Adangme, the Ada and Krobo. Individual African languages are linked both to a language family and through a geographical language heading to the country or countries where they are spoken, e.g. Fanti language is linked to Akan languages and to Ghanaian languages.

Geographical names

The name of the country is the contemporary one. Short-form or common names are preferred above official or long-form names, e.g. Libya, not Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. There are cross-references to historical or colonial names, e.g. Benin, Used for Dahomey.

Exceptionally Congo Free State is included as a separate descriptor, in addition to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to index publications dealing specifically with the period 1885-1908. The names of a number of colonial territorial entities which do not correspond with a present-day country or politico-administrative region have also been included in view of their historical relevance in the context of an African Studies collection. Examples include French West Africa, German Togoland, British Togoland, Kamerun, British Cameroons, Northern Cameroons, Southern Cameroons, Mali Federation, Spanish Morocco, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika.

Geographical names generally do not extend below the level of a country, with the exception of the historical provinces which united to form the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the South African homelands, as well as a number of rivers (Nile, Niger), islands (Djerba, Gorée), deserts (Sahara, Kalahari), mountains (Kilimanjaro) and enclaves (Cabinda, Ceuta, Lado Envclave, Melilla, Walvis Bay).

Geographical and form headings

Broad geographical headings for languages, peoples, polities and political parties are included in the thesaurus as preferred terms but are not used for indexing or retrieval purposes. They are a useful tool to obtain a list of all the ethnic groups, languages, polities or political parties in a particular African country which are indexed by name (e.g. Ghanaian peoples, Algerian languages, Cameroonian political parties). Likewise a number of broad and general form headings have been included to group particular types of material, e.g. audiovisual materials (form).

Time periods

Time descriptors are used to place a subject in its historical context, e.g. ‘prehistory’ or ‘Middle Ages’. The thesaurus also includes descriptors for particular time periods. Between 1000 and 1800, only single centuries are distinguished; after 1800 single centuries, single half centuries or single decades are used. The first millennium is indicated by the descriptor 0-999; the period before 0 by the descriptor 'pre-Christian era'. Single years are not included as descriptors in the thesaurus. However, it is possible to search the catalogue for an event in a particular year by combining the term for the event with the year in question (e.g. elections 2002, coups d’état 1980).