French is the Official Language in 19 African Countries

French language was introduced to Africa due to colonialism.

French Africa

French is the official language in 19 African countries. France and the forced assimilation of language, food, colonized Africa and culture has lasting results on her people. French is the official language in 19 African countries because the French language was the language of the authoritarians.

French is the Official Language in 19 African Countries.

List of French Speaking African Countries.

There are 19 French-speaking African countries. In Africa, the French language in Africa is usually the lingua franca or the language for business and education. Lingua franca definition is any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages.

Hence, French is the official language of 19 countries in Africa but it does not mean French is widely spoken in French-speaking Africa. The 19 countries of Africa where French is the official language are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, and Togo.

The French Colonial Domain

Throughout the latter part of the fifteenth century, the French and other Colonials began to establish their presence in Africa. The French Colonialists established a trade port on the West African coast as early as 1659 at St. Louis, present-day Senegal. Assimilation lay at the base of French Colonial practice in Africa and many regions in Africa would become a part of France.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the French held most of what would come to be their colonial territory in West Africa including present-day Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Niger.

By the close of the Second World War, the African peoples of French Colonial West Africa were making their discontent with the French Colonial structure heard. West Africans had participated in the Napoleonic Wars and other World Wars for France and the mounting opposition to French Colonial rule and its exploitative nature, resulted in an African protest movement that would ultimately lead to independence for the French-speaking African territories.

Did You Know?
The Anglophone Problem is increasingly dominating the political agenda of Cameroon but, the Anglophone problem, what is it? In 2016 and 2017 protests by English-speaking Cameroonians, who have complained of marginalization in the largely French-speaking country are growing in number.

French is the official language in 19 African countries

Benin

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Cote d’Ivoire

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea

Gabon

Guinea

Madagascar

Mali

Niger

Republic of the Congo

Rwanda

Senegal

Seychelles

Switzerland

Togo

In Africa the French language is usually the lingua franca or the language for business and education.