# Bongo Bongo Land > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bongo_Bongo_Land > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bongo_Bongo_Land.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongo_Bongo_Land > Source revision: 1357233342 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Pejorative term used to refer to Third-World countries}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} In [British English](/source/British_English), '''Bongo Bongo Land''' (or '''Bongo-bongo Land''') is a [pejorative](/source/pejorative) term used to refer to [Third-World](/source/Third_World) countries, particularly in [Africa](/source/Africa), or to a fictional such country. ==Possible origins== The origin of the term is unclear but it may come from one or both of the following: * [Bongo drum](/source/Bongo_drum)s believed to be played by African natives{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nicknamesofplace0000room|url-access=registration|quote=Bongo Bongo Land.|first=Adrian|last=Room|year=2006|title=Nicknames of places: Origins and meanings of the alternate and secondary names, sobriquets, titles, epithets and slogans for 4600 places worldwide|publisher=McFarland & Company}} * A parody of African place-names or languages, particularly those in [Bantu languages](/source/Bantu_languages). Bantu languages avoid [consonant clusters](/source/consonant_clusters) except with nasals, almost all words end in vowels, and [reduplication](/source/reduplication) is commonly used to mark intensity or frequency. There is a reference to "Bongoland" in the English translation by Ellen Elizabeth Frewer of a book originally in German by [Georg August Schweinfurth](/source/Georg_August_Schweinfurth), published in 1874 in English as ''The Heart of Africa''.{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/heartofafrica02schw |title=The heart of Africa|first1=Georg August|last1=Schweinfurth|first2=Ellen Elizabeth|last2=Frewer|date=3 February 1874|publisher=New York : Harper & brothers|via=Internet Archive}} Schweinfurth locates it as lying between 6-8 degrees North and in the south-western region of the [Bahr-el-Ghazal](/source/Bahr_el_Ghazal_(region_of_South_Sudan)) (South Sudan). The Belgian explorer Adolphe de Calonne-Beaufaict also refers to the 'Bongo of the Bahr-el-Ghazal' in his 1921 study of the [Azande people](/source/Azande_people).de Calonne-Beaufaict, A. Azande, Bruxelles,Instituts Solvay The English anthropologist [E. E. Evans-Pritchard](/source/E._E._Evans-Pritchard) published a description of the Bongo in 1929, in which he pointed out how their way of life was systematically destroyed by the [Arab slave](/source/Arab_slave_trade) and [ivory trade](/source/ivory_trade)rs from the North.{{Cite journal |last=Evans-Pritchard |first=E. E. |date=1929 |title=The Bongo |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41719404 |journal=Sudan Notes and Records |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–61 |issn=0375-2984}} The 1947 song "[Civilization](/source/Civilization_(1947_song))" by [Bob Hilliard](/source/Bob_Hilliard) and [Carl Sigman](/source/Carl_Sigman), recorded by various artists, contained the line "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo, I Don't Want to Leave the Congo". A variation of this was adopted for a poster produced by the [fascist](/source/fascist) [Union Movement](/source/Union_Movement) bearing the chant "Bongo, bongo, [whites](/source/whites) aren't going to leave [the Congo](/source/Congo_(area))".Prison Sentence And Fines in Ritz Hotel Case Defence Speaks Of "An Awful Error" (Law) The Times Saturday, 13 Aug 1960; pg. 4; Issue 54849; col F In the 1970s, the cinema advertisement for [Silk Cut](/source/Silk_Cut) cigarettes parodying the 1964 film ''[Zulu](/source/Zulu_(1964_film))'' was supposedly set in "Mbongoland". The word "bongo" is also the slang nickname of the [Tanzanian](/source/Tanzanian) city of [Dar es Salaam](/source/Dar_es_Salaam), and the kind of music which originated from Dar es Salaam is called "[Bongo Flava](/source/Bongo_Flava)", a slang version of the phrase "bongo flavour". Also, some [Tanzanian films](/source/Cinema_of_Tanzania) are known as "bongo films".{{Cite news|date=2012-04-10|title=Kanumba funeral: Thousands mourn Tanzanian actor|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17662920|access-date=2021-03-17}} ==Controversies== The term has featured in political controversies. In 1985, [Alan Clark](/source/Alan_Clark), while [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Plymouth Sutton](/source/Plymouth_Sutton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), once, in a departmental meeting, allegedly referred to Africa as "Bongo Bongo Land".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zzw9WabmmVwC&q=bongo+bongo+land&pg=PT219|title=Political Correctness: A History of Semantics and Culture|isbn=9781444360295|last1=Hughes|first1=Geoffrey|year=2011}}7 February 1985 "Tory minister faces row over race remark" ''[Financial Times](/source/Financial_Times)'' When called to account, however, Clark denied the comment had any racist overtones, saying it had simply been a reference to the President of [Gabon](/source/Gabon), [Omar Bongo](/source/Omar_Bongo).Clark, A. ''The Last Diaries: In and Out of the Wilderness'', Phoenix, 2003, p. 219. In 2004, [Taki Theodoracopulos](/source/Taki_Theodoracopulos) called [Kenya](/source/Kenya) "bongo-bongo land" in a column for ''[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)''. ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' later criticised his use of "offensive and outdated stereotypes".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/oct/21/conservatives.pressandpublishing|title=Boris Johnson: Selective spectator|date=21 October 2004|work=The Guardian|location=London}} In July 2013, [Godfrey Bloom](/source/Godfrey_Bloom), a [member of the European Parliament](/source/member_of_the_European_Parliament) for [Yorkshire and the Humber](/source/Yorkshire_and_the_Humber_(European_Parliament_constituency)) for the [UK Independence Party](/source/UK_Independence_Party) (UKIP), was filmed referring to countries which receive overseas aid from the United Kingdom as "Bongo Bongo Land".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/06/ukip-godfrey-bloom-bongo-bongo-land|title=Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom criticises aid to 'bongo bongo land'|last=Mason|first=Rowena|date=6 August 2013|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|location=London|accessdate=6 August 2013}} UKIP later banned use of the term. A spokesperson from [Show Racism the Red Card](/source/Show_Racism_the_Red_Card) stated that Bloom's remarks were "crude stereotypes that see Britain as a civilised place and overseas as tribal".{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23600129|title=The other meaning of Bongoland|publisher=BBC News|date=8 August 2013}} [Matthew d'Ancona](/source/Matthew_d'Ancona) wrote in ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'': "There may indeed be some who inwardly cheered Bloom’s choice of words. But there will be many – including, crucially, some who agree with his position on aid – who felt queasy at the use of such antediluvian language."{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/10234039/Take-note-Ukip-political-discourse-isnt-a-free-for-all.html|title=Take note, Ukip: political discourse isn't a free-for-all|first=Matthew|last=d’Ancona|date=10 August 2013|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}} In 2019 the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) MP [Tan Dhesi](/source/Tan_Dhesi) asked the [prime minister](/source/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom), [Boris Johnson](/source/Boris_Johnson) of the Conservative Party, to apologise for his use of derogatory terms to describe immigrants, citing "towel-head, or [Taliban](/source/Taliban), or coming from bongo-bongo land" as examples of such insults which [minority communities](/source/Classification_of_ethnicity_in_the_United_Kingdom) receive; though not necessarily ascribing these terms to Johnson, the speech was made in relation to other comments made by him.{{Cite web|date=2019-09-04|title=Boris Johnson urged to apologise for 'derogatory and racist' letterboxes article|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/04/boris-johnson-urged-to-apologise-for-muslim-women-letterboxes-article|access-date=2021-04-28|website=The Guardian|location=London}} == See also == * ''Bongoland,'' a 2003 American/Tanzanian film directed by [Josiah Kibira](/source/Josiah_Kibira). * [Bunga bunga](/source/Bunga_bunga) * [Bongo (antelope)](/source/Bongo_(antelope)), the largest forest antelope in Africa * [Um Bongo](/source/Um_Bongo), a tropical fruit drink with African-themed branding * [Bongo bongo in linguistics](/source/Bongo-Bongo_(linguistics)) * ''[King Leonardo and His Short Subjects](/source/King_Leonardo_and_His_Short_Subjects)'', a 1960 animation series about the fictional African country of Bongo Congo == References == {{Reflist}} Category:Anti-black racism in the United Kingdom Category:Fictional African countries Category:British political phrases Category:Stereotypes of black people --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bongo Bongo Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongo_Bongo_Land) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongo_Bongo_Land?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.