Man, you are too modern
.
You have to think about the 30s (I mean 1930s), but unfortunately in some cases even much later (Hell, I bet you can find it even today) with Hollywood movies with the white hero and the African tribe dancing around him, reference to "monkeys", and "bwana" by the ignorant Africans that could not speak properly.
Except, the ignorants were not the African, but the white Americans and Europeans, because bwana derives from a Swahili word that translates "Sir", "master","boss" (seen all three translations) itself derived apparently from Arabic - so, they were simply talking "their" (in some regions, Swahili was used as a common communication language, like in Europe first Latin, then Latin and French, then Latin and English and now English) language.
Most people would be shocked to learn that African countries were the ones where the jump was from no (phone) line directly to mobile phones with antennas connected by microwave links (no cables).
I remember a friend who worked in mobile operators saying it was impossible and you had to go through cables (landlines) to connect the base stations when we had first discussed it, then admitting in Africa they did it - they did not copy the Americans or Europeans, the found the solution that worked best for their reality using the most recent technology they could put their hands on.
