Modern identifications of Rhapta place it on the coasts of modern-day Tanzania—indicating that Azania referred to an area perhaps identical to the later Arab Zanj.
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A number of etymologies proposed in the nineteenth century claimed the name was derived from Zanj, an Arabic or Persian word referring to the dark-skinned inhabitants of Africa and their land.
Beyond the Red Sea, the manuscript describes the coast of India as far as the Ganges River and the east coast of Africa (called Azania).
Following from this framework, SOPA argues that the end of apartheid in the 1990s did not truly liberate Black people in South Africa (which the party refers to as Azania), but that instead the post-apartheid South African state — led by the African National Congress (ANC) — has allowed the continuing cultural, social and economic dominance of white South Africans.
Yu Huan also includes a brief description of "Zesan" which probably refers to the East African coast which was known to Greek and Roman authors as Azania, and what appears to be awareness of a route around Africa to the Roman Empire - "You can (also) travel (from Zesan) southwest to the capital of Da Qin (Rome), but the number of li is not known".
It was founded in 1989 as the "Pan Africanist Student Organisation of Azania" (PASO) in Roodepoort, Johannesburg.