AFRICA'S HISTORY

Dr. Gloria T.Emeagwali

Professor of History and African Studies, Central Connecticut State University.


Main Site :

www.africahistory.net

AFRICAN TIMELINE

  TIMELINE OF ANCIENT NORTHEAST AFRICA

(a) AFRICAN LEGACY, and the significance of a range of newly discovered sites which include:

(b) The world's oldest stone tools dated 2.5 million years. See http://exn.ca/hominids/home (Discovery Channel)

(c) Olduvai, Northern Tanzania-second oldest in the world with tools dated 2.1 million years

(d) Blombos Cave, South Africa where in 2003 the world's oldest jewellery, in the form of 41 perforated shell beads, were found. Here we have evidence of stylized art work as well as the kind of symbolism and creativity we associate with modern humans. See South Africa museums,Cape Town (www.museum.org.za/sam/muse/9904/htm)

(e)At Loiyangalani, Tanzania,East Africa, in the Serengeti National Park, decorated ostrich eggshell beads were discovered by archeologists. They point also to early human creativity. These were found March 2004, in layers dated between 280,000 and 40,000 years. More precise dates for the beadwork will emerge in due course.

See :: www.CBC.ca/stories/2004/03/31/sci-tech/beads040331

We must also take into account
(f)The Ishango mathematical/calendar artifact of East-Central Africa dated about 25,000 years

This artifact was taken out of the Congo region to Belgium. See the exhibit at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium at www.naturalsciences.be/expo/ishango/en/index.html

Also in this category of early mathematical artifacts is the 37,000 year old Lebombo bone of SWAZILAND, Southern Africa.

Other relevant sites include: (g)Rock Art in Southern Africa


(h)Africa's oldest boat has been found in Ancient Nigeria and this is about 8000 years old.

Multiregional and uniregional theories of human origins point to Africa as the birthplace of humanity. Several molecular biologists and paleontologists confirm this to date. The evidence so far implies that the first humans in the world (homo sapiens) emerged in Africa about 200,000 years ago and migrated to the various continents much later-perhaps as recent as 45,000 years ago in the case of migration to Europe. Recent fossil finds suggest that the world's earliest hominids lived approximately 6 million years before that in Kenya. We note also the 4 million year old fossils of Dinknesh (Lucy) and her descendants and the 1996 discovery in Southern Ethiopia of stone tools 2.5 million years old. The Kenyan -Ethiopian- Tanzanian region is perhaps the birthplace of modern humans, subject to new finds.Note also that several religions do not accept this view on human origins. Ancient Africans migrated within Africa, vertically and horizontally, as well as OUT OF AFRICA to populate the world. For views on the African and Afro-Pacific (Afro-Australian) origins of some Ancient Americans such as the Ancient Brazilians see Dr.Walter Neves,University of Sao Paolo, Brazil (BBC Homepage: Thursday August 26, 1999).

Having emerged millions of years ago in the environs of present day Ethiopia and Kenya, some ancient Ethiopians and Eritreans migrated into neigboring Yemen (Saba) across the Red Sea. Legends of the area view the Queen of Sheba as an Ancient Ethiopian. Biblical texts such as 1 Kings 10, The Song of Solomon and Ancient Ethiopian chronicles such as the Kebra Nagast support this view.

As pointed out by historians such as Stuart Munro-Hay i.Aksum was an African civilization of late Antiquity. It was one of many centers of power to emerge in the environs of ancient Ethiopia and Eritrea and was predominantly derived from the intellectual and material resources of ancient Africans.

The Empires and Kingdoms of ,

j. Nubia (Ancient Sudan -Univ. of Khartoum)
k.Arkamani, Sudan Journal of Archeology and Anthropology
l.The Ancient Horn of Africa


host a wide range of achievements in Africa in particular and the ancient world as a whole. West Africa and other parts of the continent provide artifacts not only of iron, tin, gold and bronze metallurgy but also evidence of building technology, ceramics, maths and medicine. The relics of these earlier technological accomplishments are still visible for scholars. Among the accessible monumental testimonies to the skill and expertise of ancient Africans in various parts of the continent are the following:

Northeast Africa

m.One of Several Temples, Lalibela, Ethiopia

n.Ethiopian Temple

o.Ethiopian Slide Show (includes engineering achievements - Univ. of Pennsylvania)

p.Egypt(Univ. of Memphis)

q.Queen Hatshepsut's Expedition to the Land of Punt (Horn of Africa)(Sayed El-Sayed)

r.Benin Iya, the Benin Enclosures and Fortifications, West Africa, 10,000 miles in length, which, constitute one of the largest man-made structures in the world according to British archeologist Patrick Darling

s.The Gwoza Terraces of NE Nigeria, West Africa

t.Great Zimbabwe

u.The Walled Cities of Zazzau & Kano, Northern Nigeria, West Africa00 miles long x 70' high) -

w. For a discussion on the Sahelian West African regions of Ghana/Mali/Songhai in the middle Niger and Senegal valleys, see McIntosh

x.See also an overview of Ancient Africa(Cora Agatucci)

Note numerous metallurgical and other artifacts such as:

y.The Bronzes of Benin, Ife and Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria, West Africa

z.Indigenous Glassworks of Bida, Nupeland, Nigeria, West Africa

Metallurgical Artifacts of

a1.Mapungubwe, South Africa

a2.Africa's Oldest Boat of 8000 Years(NE Nigeria)

Ancient Terracotta Figurines of Nok, Nigeria, West Africa

a3. Ashanti Gold, West Africa (Garbrah)

a4.Akan Metal Casting (Arthur/Rowe)

 a5.Various archeological data from across the continent should be noted.

a6. Despite eurocentric strategies of disinformation, Africans developed knowledges Africans in various parts of the continent developed a wide range of symbols and motifs for communicating various ideas and concepts. The variety of writing material used in some parts of the continent, historically, reflects the complex history of Africa's writing systems which in the past were in scribed on materials such as parchment, papyrus, leather, skin, fabric, sand, clay, and metal more extensively in some parts of the continent than others. Among some of the

a7.writing systems (Ayele Bekerie): Geez (Ethiopia), Meroitic (Nubia), Hieroglyphics (Egypt), Bamum(Cameroon), Vai (Liberia), Nsibidi (Nigeria/Cameroon),

Ajimi (Nigeria/Niger)and the Adinkra pictographic system (Akan- Ghana,Ivory Coast) But Africans also developed a wide range of sophisticated

systems of oral expression involving the preservation and transmission of information in oral format.In some cases these systems coexisted with the above-mentioned writing systems. Texts such as the epic of Sundiata (Mali) or the Abuja Chronicle (Nigeria) are good examples of works which were originally in this mode.

a8.See Johnson, Hale and Belcher, African Oral Epics, 1997

B

SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES ON ANCIENT AFRICA

1.Central Africa

2.Central Africa

3.East Africa

4.West Africa

5. North East Africa

See Gloria T. Emeagwali(ed) African Civilization-Technical,Social and Political Dimensions, American Heritage, New York, 1997 Here are some relevant books on various aspects of African Civilization

in association with Amazon.com :

AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

C

  1. Derek Welsby,The Kingdom of Kush(1998). A few outrageous statements but generally informative.
  2. Miriam Ma'At-Ka-Re Monges: Kush-The Jewel of Nubia (1997)(Quite historiographical).

  3. Richard Poe,Black Spark, White Fire(1998)

    Great insights into Ancient Egypt

  4. Christos Evangeliou,The Hellenic Philosophy: Between Europe,Asia and AFRICA(1997) (Illuminating, non-eurocentric view of Africa in the Ancient World)

  5. Jacob Carruthers,Intellectual Warfare (Parts 1&11 are extremely relevant with respect to methodology)

  6. William Martin and Michael West:Out of One, Many Africas, 1999

  7. Martin Bernal: Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (1989) David Chioni Moore(ed) BLACK ATHENA WRITES BACK/Martin Bernal Responds to his critics, Duke Univesity Press, 2001.

  8. Graham Connah:African Civilizations-Precolonial Cities and States in Tropical Africa(2002)

  9. Basil Davidson: Africa in History (1995)

  10. George Ayittey: Indigenous African Institutions (1991)

  11. Sandra Barnes: Africa's Ogun:Old World and New Systems of Thought (1997)

  12. John Henrik Clarke, New Dimensions in African History (1991)

  13. C.Hilliard: Intellectual Traditions of Pre-colonial Africa (1997)

  14. Diedre Badejo: Seegesi- The Elegant Deity of Wealth and Power and Femininity (1995)

  15. Ayele Bekerie: Ethiopic- An African Writing System(1997)

  16. Cheikh Anta Diop: Civilization or Barbarism (1991)

  17. Molefi Asante, Classical African Civilization (1994)

  18. Carlos Moore et alia: African Presence in the Americas(1995)

  19. Ivan Van Sertima: Blacks in Science (1992)

  20. The Art of African Fashion(1998)

    Scholarly analysis accompanied by exquisite illustrations of African fabric, design and fashion.

  23. Peter Garlake, Early Art and Architecture of Africa,Oxford University Press,2002.

    The strength of this text is not in its analysis but its wonderful illustrations of African structures.




    AFRICAN SCIENCE/INDIGENOUS AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE

  27. Charles Finch: The Star of Deep Beginnings- The Genesis of African Science and Technology, Khenti,1998

    ISBN 0-962944432

  28. Tirfe Mammo, The Paradox of African Poverty: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge, Traditional Practices and Local Institutions-The Case of Ethiopia, Red Sea Press, 1999 Catherine Odora Hoppers, Indigenous Knowledge and the Integration of Knowledge Systems, New Africa Books, 2002

    Metallurgy

  29. 29. Peter Schmidt(ed) The Culture and Technology of African Iron Production,1997
  30. 30. Peter Schmidt: Iron Technology in East Africa,1997
  31. 31. Randi Haland, African Iron working: Ancient and Traditional, 1986
  32. 32. F.J Kense, Traditional African IronWorking

  33. 33. Patrick McNaughton, The Mande Blacksmiths, Indiana University Press, 1993
  34. 34. Pride of Men, Ironworking in 19th century West Central Africa, 1999

      Timothy Jenkins and K. Om-ra Seti, Black Futurists in the Information Age, Kmt Publications, San Francisco, 1997 Jay Hauser (ed), African Sites- Archaeology in the Caribbean,Markus Wiener, 1999

    Mathematics
  41. AMUCHMA, Newsletter of the Commission on the History of Mathematics in Africa

    Hellen Verran, Science and an Africa Logic,University of Chicago Press, 2001

    Engineering/Building Technology

  44. African Traditional/Behavioral Medicine
  50. Edward Bruce Bynum, The African Unconscious: Roots of Modern Psychology and Ancient Mysticism, 1999
  53. Malidoma Some, Of Water and the Spirit, Penguin, 1995

  54. Abayomi Sofowora, Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa, John Wiley and Sons, 1984

  55. George Simpson,Yoruba Religion and medicine in Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, Lagos, 1980
  56. Keto Mshigeni (ed) Traditional Medicinal Plants, Proceedings of the International Conference on Traditional Medicinal Plants, Dar ES Salaam University Press,1999

  57. On-line Newsletter of African Studies

    Send comments to Dr Gloria Emeagwali, Professor of History and African Studies, CCSU "emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu" Phone:860-832-2815

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