AFRICA. TRULY THE CRADDLE OF HUMANITY.
‘Today the history teacher said that the Chinese, the Arabs and the Europeans all had great civilisations and made important inventions. But the teacher didn’t mention Africans. Did Africans also have a great civilisation? Have they ever invented anything daddy? Tomorrow when I go back to school I want to tell the history teacher and my friends that we Africans also contributed to humanity’s scientific progress. Please, please daddy tell me’.
As an African how would u answer this child?
The 21st of December 2006, my friend Charles mailed me a question along these lines. The question was a tough one. A question most Africans (me included) could not answer with confidence. Because our knowledge of the continent’s history is sketchy at best and by and large based on what the slave trading nations want us to believe. Nevertheless, this question had to be confronted and answered.
Before I attempted an answer I though I should forward it to friends who stood a chance to give me a good lead. Friends such as Samba, Kanon, Bolan, Alex and Agnes were my first port of call. None of them was able to give me a detailed, clear historical facts and narrative about Africa’s history and civilisation that could stand up to the Chinese, the persians or the Greco-Romans. Samba gave me a lead I was vaguely aware of. The Kemetic civilisation: Ancient Egypt that is.
For centuries eurocentric political and intellectual thoughts have nullified the African presence in history. Universities and centres of learning in the western world have been used to support this nullification. knowing that, there was no point searching in that direction. So where to start? You guessed it...Ancient Egypt and the internet.
Though, what I stumbled across on the net was more than I bargained for. It radically redefined my knowledge of Africa's history, sharpened my understanding of the insidious eurocentric thought, reshaped and reinforced my African Identity.
Africa is in fact the craddle of humanity. The birthplace of mathmatics, philosophy, religion, astrology, physics, architecture, to name but few.
To be continued...
As an African how would u answer this child?
The 21st of December 2006, my friend Charles mailed me a question along these lines. The question was a tough one. A question most Africans (me included) could not answer with confidence. Because our knowledge of the continent’s history is sketchy at best and by and large based on what the slave trading nations want us to believe. Nevertheless, this question had to be confronted and answered.
Before I attempted an answer I though I should forward it to friends who stood a chance to give me a good lead. Friends such as Samba, Kanon, Bolan, Alex and Agnes were my first port of call. None of them was able to give me a detailed, clear historical facts and narrative about Africa’s history and civilisation that could stand up to the Chinese, the persians or the Greco-Romans. Samba gave me a lead I was vaguely aware of. The Kemetic civilisation: Ancient Egypt that is.
For centuries eurocentric political and intellectual thoughts have nullified the African presence in history. Universities and centres of learning in the western world have been used to support this nullification. knowing that, there was no point searching in that direction. So where to start? You guessed it...Ancient Egypt and the internet.
Though, what I stumbled across on the net was more than I bargained for. It radically redefined my knowledge of Africa's history, sharpened my understanding of the insidious eurocentric thought, reshaped and reinforced my African Identity.
Africa is in fact the craddle of humanity. The birthplace of mathmatics, philosophy, religion, astrology, physics, architecture, to name but few.
To be continued...
posted by DEDI at 20:16
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