Footprints (14): Overview of African History and Culture

Africa is the origin of human beings. Both fossil archeology and biomolecules have proven this. Especially through the outline of the gene tree, it is pointed out that modern humans have the same origin and the origin of human genes. in Africa.

The northern part of Africa is now the Sahara Desert, and the central part is the tropical rain forest. This was not the case in North Africa in the past. There are about 30,000 rock paintings found in the Sahara Desert. The pictures depicted indicate that water and grass were widely spread there before. The climate changed about 10,000 years ago. By about 3000 BC, the largest rock paintings on the earth were formed. The Sahara Desert separated the north and south of Africa and became an insurmountable obstacle in ancient times, which profoundly affected the history of African civilization

To be fair, ancient African civilization wrote a glorious page. The Nile River Basin in northern Africa was the birthplace of the great ancient Egyptian civilization, which needs no further elaboration. In the middle reaches of the Nile River in what is now Sudan, a Kushite Empire (Nubia) arose in the 16th century BC. Its capital, Meroe, was the largest iron-smelting center south of the Mediterranean at that time and was known as the "Birmingham of ancient Africa." The country once occupied ancient Egypt and established the 25th Dynasty, and was later conquered by Egypt in 350 AD.

In ancient times, there was Carthage in northeastern Africa and the western Mediterranean, which was a colonial country established by the Phoenicians on the east coast of the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians invented the Phoenician alphabet, and ancient Greece People improved it to form the Greek alphabet, and the Latin people improved it to form the Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet is the source of the letters of European countries today. Carthage was founded around 814 BC and dominated the Western Mediterranean for a long time. Later, the ancient Roman Empire had three "Punic Wars" with it and destroyed Carthage in 146 BC.

The part of Africa south of the Sahara is often called Black Africa because it is dominated by black people, but it should not have a derogatory connotation. The existence of ancient civilizations in Black Africa was once deliberately ignored by Western white people. Until a large amount of archaeological evidence was presented, the world now openly admits that Black Africa has its own civilization history.

The Ethiopian region of East Africa is an ancient country with a civilization of 3,000 years, and is the only country in Africa that has not been colonized: there are records about the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon (found in the Old Testament) , Menlinike I became king in 975 BC, established the Kingdom of Nubia in the 8th century BC, established the Ethiopian Empire in Axum around BC, established the Kingdom of Abyssinia in the 13th century, and resisted the colonialists in modern times. Invasion, the country's ancient castle of Aksum and especially the giant rock church of Lalibela are nothing short of marvels.

The Nigeria region in West Africa had a relatively developed culture more than 2,000 years ago. The famous Nok culture (700 BC - 200 BC), Ife culture (1000 - 1400) and Benin culture (1100 - 1897) have given Nigeria the reputation of the "cradle of black African culture". The ancient Kingdom of Benin The Abomey Palace is a world-famous tourist attraction. In addition, after entering the Iron Age around the 3rd century BC, the Kanem-Bornu Empire, the Mali Empire, the Ghana Empire, and the Songhai Empire (700-1590) were also established. The Songhai Empire once flourished from the 14th to 16th centuries. Extremely momentary.

There are also ancient civilizations in central and southern Africa, where many Iron Age ruins have been found, as well as the remains of artificial terraces and irrigation projects. The ruins of the ancient city of Ngaruka with thousands of houses and the ruins of stone buildings in Great Zimbabwe are important symbols of ancient civilization in Central and South Africa. There have also been some ancient kingdoms there, such as the Kingdom of Monomotapa, the Kingdom of Congo, the Kingdom of Kuba, the Kingdom of Buganda, the Kingdom of Malawi, etc.

Generally speaking, northern Africa, especially the areas close to the Mediterranean and Red Sea, has a relatively superior geographical location and easier communication with the outside world, and has developed a higher degree of ancient civilization; the Black Africa area is surrounded by large deserts Although there are barriers to communication with the outside world, it is not that easy. Central Africa is a tropical rainforest, and internal development and exchanges in Black Africa are also restricted, thus affecting the development process of its civilization.

Compared with other advanced regions in the world, Africa, especially black African civilization, lags behind mainly because: although some countries have been established in history, the grassroots tribal form continues to this day. The tribes who created writing in ancient times have not There are too many theoretical works on politics, philosophy, society, science and technology, etc., which are not conducive to promoting the development of our own civilization. In modern times, we have suffered from Western colonial plunder and slave trade, causing serious damage to all aspects. There are difficulties and deficiencies in the transformation after World War II. At present, Overall it is relatively backward. In fact, Africa is a continent rich in resources, and it is not without a future.