17 réponses à ce sujet

[Addai]

Who says that Africa made no contributions to society? I would think the contributions of Egyptian civilization, in mathematics and calendars for instance, are pretty well known. Sub-Saharan maybe less so.

I would be careful about exclusionary claims to things like agriculture and metalworking, though. Evidence is pretty good that those things developed independently in numerous spots on the earth, rather than an evolutionary spread from one area.

[Chashan]

Soverain wrote...


I have gotten sick and tired of seeing western television media fail to highlight Africa's contribution to modern society, other than being the evolutionary foundation of humanity, so I did some research.

If you think that introducing input into furthering the homogenization process of our modern "one world" is a good thing...

Preliminary research suggest that the northern countries in Africa thousands of years BCE (Before Currant Era/ Before Christ) were the first to pionare the most importance aspects of modern society, starting with agriculture, next they pionared the mining and smelting of copper, gold, zinc and in around 1000BCE iron, such weapons were used to drive a certain tribe of people out of ancient Egypt.

As was pointed out already, breakthroughs in metallurgy and agricultural techniques were not bound by geography, and in this case, chronologically speaking, other areas take a first here; Middle East 
at ~2000 BC and the odd area on the Iberian peninsula even at that date as well.
For examples of finds of early Iberian metallurgy see www.dainst.org/en/project/zambujal

Else, it can be pointed out that North Africa was once considered part of Europe, at least in the Imperium Romanum's latter years and even after that, until the conversion of that region to Islam. Which is not synonymous with the area entering a "dark age", by the way, quite the contrary. See the old university city of Timbuktu for example. And then there's of course the Punic heritage, the destruction of which the Romans were sadly rather thorough with.

Again these come from some light research and dont know how entirely true this is, I refuse however to believe africa made no real contributions to human civilisation like western media wants us to believe.

Only because many African peoples did not see the necessity of proclaiming their different inheritances' superiority by throwing up grand monuments or expounding upon these in grandiose manifests as certain mediterranean city states of antiquity did - often at the expense of untold workers' lives or that of neighbouring peoples who were forced to submit to these ideals - does not mean that they were in any way backward. 

The fairly sophisticated society of the Zulu, for example, can hardly be questioned for putting up resistance against white settlers intruding upon their lands in the 19th century without their consent and then being massacred by the superior technology of doing murder employed by these settlers, the latter of which the Zulu did not see a necessity in developing themselves as their traditional way of waging war sufficed their needs.

If you have any facts on the matter please link me to them, however I dont trust just any website these days any more and most of you have an idea why that is.

Having a long look at the superiority complex developed in the context of "white superiority" and "white man's burden" from the 19th century onwards into the 20th should give a fairly good idea how the idea of "universal cultural values" through technological developments and so-called "superior government" came about and where it originated in the first place.
As I snarkily hinted at above: only because it was us jolly old Europeans who further "perfected" the art of fireworks into weapons of war, by which means we spread our..."altruistic" ideals does not make us culturally superior.

Modifié par Chashan, 01 juin 2012 - 11:37 .

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

I've read a book about Africa, recently.
Most of civilization in this continent spread from Egypt and Phoenicia ... to the south (current Sudan and Ethiopia) and west (Carthage and Lybia) ... but for more than a thousand years, the rest of the continent were barbarians. Till Arabs and Sudanies expand some civilization to the south of Sahara. And when Portuguese came, you know the rest...

Also I'm not into history of humans in the age of older than 8000 BC. It's very typical of Biologists to ignore the civilizations and stick to evolution part.

Modifié par Imperial Sentinel Arian, 02 juin 2012 - 04:59 .

[Ghost Lightning]

I was gonna post racist things, but then I was like "nah, I'm not gonna post racist things."

[Joy Divison]

I was unaware someone was keeping score whose ancestors contributed more to "modern society." What prize do I get if the people who lived where I do now have the most points?

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

Don't you know that the Scottish invented the modern world? Silly mortals!

African cultures contributed tons to collective civilization throughout history, only uneducated goofballs and/or the prejudiced would say otherwise.

[Naughty Bear]

Ghost Lightning wrote...

I was gonna post racist things, but then I was like "nah, I'm not gonna post racist things."

Was going to post something offensive but came out worser than i thought it was.

Modifié par Naughty Bear, 02 juin 2012 - 01:32 .

[Volus Warlord]

Their oil and resources makes many a contribution to contemporary society.

[Blacklash93]

Imperial Sentinel Arian wrote...
 It's very typical of Biologists to ignore the civilizations and stick to evolution part.

You think maybe that's because they're biologists and not, say, historians?

As I snarkily hinted at above: only because it was us jolly old Europeans who further "perfected" the art of fireworks into weapons of war, by which means we spread our..."altruistic" ideals does not make us culturally superior.

Pretty much when any culture encounters another that is vastly technologically inferior the former will "enlighten" the latter. And by enlighten I mean destroy and assimilate their culture with the remains being even less than a shadow of its former self. You can see it right here in my country with the Native Americans. The world lost a beautiful, diverse variety of cultures when all was said and done. But I suppose it's okay if done in the name of "correct" living and whatever almighty deity. 

Any other civilization probably would have done the same, if we're being honest. Doesn't make it right or justified by any means, though.

Modifié par Blacklash93, 02 juin 2012 - 03:19 .

[xsdob]

What about chinas contribution? Or the arab civilizations?

[KnightofPhoenix]

Imperial Sentinel Arian wrote...

I've read a book about Africa, recently.
Most of civilization in this continent spread from Egypt and Phoenicia ... to the south (current Sudan and Ethiopia) and west (Carthage and Lybia) ...

Ethiopia succumbed to Semitic influence from Yemen (Sabeans), not Phoenicians (who were also Semitic).

@ xsdob
These are known by now.

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 02 juin 2012 - 04:59 .

[slimgrin]

Revisionist history, the favorite pastime of modern historians with a chip on their shoulder.

[Wentletrap]

Imperial Sentinel Arian wrote...

I've read a book about Africa, recently.
Most of civilization in this continent spread from Egypt and Phoenicia ... to the south (current Sudan and Ethiopia) and west (Carthage and Lybia) ... but for more than a thousand years, the rest of the continent were barbarians.

What about the expansion of Bantu speakers from the west of Africa, who spread across the rest of the continent with their languages and  agriculture? 

Modifié par Wentletrap, 02 juin 2012 - 06:07 .

[AbounI]

Be careful when you talk about Ethiopia.Nowadays Ethiopia is quite different from the Aethiopia, Ancient Greek word to design "people with a burnt face".
The Gheez language, ancient language of Ethiopia, is a sabaen heritage.
One could also be interested in a study of the Falashas, those Black Jews living in Ethiopia.The Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings) is one of the most important book in the history of cultural heritage of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.While the Fetha Nagast (Laws of the Kings) is more about politic

Modifié par AbounI, 02 juin 2012 - 07:23 .