Talk:History of Africa

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Contents


[edit] History and geographical classification?

This is the history of Africa, geographical classification.

Well, an article called "history of Africa" should be an article about the history of Africa. It shouldn't be a link page, I think; we certainly should have an article about the history of Africa on this page. It probably shouldn't be on an "outline of the history of Africa" page, because one goes to a "history of Africa" page precisely to get an outline of the history of Africa.

To link to a topic that doesn't have an obvious focus within one of the regions below, create a link here at the top level and/or link it within multiple region pages.

In a certain way, there is really no such thing as a "top-level" page within Wikipedia. Pages can and should be linked to from a wide variety of other relevant pages.

Anyway, this sort of thing goes without saying on Wikipedia. We want to interlink pages as much as possible--more or less.

--Larry Sanger

An article about "history of Africa" could be a) very big b) an outline c) a link page.

a) is not good I think, since you can't easy link into a big page. You suggest b) which is ok.

But I think the regions should be left as a separate page and linked at the beginning of the article.

-- Hagedis

Seeing as how the other continental history pages are all link pages, I think that the text should be shortened or lost. Also, looking at what's here -- it isn't by any means a history of Aftrica -- it's a history of African regions known to or ruled by other (mostly western) powers. I think it really needs to go, with the text incorporated into more appropriate areas. This exactly why there is so much pressure to teach World History, and a great example of the reasons that many non-western peoples refuse to believe westerners can treat their history witht the proper respect. I am generally very anti-political correctness for its own sake, but as an historian working in the 21st century, I feel very uncomfortable with the 'pedia putting out this article as is. JHK

[edit] Eurocentric? Racist?

This article is Eurocentric to the point of being racist. It’s shocking that any article on African history doesn’t detail black African states like Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Kano, Ashanti, Oyo, Benin, Ife, Monomontapa, or the Swahili-speaking city-states in East Africa, just to name some of the most notable.

Although the posted content is well-written and fairly comprehensive, the lack of any attempt to address the historical record of literate black societies or reconstruct the histories of pre-literate but highly sophisticated peoples like the Yorubas, Efik-Ibibios, and numerous other societies is far more disconcerting than the moronic antics of Zog, who was Wikipedia’s resident Nazi for a brief period of time prior to his many bannings. At least that kind of racism is blocked with great effort from dozens of contributors, but these little subtle biases go unnoticed.

I'm going to do my best to correct this. Meanwhile, I'm begging other contributors to help.

172

Even what little is said of Africans is not always correct. E.g. the distinction between Xhosa en Bantu.. isiXhosa is a Bantu language. Where it says Xhosa probably Khoisan is to be substitutedsd.
Just spotted that, fixing it now -- Cabalamat 03:16, 12 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I have created Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 05:28, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Useful Info

Someone put this paragraph in History of Europe:

Also, in 1835, an uprising of German Afrikaners attacked the Dutch army regiment stationed at the town of Neu Scheveningen. This lead to all-out war on the African continent, lodged between the Dutch, English, and French against the Germans and Italians. Eventually, the peace was restored; the Germans were given a geographically-separate colony in which to live, near present-day Lesotho; it was named New Saxony. The war was officially ended in 1837, with the Treaty of Tripoli. The Germans eventually separated, politically, from their homeland, and set up a kingdom. But the new king was eaten by a lion, and the Kingdom of New Saxony was once again swallowed up by the Dutch. No warfare, suprisingly, took place on European soil, and the treaty held for many years.

It obviously doesn't belong there but I thought that maybe this information could be useful here. Kpalion 10:31, 20 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Unified history

I think there does need to be an outline History of Africa page, not just a series of links - even if some matter is duplicated. This is because Africa is thought of far more as a single entity than most other continents. The division of Africa into a large number of small countries also makes it difficult for people without much knowledge of Africa to decide which modern nation's history to investigate in order to get the material they want.

The article certainly does need a far less Euro-centric makeover however.

[edit] Evolution of language

The Khoisan languages are almost unique in using clicks, and all but one of the few other languages to use them are believed to have acquired them under Khoisan influence. Khoisan languages are now spoken mostly by isolated islands of genetically and culturally distinct populations of hunter-gatherers on marginal lands such as the Kalahari Desert.

I moved the above paragraph, together with its heading, out of the article. The paragraph actually says nothing about the evolution of language and it does not in any way make clear why KhoiSan, or its rarity, would have anything to do with the 'Out of Africa'-hypothesis. - Mark Dingemanse (talk) 22:04, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Fair point. I think it's quite probable that Khoisan (if it's a valid family) was one of the earliest surviving branches off "Proto-World", but it's scarcely more than speculation to say anything much about that at this stage. - Mustafaa 22:24, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Africa-related regional notice board

I have created Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 05:29, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] See main articles: how to do it

Hi, I have made the 20th century subsection, and within them different regions (Southern Africa etc.). It should probably be best to link them and delegate their info to their respective articles (considering we're above 43 kB). Problem is that the history sections in these articles span their entire history, not just the 20th century (same about the history of the Sahara). So, what should be done to make sure it won't become a mess? Also, in my opinion, an overview of African history topics shouldn't handle about date Y in country X, like it is now, but about their international relationships, the feel of the time (I'd even like to say: a more essayist viewpoint). The related topics all suffer from redundancy. Phlebas 18:34, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Startled into new life"?

There's a sentence in one of the paragraphs which reads:

"Railways penetrated the interior, vast areas were opened up to Western occupation, and from Egypt to the Zambezi the continent was startled into new life."

"Startled into new life" is a rather odd phrase. No doubt these were huge changes, but "new life" seems to imply that the whole place was a big old nothing until they started putting in the railways. Can someone with more historical background than me rewrite? Cromis 23:41, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive

Architecture of Africa is currently nominated on Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive. Come to this page and support it with your vote. Help us improve this article to featured status.--Fenice 08:45, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] passive voice, colonialist mentality

This article has a lot of useful information, but the authors' excessive use of passive voice, coupled with colonialist mentality (e.g. "adventurers", "there was much gold to be had", "filling in the spaces on the African map" <--not exact quote, but something similar) create the impression that Africa was waiting to be "claimed" by European powers, who had nothing but the people's best interest in mind. Obviously, this is a highly biased way of portraying events. (—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.83.100.62 (talk • contribs) .)

That's because the first half of the article appears to be lifted from a 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article. Feel free to edit it... - Humansdorpie 22:40, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sub-Saharan Africa is a myth

The word has two meanings. The political or geographical meaning of the word "African" refers to people who live on the continent of Africa. The anthropological meaning of "African" refers to native Africans, people whose physical appearance and cultural identity is characteristic of the continent of Africa.

The notion of some invisible border, which divides the North of African from the South, is rooted in racism, which in part assumes that a little sand is an obstacle for African people. This barrier of sand hence confines/confined Africans to the bottom of this make-believe location, which exist neither politically or physically. The Sahara is a broad desert belt, which encompasses countries like Mali, Sudan, and Mauritania, and hence they are neither “sub” nor “North Africa.” In addition, many African communities historically have travelled freely across this European barrier set for Africans. Mansa Musa famous Hajj travelled through North Africa in the 13th century so why do we assume Africans would be confined to this nonsensical designation called sub-Saharan Africa. Again, Eurocentric dialectics is at play in the insatiable need to categorize and define things solely on superficial limited physical observation. This is a mindset, which they cannot escape, and the only way they can process reality. Hence, sharp definitions, physical quantities are pre-emphasised in their mental navigation of the world around. Interestingly, most non-European cultures embody a more spiritual approach to reality, which is expressed in language, culture, and perception of the World. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Halaqah (talk • contribs) 18:53, 23 September 2006.

No matter if it is Sub-Sahara or not new evidence point out that mummification, blacksmith of metal, the worship of Horus, among other things were started and found in and "below" the Sahara so once again you can only fool the people but so much. The truth is there.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Halaqah (talk • contribs) 18:53, 23 September 2006.


Also, Nubia is not in "Sub-Saharan" Africa, this is a history of "Africa", separating sections into Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa with no basis is arbitrary and nearly racist. I'm adjoining the sections. Plus, 10,000 years ago there was no "Sahara desert" anyways.. "Sub-Sahara" is a modern geo-political term and has no basis in geography or history. Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia are all in Africa and always has been, no separation needed, this is a history of "Africa". There are separate wiki articles for Sub-Saharan and North Africa as it is, refer to them.. Also Kush and Nubia were two different states, there is no "Nubian Kush".Taharqa 03:10, 1 April 2007 (UTC)


In reference to this quote here from the ancient Egypt section,


The Egyptians reached Crete around 2000 BC and were invaded by Indo-Europeans and Hyksos Semites. They defeated the invaders around 1570 BC and expanded into the Aegean, Sudan, Libya, and much of the Levant, as far as the Euphrates.

^This is a load, no wonder it wasn't cited. I heard about Egypt reaching Crete but Egypt began in 3,300 B.C., so that seems quite irrelevant. Also the chronology is horrible, Indo-Europeans didn't invade until the Greco-Roman era, and Egypt did not expand an empire all the way to the Aegean preceding the expulsion of the Hyksos, nor did they expand as far as the Euphrates.. Ethiopia isn't in North Africa and while contact with the Middle East and North Africa was a reality, more contact was made with inner Africa.

"Ethiopia, closely linked with North Africa and the Middle East"

^There's no evidence for a "Close" link or influence in Ethiopian state building, look up the the article on the Kingdom of Askum and Ethiopia.

Who writes this crap? Someone who doesn't know very much about Africa I'd assume. I rewrote (slightly reworded) it with sources.Taharqa 03:46, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Material moved here in need of re-write

I've moved this contribution because it is repetitive and out of place and needs rewriting or editing with correct formatting of inline references:

"It was not until the late 1950s that Ghana won its freedom from British colonialism. At this time, Kwame Nkrumah, as well as other leaders of this country rose up to power and gave Africa a sense of their own history. One effort Nkrumah made in the start towards independence was The Organization of African Unity.<Alkalimat, Abdul. The African American Experience in Cyberspace. London: Pluto P, 2004. 22./> This group was formed in 1963 in order to set apart Africa from other countries but this never occurred because they were under European power for so many years.
It has been said that in today's society, Africa plays two varying roles. For instance, they helped in the labor part in builing America with Europeans, while at the same time, they were able to set about their own continent by vastly shaping the culture. <H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Michigan State University. <www2.h-net.msu.edu/~africa>.
/> Slaves were representing two different worlds at the same time. They were a major role player in the declining population of Africa, as well as a major builder of the new world of America. During this time, it was as if Africans lived in a world similar to the Holocaust of the Jews. They were subjected to many things that in today's society would be viewed as in humane. In order to ignore the harsh realities of our world, Africa was basically wiped out from World History. Rexparry sydney 01:51, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] African History Usually Narrated By Non-Africans

Unfortunately, most literature on African history is written by Europeans with obvious Eurocentric slant, if not outright bias. Thus the world at large still views Africa as one complex, monolithic and retro continent that they do not care to understand. There is hardly an African perspective in the general discourse, be it on mainstream TV, internet or print media. The result is that our history is written and narrated by former colonialists and present-day exploiters of the continent. It is not surprising therefore that images of Africa etched on the minds of people around the world are that of wars, disease and poverty. The best news out of Africa as typically seen in Western media is exotic wild life!

The story is not told that Africa generally is safer and cheaper to invest than South East Asia or South America. There is no telling that the Nigerian Stock Market offers the highest returns and stability in the world, ten years running, and that it has created an entirely new class of instant millionaires. There are no images of cosmopolitan cities like Abuja and Calabar (Nigeria), Nairobi, Capetown, and Johannesburg, with their skyscrapers, affluent middle class, and globe-trotting businessmen and women carrying Blackberries in their custom-made designer suits. The preponderance of African intellectuals at the highest levels of Science, Technology, Medicine and Education at prestigious institutions worldwide hardly receives a mention. Western Diplomats serving in some parts of Africa know this fact, as they sometimes retain permanent residency, opting not to return to their home countries after their service there.

It is up to African scholars and historians to elevate the discourse and correct this anomaly. It is not enough to simply get published; African authors and institutions must also fight a public relations battle - in the world stage. In this Information Age, truth does not always win; it is often the first casualty of politics and war, beclouded by the louder and more influential purveyors of mischief and falsehood. To start with therefore, any African scholar is always free to edit this Wikipedia page on African History with facts as necessary.

Any party interested in further discussions may email me at basseyoe@yahoo.com.

[edit] Red Alert

I've spent so much time on states that I have neglected this article. It should have been first on my list. I just wrote the intro. Notice I said wrote instead of re-wrote, because what was put there before me was NOTHING. Written history may indeed start with Egypt, but history as defined by happenings and the evidence they leave behind goes well beyond that. I'm using the History of Europe page as my model and they put one pathetic line up saying the history of that continent started with the first literate civs. They include everything as we should here. The periodization scheme i put up should work rather well here. It's obvious Africa developed differently than the rest of the world. What sucks is that it's like the least studied continent in the world despite it being the origin of the most important race ever- THE HUMAN RACE. Time for me and all who give a hoot to step their game up. HOLLA! Scott Free (talk) 00:46, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

Wholeheartedly agree. Alatari (talk) 19:15, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

The fact is that there is not much known about sub-saharan african history before colonialism because there are no records of anything, and basically anything that you might say is hypothetical and has no place in history. The theory of evolution and the idea of the human race originating in Africa are very loosely based theories and in fact they are wrong. Modern humans originated in India. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.224.134 (talk) 03:57, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History of Africa?

Africa being the second largest continent in the world can not be covered as a whole. In the same way one could not seriously write about a history of Asia, one can not write about a history of "Africa." North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa should be covered separately. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.89.174.196 (talk) 17:10, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

This is a very large subject but it can be divided into sections properly. I replaced one tag because there are some major gaps in sections of the Sub-Saharan history that need addressing. Genetic differences between East, North and South African ethnic groups are extremely wide and so are the histories. Some examples:

I'll see if I can find some more Sub Saharan info or someone who is better at archeaology topics then me. Alatari (talk) 00:45, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Medieval Africa"

Is there any merit of speaking of the "Middle Ages" of Africa? It strikes me not only as misleading but actually rather tasteless in the context of a history of centuries of highly prejudiced Eurocentric history writing. Do modern scholars in African studies accept this type of periodization?

Peter Isotalo 08:36, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

I personally believe there is merit to the term since Africa as whole or in portions needs a scale of periodization as much as any other portion of the world.
    • Roland Oliver and John Donnelly Fage's "Cambridge History of Africa" assert that there is no acceptable periodization of Africa as a whole. Keep in mind these two are european scholars. They have however contributed in a relatively unbiased way to African studies if you look at their works.
    • The study of Medieval WEST AFRICA according to David C. Conrad's 2005 "Empires Of Medieval West Africa" encompasses from the beginning of the Ghana Empire to the end of the Songhai Empire or approximately 750 AD to 1591 AD. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4shizzal (talk • contribs) 23:51, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
      • That doesn't strike me as particularly strong arguments for using a term invented by Europeans for a European context. Of course the article needs some sort of periodization, but simply grafting on European periodization doesn't seem very logical unless there is widespread agreement among scholars of African history about this. Peter Isotalo 10:16, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
I pretty much agree with you, but I haven't seen any other names for the period in question. Besides, there is a medieval period in Asia, so why not in Africa? But heck, I'm still not sure where the African "Middle Ages" begins and ends. I did do some digging tho and came across the UNESCO General History of Africa series. The authors are almost all African (though Western educated, but who isn't). There periodization goes something like this...
  • 5 million years ago - 8000 BC
  • 8000 BC - 700 AD
  • 700 AD - 1100 AD
  • 1100 AD - 1500 AD
  • 1500 AD - 1800 AD
  • 1800 AD - 1890 AD
  • 1890 AD - 1935 AD
  • 1935 AD - 1945 AD
With the exceptin of 8000 BC (which the authors dub the beginning of Africa's Stone Age), there are no period names to speak of. I think 700 AD is supposed to be when ALL of Africa was fully in the Iron Age. These books rely mostly on events, though. According to this scheme of things, I guess the Middle Ages would be 1100-1500 in Africa. I'd love to hear any published names/dates to the contrary, though. Scott Free (talk) 23:41, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
Asia, which is even larger and more diverse than Africa, has absolutely nothing resembling a unified medieval period. It's impossible to unite such varied empires and cultures as the Ottomans, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc. under one single periodization scheme, and the same goes for just about every region of it. The concept of a medieval period is largely based on the relatively high level of cultural unity of Europe, and is not usefully applicable anywhere else. The closest one can get is to date all of world history based on a strictly European timescale, but that really doesn't amount to anything more highly misleading Eurocentrism for everything short of the late modern period.
It would be far more preferable to simply date by centuries, and the UNESCO history could be used as a rough guideline since it's actually written by African scholars.
Peter Isotalo 08:20, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
Agreed :) Scott Free (talk) 23:40, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
I don't think it's all that necessary to establish periods in the lead, so I removed that part from the lead. I also tried to give other relevant tidbits and some comments on historiography. African history is largely unknown territory to me, so don't hesitate to correct me.
Peter Isotalo 12:56, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Prehistory

Prehistory does not apply to Africa, particularly sub-saharan Africa. Prehistory refers to the time before writing was invented[1]. Writing was only introduced to Africa on a limited scale after European contact in the 15th century. Writing was only introduced on a wider scale after colonialism. Therefore it would be confusing to refer to any time prior to the 15th century in Africa as prehistory. In short we should not model African history after European history. Instead we should periodize African history in a logical manner that represents the various stages that are unique to Africa. I think we should not use the terms "prehistory" or "medieval". Maybe we can use what anthropologists have been using such as the Lower Paleolithic, the Middle Stone Age, the Late Stone Age, and the Neolithic as reference points. Second of all the idea that the history of Africa has filled with turmoil and turbulence is very much incorrect. Africa's turmoil is fairly recent, as a result of its highest population density Muntuwandi (talk) 10:05, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree that there's a problem here, but the early writing of Egypt, Kush and the introduction of the Arabic script after the spread of Islam are more than just notable exceptions. I don't quite agree that prehistory in this case is as inappopriate as you suggest. It certainly can't be compared with speaking of "medieval" Africa.
The removal of the turmoil wording was a good call, btw.
Peter Isotalo 12:35, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
If we are talking of Africa as a whole, then prehistory ends when Egypt started using glyphs. The differences between Europe and Africa become really apparent in situations like this.

If we look at prehistory as ending when people started recording it, we have to decide if that means aracheological records (which is what Egyptian hieroglyphs really are), indigenous written records (like the stuff written in Ge'ez by the Axumites), adopted written records (like the use of Greek by Nubians) or the oral record (history recorded and remembered by specified peoples of institutions like the chroniclers of Mali). Just cuz people weren't writing down their history, didn't mean they weren't recording as we see with the traditional epics in much of the Sahel.

Regardless, we must all remember that writing was introduced way before 15th century Europeans popped up. As Peter pointed out, Nubia and Ethiopia were using home-grown scripts that descended from outside Africa. And Arabic was used widely (at least among the nobility) in states of Sub-Saharan Africa since the 8th century of the Common Era (specifically with the Ghana Empire and later Sahel empires). The penetration of the written word happened at different places in Africa just as it did in Europe. Most of Europe wasn't literate when the Romans were, but we don't regard the entire continent (or region) as being stuck in prehistory. Btw, I agree with Peter's removal of the "medieval" line, which I originally put in. Good call. Scott Free (talk) 00:20, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

There are still black Africans living today as it was several hundred years ago, why don't you go to them for your history? You will see the reason why there isn't much, which isn't neccesarily a bad thing! Yes euroasians have all kinds of technology, writing, history, wars, etcetera but these aren't neccesarily a good thing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.224.134 (talk) 04:06, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

  • African history is under construction, just like European history is - the difference is that Europeans have had a headstart in the art of creating and promoting thier legends and myths into a written narrative of history. The trick for Africans is to promote legends and myths as successfully as Europeans and Asians have done. Interesting is Jan Guillou's findings that the Viking saga is nothing much but a saga. --85.226.85.52 (talk) 20:31, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Repeated acts of vandalism by 216.212.248.59

Anonymous user 216.212.248.59 has committed repeated acts of wanton vandalism on this site today, 18 April 2008. This user, whomever he/she is, is hereby warned not to repeat these acts again. Notification will be made to the administrators and the user will be blocked. Michel Doortmont (talk) 19:07, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism on this page abounds

This page seems to be troubled by many random acts of foolish vandalism. Some people seem to find that funny. I personally find it a nuisance, as it takes a lot of time to undo things time and again. Is this a case for the administrators and semi-protected status? Michel Doortmont (talk) 19:53, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Possible copyright infringement" tag

RE this [2] tag, below is a copy of the note I left on the talk page of the editor that tagged this article
Hi. You tagged History of Africa as a copyvio. Note that both the Wikipedia and about.com [3] articles derive from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, sometimes called the 1911 Encyclopedia to avoid trademark problems. That encyclopedia is in the public domain, so it's not a violation. I'm not sure about the 2nd URL you listed though [4] as I can't see the violating text in the Wikipedia article. Ha! (talk) 02:38, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

It's this bit "The Beaker culture began to affect western North Africa. Named for the distinctively shaped ceramics found in graves, the Beaker culture is associated with the emergence of a warrior mentality. North African rock art of this period depict animals but also places a new emphasis on the human figure, equipped with weapons and adornments." I really that the fact the a century old encyclopedia is being used for copy and paste, but I guess there is little that can be done about it except fix it.--Doug Weller (talk) 06:42, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
It looks like that text was added to Wikipedia on 04:50, 28 October 2006. According to Internet Archive, the same text was added to The Metropolitan Museum of Art page during June 2001 at the latest [5]. I've removed the text and left a message on the contributing editor's talk page. I guess the rest of the text added at the same time needs checking. Ha! (talk) 10:00, 9 May 2008 (UTC)