African civilizations
Early African civilizations are often overlooked in favor of others such as Egypt and Mesopotamia. Why do you think this is the case? Should it be the case? Use facts to justify your point of view.
posted by Mr. Hess at 2/08/2006 06:58:00 AM
19 Comments:
I think that African kingdoms are overlooked in favor of others, like Egypt and Mesopotamia because from the perpective of a Western civilization like the United States, more important things were happening.
For example, during Ghana's domination and the conquests of Mali, the Crusades werer happening in Europe. The first Crusade began in AD 1095; before this had been the beginning of Midevil Europe. These event overshadow those in Africa because they are more directly related to our history.
I agree with Doug. The early African civiliaztions were--this is the only way I know how to say this, so everybody please don't get upset with me--less advanced and not as exciting as what had happened in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The only really lasting architechural evidence we have from early Africa is the Great Zimbabwe, but in Egypt and where Mesopotamia was there are many more architectural sites, such as the pyramids and zigguarts. Since the early Africans were still deeply involved with mainly only agricultural villages, we don't have quite as many artifacts as we do from Egypt and Mesopotamia.
I do believe that we need to recognize the early African cultures, but there isn't much that we truly know about them. That makes it a bit harder to learn about their everyday life, whereas in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, we found their writings that have taught us an incredible amount.
One reason why we tend to remember Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations more is because main religions were founded and involved these areas. Judaism developed in Mesopotamia, and some of its followers became enslaved by Egyptians. Islam played an important role in the fertile crescent region later, and founded its main problems today.
Also, we Americans need a certain 'wow' factor in order to remember something substancially. With Egypt we have the great pyramids and the mummy glorification, and Mesopotamia has the Hammurabi Code, and the first cities. Though these may have the same basic impact as some African elements, Africa is lacking the excitement that we associate with the other 2 civilizations.
African people tended to be looked over because at approximately the same time as the thriving civilizations in the east, the cultures in the west and east were more primitive. This, combined with the belief that their races are somehow "inferior" caused their role in history to be downplayed. This established a precedent to the lack of recognition of Africa that we still see today. I don't know about the rest of you, but this is the first time in any history class that I have been taught about Africa besides Egypt.
To quote the movie Sahara "It's Africa, nobody cares about Africa." Sadly this is true because Africa has been behind economically for a long time. I also think we don't hear about the African civilizations because so many of the villages were separate. There wasn't one large, unified group that built something still standing. That is why people remember Egypt; it has stuff that is still here. Mesopatamia was just the first civilization. Africa didn't create anything that still stands, and didn't do anything first. I think it's wrong, because it needs the most help today.
I think that African "civilizations" were overlooked because in comparison to Egypt and Mesopotamia's they were not in the slightest bit civilized. When they did have organized government, they weren't strong enough to defend their lands, or even withstand inner conflict. Soon, they would all disperse into extremely unique cultures. And the absense of unity took away from their level of civilization and capacity to offer the world examples of success.
I think that African civilizations were overlooked because they were so tiny and did not achieve major things such as egypt and their building of the pyramids. Egypt and Mesopotamia also were the starting points of two monotheistic religions, Judaism and Islam. The events that happened in small African civilizations did not seem important to other countries. It was not until the partitioning of Africa that the civilizations were even contacted with the outside world. They did not become important until European countries realized that there was an abundance of reasources. Then were the African civilizations recognized until they were destroyed and taken over. Only the ones that fought back and won were the ones talked about. And still the others were not even talked about. It is not a question whether or not that they were recognized but that they werent because they did not want to be. They probably wanted to be left alone which is the exact opposite of what they got.
In my opinion, the African civilizations are often overlooked in favor such as Egypt and Mesopotamia due to several varied aspects. To start, the African civilizations, each with their own history and traditions, far outnumbered those originating in the Middle East. Consequently, this variable drastically decreases any room for one or several major imperial identities. Next, the African continent, and the regions within it, are much larger than the Middle East and have a much greater diversity of landscapes, thereby limiting the amount of competition in these regions and allowing for a greater number of cultures to exist. On the other hand, empires in the Middle East existed in close proximity to one another, which stunted the growth of many cultures and which boosted those conquering the weaker and less advanced nations. However, the unified civilizations of Africa eventually made it, with its abundant resources, an easy target for imperialism due to lack of political unity.
I think African Cultures and backgrounds have been overlooked for centuries and still are today. A great example of this is the genocide occuring in Sudan at this very moment. Not only have other governements throughout the world not tried to help, most haven't even acknowledged there even being this mass killing in Africa. The variety of cultures, religions and opinions throughout the Africa make it difficult to look at in a real perspective. There are thousands of tribes, languages, cultures, and civilizations that it is overwhelming to most people throughout the world.
I agree with Kerry that the main reason African history and culture has been overlooked is because there is so much about it to try to understand. It seems like there's almost too many tribes, colonies, and independent states to try and put into one big picture. Especially when there is still so much turmoil over there, its hard to keep it all straight. I also thought the comment about today's society needing a "wow" factor was very interesting. I never really thought about it that way, but its totally true. All the civilizations that we have learned about ever since we were little had something exciting and different about them. Egypt is perhaps the most well known ancient civilization and its the one that has one of the seven wonders.
Going along with what Kerry said, African civilizations might have been overlooked on the basis of race. For many Americans during the 1800s, Africa was seen only as a place to acquire slaves. It was never imagined that African people could have a culture or identity, much less an incredible civilization. These people were so foreign to European countries and the United States that they seemingly could not be understood. Obviously, no one even made an attempt to understand them- as is seen in the partitioning of Africa without any African's consent. Unfortunately, the culture gap is still a huge factor today because still, there is no knowledge of Africa in the United States other than a small portion of the crisis in the Sudan. Why is Africa STILL overlooked? No matter how many excuses- culture gap, economic gap, civilization gap- Africa is still a continent with its own unique way of life that should not be completely forsaken.
I'm not sure if anyone said this (I skimmed over all the blogs) but I think one of the reasons Africa is overlooked...or perhaps even ignored is becuase of all its ties and its history with slavery. I mean, I personally am enjoying everything we're learning about Africa becuase we already learned about Egypt and Mesopotamia in I think 6th grade, and this is the first time I'm actually learning something about Africa. I think Africa's connections with slavery are what cause people to ignore the fact that Africa wasn't as boring as we believe it is. I feel that many people are afriad of facing the horrors of enslavement, and also becuase of this enslavement, we feel that Africa is "third-world"--which many parts of it still are--but I don't think its necessary to stereotype an entire continent brimming with such a fascinating history.
I'm not targeting anyone, becuase I'm pretty sure that none of us believe that this is the reason why we overlook Africa --I'm just going with a possible pinpoint of thought.
I think the case is, is that Egypt and Mesopotamia were the first civilziations. So they are talked about a lot in history. Also, I think it also has to do with how the Europeans viewed Africa. Africa and the natives were people to control. Africans were degraded and so I think that there civilizations were degraded too.
I believe the early development of African civilizations was overlooked because we in America tend to only learn about things that benefit or hinder our safety and wellbeing in a significant way. The development of Egypt and Mesopotamia has sculpted our lives and is more important to our textbooks than the development of a nation that has little to do with the well being of America today.
I believe that African civilizations became less noticed because Egypt's achievements were much more mind blowing at first sight. Although the Africans made many achievements their attempts at structures were not as extravagant as the giant pyraminds that capture a historian's attention. The pyramids act as a spell binder, pulling scholars into the civilization and bring up more and more questions about the ancient Egyptians.
The reason early African civilizations are overlooked in favor of Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations is because very few "successful" nations developed from those early civilization. As we all know, the vast majority of African nations are plagued by civil wars, AIDS, and famine. By western standards they have a long way to come before we would consider them modern. For all these reasons, we see no reason to look back at their history to find what leaders and what decisions created this amazing continent. In Mesopotamia we look back to Hammurabi's Code, considering it a precursor to the U.S. Constitution. However in Africa, there is very little we borrowed from their governments or cultures to create the modern United States. With few exceptions we are only interested, as a nation, in learning what has influenced us.
Although this blog is late, I am bored.
All of these blogs are sympathetic towards Africa. One of the misconceptions we have about history is the fact that it is in the past. What is happening NOW, is part of history. Africa would not be as well off as it is now without imperialism or its past military weaknesses. Africa's poverty and deprivation is its greatest strength. Billions of dollars in aid go to Africa each year in order to help cure poverty and world hunger. Even though there is extreme violence, genocide, and corruption, money keeps flowing in. Africa is in a bad situation yes, but it could be a lot worse if the western world didn't feel sorry for its wrongs to Africa. Africa is the only continent in the world where people can bite the hand that feeds them and still get more food.
Wow....such ignorance for being in "America", do you guys forget that Egypt is in Africa? First know who are the original rulers of Egypt if it was not Africans. Read the history of Egypt to know that even the pyramids that you are so crazy about could have been built by Africans. Civilization as you know it started in Africa, there is a systematic way people just want to erase these truths. Africans did their bit to start-off all that you see today and have no interest in thinking too much anymore since chances are it will be snatched away again.
ok arent egypt and all the middle east countries on the continent of africa!!??
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