~Carter G. Woodson
Agriculture
Since history is eternity backwards, it is better to dive in straight away. One of the first areas Africa contributed to the development of the world is in Agriculture. Now, some sources claim that it was Asia, rather than Africa that introduced agriculture into the world, citing a time of 10,000 BCE. But Kemet, the name Egyptians were known in this period, were already into large scale farming.
Although, the precise date agriculture started in Africa is unknown but according to wiki, it started in Kemet, ancient Egypt around 10,000BCE which is open for debate. I would go so far to say it started long before this time due to certain factors. In one archaeological find, it is stated that the earliest cultivation of grains in the Nile Valley, Egypt, dated around 17,000 to 18,000 BCE. In any case, Ancient Egypt was among the first nations to practice agriculture in large scale. On the other hand, large scale agriculture began to be practiced in West Africa around 3000BCE. This was so because 'normading' or foraging was quite easy as compared to farming which requires rigorous work and also time to accomplish. During the dark ages in Europe, which was as a result of Europe being blocked from international trade by Arab nations, Europe suffered dearly. It was only upon their realization that Africa is rich that they decided upon a coordinated attack on Africa in the 14th century. This was convened in the Berlin conference. Berlin on the other hand, when they discovered they were getting the short end of the stick, decided to go to war. It was this scramble for Africa among other reasons that led to first and second world wars. But long story short, when Europe discovered sugar, tobacco, rice and a host of other cash crops, that was not available in their region, and which they needed, they had to device a means to take it. In the beginning, it was deceit with religion but in the end, it was brutal force. Knowing what they know about Africa, they know that religion would be something Africans would easily welcome since Africans were already spiritual. It should also be noted that one of the means Africans became spiritual, was through agricultural science. That and Astronomy. The ancestors, having studied Nature and observing the cyclicity of Life, they started to write down these finding which were the first forms of religious or spiritual texts. They noticed that plants have their seasons. And that after death, the plants regenerate themselves the following season. They noticed that wet and dry seasons have no particular or fix end; that the end of one is the beginning of another. This informed them about the spiritual doctrine of reincarnation. They knew without doubt that, death is but life in disguise or rather, death is but the beginning of a new life. It was this that informed them about the natural doctrine of eternal life. With the Europeans having gotten their way through deceit and force, it was the enslaved or captured Africans who taught Europeans and Americans how these crops can be cultivated and harvested. Sugar was a drug they were addicted to. They have never tasted anything like that prior to this time in history. So, it was Sugarcane more than any other cash crop that got us fucked up. Europeans were not going to let that slide when they know the good it can do for their economy. So, the age-old wisdom still holds - always be careful of whatever is sweet.
Language & Writing
In a strange way, it seemed the further we go back in antiquity, the better the architecture. Take for example, the Pyramids of Giza. Till date, nothing has been able to equal it. It still remains a wonder of the world. In my next blog, I am going to write about the wonders of the pyramid. It is so wonderful that scholars disagree on who built it. Some have said that the gods built it but no, the ancestors of Africans built it. Talking about the gods, there was a certain time in history Europeans worshipped Africans as gods. But that aside, when we look at the temples of Egypt, we see an astounding architecture that is somehow unbelievable. For this reason and the high cultural and educational system present in North Africa and Egypt in particular, western scholars for centuries have tried to claim North Africa as part of Europe or at least part of the middle East. But the Middle East if truth be told is Africa. Canaan, what is today known as Israel was one time a part of Africa. But since they can't separate North Africa from the rest of Africa, they have coined the term Sub-Sahara Africans so as to distinguish Egypt from the rest of Africa. But the truth of the matter is that while amazing architecture was built in Egypt and North Africa, wonderful structures were simultaneously built in the rest of Africa. But first, let's take a look at the symbol of Western Architecture at its highest. The Obelisk, which can be found at the centre of western civilization, Washington DC.
It is only a matter of being familiar with history to know where the United States got the idea of an Obelisk as their symbol of power. Long before it was ever built on the soils of America, it was built on an African soil. And since Freemasons traced their origin to Africa, it is easily understandable how they came about the Obelisk.
But such are the ancient Egyptians that their architecture was a means to educate the public. At the height of Egyptian power, there were four different writing system developed as the need arises. There was the popular Hieroglyphics which can be found on the Obelisk. The reason behind the Obelisk can be found from the Egyptian religious theology of Osiris, Isis and Heru or Horus, the Egyptian or African trinity. It is 71feet/21.7 meters high, sits on a base of 6 feet/1.8 meters square and weighs about 143 tons.
The point here is that, the world to a large extent has made us believe that such kinds of architecture are either Greek or Roman Architecture. But Greeks and Romans did not start building gigantic structure with gigantic columns until they had a contact with Africa and Egypt in particular. In other words, what is today known as Greek and Roman Architecture is but Africa Architecture in disguise.
Religion and Spirituality
The one thing that really amazed me about the history of Africa is that, not only Christianity but all forms of religion in the world today, at least the major religions, got their teachings or system of religion from Africa. Islam did not originate until Arabs or Afrabs (Eurasian and African mix) had contact with North Africa. Rumour has it that the Grandfather of Mohammed was an African. The doctrine of eternal life in Islam and Christiandom was long known in Africa. It wasn't until Mohammed asked Bilal, one of his trusted companions to go to Africa for support that he created what is today known as Islam. When Bilal returned to Mohammed, he returned with more than 10000 African supporters to assist Mohammed in his capture of Mecca. It was only after the capture of Mecca that Islam was formally recognized and the first person whom Mohammed asked to call the Muslim faithful for Prayers (Adzan) was an African, in the name of Bilal.
Christianity and its history is already popular knowledge that I don't think it will be necessary to go in-depth of how they got their system of religion. Suffice to say that before Christianity became popular in Europe, it was already practiced in North Africa especially in Ethiopia and Egypt. Matter of fact, Ethiopia is the birthplace of Christianity. It is the model of Ethiopian Christianity the Rastafari have adopted rather than the European model of Christianity. Before Christianity emerged in Europe, Egypt already had a form of trinity system going on. It is safe to say that modern Christianity is a plagiarized religion and most of their scriptural texts were copied from the scriptures of their religious predecessors especially that of the Egyptian System of Christianity. All the major doctrines found in the Bible are not new. Contrary to popular belief, monotheism did not originate with Judaism nor with Islam. It was first practised in Africa. It was neither originated by the Hebrews nor the Arabs.
Billy Carson, an African scholar of ancient civilization, in his book, "Compendium of the Emerald Tablet" went further to show how biblical scripts tallied word for word with ancient scripts older than the Bible. It therefore leaves no room for doubt who copied from who. Freemasons, Rosicrucians, as well as most philosophical schools all traced their origin back to Africa. Whatever they teach in their secret lodges, is knowledge they got from Africa or knowledge imparted to them by Africans. Africa mysticism and spirituality have or had nothing to do with blind belief. Through the study of the heavens for thousands of years, they came to understand the mystical or spiritual dimension of life and applied this knowledge to their day-to-day life. As Prof. Kaba H. Kamene, a notable African historian, puts it, Spirituality is unseen Science and Science is seen Spirituality. Through the study of the Heavens, Africans became foremost in the knowledge of Astronomy, Astrology. Agriculture and Medicine. The root teaching of African Mystery Schools was that each should be able to see themselves as a god or else they won't have a healthy self-concept. It was this self-concept that gave them the base to do astonishing feats. They taught that the moment one denies the Divinity within oneself and embrace a Divinity outside of themselves, they cease to become free, or their evolution ceases until they embrace their own Divinity. They saw Divinity in all of Nature and themselves as part of Nature hence they offered a sacred respect to all of Nature. This is also the basis of the two great commandments in the Bible. 1. Love thy God and 2. Love thy neighbour. But in any case, Africa is the mother land of spirituality and religion. This is also another gift Africa gave to the world.
Origin, Migration and Exploration
The earliest form of spirituality is also traced to the Great Lake Regions. These regions include, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (Tanzania), Congo and Southern Africa. In other words, Central/East/South Africa. This is the birthplace of humanity. It is in these regions the first forms of Humans are recorded. It was after the perfection of their worldview that the people of these regions migrated along river lines, first, to the ends of Africa developing civilization in harmony with nature and then to the world at large. Hence the original people who inhabited Northern Africa were pigmented people. Egyptians recognized themselves as dark skinned rather than paled skin.
That we see paled skinned people in North Africa today, is due to the invasion, first, by the Persians, followed by the Greeks and then the Romans and then Islamists from Asia. In all these raids, intermarriages took place, and the result is the people inhabiting the north of Africa. During these invasions, a lot of the Africans fled to West Africa. as well as East and South. The Yorubas of Nigeria traced their origin to Egypt. It is stated that most of the words in Yoruba have similar roots to Egyptian words. There is also a theory floating that during the slave trade, the people first given up were these Africans who migrated from the North of Africa. But before slave trade, Africans were navigators and explorers. Matter of fact, Africans were the first people to circumnavigate the world. Had it not been for the Moors who showed Europeans how to navigate the seas, the Europeans or Euroasians would not have been able navigate their way to Africa to capture the continent. There is this misconception about race. Some scholars tend to think there are different races but no, there is only one race, and it is the Human Race. Defining race through colour is totally wrong. Through natural means, certain Africans mutated and became paled skinned. It should be noted that Europeans or paled skinned people are but one tenth of the world population. The question arises naturally, how did Europeans originate or how did Africans mutate to become Europeans? The answer as always was gotten from Nature. In Nature, there are no tricks, no magic. It has been established already that Africa is the birthplace of the Human Race. And the first people who filled the earth were dark skinned. Now, there are various theories on how the Europeans originated. Some say they were the failed experiments of Africans who were playing with genetics. In short, some scholars believe that the book of Genesis is but a coded rendering or revelation of how Europeans were created by Africans. But as a Natural Philosopher, I share the opinion of Prof. Kaba H. Kamene whose position is that Europeans came about as a result of the Ice Ages. Africans who explored the areas of Europe at this period of global cooling were caged in during the time of the Ice Ages. Just as the world is experiencing global warming now, in our distant past, it was global cooling which affected Europe greatly. It was as a result of this cooling, ice mountains were formed and surrounded Europe. Africans exploring these areas were trapped. Attempts made to flee these areas only resulted in them being pushed to the core of the colder regions. After a while, they gave up their escape plan and retreated into caves. It was while in the caves that their physiology began to change. Naturally, they began to lose the melanin in their skins. Melanin protects the skin from Ultraviolet rays which can be harmful to the skin but in an area of extreme cold and no sunlight, the skin naturally will become lighter. Again, the chief source of vitamin D is from sunlight. In a region where there is no sun, the skin begins to depigment itself in other to allow for Vitamin D absorption. So, a dark-complexioned person who lives in this kind of region will naturally turn pale after thousands of years. Now research says that it takes about a minimum of 16 generations or at least 2500 years for an individual who is dark in complexion to turn pale in a region where there is no sun. The same goes for the hair, when in a hot climate, the oil produced in heat, cooks the scalp and protects it. In line with protection, it makes the hair kink in elliptical orbits. But in colder climates, the oil makes the hair straight to cover the neck from cold. Likewise, the nose contracts to protect the human organism from inhaling cold air or reduce the effect of inhaling cold air which can affect the lungs. Also, the eyes become thinner as well as the lips. It is all Nature's way of protecting the human species. Long story short, Europeans are but distant relatives of Africans. The last glacier period is said to be about 10,000 years ago and according to recent research, Europeans began to appear around 8000 years ago. Prior to this time, only Africans existed on the planet. In 1974, a skeleton code-named Lucy was found in Ethiopia. The Skeleton dated 3.2 million years back. It helped among other things to clarify the origins of humanity. No European or Eurasian skeleton have been found to date back that long.
No doubt, it is clear that the first settlers in all the continents of the world were Africans. There is enough proof that before Europeans invaded America, there were Africans living there. I am not just talking about the Red Indians (although Red Indians are also Africans) but Africans from Africa who lived in America before Columbus is said to have discovered it. The same goes for Europe as well as the other continents of the world.
Arts, Music and Education
During the dark ages in Europe, it was the Moors (Africans) who migrated to Europe to help stabilize European Nations. Prior to the arrival of the Moors, the Europeans were in worse conditions. It was the Moors who introduced Music to them. Classical Music is an African invention by the Moors. Medicine was also introduced. The Kings and Queens of Europe were living in Barns. It was the Moors who taught them basic hygiene tips. Prior to that, most Europeans lived with animals in Barns. But Moors came in and built separate shelters for their animals. The Moors built cathedrals and castles for their Kings and Queens. Most of the Castles we find in Europe are handwork of the Moors. It is safe to say that they were the founders of Freemasonry. They built Universities and began to teach Europeans. Prior to their arrival, Europe had little interest in education. Arts was also part of what they brought to Europe. Matter of fact, the celebrated artists of Europe only remade what Africans have been doing for ages. So it is no surprise during the slave trade that most of the art works of Africans were stolen. Just recently, Germany out of decency signed a deal to return prized arts of the Benin Kingdom of Nigeria. French art historians have estimated that some 90% of Africa's looted cultural heritage is believed to be in Europe.
In conclusion, it is safe to say that when we are talking about world history, we are actually talking about Africa history. There are still a number of stuffs I would like to talk about but for lack of space and time, it is better to end this blog here. This blog became necessary when I see Africans becoming shy and timid in the presence of other nationalities especially Eurasians. But then again, most Africans have been miseducated and do not know their place in history. It is so bad that some Africans actually associate beauty with being paled and try to use all sorts of cream to lighten their complexion. We no longer even honour our ancestors, but we go to church to honour the saints of the church. How pathetic. It is then necessary to teach our children our beautiful cultural heritage or else in generations to come, our beautiful heritage will be lost in history just as some have been lost already.
For further reads, the links below might prove helpful.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sinhalese-language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_language
https://www.britannica.com/place/Carthage-ancient-city-Tunisia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan
https://www.grin.com/document/424608
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit#Origin_and_development
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_Period#Barbarian_identity
https://www.quora.com/Is-Arabic-language-derived-from-Sanskrit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color
https://www.livescience.com/43674-cancer-skin-color-evolution.html
https://monaconow.com/a-museum-to-preserve-traces-of-humanity/