Africa Before the Europeans
Africa has long been regarded as a continent of famine, disease, political corruption and dependence. Until recent centuries, it was even considered by many regions as too uncivilized to equal the technological advances and growth of other countries. However, today's evidence suggests that it was host to some of the oldest peoples and most interesting civilizations in the world. In contrast with prior perceptions, Africa's empires, kingdoms, and cities were already greatly accomplished and influential before European interference in the late 15th century.
Evidence of Nok culture was discovered in Nigeria in 1928. It is estimated that the Nok civilization, one of the earliest in African history, first appeared around 500 B.C.E, and are best known for their surprisingly advanced social system and realistic, life-sized terra-cotta sculptures. Although they mysteriously disappeared around 200 C.E., their art styles and methods diffused to surrounding areas and influenced future peoples. In the Yoruba states, artists formed lifelike figures from terra-cotta, bronze, wood, and ivory, albeit many centuries after the exit of the Nok people. Just before the Portuguese arrived, Benin was also a center of sculptures in ivory and bronze.
The African state of Ghana was situated within the midst of the gold and salt trade, and, between the 3rd and 13th centuries, made its fortune by taxing the transactions that took place within its borders. By the 10th century, it reportedly could field an army many times the size of William the Conqueror's. Ghana's decline beginning in the 11th century paved the way for others to take its place, most significantly the empire of Mali, and later, the empire of Songhay.
Under Sundiata, Mali recorded its history orally, had a rigid justice system that punished criminals severely, and grew rich from trade. Mansa Musa, a famous Mali ruler, employed its wealth to order the construction of several great mosques that would eventually serve as the prototypes for Sudanic architecture. Mali's protection of merchants and scholars produced flourishing trade cities such as Jenne and Timbuktu. The latter became a bustling capital of education, where the learned and cultured converged to study.
Africa's history makes clear that it is extremely capable of supporting itself, and had accomplished much long before the entrance of the Europeans. The subsequent expansion of the slave trade and Europe's mass colonization of Africa upset the continent in a way that still has not been reversed. With some luck, Africa will eventually be able to solve its internal conflicts and become a prominent member of today's world.
