Ancient Africa Reading
Hine, Darlene, Hine, William, Harold, Stanley. African-American History. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006.
Directions: Read the following information and answer the questions below.
Geographical Characteristics of Africa
Africa is the second largest continent on earth after Asia. It is surrounded by the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Indian Ocean and
the Red Sea to the east. In the northeast corner of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula connects
Africa to Asia and Europe. Along the Mediterranean coast and the Nile River Valley lays
fertile land. Most of northern African is isolated from the Mediterranean coast, Europe, and
Asia because of the Sahara desert: this region is called Sub-Saharan Africa. South of the
Sahara desert is the savannah, stretching form Ethiopia westward to the Atlantic Ocean.
The savannah is also known as the Sudan. Arabs called the Sudan the “Bilad es Sudan”
or the “land of the black people”. West Africa, which is ancestral home of many African
Americans, lies within the savannah region. The ancient Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali
and Songhai, which lie within the savannah, were urbanized and engaged in trade in
contrast to the forest region groups of Senegambia, Akan states, the Yoruba culture, and
the Kingdom of Benin.
African Contribution to Humankind
Paleoanthropologists, scientists who study the evolution and prehistory of humans,
believe the origins of humanity began in the savannah region of Africa millions of years
ago and migrated throughout the rest of the world. This is known as the out of Africa
model. Ancient Egypt began in the fourth millennium BCE when the ancient Egyptian
civilization of the pharaohs and pyramids emerged. The ancient Egyptian society played a
founding role in the religion, commerce, philosophy, art, science, and math of Western
civilization; here a dilemma has arisen for the West. About 200 years ago, western
historiography, the writing of history, created a racial dilemma stating the Egyptians were
non-African. The argument follows that if the
ancient Egyptians were non-African then they were not black. If the ancient Egyptians
were not black then blacks did not contribute anything important to civilization. During the
late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, archaeologists discovered ancient
Egyptian tomb walls which display paintings of ancient Egyptian perception of their lives.
These archaeologists point to these wall paintings, which rarely show people painted in
white, as fact that ancient Egyptians were people of color or black.
It is important to note that this dilemma provided western historiographers with the
rationalization that since the ancient Egyptians were non-African it was okay that the West
received so much intellectual history from them. In contrast, West Africans had a different
history from the ancient Egyptians making the enslavement of them acceptable.
Questions:
1. What are the geographical characteristics of Africa?
2. Which groups lived in the savannah region of Africa?
3. Why is Africa considered the “birthplace of humanity”?
4. What impact did ancient Egyptian society have on the western world?
5. What impact did western historiographers have on African American History?