Chapter 1: African Civilization

Introduction

Africa is the second largest continent in the world and is a home to many different cultures. Furthermore, it is scientifically proven that Africa is the origin of humans. For this reason, African Civilization germinated in the indigenous African soil with its own civilizational features that expressed purely African thoughts and actions. However, the story of African civilization is not told as similar as the other civilizations, like Chinese, Indian or Western. There are some reasons for this fact:

1. A singular historical perspective, representing tangible historical records that can stand out as clearer markers of a singular African Civilization, has not been institutionalized.
2. Scholars analyze African Civilization from the point of view of material and structural perspectives.
3. Africa, over the centuries, was exposed first to slavery, then to colonialism.

African Civilization in Historical and Cultural Context

Environmental changes brought to Africa a new landscape about 10,000 years ago. In addition, new and different geographical areas and climatic conditions emerged in Africa, like the Sahara Desert, Rift Valley or Nile Valley in which rich cultures appeared as well as the origin of human. Africa contributed to survive the glorious Egyptian, Kush, Zimbabwe or Nubian civilizations and the three monotheistic religions.

Some of these African cultures established close trade relations with their neighbor cultures and intervened the political developments, like the Axumite Empire that dominated in a huge area or the Maghreb culture, which expanded to Spain, Portugal and Italy. On the contrary, some foreign cultures have great impact on African civilization, like the Greece, Romans, Byzantines, Persians and the Arabs.

African Civilization and Outside Conquest

The Europeans refer Africa as “Dark Continent” because of the severity of the physical geography. However, African civilizations were so successful for trade or military presence between West and North. Kingdoms of Maghreb, Fezzan and Libya or the warrior Berber tribes were the main elements of African history. Goods in African trade were gold, salt, ivory, grain, precious minerals, silk, jewelry, etc. Apart from the caravan trade, sea trade made some cities famous in the pre-Islamic era, like Leptis, Sabratha, Dougga and Thubrba. In addition, Mauritania and Numidia kingdoms intervened the political developments and made close contacts with Carthage that is one of the most significant power in Mediterranean.

As the Christianity expanded in North Africa, the northsouth trade developed under the influence of Christian culture. During this period, interior Africa become the economical part of the North.

Islam and Africa

Africa met a new religion – Islam - in the VII. century. Then, great Islamic centers began to combine the central and western part of Anatolia such as Timbuktu. Enthusiastic Muslim merchants penetrated into the interior Africa with their camels and by using the harbors and sea routes in the VIII. century. Since the Arabs continued to use the routes and the centers of the ancient traders, many Muslim immigrants settled in these cities. Pre-Islamic centers of the Christians were replaced by Islamic institutions. They brought into not only the goods, but also the ideas of the new religion to the animistic Africa. At the beginnings of the IX. century Islam was the most powerful faith in West Africa. Islamization began firstly in the North Africa in the VII. century and this new faith has become the one of the most important part of Africa.

Europeanism, Colonialism and African Civilization

As the Europeans penetrated into Africa, a new phase, called as colonialism, began in this old continent. It was based heavily on the slave trade. In addition, this period was full of tragedy for African civilization, like crimes against the environment, injustices against the domestic minorities, violence against the children, women, etc.

All these developments brought some discussions especially about the universal adaptability of Western Civilization due to following reasons:

1. The concept of liberalism is regarded as an ultimate value of civilized societies.
2. If the Western societies make congratulatory claims for their civilizations, the ruins and devastations that they left in their wake, and the civilizational values of pathological defects, such as racism, inequalities, and capitalist excesses bordering on genocidal criminalities as they extract precious resources from defenseless societies without remedial investment, must be elements of Western Civilization also.
3. Western liberalism takes pride in its civilization, because its democratic systems rooted in Western civilization have resulted in scientific modernization and participatory democratization.
4. The spirit of Western democratization was adapted from practical applications of the Greek and Roman civilizations.
5. In the immediate years after the Second World War, the decolonization campaigns, in tandem with the Leninist-Stalinist and Maoist revolutionary rhetoric, reverberated in the liberal capitalist countries such Great Britain and the United States.
6. Additional attitudinal orientations of the liberal sector of the Western ideology championed moderation, toleration, human rights, and plebiscitary participation as testimonials for Western civilization.
7. Conservative intellectuals coalesced their energies into rightwing reactionary thought, reviving the classical variety of liberalism.

Actually new historical theories expressed that the African Civilization is equal and contributive one as much as the other global civilizations. Egyptian civilization or the developments appearing after the invasion of the Persians can be given as an example for this theory.

African Civilization in Sociological and Anthropological Context

Each continent of the world and its peoples embrace specific cultural values that are unique and original. African Civilization reflects the African peoples’ cultural heritages and the components of their soil and environmental habitat. Sometimes strong civilizations, such as the Egyptian civilization, expanded its affect to the neighbor civilizations like Greek, Latin, Nubian, Yoruba or Ethiopic in the fields of language, art, architecture, etc. The origin, birth, rise and maturity of the Ancient Egyptian Civilization is African, for certainly Egypt is in Africa; it is not in Europe or in Asia. Its influences are global; its origin is African.

The Unity and Essence of African Civilization

Although Africa includes many cultures and Egyptologists claim that the Sahara Desert separates the southern Africa from the northern Africa anthropologically and sociologically, this old continent actually has a unity and an essence. Savanah, which is the region above tropical Africa, connects the southern and northern regions of the continent.

Some European historians of the XIX. and XX. centuries assumed that the Greece and Roman civilizations are not the part of the African Civilization, but represented only to the European civilization. Moreover, they have prejudice to the Africa, like famous historian Edward Gibbon. However, the geographical barriers cannot define the civilizations and there is an always interaction among the cultures.

Articulating African Civilization

There are historical, cultural, sociological and anthropological factors showing the unity of African Civilization.

Before the rise of Egypt in ancient history, Africa had some experiences to create institutions. Even an author claims that kingdoms of Africa were the oldest institutions. Other idea states that African civilization is an adaptation of Hamitic and Nilotic origins. But the theory, that the component civilizations in Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Africa have one binding and uniting source, is widely disputed. Some scholars still believe that the Egyptian civilization is the only one flourish civilization emerging from Africa.

Holistic approach is the most suitable method to explain the demographic unity of African Civilization. For example, the Egyptian Civilization emerged in the IV. millenium BCE, interacting with its geographical orientations. Nubia, Libya and Kush exchanged leadership and custodial authorities over each of these civilizations. And Libya controlled the Egypt during the Twelfth Dynasty, Nubian Dynasty administered this brilliant culture during Twenty-Fifth Dynasty. Furthermore, similar to the Egyptian Civilization, other civilizations had improved culture, like Ghanaian, the Mali and the Songhai. There was an important trade relation between the Western Africa and Egypt, based on the gold, diamonds, ivory, animal skins, grains, incense, palm oil, dates and hard wood. And then, Islam become another element for the unity.

It can be discussed that the African Civilization is a universal civilization linking the cultures of Asia and Europe. Also, the impact of the foreign cultures on Africa is not much more than the effect of African Civilization on the others. There are several hints for this reality in ancient Africa, such as the trade routes and the cities (Kumbi, Salaeh, Timbuktu, etc.) or the ports (Carthage, Alexandria, Marrakesh, etc.)

African Civilization Today

Although many countries in Africa have their own dictator, African civilization has the maturity. In other words, Africa provides good social attitudes, such as morality, fairness, justice and civilized behavior. Tribes, that the Europeans called as primitive, teach the modern world worthy lessons on social relations, like child rearing or community responsibility.

It should be noted that the oldest inhabitants of this world prioritized peace-making, instead of a war. And they created unique culture, like the pyramids of the Nubian civilization.

Assessing the African Civilization

Egyptian civilization is one of the most important civilization and the peoples who created this huge civilization are disputable. It is not certain that all Africans contributed to establish this civilization. There are no anthropological, linguistic, religious, etc. traces. However, it can be showed that Egyptian civilization expressed in the Maghreb and in Western, Eastern and Central Africa, especially as to the material findings. Still, generalizations and interpretations should be made very carefully.

Origins and historical developments of African civilizations are still resolved dispute among the scholars. At this point, most reliable sources are the concrete examples such as coins, which shows the trade relations, ports and open markets in the cities. And it seems that the trade relations are the most strong tie among the cultures in Africa. Furthermore, products are suitable examples that provide some evidence about the effect of Africa over Europe and Asia throughout the history.