African history and Archeology

Igbo Ukwu

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curved
swords

Asante house

Igbo Ukwe

Inoculation was introduced to America by a slave.

Few details are known about the birth of Onesimus, but it is assumed he was born in Africa in the late seventeenth century before eventually landing in Boston. One of a thousand people of African descent living in the Massachusetts colony, Onesimus was a gift to the Puritan church minister Cotton Mather from his congregation in 1706.

Onesimus told Mather about the centuries old tradition of inoculation practiced in Africa. By extracting the material from an infected person and scratching it into the skin of an uninfected person, you could deliberately introduce smallpox to the healthy individual making them immune. Considered extremely dangerous at the time, Cotton Mather convinced Dr. Zabdiel Boylston to experiment with the procedure when a smallpox epidemic hit Boston in 1721 and over 240 people were inoculated. Opposed politically, religiously and medically in the United States and abroad, public reaction to the experiment put Mather and Boylston’s lives in danger despite records indicating that only 2% of patients requesting inoculation died compared to the 15% of people not inoculated who contracted smallpox.

Onesimus’ traditional African practice was used to inoculate American soldiers during the Revolutionary War and introduced the concept of inoculation to the United States.

The Kano Chronicle, for example, mentions that around 1400 AD the ruling sarki (king) of Kano started using metal helmets and mail armor for his soldiers. So presumably, they were not using mail before then. There is a surviving mail shirt from Kano, probably from a later date, in the collection of the Pitt Rivers museum in Britain, and it most likely does derive from trade with the Maghreb.

Can someone gives me something cool about Berbers history?

By 543 A.D .The Nubians were officially Christian. It seems that their Christianity was never more than a thin veneer atop their ancient native religions and that it was only maintained by a foreign elite of priests and governors. The Nubians nevertheless remained officially Christians for almost a millennium.

The region had been Christian for less than a century when the Arab armies invaded Egypt in 640 A.D.One year later these armies reached Aswan, where the Islamic tide was stemmed, and the first cataract remained the southern frontier of Islamic Egypt and the northern frontier of Christian Nubia for several centuries. During medieval times Christian Nubia flourished. It was united under the King of Makuria and enjoyed a "Classical Christian " period between 850 and 1100 A.D

I love this project

The MFA in Boston has a pretty cool collection of items from Benin and that area, particularly the metalwork they were known for. If you ever find yourself there, make sure you check it out. Lots of throwing dickswords too.

I love this figure especially, because it's so nice to finally see white people represented in African art. The "action pose" is something you don't really see in the other art in the gallery, and indeed, you don't see it much in metal sculpture generally. It would be cool to have a chess set in this style.

Cool story. We owe him a lot.

Ile-Ife head

Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Timbukti, full name Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Takruri Al-Massufi al-Timbukti (October 26, 1556 – April 22, 1627), was a medieval Sanhaja Berber writer, scholar, and political provocateur in the area then known as the Western Sudan. Throughout his life, he wrote more than 40 books and is often noted as having been Timbuktu’s greatest scholar.[1] He died in 1627.

In regards to the enslavement of Africans in 1615, Ahmad Bābā discussed the legitimate reasons of how and why one could become a slave. The driving force, mainly being religious and ethnic, were that if one came from a country with a Muslim government, or identified with specific Muslim ethnic groups, then they could not be slaves. He claimed that if a person was an unbeliever or a kafara, then that is the sole factor for their enslavement, along with that being “the will of God.”

In the piece Ahmad Bābā and the Ethics of Slavery, he claims that his beliefs fueled the thought that those who identified as Muslim no longer had to be enslaved, but anyone that was an outsider (or nonbeliever) would then be enslaved by Muslims. These were not simply beliefs these were the rules that are given by God Most High, who knows best. Even in the case that the people of the country were believers but their belief was shallow then those people could still be enslaved with no questions asked. According to Ahmad Bābā, it was known that the people of Kumbe were shallow in their beliefs. He goes on to use the analogy that when one country is conquered and contains nonbelievers, then those persons could be enslaved as part of his stance on any other outsider or religion besides Islam.

This Akan goldweight represent an akrafena.

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The Kanem empire were a large empire lasting from from 700CE-1380. They claim descent from Assyrians and Elamites, although this seems like a we wuz claim the haplogroups of the region of the fallen empire is R1b-v88 instead of A, B or E like their neighbors.
They were one of the first sub Saharan to convert and the did so willingly although they were described as Sufi muslims.

Its annoying that their is so little known about them or the Sao civilizations despite being one of the largest, and long lasting civilizations on the continent from 600BCE - 1893CE.

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That's awesome, what's the time period?

>Its annoying that their is so little known about them or the Sao civilizations despite being one of the largest, and long lasting civilizations on the continent from 600BCE - 1893CE.

Is it because there is not a lot of ruins or because nobody is working on them?

From Wikipedia :

The Yoruba blacksmiths were among the most skilled in West Africa. They employed different techniques in the making of these Ida swords. They were involved in the mining and smelting of iron ore before 800 A.D. This style of sword was also sometimes used by other surrounding peoples such as the Bini and the Igbo.

But this is (probably) the type of sword of Dahomey and not an Ida.

This page suggest that this is a Dahomean sword rather than a Yoruba Ida .

Ida Sword

Ngombe Ngulu sword

Is there other examples of realistic sculptures like the one of Ile-Ife in Africa?

Not that I know.

Egyptians

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their are a lot of ruins but a lot less being found in recent digs

Baluba art

Looks like an elf.

I see, thanks.

Sai terracota

Sao*

>Built in the 14th century on a hill, Thimlich Ohinga is a complex surrounded by stone walls now partially covered under Savannah bush land. The site consists of six enclosures and is a rare example of the first settlements in the region.

wmf.org/project/thimlich-ohinga-cultural-landscape

Asante architecture

If I had a time machine, I'd give him solid gold chains.

Citation needed, but intriguing story.

Berber/Tuareg history isn't my specialty, but if you're interested in the culture and music, definitely check out Tinariwen:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinariwen

youtube.com/watch?v=nJt_27m98MY&list=PLiN-7mukU_RFN3r5nhWp8MaEBXhOdpVx2

youtube.com/watch?v=vACZA9dGvV4

youtube.com/watch?v=tYa2yLzz_Qk

They're a Tuareg rock collective from the Great Bend region of the Niger River. Most of the older bandmates either personally witnessed the violence of Tuareg uprisings in the 60's and 90's, or served alongside pro-Gaddhafi militias out of Algerian and Libyan refugee camps. After meeting in the camps in the 80's and working on their music, they started touring Africa, Europe, and the rest of the world in the late 90's to today. They've got an incredibly-hypnotic fusion of blues, rock, and traditional assouf sounds, and most of their songs revolve around the politics and nostalgia of Azawad. Do check it out.

Fake news but nice try

Inoculation for smallpox was first discovered when cow hands who got cowpox were discovered to be immune

But it clearly wasn't systematically incorporated into people's wellness practices in the same way as the enslaved people's communities in Africa and the new world.

>yfw Africans invented chibi
How will Nippon ever recover?

hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/onesimus-fl-1706-1717-slave-and-medical-pioneer-was-born

sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/onesimus

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Great mosque of Kairouan, one of the oldest and largest mosques in Africa

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I love their helmets

BEAUTIFUL.

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"Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that "there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people -- but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence."

Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000)

Well fuck me it's an actual building. Or was it rebuilt by Euros too?
Djenne is a fucking joke.

The negroes possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence. They do not confiscate the property of any white man who dies in their country, even if it be uncounted wealth. On the contrary, they give it into the charge of some trustworthy person among the whites, until the rightful heir takes possession of it. They are careful to observe the hours of prayer, and assiduous in attending them in congregations, and in bringing up their children to them. -Ibn Battuta

“The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles...“ -Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Gewesten on Benin City

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“The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.” -Mungo Park in the city of Segou

InB4 pyramids

Kush

Great women are often left out of history. Rarely do we hear or read about African queens. It is already hard enough to read about great African men and leaders in history books, but as for African women… it is more like impossible. How many have heard of the great warrior queen of Nubia, Amanishakheto, who defeated a Roman army? Who has heard of this great queen whose pyramid/tomb was leveled to the ground by an Italian treasure hunter, Giuseppe Ferlini, in 1832? Who has heard of this woman who led her people with a strong arm, and built pyramids in Meroë? Who has heard of this great candace, whose daughter Amanitore, also queen of Nubia, is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 8:27) … yeah the Queen of Sheba is not the only African queen mentioned in the Bible!

afrolegends.com/2012/06/19/amanishakheto-warrior-queen-of-nubia/

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What a beaut. I have a thing for sabers.

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Nok Elephant

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Oyo?

How many of you know that two great African queens have been cited in the Bible? Most people know about the Queen of Sheba who was the queen of a kingdom in modern-day Ethiopia, and gave birth to a son to the Great King Solomon (Solomon was taken by her beauty). The second queen, who most people ignore or forget, is the Candace, or queen, of Nubia, Amanitore. She is mentioned in the Bible, Acts 8:26–40, or should we say her finance minister is, and so by ramification she is cited. So who was Amanitore, this African queen who was cited in the Bible?

afrolegends.com/2017/10/30/great-warrior-queen-and-builder-of-nubia-amanitore/

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Why is there no manga inspired by Ancient Africa? those swords are sweet

wtf, I haven't seen realism like that outside europe before besides the odd chinese painting of nature

>biblical legend
>real

Get a load of this guy.

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>afrolegends.com

Very good blog, not Afrocentrist and has a lot of interesting contents.

Thanks user, this looks fukn interesting

Paper on African slaves who held a monopoly on iron production method in the Americas and used it to purchase their own freedom.
afrigeneas.com/slavedata/Paper-LSU-1492-1992.html

What is the goal of posting this? just shitty b8?

Some people need attention.

GHANA

Ghana was the first of the three empires to rise as a regional power in West Africa. The history of Ghana is based largely on the writings of Arab travelers who visited and traded with its people. Before the Roman Empire left North Africa in the 4th century AD, Ghana was already a powerful nation. Various countries in Europe were dependent on imports of gold before the discovery of America. The "civilization" of Ghana was advanced to such a level that a system of taxation was imposed on every load of goods entering or leaving the empire. Trading, therefore, was a highly organized system which the wealth and importance of Ghana was based.

According to El-farzari, an Arab writer of that period, the people of Ghana were also successful in overpowering their advanced methods of warfare and their weapons, which were swords and lances.

>interesting
A manga about medieval Africa something like viland saga wars between the 12 Noble klans after the fall of the Ghana empire the sundiata as he struggles against sunwugaru the seemingly invincible warrior

exactly good idea.

Dahomey so 19th century.

this art looks very demonic and disturbing, it resembles mutilated warped bodies.
The mentality of the creators and the way they perceived workd seems to be very different from ours

Well, they were cannibals and believed in all sorts of superstitions.

Stereotype are not a reality. Igbo aren't cannibals.