Critique of A Biography of the Continent Africa by John Reader

Humans developed in Africa. “…, indicates that the earliest stages of human evolution were also played out in Africa.” (Page 36)

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

“African societies developed diverse forms, from large centralized states to stateless societies organized around kinship or age sets rather than central authority. Within this diversity were many shared aspects of language and beliefs. Universalistic faiths penetrated the continent and served as the basis for important cultural development in Nubia and Ethiopia.

Science researcher Christopher Stringer and science writer Robin McKie state that modern humans first developed in Africa and then spread to other parts of the world.

The first chapter in Boahen’s book is titled “Eve of Colonial Conquest” and this section gives the readers a background of the colonialism in Africa through a look at the fundamental economic, political, and social changes that occurred just a few decades before colonialism took root. Boahen states that the trade of “natural products” is the most significant economic change in Africa by 1880. Just before the trading of “natural products” slave trades were abolished.

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

People of the early African kingdoms were able to create successful trade routes with Europe and Asia, become very wealthy from conquering and gaining land, and were able to have a strong central government. All of this was done before the Europeans had reached Africa. Trade flourished on the East African coast, especially when trading was established with India and Arabia. African kingdoms were prosperous, because of their success with not only trading but also with their ability to conquer land. A governmental structure is key to allowing any kingdom to thrive, and the African people were able to achieve this.

Africa accomplished great feats, but some of the most historical ones are from the trade throughout Africa, Political Status, and culture in Africa. Trade in Africa thrived in the Kingdom of Aksum, known as Ethiopia today, as African traders used their nautical skills to reach nearby lands to trade goods and ideas. The Kingdom of Aksum was located in a unique location where it thrived in multiple trade routes. This unique location of, “Aksum reached its height between 325 and 360 A.D.” (Doc 1).

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

Consider how Africa’s geography has changed over time. What positive and negative effects would these changes have had on human populations on the continent? As their new homes changed they were able to adapt due to their innovative mindset. This can be attributed to the new found organization thanks to language. Allowing Africans to grow and expand throughout the entire continent. Other factors that can be attributed are the change in geography for some parts such as the Sahara drying out and swamps and lakes disappeared.

In this chapter, Diamond examines if humans on one continent had an advantage over others by examining the evolution and spread of humans to other continents. Diamond first examines human origin around 7 million years ago when a population of African apes evolved into some of the earliest humans. This evolutionary process occurred and remained in Africa until around 1.5 million years ago when Homo erectus spread beyond Africa. By about .5 million years ago, human populations had differentiated with Neanderthals in Europe, relatively modern structured humans in Africa, and humans different from both in East Asia. It wasn’t until 50,000 years ago when biologically and behaviorally modern humans ,the Cro-Magnons , appeared did humans advanced from crude stone tools to multipiece tools, sewn clothing, arts, and boats.

Industrialization, advancement in tropical medicine and military technology played a lot in the European conquest and colonization of Africa. The tools and weapons contributed to the sweeping change in the global balance of power and came of the burgeoning factories of Europe. There were weapons that were issued to soldiers on their way to the colonial conquest in Africa. Those soldiers were able to overcome tropical diseases because they were medicated with drugs produced by the industry. The industrial revolution started a new phase in a way in Africas relationship with Europe. It wasn’t until the disease quinine was isolated that Europeans braved the interior of Africa and that advancement in medicine helped the exploration of Africa and

The continent of Africa has many diverse groups filled with astonishing and heartbreaking historical records. To start off, the Maasai, the Tuareg and the Bambuti are three major cultural groups belonging to Africa. The Maasai and the Tuareg are nomadic pastoralists, and the Bambuti consist of four groups; the Sua, the Aka, the Efe, and the Mbuti. These four branches of the Bambuti are known to be quite short and stocky. It is also believed that humankind migrated from Africa to the rest of the world. Africa is known as the birthplace of humankind, due to the first ever human fossils being found on the continent. There were than three major migrations from Africa, as follows. The Bantu Migration was a massive migration of many groups early

Paleoanthropologists have been searching for decades, looking for signs of early human life throughout Africa Asia and Europe, trying to find clues that tell them where the human race originated. These scientists have found overwhelming evidence of early human life across different continents, but are always working to attempt to explain what they have discovered, and try to piece together the earliest signs of human civilization. Two main theories have emerged related to the origin of our ancestors, the "Out of Africa Theory" and the "Multiregional Theory" (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2009, p. 163). Both theories have merit, and evidence to back them up, causing controversial debate between

To begin, fossils discoveries have continually increased as time goes along. The advancements of technology, tools, and the increase of scholars studying/searching for fossils is the cause of this. Fossils are the beginning of the puzzle scholars are piecing together about the origin of human beings. Focusing on fossils dating back to more than 2 million years ago like Australopithecus Sediba, Australopithecus, and Homo habilis can begin to paint a picture for scholars about the origin of human beings. According to National Geographic, “The Homo naledi discovery adds another exciting chapter to the human evolution story by introducing an ancestor that was primitive but shared physical characteristics with modern humans.” This finding aids in supporting Africa as the origin of all human beings because it shows proof of human evolution occurring in Africa.