The Origin Of Ancient Africa

The Nile shaped Egypt by influencing its geography, popular distribution, and settlements. The majority of settlements in Ancient Egypt were located around the Nile River Delta (Doc. A), where land was fertile, trade was good, and there were many natural resources. Because of geography in this civilization, Egyptians could easily protect and defend themselves, as well as settle down and have good lives.

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

Africa’s Discovery of Europe, written by David Northrup and much as its name implies, is a monograph detailing Sub-Saharan Africa, starting from 1450 to 1850. This broad timespread starts just before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and ends just beyond the Industrial Revolution. Originally published in 2002, Northrup intended for readers to see Europe from a different perspective; from the lense of African people. The title, Africa’s Discovery of Europe, is interesting within itself. In many cases, majority of people believe it was Europe that opened up the world and conquered the Americas and discovered all this new land, and a sliver of that is true, so many countries surrounding Europe were already major, active players in the modernizing world already. In this case, as Europe was discovering Africa, Africa was also discovering Europe. It switches the mind of the reader from a Eurocentric role to an African one. Northrup discusses how contact was not one-sided, and depicts accurate descriptions of African interactions amongst other Africans and Europeans. Northrup shows the reader that African people were discovering Europe very actively, not passively; African people physically go to European countries and have first-hand experiences with European people and lifestyles.

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.

“The technology introduced by the Hyksos domination provided the Egyptians with the incentive and the means towards world expansion and so laid the foundations and to a great extent determined the character of the New Kingdom” (Bradley)

African Kingdoms were civilized prior to the accession of Europeans in the 15th century. African Kingdoms, such as Ghana, Mali and, Aksum were already progressive in the areas of trade, wealth, and overall advancement. Aksum’s location benefited the region’s advancement by making it a trading center. Mansa Musa was one of the most generous people who expanded the Mali empire through wealth. Through trade and wealth came overall advancement, which brought the rise of literature and art.

Neolithic people that had lived in Egypt began to travel toward the northern corner of the continent of Africa. Records and writing show the ruins of the early civilizations, and the setting of Sub- Saharan Africa had a great impact on human growth. Kingdoms thrived through this time because of the natural resources that the geography of Africa provided. The ancient Kingdoms of Africa were Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. They are located in the western region of Africa. The kingdoms became very prosperous and their achievements impacted the following world that grew in the later years.

500 years of domination in Nubia had left many marks until the fall of the Egyptians and so with the Egyptians weekend the Nubians begin to prosper such as the kingdom of Meroe which had become the new Power in Northern Africa since the Egyptians had

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.

Mariette described how the Nile River influenced the Egyptians however the Nile River influenced the Nubians as well.The Nile River flows through Nubia providing Nubians with irrigation for their agriculture and a means of transportation. Without the Nile River the Nubian civilization would not be able to grow food because Nubia is a desert unsuitable for agriculture. The river is also used to bring goods out of sub-Saharan Africa into Nubia and later into Northern Africa through trade. Trading was a vital part of Nubia's economy and without the Nile River this extensive trade would not be possible. Overall the Nile River was a positive influence for the Nubian

“The culture of Nubian goods led Egyptian kings to begin a long series of invasions into Nubia to secure them. Initial efforts to establish trade relations, as well as military campaigns during the early dynastic period, had set the stage for a more complex arrangement during the Old Kingdom.” (Hawas,

Egyptians began to settle along the banks of the Nile River, Starting as far north as to the city of Alexandria all the way down south to Aswan. They developed into a well-structured society as Far East to the Red Sea and west to Dakhia, Oasis among many (Figure 1.). The Nile River reached far lending a hand in creating a well-known civilization that consisted of building pyramids and producing crops for their pharaoh. Evolving from hunters and gatherers into agriculturalists throughout history, Egypt has claimed to be one of the earliest and most spectacular civilizations of ancient times. One could wonder if, what led to the collapse of this great society resulted from the Egyptians interaction with the environment by overusing

The Egyptians were not far behind the Sumerians in settling down to civilization and Empire. Like Rome they had a strong central government, a military structure, trade, a state religion and a civic structure. Rome was, however, superior to Egypt as well. Governmentally, the Pharaoh was an absolute ruler, as the Roman Emperor, but the Roman system was not reliant on a bloodline as was the Egyptian system, and was hence more likely to remain stable for long periods of time. The heir being intellectually picked and groomed greatly reducing the problems associated with hereditary rule. Militarily, Egypt was often strong enough to fight off invasion, but although they did project power, they did not conquer lands to expand their empire. Rome expanded their lands and grew more powerful, where the Egyptians seemed content with Egypt. Rome's policy of expansion helped fuel their trade routes and economy, boosting them past Egypt's limiting boarders. Egypt had a good infrastructure, largely an agrarian system of roads and irrigation, but it was nothing in comparison to the

The Bantu migrations had a vast influence on the development of Africa. The Bantu peoples passed on many concepts to the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. Originating from Nigeria in the Niger River Valley, the Bantu migrated south and then spread to both the east and west. The Bantu laid the foundation for Sub-Saharan African societies. They spread agriculture, animal domestication, iron metallurgy, and cultural development throughout southern Africa. Various forms of government have developed as a result of the Bantu migrations. They also contributed to the start of many societies, including the Swahili city states. The adaptations the Bantu people learned, especially the making of iron, helped them to expand and spread their discoveries. As

Africa: The First People of Eden The word Cush in Hebrew, in Greek and in Latin means Ethiopia when it is being translated into English. According to the scripture, the land of Ethiopia-Cush served as the first home of human ancestors. After God created the first man “Adam” and his wife “Eve” in His own image, He planted a garden for them in Eden where He put the man whom He had formed. And God also created a river which flows out of Eden to water the garden, and these rivers which were in Eden parted into four heads. Eden as the Bible had told us was located in a certain geographical location, and the river that waters the garden is located in Eden. The four rivers which watered the garden are located in four different nations or countries