African Empires: the history we aren't being taught - Prof. Kevin MacDonald, UCL African Studies
Summary
TLDRIn this enlightening discussion, Professor Kevin Macdonald of UCL dispels misconceptions about Africa's history, highlighting its rich urban and cultural heritage dating back 2000 years. He emphasizes the sophistication of early African civilizations, including urban centers, art, and technology, and criticizes the colonial-era stereotypes that have overshadowed this history. Macdonald advocates for a reintegration of African history into development narratives, stressing the importance of heritage for national dignity, unity, and tourism. He calls for a re-education on Africa's past to foster a more accurate global understanding and respect for its contributions.
Takeaways
- 🌍 Africa has a rich and complex history that is often overlooked or misunderstood in Western education.
- 🏙️ West Africa had urban centers with populations of 10-20,000 people as early as the first millennium AD.
- 🏺 The Nok culture in Nigeria had a sophisticated terracotta art tradition and early iron metallurgy dating back to around 800 BC.
- 📚 Literacy in West Africa came with the spread of Islam, not earlier.
- 🏰 There were sophisticated social formations and states in what is now the Mauritania desert around 1200 BC.
- 🛠️ Before the colonial era, Africa had advanced governance structures, towns, art, ceramics, and metalworking technology.
- 📉 The 19th-century European colonization of Africa occurred at a time when African empires had already been weakened by the Atlantic slave trade and external interventions.
- 📈 Africa is currently the fastest-growing region in the world and has reasons for optimism beyond common media portrayals.
- 🔍 Modern archaeological methods, including remote sensing and satellite imagery, have helped in the discovery and mapping of African settlements.
- 👥 There is a need for more archaeologists to document Africa's vast heritage and history.
- 🔄 African archaeology has shifted from focusing on prehistoric periods to also studying more recent, historical periods, filling gaps left by other disciplines.
- 🌱 Recognizing and integrating the rich cultural heritage of Africa is vital for national dignity, unity, and tourism development.
Q & A
What is the common misconception about Africa's development history?
-The common misconception is that Africa's development has only occurred in the last century, ignoring the fact that there were already sophisticated urban centers and social formations thousands of years ago.
How old were the first urban centers in West Africa?
-The first urban centers in West Africa began to form around 2000 years ago, with towns of 10-20 thousand people existing in the early first millennium AD.
What was the state in the region now known as the Mauritania desert around 1200 BC?
-Around 1200 BC, there was a sophisticated social formation in the region now known as the Mauritania desert, which had hundreds of settlements and towns of considerable size.
When did literacy come to West Africa?
-Literacy in West Africa came with the advent of Islam, which introduced writing systems to the region.
What is the Nok culture known for?
-The Nok culture, found in central Nigeria around the Jos plateau, is known for its sophisticated figurative art tradition in terracotta, dating back to around 800 BC.
How does the sophistication of early African civilizations compare to those in Britain at the same time?
-The early African civilizations were as sophisticated as those in Britain at the same time, with advanced art, metallurgy, and social structures.
What is the current movement in Africa regarding its historical rediscovery?
-There is a movement in Africa to rediscover and acknowledge its rich history and heritage, which is not sufficiently recognized or taught in many educational systems.
Why is there a need to re-educate about Africa's history and heritage in development?
-Re-educating about Africa's history and heritage is important for national dignity, unity, and for developing tourism, as well as for correcting misconceptions and promoting a more accurate understanding of Africa's past.
What impact did the European land grab for Africa in the 19th century have on the continent's history?
-The European land grab in the 19th century occurred at a time when African empires had been weakened by factors such as the Atlantic slave trade, leading to the breakdown of older governance structures and the beginning of colonial history.
How has the field of African archaeology evolved over the past few decades?
-African archaeology has evolved from focusing primarily on prehistoric periods to working more on historic periods, with archaeologists becoming their own historians and anthropologists, and engaging more with recent history and community concerns.
What role does archaeology play in understanding and promoting Africa's heritage?
-Archaeology plays a crucial role in uncovering and understanding Africa's rich heritage, which can then be used to promote national pride, unity, and tourism, as well as to correct historical misconceptions.
Outlines
🌍 Misunderstandings of Africa's Historical Development
This paragraph addresses the common misconception that Africa's development is a recent phenomenon. Professor Kevin Macdonald, a specialist in African archaeology, corrects this by highlighting the existence of urban centers in West Africa around 2000 years ago, with populations of 10-20 thousand. He also discusses the advanced social formations in the region now known as the Mauritania desert around 1200 BC, and the sophisticated art and ironworking traditions of the Nok culture in Nigeria dating back to 800 BC. The paragraph emphasizes the need for a reevaluation of Africa's history in educational curricula and the importance of rediscovering Africa's rich and ancient civilization.
🔍 Evolution of African Archaeology and its Role in Development
The second paragraph delves into the evolution of African archaeology over the past two decades, with a focus on the impact of remote sensing and satellite imagery in mapping settlements. It discusses the shift in the discipline from prehistoric studies to encompassing more historical periods, including the last five hundred years. The paragraph also touches on the role of archaeologists as historians and anthropologists, collecting oral histories, and engaging with local communities. The importance of integrating heritage into development for national dignity, unity, and tourism is underscored. The speaker calls for a reeducation about Africa's past to correct misunderstandings and to recognize the continent's historical, artistic, and technological sophistication as part of human dignity and global health.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Global Health
💡African Archaeology
💡Urban Centers
💡Tichitt
💡Nok Culture
💡Literacy
💡Colonial Era
💡Afro-Optimism
💡Remote Sensing
💡Historical Anthropology
💡Heritage
Highlights
Africa's development is often misunderstood as a recent phenomenon, but urban centers in West Africa existed around 2000 years ago.
Early urban centers in West Africa were home to 10-20 thousand people in the first millennium AD.
The state of Tichitt or Tegdao in present-day Mauritania was a sophisticated social formation with hundreds of settlements by 1200 BC.
Literacy in West Africa came with the introduction of Islam, not earlier.
Nigeria's Nok culture, around 800 BC, had a sophisticated terracotta art tradition alongside early iron metallurgy.
Pre-colonial African civilizations were as sophisticated as those in Britain at the time.
There is a movement in Africa to rediscover and integrate its rich history into the curriculum.
African archaeology has evolved to include more historical periods and has become interdisciplinary.
Archaeologists are becoming their own historians and anthropologists, working on more recent periods.
The colonial era has led to a distorted view of Africa's history and capabilities.
Africa is currently the fastest-growing region in the world, with reasons for optimism beyond media reports.
The colonial land grab for Africa occurred at a time when older African empires had been weakened.
African optimism is fueled by the potential to rebuild governance and civilization structures with historical roots.
Stereotypes from the colonial era have undermined the understanding of Africa's rich cultural and historical heritage.
Archaeological methods have advanced with the use of remote sensing and satellite imagery.
Africa needs to remember and reclaim its heritage to counteract colonial-era stereotypes.
Archaeology and history should be considered integral to development for national dignity, unity, and tourism.
Misunderstandings about Africa's past by European politicians and UN officials highlight the need for education about Africa's history.
A sense of pride in one's heritage and past is crucial for well-being and human dignity.
Transcripts
welcome again to UCL Global Health we
have a very distorted view of Africa I
think many people think that Africa's
development has been something that's
only occurred in the last century so
it's a great pleasure to welcome Kevin
Macdonald who's professor of African
archaeology at UCL and you specialized
between West Africa that's right but
this image is completely wrong because
when I mean for example what was West
Africa like where you know about say
2000 years ago well about 2000 years ago
we already were beginning to have the
first urban centers in West Africa so
towns towns so these weren't
hunter-gatherer people no no these were
these were cities of 1020 thousand
people in the early first millennium ad
and if we go back before that in ternary
which is now the Mauritania desert there
was a state contemporary with kurma in
the in the Nile Valley over in Sudan in
Mauritania called digit or at least it's
in a region known as tissue we're not
really sure what it called itself but
there we have a very sophisticated
social formation with hundreds of
settlements and some things there would
certainly be the size of towns by 1200
BC Wow an alphabet no no literacy for
West Africa came with Islam okay and so
that's sort of Sudan inside Marte what
about Nigeria would there have been
towns in well Nigeria you have smooth
West Africa's earliest art traditions
you have the so called Nok culture which
is in central Nigeria around the Jos
plateau area we have a very
sophisticated figurative art tradition
terracotta tradition by about 800 BC and
this is going hand-in-hand with early
iron metallurgy in that area
so these civilizations were every bit as
sophisticated as anything in Britain at
that time yes and it's it's it's a one
of the great pities this is this is sort
of something which does not really
feature much in in European or indeed
American secondary school curriculum is
thorough it's a movement in Africa to
rediscover this is an academic
discipline or not sufficiently well
there are probably not sufficient
practitioners for the amount of space
and the amount of heritage the amount of
archaeology that has to be interfaced
with but at least in most African school
systems aspects of this past art hot but
again not so much so so if you come up
to the Middle Ages or the pre-industrial
era do you go up do you study I I work
right up until the 19th century so yes
so in at that time before the colonial
invasion of Africa where we think
history began there were sophisticated
governance structures there were towns
there was art there was ceramics there
was technology of it being outstanding
metalworking yeah there was all of that
and I think perhaps the the European
land grab for Africa in the 19th century
came at the wrong time for Africa a few
centuries before when Africa was at the
the height of its own internal empires I
would think that at that point in a
European attempt to control Africa would
have been repulsed so it the the great
colonial Scramble for Africa happened at
a time where a number of factors
including the Atlantic slave trade and
also transfer Herrin interventions had
broken down the older African empires
which you know more or less extended
from lake chad to the senegalese coast
say around 1300 ad or 1400 AD so
actually this is another reason for Afro
optimism if you like I'm at the moment
The Economist's are all saying that this
is the fastest-growing region of the
world and there's much more reason to be
optimistic about Africa than the press
often report but also from a historical
viewpoint if if we can get over that the
aberrant colonial-era then there's every
reason to hope that the structures of
governance and civilization will remove
its a great deal of sophistication and
dignity at the heart of African society
which has a great antiquity and I think
a lot of the stereotypes generated
during the colonial era have undermined
this and in a sense Africa needs to
remember itself so just tell me a little
bit about archaeological methods and the
way archaeology has changed so at the
time you've been doing it which is about
two decades well for one thing remote
sensing is helping us a great deal
satellite imagery and so forth for
mapping out the distribution of
settlements for assisting us in survey
because after all this is a absolutely
vast area and although we've been
working very hard since 1960s to
catalogue Africa's heritage you know
probably have an idea probably less than
50% of what's actually out there there's
a small number of African and foreign
archaeologists working and it takes a
great deal of time to document all of
this but in terms of changes more
broadly within the discipline African
archaeology has moved progressively from
being more prehistoric in terms of the
demography of its practitioners to
working more and more on historic
periods and occupying terrain which has
been emptied by a shrinkage in
pre-colonial African history as a
discipline and for that matter in
historical anthropology so
archaeologists have had to become their
own historians their own anthropologists
and we're progressively working on more
recent periods what might be considered
African historical archaeology's the
past say five hundred years so you've
moved into the space that used to be
filled by historians that's right and
we're doing the same sort of work we
we're doing one PT or is it the
historians on there are only a few left
in the UK so we we are the place where
one would come to study pre-colonial
african history now i would think in
terms of there's a the group of
permanently employed African
archaeologists in the UK most of us are
what might be termed historical
archaeologists here you see oh and and
other universities and we do the same
sort of work that historians had
previously been doing including
collecting oral histories being more
deeply embedded in local communities and
also being led to an extent by community
concerns but this our final question
this raises some really interesting
issues because we everyone says you
should always learn from history and if
archaeologists have moved into the void
occupied with it used to be occupy our
history we have got to learn from you
guys what what do you think we've got to
learn in development and the kind of
attitudes that we have towards Africa
and towards development what can we
learn from archaeology are we making
some huge mistakes yes I mean there are
some gaffes which have been committed by
European politicians by UN officials who
have a fundamental misunderstanding of
the African pastime famously Nicolas
Sarkozy came to Senegal a few years ago
and talked about Africa as being this
timeless undeveloped place which is a
complete nonsense
so there is a great deal to be done in
terms of educating ourselves about
Africa so that we have a better
understanding of its past but also
within development it's important to
realize that heritage is part of
development this is a battle that
africanist have been fighting over the
past couple of decades to have
archaeology and history considered part
of the development process both for
reasons of national dignity and and
unity but also as a means of developing
tourism rather than this sort of Africa
as Safari Park Lion King sort of idea of
Africa
where you have you know most cultures of
the world for example Disney has had
some sort of play or movie featuring
human beings Africa is unique that it
was treated with animals which is
something I think about the the wrong
end of the stick which has been grasses
we've completely written their culture
out basically from our development speak
from our history books and also from the
way we encourage people the history the
political sophistication the artistic
sophistication the technological
sophistication we need to re-educate
ourselves we need to educate Europe and
the broader world about Africa and
finally on a global health I mean
there's nothing more important for
well-being as to have a sense of pride
and in your own heritage and your own
past so it's absolutely it's part of
it's part of human dignity and I think
that the more that this is taken on
board both inside and outside of Africa
the better it will be for us all Carrie
thank you very much
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