#notes/africa

African History: Explore The Amazing Timeline of The World’s Richest Continent - The History, Culture, Folklore, Mythology & More of Africa

by History Brought Alive

Summary

From the birthplace of civilization to modern times, African History tells the most exquisite tales of woe and wonder using reliable, fact-checked written resources and discoveries from world-renowned archeologists.

Journey with us on the shoulders of the very first peoples of Africa across a riveting timeline of events. Explore the true history, facts, myths and drama that will have you curling your toes in awe and anticipation.

Here is a small taster of what’s inside this book:

• Major Figures, Key Events, Politics & Milestones in African History
• Fascinating Folktales, Myths & Legends, inc The Flying Tortoise, Lion & The Jackal, The Giants & Many More
• The Birth of Human Civilization - Learn About The Origins of Humanity in Africa
• Long Lost Kingdoms, inc Ancient Egypt, The Kingdom of Kush, The Land of Punt, Carthage, The Great Zimbabwe & Many More
• The Amazing Story of The Nubian Queen Who Fought Back Against Caesar's Powerful Roman Empire
• The Israelites & Their Amazing Journey Across The Nile River from Asia and into Africa, where they settled Nubia
• Rituals, Tribes & Traditions From Centuries of African Heritage
• The Zulu Wars - Epic Battles, Christianity & The British Empire In South Africa

My review

This isn't a usual history book. It was dense with folktales and stories of kingdoms and tribes across African history. If you're looking for a traditional history book with chapters spanning specific time periods and providing historical accounts, this is not for you.

You'll want to read it with a map nearby unless you've got all of Africa memorized already; I started without one and I was lost but the threads came together better if I took a moment to identify the context. The book brings you from the beginning and although it doesn't quite end at modern times, you'll start to understand why things are the way they are in Africa. (This makes me interested in finding another book to bridge the gap so I can make those ties more precisely.)

This book will destroy all your assumptions of early humans or what life was like for them. They had political systems, social expectations, and norms, and it's actually not true that all men were hunters and all women gatherers! It's barely true that ancient Africans had kings (though they may have had the title, often the position was similar to a chieftain on a counsel of many). Instead of a universal setting, each group had its own beliefs. Humans are always searching for the best way but there has never been a confirmed one. From our roots, we do what we can until another group conquers us and takes over with their beliefs and ways of living.

Some stories that stood out:

• we lost our chance of immortality due to a slow lizard and a god's impatience with it
• King Zwide running from every fight as soon as he loses the advantage
• A flock of birds who helped a turtle fly so he could join them at a celebration banquet where he then ate all the food and the birds abandoned him there. He had to jump and his shell broke, and now turtles are a reminder of the consequences of selfishness.
• Stories surrounding big cats and cubs that have a lesson to appreciate your environment and live off your own skill (not others). One of the cub stories seemed to not have a moral at all. Eat your friend's cubs and blame it on another animal so they get murdered instead!
• The idea of humans originating from a reincarnated being that went from a plant to rodents and grew through the animal kingdom until they finally came back as human. Interestingly literal take on the idea of evolution.
• Africans getting a gun from a white dude and then using it to conquer other Africans. I mean at no surprise the British came and did what the Dutch could not do alone: conquer, sieze, and change everything.
• An incredible amount of creation stories, many similar but all taking a unique path to how humans got here.
• all people, from the beginning of time, engage in creative activities, music, dance, and collaborative projects.

Quotes

the San would participate in a variety of projects together. On each project, there was a respected chief, not one who led them within the project, but one who had a particular affinity for it. Children, women, and non-San descendants could still be viewed as individuals with great knowledge that should be heard and taken into consideration in the greater group discussions. (Page 18)

Where conflict arose between neighbors, one would simply move further away. (Page 41)

When a person or child died, they may have been buried or left for the landscape to consume. The kin of the deceased would then leave that spot, never to return again. (Page 41)

Because the Khoi had cattle and therefore, wealth, they had a caste system separating those who had funds and those who didn’t. Like in today’s society, the poor struggled through life, claiming work permitted by the rich in an attempt to feed and care for their families and increase their stance in society. The rich, on the other hand, found tradition in marrying and settling beside like-minded individuals and families in order to maintain rank within the caste system. (Page 52)

Goab was, at first, a simple plant. When that plant died, he returned as a rabbit. When the rabbit died, he returned as a watering hole, then a hill, then a beetle. He first became everything that once lived, and then, he became a man. (Page 54)

And so began one of the very first accounts of slavery. The Bantu group that had invaded the area had come to own the Batwa people and their children. Should those children marry and give birth, those children would be owned by the Bantu. (Page 78)

Three years later, as anticipated, the Portuguese came back and asked the Khoisan to help them unload a gift for them and their people. They handed the Khoisan an assemblage of ropes and had them lug the ship, and its prize closer to shore. Once all the Khoisan were lined up, and the ship was yet to reach the shallows, the Portuguese pulled out a cannon, lit the gunpowder, fired, and left. (Page 132)

Crops were dying and draining the water supply. The agricultural trade with the Europeans, although economically and financially beneficial and creating rapid growth in cities, was, in many ways, causing an equally rapid environmental collapse. The land wasn’t so fertile anymore, and the cattle were starving. (Page 172)