Why do many separate the history of Egypt and the rest of Africa?, page 4

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer

MidnightDStroyer, most of what you've posted is as the Egyptian history I've learned:

The Egyptians didn't class themselves as being African, European or Middle Eastern. In fact, they identified themselves as Egyptian and only Egyptian. The Egyptians looked down on all other racial groups and considered the people to their south to be vastly inferior;

The Nubians (N.Sudan) emulated the Egyptians so well that they culturally became more Egyptian than the Egyptians. The Egyptians still turned-up their noses at them though (snobs!);

When the Nubians saw that Egypt had lost its way i.e was engaged in what may be considered civil war and was in danger of collapse, the Nubians invaded Egypt, administered until it was again stable, then left (I recall this to have been a 100 year period of Nubian rule);

The part of north Africa that follows the Mediterranean coastline (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) has always been considered to be European in terms of population i.e Caucasian. In other words, Egypt is not the only nation of the African continent that is considered separately of the rest of Africa. Review Roman history for more evidence of this;

Black African civilizations did arise independently of European civilizations but they didn't last. One in particular (forgotten the name) in West Africa fell through an unfortunate circumstance - when the Europeans approached them for trade they were offered resources which ranged from minerals and food products to people captured from neighboring kingdoms during conflicts who were sold to be used as servants/slaves... Trade went well Europe got resources while this African Kingdom flourished through the wealth it gained. Unfortunately, one C. Columbus discovered the New World. As the Europeans scrambled to "discover" and claim the NW, trade and interest with Africa wained; and this African kingdom was destroyed by its neighbors. A tail repeated too often in Black Africa, a nation develops to a high point but tribal rivalry destroys it. I'll do some research to locate the kingdom's name and report back later.

Black African civilizations did use materials other than mud, straw and cow dung to build walls and homes just as the rest of us do outside of Africa.

Stone Ruins

The ruins of this complex of massive stone walls undulate across almost 1,800 acres of present-day southeastern Zimbabwe. Begun during the eleventh century A.D. by Bantu-speaking ancestors of the Shona, Great Zimbabwe was constructed and expanded for more than 300 years in a local style that eschewed rectilinearity for flowing curves. Neither the first nor the last of some 300 similar complexes located on the Zimbabwean plateau, Great Zimbabwe is set apart by the terrific scale of its structure. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has walls as high as 36 feet extending approximately 820 feet, making it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. In the 1800s, European travelers and English colonizers, stunned by Great Zimbabwe's its grandeur and cunning workmanship, attributed the architecture to foreign powers. Such attributions were dismissed when archaeological investigations conducted during the first decades of the twentieth century confirmed both the antiquity of the site and its African origins.

See Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th century)

Notice the walls were there before the Europeans arrived.

The Karanga people ruled a great inland African empire from about AD1000 to AD1600. The Karanga were great traders who smelted gold and traded it on the shores of the Indian Ocean for glass beads and porcelain from China. European explorers discovered vast stone ruins of the Karanga in 1867. The site of the ruins was called Zimbabwe, which means "stone dwelling" in the native Bantu language.

The Europeans were unwilling to believe that sub-Saharan Africans could have built Zimbabwe; they theorized that ancient Phoenicians, Arabs, Romans, or Hebrews created the structures. Excavations in 1932 proved that the indigenous Africans created the ruins, but the white colonial government of Rhodesia attempted to deny the site's African genesis. The leaders of Rhodesia said the land was empty of people and culture before they arrived. When the government allowed people of all races to vote in 1980, the black majority of the nation discarded the name of Rhodesia and, looking to the past for nobler origins, chose the name Zimbabwe.

Look here for more about Sub-Saharan Africa civilisation. Excerpt below re Zimbabwe:

I'm going to find some more information and post back, hope I've helped you OP.

For anyone wondering, I'm Caucasian (a little med, M.E and Romany plus the rest to flavour).

[edit on 18/5/08 by Rapacity]

[edit on 18/5/08 by Rapacity]