TODAY, SOUTH OF EGYPT, IS THE COUNTRY OF SUDAN. SOUTH OF SUDAN IS A COUNTRY WHICH IN ANCIENT TIMES WAS CALLED AXUM (AKSUM). TODAY THE REGION IS CALLED ETHIOPIA, WHICH IS ACTUALLY A GREEK WORD. AT ONE TIME IT WAS ALSO CALLED ABYSSINIA. THE COUNTRY IS MOUNTAINOUS. THERE ARE FERTILE VALLEYS BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS. TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF ETHIOPIA, FACING THE RED SEA, IS THE COASTAL REGION OF ERITREA, WHICH IS NOW AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. AND DIRECTLY TO THE EAST, FACING THE INDIAN OCEAN, IS SOMALIA. ACROSS THE RED SEA FROM ERITREA IS YEMEN, IN SOUTHERN ARABIA. IN ANCIENT TIMES PLOW AGRICULTURE WAS USED IN ETHIOPIA. THE TSETSE FLY DOES NOT LIVE IN THE COOLER ELEVATIONS OF THE MOUNTAINS. COFFEE ORIGINATED IN ETHIOPIA.
BY 600 B.C. SEMITIC TRADERS FROM YEMEN SETTLED IN ETHIOPIA. IN ANCIENT TIMES THE SEMITIC STATE OF SHABA OR SABAEA (OR SHEBA IN THE BIBLE) WAS LOCATED IN YEMEN. THE PEOPLE OF SHABA WERE CALLED SABAEANS. THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT ETHIOPIA WAS CALLED GEEZ. IT WAS A SEMITIC, AFRO-ASIATIC LANGUAGE. IT IS ANCESTRAL TO A LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN ETHIOPIA TODAY, CALLED AMHARIC.
THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF ISRAEL HAD TRADING RELATIONS WITH SHABA AND ETHIOPIA (AXUM). AXUM WAS THE NAME OF A CITY AND THE ENTIRE KINGDOM (SIMILAR TO THE DOUBLE USAGE OF ROME). HEBREW MERCHANTS SETTLED IN TRADING CENTERS IN AXUM, AND INTERMARRIED WITH THE BLACK ETHIOPIANS (AXUMITES). OUT OF THIS MIXTURE CAME THE BLACK OR AFRICAN ETHIOPIAN JEWS, CALLED FALASHAS. IN MODERN HISTORY, BETWEEN 1985 AND 1991, ISRAEL AIRLIFTED 20,000 FALASHAS FROM ETHIOPIA TO ISRAEL.
IN THE 200S B.C. AXUM HAD TRADE RELATIONS WITH PTOLEMAIC EGYPT, AND BECAME A CENTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE. LATER IT TRADED WITH ROME, AND WAS THE MARITIME LINK BETWEEN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND PERSIA AND CHINA.
KING EZANA OF AXUM (C. 320-350 A.D) WAS TUTORED AS A YOUNGSTER BY A SHIPWRECKED SYRIAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY NAMED FRUMENTIUS. THE BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA (EGYPT) NAMED FRUMENTIUS AS BISHOP OF AXUM. EZANA EMBRACED CHRISTIANITY AND MADE IT THE STATE RELIGION OF AXUM. AXUM BECAME A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY, THAT TOLERATED THE JEWS. IT HAS REMAINED CHRISTIAN EVER SINCE. UNFORTUNATELY, EZANA IS ALSO REMEMBERED FOR A WAR THAT DESTROYED THE KINGDOM OF NUBIA.
IN THE TIME OF KING EZANA, ETHIOPIA BECAME A CHRISTIAN NATION BEFORE HALF OF EUROPE WAS CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY. EUROPE DID NOT HAVE A MONOPOLY ON CHRISTIANITY. ETHIOPIA RECEIVED ITS CHRISTIANITY FROM EGYPT AND JERUSALEM, NOT BY WAY OF EUROPE.
EZANA REPLACED THE MOON GODDESS ISHTAR WITH THE CROSS, ON HIS COINS. AFTER 640 A.D. THE MOSLEMS (ARABS) CONQUERED EGYPT AND NUBIA. MOUNTAINOUS ETHIOPIA REMAINED UNCONQUERED, BUT WAS CUT OFF FROM CONTACT WITH CHRISTIAN EUROPE UNTIL THE 1500S.
THE AXUMITE DYNASTY WAS OVERTHROWN BY THE ZAGWE DYNASTY IN THE 900S A.D. DURING THE PERIOD OF THE ZAGWE DYNASTY THE ETHIOPINAS CARVED CHURCHES FROM SOLID ROCK. KING LALIBELA WAS THE NMOST FAMOUS OF THE ZAGWE RULERS. THE ETHIOPIANS DEVELOPED A NATIONAL "MYTH." THEY CLAIMED THAT THEIR KINGS WERE DESCENDED FROM MENELIK. THIS MENELIK WAS THE MYTHOLOGICAL SON OF SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (SABAEA). THE ETHIOPIANS BELIEVE THAT SOLOMON GAVE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT TO MENELIK, AND THAT IT IS LOCATED IN A TEMPLE IN ETHIOPIA. THE KINGS OF ETHIOPIA ALSO CALL THEMSELVES "LION OF JUDAH."
ABOUT 1270 A.D. YEKUNO AMLAK DEFEATED THE ZAGWE KING AND "RESTORED’ TO SO-CALLED SOLOMONIC DYNASTY. THIS DYNASTY RULED IN ETHIOPIA FOR 700 YEARS, UNTIL THE OVERTHROW OF HAILE SELASSIE IN 1974.
CITY STATES OF EAST AFRICA
ALONG THE COAST OF EAST AFRICA, ON THE INDIAN OCEAN, ARE A SERIES OF PORT CITIES. THEY ARE LOCATED ALONG THE COAST OF MODERN-DAY SOMALIA, KENYA, TANZANIA AND MOZAMBIQUE. THEY ARE TRADING CENTERS, DATING BACK POSSIBLY TO ROMAN TIMES. THEY INCLUDE:
MOGADISHU IN SOMALIA
LAMU IN KENYA
MALINDI IN KENYA
MOMBASA IN KENYA
PEMBA IN KENYA
GEDI IN KENYA
KILWA IN MOZAMBIQUE
SOFALA IN MOZAMBIQUE
THESE COASTAL CITIES, OR CITY-STATES, DEVELOPED A MIXTURE OF PEOPLE. MOSLEM (ISLAMIC) TRADERS FROM ARABIA AND PERSIA, AND FROM INDIA AND EVEN MALAYSIA, MIXED WITH THE INDIGENOUS, BLACK, BANTU-SPEAKING BLACK AFRICANS. THIS GAVE RISE TO THE SWAHILI CULTURE AND THE KI-SWAHILI LANGUAGE.
THE EAST AFRICAN CITY STATES ENGAGED IN TRADE AND CULTURE CONTACT WITH ARABIA, PERSIA, INDIA, MALAYSIA AND EVEN CHINA. CHINESE COINS FROM THE TANG DYNASTY (618-907 A.D) AND THE SUNG DYNASTY (960-1279 A.D.) HAVE BEEN FOUND UP AND DOWN THE EAST AFRICAN COAST. GOLD, IVORY AND IRON WERE AMONG THE MAJOR AFRICAN EXPORTS.
OVER TIME THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST AFRICAN COAST EMBRACED ISLAM. BETWEEN 980 AND 1180 PERSIANS FROM SHIRAZ MIGRATED TO THE EAST AFRICAN CITY STATES AND INTERMARRIED.
THE ISLAMIZED PEOPLE FIRST BUILT MOSQUES OF WOOD AND MUD BRICK. LATER THESE WERE REPLACED BY STONE MOSQUES. ON P. 129 OF AFRICA’S GLORIOUS LEGACY THERE IS A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE RUINS OF A MUSLIM MOSQUE, AT PATE ISLAND, IN KENYA. THE STONE WALLS DATE BACK TO THE 10TH CENTURY (900S AD), WHILE EARLIER WOODEN MOSQUES WERE THERE IN THE 800S A.D.
AT KILWA, P. 132-133, ONE CAN STILL SEE THE RUINS OF A STONE MOSQUE. THE ORIGINAL MOSQUE THERE DATES FROM THE 11TH CENTURY. IN THE 1300S (14TH CENTURY) KILWA HAD A POPULATION OF 20,000. KILWA IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED BY SULTAN ALI BIN AL-HASAN.
ON P. 131 OF AFRICA’S GLORIOUS LEGACY THERE IS A PICTURE SHOWING COINS. THESE PARTICULAR COINS WERE PART OF A STASH OF 2,000 COINS FOUND AT PEMBA, KENYA. THEY ARE DINARS FROM SYRIA, EGYPT, TUNIS AND TYRE. THE LATEST DATED COIN IN THE GROUP WAS MINTED IN 1066 A.D. THE OTHERS ARE OLDER.
ON P. 137 OF AFRICA’S GLORIOUS LEGACY IS THE GREAT MOSQUE AT GEDI.
ON P. 126 IS A BLUE PORCELAIN BOWL, UNEARTHED IN TANZANIA. IT IS MING PORCELAIN FROM CHINA, FROM THE 1500S (16TH CENTURY).
ANOTHER PIECE OF EVIDENCE OF THE LONG DISTANCE TRADE COMES FROM CHINA. IN 1414 THE RULER OF BENGAL, IN INDIA, SENT THE EMPEROR OF CHINA (YUNG LO, 1359-1424) A GIFT. IT WAS A GIRAFFE. THE CHINESE HAD NEVER SEEN A GIRAFFE. THEY THOUGHT IT WAS A MYTHICAL CREATURE CALLED A K’I-LIN. THE K’I-LIN WAS RATHER LIKE A UNICORN. THE APPEARANCE OF THE GIRAFFE WAS TAKEN AS A SIGN FROM HEAVEN. THE EMPEROR REQUESTED MORE GIRAFFES. THE RULER OF BENGAL INFORMED THE CHINESE THAT BENGAL HAD NO GIRAFFES: THEY HAD GOTTEN IT FROM MALINDI, IN EAST AFRICA.
IN 1415 THE CHINESE DISPATCHED A MISSION TO MALINDI, AND MALINDI SENT A NEW GIRAFFE. THE CHINESE WERE SO DELIGHTED THAT THEY SENT A FLEET TO ACCOMPANY THE MALINDI DELEGATION BACK HOME (1417). AT THIS TIME, TOO, THE CHINESE TOOK AN INTEREST IN MAPPING THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE AFRICAN COAST. ON P. 127 IS A PICTURE OF A CHINESE SILK SCREEN FROM THE 15TH CENTURY SHOWING THE GIRAFFE.
THE NOTION THAT AFRICA WAS THE "DARK CONTINENT," LOST IN ISOLATION AND A "PRIMITIVE SLEEP", WAS A RACIST MYTH. IT COMES FROM THE AGE OF THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, AND COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM. THE EAST AFRICAN CITY STATES WERE CENTERS OF LONG DISTANCE TRADE AND CULTURE CONTACT. EUROPEANS ASSUMED THAT BECAUSE THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS, NOTHING WAS THERE. THIS IS MERELY EUROPEAN CHAUVINISM AND CULTURAL ARROGANCE. GOLD FROM THE MINES OF ZIMBABWE WAS TAKEN DOWN THE COAST TO THE INDIAN OCEAN, AND FLOWED THROUGH PORTS SUCH AS SOFALA AND KILWA TO THE WORLD OF THE RED SEA, THE PERSIAN GULF, INDIA AND CHINA. THIS NETWORK WOULD BE DISRUPTED WHEN THE GREEDY, PREDATORY PORTUGUESE ARRIVED IN THE INDIAN OCEAN AFTER 1490.
ZIMBABWE
THE AREA WHICH TODAY IS CALLED ZIMBABWE, DEEP IN AFRICA, JUST ABOVE SOUTH AFRICA, HAS BEEN OCCUPIED SINCE 350 A.D BY PEOPLE WHO HERDED CATTLE. CATTLE THRIVED IN THIS GRASSY REGION, BECAUSE IT HAS A TEMPERATE CLIMATE RATHER THAN AN EQUATORIAL CLIMATE AND THERE IS NO TSETSE FLY. THERE WAS GOLD NEAR THE LIMPOPO RIVER. THE SHONA PEOPLE BEGAN CONSTRUCTING BUILDINGS OF DRIED MUD, AND TRADING CATTLE, GOLD AND IVORY.
BY THE 1000S AD (11TH CENTURY), AS THE SHONA GREW WEALTHIER, THEY BEGAN BUILDING IN STONE. MORE THAN 100 SITES HAVE BEEN FOUND, CALLED DZIMBAHWE, OR "GREAT STONE HOUSE." IN THE BANTU LANGUAGE, THIS COULD REFER TO A ROYAL OR CHIEFLY COURT, OR KRAAL. THE STYLE OF THE ZIMBABWE RUINS DOES NOT RESEMBLE THE EUROPEAN OR SOUTHWEST ASIAN ARCHITECTURE IN ANY WAY. GREAT ZIMBABWE PROSPERED BETWEEN 1250 A.D. AND 1450 A.D. THE EARLY CONSTRUCTION WAS OF SIMPLE STONE. LATER THE ARCHITECTURE BECAME MORE ELABORATE, WITH HERRINGBONE AND CHEVRON PATTERNS. GOLD WAS EXPORTED DOWN TO THE COAST, AT SOFALA.
EXCAVATIONS OF THE ZIMBABWE RUINS REVEAL SHERDS OF POTTERY WHICH WERE IMPORTED FROM CHINA. THIS POTTERY IS CHINESE CERAMIC. THERE ARE GLASS BEADS FROM INDIA, AND COINS FROM PERSIA AND ARABIA. ONE COIN WAS MINTED BY SULTAN AL HASAN BIN SULAIMAN, THE RULER OF KILWA, IN 1331. ALL OF THIS IS EVIDENCE OF LONG DISTANCE TRADE WITH THE ARAB WORLD, PERSIA, INDIA AND CHINA.
EUROPEANS IN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY WERE SO INDOCTRINATED BY SLAVERY AND THE DOCTRINE OF BLACK INFERIORITY AND AFRICAN BARBARISM THAT THEY COULD NOT SEE THE EVIDENCE IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES. THEY SOUGHT SOME EXTERNAL, WHITE, NON-AFRICAN SOURCE FOR THEORIGIN OF THE GREAT ZIMBABWE RUINS. TODAY WE REALIZE THAT THE ANCESTORS OF THE INDIGENOUS SHONA PEOPLE BUILT GREAT ZIMBABWE. THE ONLY REASON THAT THIS IS STARTLING TO EUROPEANS IS BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN BRAINWASHED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS TO BELIEVE THAT BLACK PEOPLE WERE INCAPABLE OF CIVILIZATION. WHEN THE GOLD RAN OUT, ZIMBABWE SPUTTERED AND WENT INTO DECLINE.
IN AFRICA’S GLORIOUS LEGACY, ZIMBABWE IS DISCUSSED ON P. 134-146. ON P. 122 IS A MAP OF THE ZIMBABWE REGION. ON P. 142 AND 143 ARE PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING THE GREAT STONE WALLS, AND SOME OF THE INNER WALLS. THE GREAT WALL IS 30 FEET HIGH AND UP TO 15 FEET THICK. THE WALLS ARE BUILT IN AN OVAL PATTERN. ON P. 143 IS THE CONICAL TOWER. THESE WERE ALL BUILT WITHOUT WET MORTAR BETWEEN THE STONES, SO THE PRECISION OF THE STONE CUTTING IS AMAZING.
EUROPEAN COLONIALISTS COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT BLACK AFRICANS HAD BUILT THIS BECAUSE THEY ASSUMED THAT ALL AFRICANS LIVE IN STRAW HUTS WITH THATCH ROOFS. AND IF AFRICANS HAD BUILT THESE RUINS, THEN MAYBE THE AFRICANS WERE NOT SO PRIMITIVE AFTER ALL-WHICH IS WHAT THE EUROPEANS WANTED TO BELIEVE.