#ANCIENT CITIES IN AFRICA FULL#

For instance, in this article from May 2020, I criticize the novel The Coward of Thermopylae by Caroline Dale Snedeker, which was originally published in 1911. The narrative of the вЂњwhite manвЂ™s burdenвЂќ (to borrow KiplingвЂ™s phrase) thoroughly permeated early twentieth-century white popular culture. Unfortunately, Twain and those who agreed with him seem to have been a minority. Most notably, the American writer Mark Twain (lived 1835 вЂ“ 1910) was an avowed anti-imperialist and an ardent critic of the whole narrative about white people bringing вЂњcivilizationвЂќ to the other nations of the world. There were a few white western writers who did challenge this narrative. This narrative that non-white peoples are uncivilized and that white people need to вЂњcivilizeвЂќ them by force is extremely pervasive throughout writings produced in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by white western European and American authors.ДЄBOVE: Grotesquely racist political cartoon from April 1899 titled вЂњThe White ManвЂ™s Burden,вЂќ depicting the personifications of Great Britain and the United States вЂњnoblyвЂќ carrying the supposedly barbarous and uncivilized nations of the non-white races to the glory of вЂњcivilizationвЂќ

In 1899, the English poet Rudyard Kipling (lived 1865 вЂ“ 1936) wrote a highly influential poem titled вЂњThe White ManвЂ™s BurdenвЂќ in which he portrays non-white peoples as ignorant heathen savages and declares that it is the supreme moral duty of the white race to conquer these peoples and spread вЂњcivilizationвЂќ (i.e. вЂ¦ Go peoples вЂ¦ and take this land for God. вЂњIn the nineteenth century the white made a man out of the black in the twentieth century Europe will make a world out of Africa. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many white historians, thinkers, writers, and political leaders in the United States and western Europe intentionally portrayed Africans as uncivilized in order to justify western colonialism.ДЇor instance, at a banquet in 1879, the renowned French writer Victor Hugo (lived 1802 вЂ“ 1885) described Europe as the вЂњultimate civilizationвЂќ and Africa as вЂњutter barbarism.вЂќ He proclaimed that it was the moral duty of white Europeans to conquer Africa and force European culture onto all its inhabitants, saying: How modern white westerners have traditionally portrayed African cultures Today, I want to talk about some of the civilizations that we know existed in Africa in ancient times. Thankfully, the old racism that once pervaded the historical discipline is slowly starting to go away and historians are beginning to recognize that ancient Africa was actually just as civilized as Europe and Asia. The main reason why you probably havenвЂ™t heard of any ancient civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa is because, for centuries, racist white people-including many racist white historians-have chosen to ignore and dismiss all evidence for their existence and to instead falsely portray pre-modern Africa as a civilizationless void. At least by the standards of the ancient world, they were civilized. They established empires and built colossal monuments. Contrary to what most people have been led to believe, there were peoples in sub-Saharan Africa in ancient times who had systems of writing.

This stereotype couldnвЂ™t be more inaccurate.

They imagine that there were no civilizations there of any kind.

#ANCIENT CITIES IN AFRICA FULL#

Most people in the United States and Europe imagine that, prior to European colonialism, all of Africa south of the Sahara was nothing but a jungle full of simple, illiterate savages living in straw huts with only Stone Age technology.

Ancient cities in africa