By: Ghadeer Al-Shami
Pan Africa Summer School 2063 – Alumni

Since the beginning of time, Africa has not been vainly termed “The cradle of civilizations”. Until the moment you are reading this, archaeological excavation and exploration have been continuing on the African land finding out a further legacy. This is only because time has always revealed that there are several magnificent –or minor- civilizations were rooted in Africa, emerged, and even faded, but only came to light long after they have disappeared. But as the search begun to intensify and with the assistance of the scientific and technological advancements we have today, we are witnessing how archaeological discoveries are unfolding. I will not be exaggerating saying that these civilizational discoveries have changed the course of history; however, the course of our educational curriculums still need to be enriched with the information about these discoveries. Only then, the history of Africa and that of the whole world will be completely known.  

There are civilizations that we regionally know of such as The Ancient Egyptian civilization as the most famous one for how long and eventful it was, and then comes The Kushite civilization –although it did not receive as propaganda like its fellow, the Pharaonic. Then, what about the rest of Africa? Is it logical that it is only two, or even three, have been the prominent civilizations on this vast area of land? A land which is approximately 30.37 million km²? No, the rest of it was not a mere barren desert. We have some other vital ancients!

Speaking earlier about the consolidation of the Pharaonic civilization as the most successful example, ought to make me only shed the light on their ability to develop the Hieroglyphics language that enabled them to record all persons and events since a very long time. Not only writing on papyrus, but also their artistic inscriptions on walls make us able to narrate a whole story only by looking at these engravings. Thus, this civilizational legacy was passed down over the centuries. On the contrary, this is the same reason why some civilizations stayed hidden; some did not record, and some did but deliberately hid their manuscripts and writings to last long! Nevertheless, Africa has a rich and detailed oral tradition that ensured stories were passed down by word of mouth from ancient times to the present.

On the edge of the Saharan desert, today’s Mali, existed the city of Timbuktu. Many centuries had passed before European powers disappointedly discovered this empty city in the 19th century; with no clues about the people who once lived here or any of the riches that West African land was known for. This city stayed secretive until The Nation of Mali was created in the 1960s, only then the unbelievable treasure of Timbuktu was revealed. At ancient times, people of Timbuktu hid all their manuscripts and documented writings under the ground; they buried them all under the dry sand fearing the theft by other nomads, foreign powers, and Muslim fundamentalists as well. These people actually buried over 70.000 manuscripts in 30 libraries containing knowledge from medicine to philosophy; which is a marvelous legacy that tells lots and lots about the area. Approximate of 100.000 people lived in Timbuktu; including 25% of them were literate students studying these texts and writing new ones for the exchange of knowledge and for future generations. We also know about this place from the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta who visited it around the year 1350, who also told us it was annexed by King of Mali, Mansa Musa I. This is the 1000th evidence proofing that African people were educated and literate, denying imperialist’s greatest claim.

How could an entire civilization remain practically unknown well into our modern era? This is exactly what happened to "Great Zimbabwe", a great trade city that we know today as Zimbabwe. Its ruins were discovered in 1871 by a German geologist, but the civilization that built its remains was still unknown. This invisible hand was called “Mapungubwe kingdom”. After this kingdom lasted strongly for three centuries, archeologists believe that people from Mapungubwe moved north and then founded The Great Zimbabwe kingdom because their civilization, Mapungubwe, began to decline at the time. Mapungubwe survived all this time on its fertile soil that was accompanied by the two rivers; Shashe and Limpopo. Definitely, it is clearly noticed that agriculture is usually the main cornerstone for any great civilization. Once people secure their food supply, they then start heeding civilizational aspects such as art, language, medicine, and even engineering. Today, no one can deny that Great Zimbabwe was astonishingly built at higher levels; the great walls of the city were built without mortar to hold them together; even when they rose to 13 meters high. The skill of the men who made over a million bricks and designed and built the walls made the walls strong and imposing.

If we are to write about African empires and civilizations, I would need to write unlimited numbers of articles. We are living in a time when the door of knowledge is widely open. Everyone –not only Africans who are culturally and geographically close- shall research and have the urge to learn about this land with all it contains; history, resources, politics, and culture. I assume it is very shameful that people are ignorant of their ancestors, the origins of everything we are looking at today. Language, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, crafts, and much more come from these civilizations. Therefore, I would sign my article declaring that without looking into our history, we can neither understand our present, nor build a future.