Introduction to African History

Africa has a long history and is one of the birthplaces of human civilization. Since the 19th century, archaeologists have successively discovered many ancient human fossils in Africa. Among them, the 3.2 million-year-old female ape-man fossil discovered in the border area of ??Kenya and Ethiopia in 1974 is considered to be the first in the world. The remains of a woman who emerged from a tropical forest and began walking upright. Some anthropologists use genetic techniques to study human genes and believe that all ethnic groups in the world originated from a primitive African tribe 40,000 to 200,000 years ago. They believe that most of the primitive humans who differentiated from apes 4 to 6 million years ago left no descendants. Only one tribe in Africa survived. 10 million years ago, this tribe began to move out of Africa and moved to West Asia, and then from West Asia. They moved around the world, entering the interior of Asia 60,000 years ago, Oceania 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, Europe 35,000 years ago, and finally crossing the Bering Strait and arriving in the Americas 35,000 years ago. The descendants of these African tribes who migrated around the world eventually formed modern humans.

Africa is one of the first regions to enter civilized society. In 5000 BC, the ancient Egyptian residents in the lower reaches of the Nile River mastered the technology of cereal cultivation and construction of water conservancy projects. In 3500 BC, the ancient Egyptians created the world's earliest hieroglyphs. In 3200 BC, a unified centralized slave state emerged in ancient Egypt. In the next nearly 3,000 years, the ancient Egyptians created a splendid culture and built the pyramids, one of the seven wonders of ancient times. Many ancient Egyptian kings (Pharaohs) conquered east and west to expand the territory of ancient Egypt. At its peak, Egypt's territory extended to Sudan in the south, Libya in the west, Asia Minor in the north, and the upper reaches of the two rivers in the east. At the same time as it expanded, ancient Egyptian culture also spread to all directions. Egyptian hieroglyphics were introduced to ancient Greece and evolved into the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet later evolved into modern Western Latin. The powerful ancient Egypt existed for nearly 3,000 years. During this period, Egypt expanded outwards many times and was invaded many times by powerful peoples around it. In 525 BC, the Persians conquered Egypt. From then on, Egypt lost its independent status and was ruled by the Macedonians, Romans, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks for a long time.

Sudan, located on the upper reaches of the Nile River, was one of the main targets of ancient Egypt's expansion. At that time, the Egyptians called Sudan Nubia. States were established in this area in 2000 BC. The Egyptian invasion caused great damage to the area. In the 8th century BC, the Sudanese launched a large-scale resistance movement, drove away the Egyptians, and established the Kingdom of Kus. In 751 BC, the Kingdom of Kos conquered Egypt and established the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. The Kusi rule in Egypt lasted 88 years. Later, the Kingdom of Koos moved its capital to Meroe and embarked on the path of independent development. The Kingdom of Koos is located at the transportation hub of West Asia, North Africa and Africa, and has become an important trade center in Northeast Africa. The Kusi people mastered iron smelting technology and were the largest iron smelting center south of the Mediterranean. Like the Egyptians, they created a splendid ancient culture. In 350 BC, the emerging Kingdom of Aksum conquered the Kingdom of Khos.

The Kingdom of Aksum is located in northern Ethiopia and was founded in BC. In the 1 century AD, the Kingdom of Aksum began to expand outwards. By the 4th century AD, Aksum successively conquered southern Ethiopia, the Kingdom of Kus and some kingdoms in the southern Arabian Peninsula, reaching its heyday. The country's economy experienced unprecedented development and the Ethiopian script was created that is still in use today. Aksum's power lasted for centuries. In 570 AD, the Persians drove the Aksumites out of the Arabian Peninsula. Subsequently, the Arabs cut off Aksum's sea trade channels. In the 7th century AD, the invasion of powerful nomads caused the Kingdom of Aksum to be completely destroyed. The Ethiopians gradually retreated to the central plateau and have maintained an independent status.

South of Ethiopia is the East African region. The eastern coast of Africa, which stretches from the Somali Peninsula in the north to the northern coast of South Africa in the south, is an important area for trade exchanges between the African continent and the outside world. Starting from the end of the 7th century, Arabs who were good at doing business began to move to various cities along the East African coast. During the long-term exchanges, Arabs and local Africans intermarried, giving birth to a new nation-the Swahili people. The Swahili people absorbed Arab culture, Persian culture, Indian culture, and East and Southeast Asian culture. Based on the local culture, they created a Swahili culture with distinctive characteristics of commercial city-state civilization. In the 13-15 centuries, Swahili civilization reached its peak. In the early years of China's Ming Dynasty, during Zheng He's voyages to the West, he reached the east coast of Africa many times and conducted trade with the Swahili people.

In the interior of East Africa, around Lake Victoria, powerful kingdoms once appeared, such as the Kingdom of Bunyoro and the Kingdom of Buganda. They all have a history of hundreds or even thousands of years and are centralized countries. By the 19th century, with the intensification of internal conflicts and the invasion of Western imperialism, these kingdoms, large and small, withdrew from the stage of history.

Southern Africa's ancient history remains largely unwritten. In 1868, the Stone City ruins discovered by Westerners in today's Zimbabwe indicate that there once was a glorious civilization here.

Several important kingdoms emerged in the Congo Basin in Central Africa. At the end of AD 14, the Kingdom of Congo was established in the southwest of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola. The Kingdom of Congo has obvious characteristics of a tribal state. Residents belong to various tribal communes. The land is owned by the tribal commune and allocated to the commune members for farming. The commune members must contribute part of the harvest to the leader and chief, and the leader and chief will contribute part of it to the king. In 1483, the Portuguese began to enter the territory of the Kingdom of Kongo. They bribed the king and officials at all levels with cheap industrial products such as calico, silk, knives, mirrors, and glass beads to help them plunder slaves from neighboring areas. Congolese officials became accomplices of the colonizers. The slave trade intensified various social conflicts in Congo and eventually led to the collapse of the kingdom. In 1665, the Kingdom of Kongo split into several small kingdoms.

West Africa is the region where Africa entered civilized society earlier. In the area north of Guinea and south of the Sahara Desert, many large and small kingdoms have risen and fallen, the most famous of which are Ghana, Mali and Songhay, which have emerged successively in central West Africa. Ghana is not geographically related to the present-day Republic of Ghana. The ancient Kingdom of Ghana appeared in the early AD. By the 11 century, the Kingdom of Ghana entered its heyday. The king of Ghana is famous for his gold. Even the collars worn by the dogs in the palace are made of gold or silver. In 1076, Morocco conquered Ghana, and Ghana never recovered. In 1200, Sumangulu, king of the Susu tribe, conquered the remaining parts of Ghana, and the Kingdom of Ghana disappeared. In 1235, the 500-year-old Mali Kingdom, led by Sundi At, defeated the army of Sumangulu, king of the Susu tribe. Mali gradually took control of the lands of the former Kingdom of Ghana and became a more powerful and wealthy nation. At the beginning of the 4th century, King Mansa Musa went to Mecca for a pilgrimage, with an entourage of 60,000 people and 84 camels carrying gold sand. For a time, Mali's wealth became famous in the Islamic world. The king also invited many Islamic scholars to give lectures in Mali, making Mali a center for Islamic academic research. After 1360 years, the Kingdom of Mali began to decline due to civil wars for the throne, and its territory was shrinking day by day. Songhai was established as early as the middle of the 7th century AD, and was located in the Dendi region in the middle reaches of the Niger River. At the beginning of AD 11, the capital was moved to Gao and later renamed the Kingdom of Gao. It was one of the original kingdoms of Mali. The decline of Mali created conditions for the rise of Songhai. By the second half of the 15th century, Songhai had become a powerful empire. But the Songhai Empire only maintained its prosperity for more than 100 years. Internal disputes provide opportunities for external force. In 1591, the Moroccan army occupied Timbuktu, the capital of Songhai. The Songhai Empire ceased to exist.

North Africa and West Asia are closely connected. In the 9th century BC, the Phoenicians from West Asia, who were good at doing business, came to the coastal area of ????the Gulf of Tunis to establish commercial locations and began to colonize North Africa. After a long period of development, a powerful slave country-Carthage gradually formed here. Carthage became the commercial center of the Mediterranean. In order to compete with Rome at that time for hegemony in the Mediterranean, Carthage and Rome fought a war that lasted for more than 100 years. In the end, Carthage was defeated and included in the territory of Rome. Before and after BC, the entire North Africa region was included in Roman territory. In the 7th century AD, the Arabs occupied North Africa, and North Africa became part of the Arab world. Since then, the destinies of several North African countries (except Sudan) have been linked together, and they have inseparable ties with West Asia. In the 16th century, it became part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Until Western colonists entered North Africa, it had been the sphere of influence of the Turks.

In the 15th century, the Spanish and Portuguese, who had just gotten rid of Arab rule, began to set foot on the African continent, seeking new space for development. They traveled south along the west coast of Africa, trying to find a new passage to the East. While Spain was sending people sailing westward, the Portuguese were constantly looking southward for a route to the East. In 1487, the Portuguese Dias, with the encouragement of the king, organized a ship to sail south along the African coast and reached the Cape of Good Hope in the southernmost part of Africa. Then, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama organized a larger fleet and set out from Lisbon on July 8, 1497. First, he followed the route discovered by Dias and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in January 11 of the same year. , and sailed northward from there. In March 1498, Vasco da Gama arrived in Mozambique and established a stronghold under the guidance of an Arab guide. Due to resistance from the locals, he hurriedly returned after purchasing a large amount of spices, silks, gems and other oriental specialties. The net profit from the goods he brought back this time was 60 times the entire voyage cost. In subsequent voyages, the Portuguese brought more men, horses and cannons, defeated organized resistance across the Indian Ocean, established many commercial and military strongholds, and finally controlled this route to the East. The discovery of new routes brought wealth to Europe but disaster to Africa. After the discovery of the "New World", the development of America required more and more labor. In order to make huge profits, European colonists such as Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom began to traffic black Africans to the Americas. During the period from 1502 to 1808 when the slave trade was prevalent, the number of black slaves sold to the United States alone reached 6 million. The evil and cruel slave trade has severely damaged Africa's productivity, hindered its development, and brought serious disasters to the African people.

In the mid-to-late 9th century, Western countries that had completed or were undergoing the industrial revolution needed a large amount of industrial raw materials and a broad market. They stepped up their invasion of Africa and began to penetrate from the coast to the interior of Africa, setting off a frenzy to carve up Africa. In order to coordinate the interests of all countries, from October 11 1884 to February 1885, 15 countries including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Italy held a meeting in Berlin to form an agreement on African Partition was carried out. Before World War I, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent on the entire African continent, and the rest of the countries and regions were reduced to colonies or semi-colonies of Western powers.

After World War II, the African people's movement for national independence and liberation flourished. Since the 1950s, African countries have gradually gained independence. In 1974, Angola, Mozambique and other countries declared independence, and the entire colonial system in Africa collapsed. On April 18, 1980, Zimbabwe declared independence, and the colonial rule of Western countries completely disappeared from Africa. There are 50 independent countries in Africa. African countries that had just gained independent status recognized the importance of unity and cooperation. In April 1958, the First Conference of Independent African Countries was held. Eight countries including Egypt, Liberia and Ghana participated in the conference. The participating countries unanimously agreed to strengthen unity and cooperation. The African Unity Movement began. In May 1963, leaders of 31 independent African countries gathered in Addis Ababa and held an unprecedented summit of independent African countries. The meeting signed the Charter of the Organization of African Unity, declaring the official establishment of the Organization of African Unity.

An independent and united Africa plays an increasingly important role on the world political stage. With the support of the international community and the joint efforts of African countries, many problems in Africa have been solved. In March 1990, Namibia, the last colony in Africa, declared independence from South Africa. The white South African regime that implemented the apartheid policy also gradually gave up its racial discrimination policy. In 1994, South Africa held its first non-racial national election in history. Black leader Mandela was elected president. On April 12, Mandela was sworn in as President of South Africa, announcing the birth of a new South Africa.

The establishment of the Republic of Namibia and the birth of the new South Africa announced the successful completion of the African people's historical mission of striving for national independence and political liberation. Ancient Africa has entered a new historical period.