100 things that yous did non know nigh Africa
By RW © 2006
1. The human race is of African origin. The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (or human sapiens sapiens) were excavated at sites inward East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo inward Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known inward the world.
2. Skeletons of pre-humans get got been found inward Africa that appointment dorsum betwixt 4 as well as 5 1 M one thousand years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is idea to get got been the australopithecus ramidus, who lived at to the lowest degree 4.4 1 M one thousand years ago.
3. Africans were the starting fourth dimension to organise angling expeditions 90,000 years ago. At Katanda, a part inward northeastern Zaïre (now Congo), was recovered a finely wrought serial of harpoon points, all elaborately polished as well as barbed. Also uncovered was a tool, as good crafted, believed to live a dagger. The discoveries suggested the existence of an early on aquatic or angling based culture.
4. Africans were the starting fourth dimension to engage inward mining 43,000 years ago. In 1964 a hematite mine was found inward Swaziland at Bomvu Ridge inward the Ngwenya mount range. Ultimately 300,000 artefacts were recovered including thousands of stone-made mining tools. Adrian Boshier, 1 of the archaeologists on the site, dated the mine to a staggering 43,200 years old.
5. Africans pioneered basic arithmetics 25,000 years ago. The Ishango os is a tool grip amongst notches carved into it found inward the Ishango part of Zaïre (now called Congo) nigh Lake Edward. The os tool was originally idea to get got been over 8,000 years old, but a to a greater extent than sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. On the tool are 3 rows of notches. Row 1 shows iii notches carved next to six, iv carved next to eight, x carved next to 2 fives as well as finally a seven. The 3 as well as 6, 4 as well as 8, as well as 10 as well as 5, stand upward for the procedure of doubling. Row 2 shows 11 notches carved next to twenty-one notches, as well as 19 notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1, 20 + 1, 20 - 1 as well as 10 - 1. Finally, Row 3 shows 11 notches, 13 notches, seventeen notches as well as 19 notches. 11, 13, 17 as well as 19 are the prime numbers betwixt 10 as well as 20.
6. Africans cultivated crops 12,000 years ago, the starting fourth dimension known advances inward agriculture. Professor Fred Wendorf discovered that people inward Egypt’s Western Desert cultivated crops of barley, capers, chick-peas, dates, legumes, lentils as well as wheat. Their ancient tools were also recovered. There were grindstones, milling stones, cutting blades, shroud scrapers, engraving burins, as well as mortars as well as pestles.
7. Africans mummified their dead 9,000 years ago. H5N1 mummified baby was found nether the Uan Muhuggiag stone shelter inward S western Libya. The baby was buried inward the foetal seat as well as was mummified using a really sophisticated technique that must get got taken hundreds of years to evolve. The technique predates the earliest mummies known inward Ancient Arab Republic of Egypt yesteryear at to the lowest degree 1,000 years. Carbon dating is controversial but the mummy may appointment from 7438 (±220) BC.
8. Africans carved the world’s starting fourth dimension colossal sculpture 7,000 or to a greater extent than years ago. The Great Sphinx of Giza was fashioned amongst the caput of a adult man combined amongst the trunk of a lion. H5N1 key as well as of import interrogation raised yesteryear this monument was: How sometime is it? In Oct 1991 Professor Robert Schoch, a geologist from Boston University, demonstrated that the Sphinx was sculpted betwixt 5000 BC as well as 7000 BC, dates that he considered conservative.
9. On the 1 March 1979, the New York Times carried an article on its front end page also page 16 that was entitled Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In this article nosotros were assured that: “Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy inward human history, preceding the ascent of the earliest Egyptian kings yesteryear several generations, has been discovered inward artifacts from ancient Nubia” (i.e. the territory of the northern Sudan as well as the southern part of modern Egypt.)
10. The ancient Egyptians had the same type of tropically adapted skeletal proportions as modern Black Africans. H5N1 2003 newspaper appeared inward American Journal of Physical Anthropology yesteryear Dr Sonia Zakrzewski entitled Variation inward Ancient Egyptian Stature as well as Body Proportions where she states that: “The raw values inward Table 6 advise that Egyptians had the ‘super-Negroid’ trunk project design described yesteryear Robins (1983). The values for the brachial as well as crural indices present that the distal segments of each limb are longer relative to the proximal segments than inward many ‘African’ populations.”
11. The ancient Egyptians had Afro combs. One author tells us that the Egyptians “manufactured a really striking arrive at of combs inward ivory: the shape of these is distinctly African as well as is similar the combs used fifty-fifty today yesteryear Africans as well as those of African descent.”
12. The Funerary Complex inward the ancient Egyptian metropolis of Saqqara is the oldest edifice that tourists regularly watch today. An outer wall, at 1 time mostly inward ruins, surrounded the whole structure. Through the entrance are a serial of columns, the starting fourth dimension stone-built columns known to historians. The North House also has ornamental columns built into the walls that get got papyrus-like capitals. Also within the complex is the Ceremonial Court, made of limestone blocks that get got been quarried as well as and so shaped. In the centre of the complex is the Step Pyramid, the starting fourth dimension of ninety Egyptian pyramids.
13. The starting fourth dimension Great Pyramid of Giza, the most extraordinary edifice inward history, was a staggering 481 feet tall - the equivalent of a 40-storey building. It was made of 2.3 1 M one thousand blocks of limestone as well as granite, some weighing 100 tons.
14. The ancient Egyptian metropolis of Kahun was the world’s starting fourth dimension planned city. Rectangular as well as walled, the metropolis was divided into 2 parts. One constituent housed the wealthier inhabitants – the scribes, officials as well as foremen. The other constituent housed the ordinary people. The streets of the western department inward particular, were straight, set out on a grid, as well as crossed each other at correct angles. H5N1 stone gutter, over one-half a metre wide, ran downward the centre of every street.
15. Egyptian mansions were discovered inward Kahun - each boasting 70 rooms, divided into iv sections or quarters. There was a master’s quarter, quarters for women as well as servants, quarters for offices as well as finally, quarters for granaries, each facing a key courtyard. The master’s quarters had an opened upward courtroom amongst a stone H2O tank for bathing. Surrounding this was a colonnade.
16 The Labyrinth inward the Egyptian metropolis of Hawara amongst its massive layout, multiple courtyards, chambers as well as halls, was the really largest edifice inward antiquity. Boasting iii M rooms, 1,500 of them were higher upward basis as well as the other 1,500 were underground.
17. Toilets as well as sewerage systems existed inward ancient Egypt. One of the pharaohs built a metropolis at 1 time known as Amarna. An American urban planner noted that: “Great importance was attached to cleanliness inward Amarna as inward other Egyptian cities. Toilets as well as sewers were inward utilization to dispose waste. Soap was made for washing the body. Perfumes as well as essences were pop against trunk odour. H5N1 solution of natron was used to go along insects from houses . . . Amarna may get got been the starting fourth dimension planned ‘garden city’.”
18. Sudan has to a greater extent than pyramids than whatsoever other province on Earth - fifty-fifty to a greater extent than than Egypt. There are at to the lowest degree 223 pyramids inward the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal as well as Meroë. They are by as well as large 20 to thirty metres high as well as steep sided.
19. The Sudanese metropolis of Meroë is rich inward surviving monuments. Becoming the upper-case missive of the alphabet of the Kushite Empire betwixt 590 BC until AD 350, in that location are 84 pyramids inward this metropolis alone, many built amongst their ain miniature temple. In addition, in that location are ruins of a bath solid sharing affinities amongst those of the Romans. Its key characteristic is a large puddle approached yesteryear a flying of steps amongst waterspouts decorated amongst king of beasts heads.
20. Bling civilisation has a long as well as interesting history. Gold was used to decorate ancient Sudanese temples. One author reported that: “Recent excavations at Meroe as well as Mussawwarat es-Sufra revealed temples amongst walls as well as statues covered amongst atomic number 79 leaf”.
21. In around 300 BC, the Sudanese invented a writing script that had twenty-three letters of which iv were vowels as well as in that location was also a discussion divider. Hundreds of ancient texts get got survived that were inward this script. Some are on display inward the British Museum.
22. In key Nigeria, West Africa’s oldest civilisation flourished betwixt 1000 BC as well as 300 BC. Discovered inward 1928, the ancient civilisation was called the Nok Civilisation, named after the hamlet inward which the early on artefacts were discovered. Two modern scholars, declare that “[a]fter calibration, the menstruation of Nok fine art spans from 1000 BC until 300 BC”. The site itself is much older going dorsum as early on as 4580 or 4290 BC.
23. West Africans built inward stone yesteryear 1100 BC. In the Tichitt-Walata part of Mauritania, archaeologists get got found “large stone masonry villages” that appointment dorsum to 1100 BC. The villages consisted of roughly circular compounds connected yesteryear “well-defined streets”.
24. By 250 BC, the foundations of West Africa’s oldest cities were established such as Old Djenné inward Mali.
25. Kumbi Saleh, the upper-case missive of the alphabet of Ancient Ghana, flourished from 300 to 1240 AD. Located inward modern twenty-four hr menstruation Mauritania, archaeological excavations get got revealed houses, almost habitable today, for desire of renovation as well as several storeys high. They had undercover rooms, staircases as well as connecting halls. Some had nine rooms. One constituent of the metropolis solitary is estimated to get got housed 30,000 people.
26. West Africa had walled towns as well as cities inward the pre-colonial period. Winwood Reade, an English linguistic communication historian visited West Africa inward the nineteenth century as well as commented that: “There are . . . thousands of large walled cities resembling those of Europe inward the Middle Ages, or of ancient Greece.”
27. Lord Lugard, an English linguistic communication official, estimated inward 1904 that in that location were 170 walled towns yet inward existence inward the whole of but the Kano province of northern Nigeria.
28. Cheques are non quite as novel an excogitation as nosotros were led to believe. In the 10th century, an Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal, visited a fringe part of Ancient Ghana. Writing inward 951 AD, he told of a banking concern check for 42,000 golden dinars written to a merchant inward the metropolis of Audoghast yesteryear his partner inward Sidjilmessa.
29. Ibn Haukal, writing inward 951 AD, informs us that the King of Republic of Ghana was “the richest manlike soul monarch on the confront of the earth” whose pre-eminence was due to the quantity of atomic number 79 nuggets that had been amassed yesteryear the himself as well as yesteryear his predecessors.
30. The Nigerian metropolis of Ile-Ife was paved inward 1000 AD on the orders of a woman soul ruler amongst decorations that originated inward Ancient America. Naturally, no-one wants to explicate how this took seat some 500 years earlier the fourth dimension of Christopher Columbus!
31. West Africa had bling civilisation inward 1067 AD. One source mentions that when the Emperor of Republic of Ghana gives audience to his people: “he sits inward a pavilion around which stand upward his horses caparisoned inward cloth of gold: behind him stand upward x pages belongings shields as well as gold-mounted swords: as well as on his correct paw are the sons of the princes of his empire, splendidly clad as well as amongst atomic number 79 plaited into their pilus . . . The gate of the sleeping room is guarded yesteryear dogs of an first-class breed . . . they have on collars of atomic number 79 as well as silver.”
32. Glass windows existed at that time. The residence of the Ghanaian Emperor inward 1116 AD was: “A well-built castle, thoroughly fortified, decorated within amongst sculptures as well as pictures, as well as having drinking glass windows.”
33. The Grand Mosque inward the Malian metropolis of Djenné, described as “the largest adobe [clay] edifice inward the world”, was starting fourth dimension raised inward 1204 AD. It was built on a foursquare project design where each side is 56 metres inward length. It has iii large towers on 1 side, each amongst projecting wooden buttresses.
34. One of the keen achievements of the Yoruba was their urban culture. “By the twelvemonth A.D. 1300,” says a modern scholar, “the Yoruba people built numerous walled cities surrounded yesteryear farms”. The cities were Owu, Oyo, Ijebu, Ijesa, Ketu, Popo, Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Igbomina, the 16 Ekiti principalities, Owo as well as Ondo.
35. Yoruba metallic fine art of the mediaeval menstruation was of world class. One scholar wrote that Yoruba fine art “would stand upward comparing amongst anything which Ancient Egypt, Classical Hellenic Republic as well as Rome, or Renaissance Europe had to offer.”
36. In the Malian metropolis of Gao stands the Mausoleum of Askia the Great, a weird sixteenth century edifice that resembles a footstep pyramid.
37. Thousands of mediaeval tumuli get got been found across West Africa. Nearly 7,000 were discovered inward north-west Senegal solitary spread over nearly 1,500 sites. They were in all probability built betwixt 1000 as well as 1300 AD.
38. Excavations at the Malian metropolis of Gao carried out yesteryear Cambridge University revealed drinking glass windows. One of the finds was entitled: “Fragments of alabaster window surrounds as well as a slice of pinkish window glass, Gao 10th – 14th century.”
39. In 1999 the BBC produced a idiot box serial entitled Millennium. The programme devoted to the fourteenth century opens amongst the next disclosure: “In the fourteenth century, the century of the scythe, natural disasters threatened civilisations amongst extinction. The Black Death kills to a greater extent than people inward Europe, Asia as well as North Africa than whatsoever catastrophe has before. Civilisations which avoid the plague thrive. In West Africa the Empire of Republic of Mali becomes the richest inward the world.”
40. Malian sailors got to America inward 1311 AD, 181 years earlier Columbus. An Egyptian scholar, Ibn Fadl Al-Umari, published on this sometime around 1342. In the 10th chapter of his book, in that location is an trouble organisation human relationship of 2 large maritime voyages ordered yesteryear the predecessor of Mansa Musa, a manlike soul monarch who inherited the Malian throne inward 1312. This mariner manlike soul monarch is non named yesteryear Al-Umari, but modern writers seat him as Mansa Abubakari II.
41. On a pilgrimage to Mecca inward 1324 AD, a Malian ruler, Mansa Musa, brought so much money amongst him that his watch resulted inward the collapse of atomic number 79 prices inward Arab Republic of Egypt as well as Arabia. It took twelve years for the economies of the part to normalise.
42. West African atomic number 79 mining took seat on a vast scale. One modern author said that: “It is estimated that the total amount of atomic number 79 mined inward West Africa upward to 1500 was 3,500 tons, worth to a greater extent than than $30 billion inward today’s market.”
43. The sometime Malian upper-case missive of the alphabet of Niani had a 14th century edifice called the Hall of Audience. It was an surmounted yesteryear a dome, adorned amongst arabesques of striking colours. The windows of an upper flooring were plated amongst woods as well as framed inward silver; those of a lower flooring were plated amongst wood, framed inward gold.
44. Republic of Mali inward the 14th century was highly urbanised. Sergio Domian, an Italian fine art as well as architecture scholar, wrote the next nigh this period: “Thus was set the foundation of an urban civilisation. At the peak of its power, Republic of Mali had at to the lowest degree 400 cities, as well as the interior of the Niger Delta was really densely populated”.
45. The Malian metropolis of Timbuktu had a 14th century population of 115,000 - 5 times larger than mediaeval London. Mansa Musa, built the Djinguerebere Mosque inward the fourteenth century. There was the University Mosque inward which 25,000 students studied as well as the Oratory of Sidi Yayia. There were over 150 Koran schools inward which 20,000 children were instructed. London, yesteryear contrast, had a total 14th century population of 20,000 people.
46. National Geographic lately described Timbuktu as the Paris of the mediaeval world, on trouble organisation human relationship of its intellectual culture. According to Professor Henry Louis Gates, 25,000 academy students studied there.
47. Many sometime West African families get got private library collections that go dorsum hundreds of years. The Mauritanian cities of Chinguetti as well as Oudane get got a total of 3,450 paw written mediaeval books. There may live some other 6,000 books yet surviving inward the other metropolis of Walata. Some appointment dorsum to the 8th century AD. There are 11,000 books inward private collections inward Niger. Finally, inward Timbuktu, Mali, in that location are nigh 700,000 surviving books.
48. H5N1 collection of 1 M half dozen hundred books was considered a pocket-sized library for a West African scholar of the 16th century. Professor Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu is recorded as maxim that he had the smallest library of whatsoever of his friends - he had only 1600 volumes.
49. Concerning these sometime manuscripts, Michael Palin, inward his TV serial Sahara, said the imam of Timbuktu “has a collection of scientific texts that clearly present the planets circling the sun. They appointment dorsum hundreds of years . . . Its convincing prove that the scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot to a greater extent than than their counterparts inward Europe. In the fifteenth century inward Timbuktu the mathematicians knew nigh the rotation of the planets, knew nigh the details of the eclipse, they knew things which nosotros had to hold off for 150 almost 200 years to know inward Europe when Galileo as well as Copernicus came upward amongst these same calculations as well as were given a really difficult fourth dimension for it.”
50. The Songhai Empire of 16th century West Africa had a regime seat called Minister for Etiquette as well as Protocol.
51. The mediaeval Nigerian metropolis of Republic of Benin was built to “a scale comparable amongst the Great Wall of China”. There was a vast organisation of defensive walling totalling 10,000 miles inward all. Even earlier the total extent of the metropolis walling had teach apparent the Guinness Book of Records carried an entry inward the 1974 edition that described the metropolis as: “The largest earthworks inward the world carried out prior to the mechanical era.”
52. Republic of Benin fine art of the Middle Ages was of the highest quality. An official of the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde 1 time stated that: “These industrial plant from Republic of Benin are equal to the really finest examples of European casting technique. Benvenuto Cellini could non get got cast them better, nor could anyone else earlier or after him . . . Technically, these bronzes stand upward for the really highest possible achievement.”
53. Winwood Reade described his watch to the Ashanti Royal Palace of Kumasi inward 1874: “We went to the king’s palace, which consists of many courtyards, each surrounded amongst alcoves as well as verandahs, as well as having 2 gates or doors, so that each yard was a thoroughfare . . . But the constituent of the palace fronting the street was a stone house, Moorish inward its trend . . . amongst a even roof as well as a parapet, as well as suites of apartments on the starting fourth dimension floor. It was built yesteryear Fanti masons many years ago. The rooms upstairs remind me of Wardour Street. Each was a perfect Old Curiosity Shop. Books inward many languages, Bohemian glass, clocks, silvery plate, sometime furniture, Farsi rugs, Kidderminster carpets, pictures as well as engravings, numberless chests as well as coffers. H5N1 sword bearing the inscription From Queen Victoria to the King of Ashantee. H5N1 re-create of the Times, 17 Oct 1843. With these were many specimens of Moorish as well as Ashanti handicraft.”
54. In the mid-nineteenth century, William Clarke, an English linguistic communication visitor to Nigeria, remarked that: “As goodness an article of cloth tin live woven yesteryear the Yoruba weavers as yesteryear whatsoever people . . . inward durability, their cloths far excel the prints as well as home-spuns of Manchester.”
55. The lately discovered 9th century Nigerian metropolis of Eredo was found to live surrounded yesteryear a wall that was 100 miles long as well as lxx feet high inward places. The internal surface area was a staggering 400 foursquare miles.
56. On the land of study of cloth, Kongolese textiles were also distinguished. Various European writers of the sixteenth as well as seventeenth centuries wrote of the fragile crafts of the peoples living inward eastern Kongo as well as side yesteryear side regions who manufactured damasks, sarcenets, satins, taffeta, cloth of tissue as well as velvet. Professor DeGraft-Johnson made the curious observation that: “Their brocades, both high as well as low, were far to a greater extent than valuable than the Italian.”
57. On Kongolese metallurgy of the Middle Ages, 1 modern scholar wrote that: “There is no doubting . . . the existence of an goodness metallurgical fine art inward the ancient Kongo . . . The Bakongo were aware of the toxicity of atomic number 82 vapours. They devised preventative as well as curative methods, both pharmacological (massive doses of pawpaw as well as palm oil) as well as mechanical (exerting of delineate per unit of measurement area to costless the digestive tract), for combating atomic number 82 poisoning.”
58. In Nigeria, the majestic palace inward the metropolis of Kano dates dorsum to the fifteenth century. Begun yesteryear Muhammad Rumfa (ruled 1463-99) it has gradually evolved over generations into a really imposing complex. H5N1 colonial written report of the metropolis from 1902, described it as “a network of buildings roofing an surface area of 33 acres as well as surrounded yesteryear a wall 20 to thirty feet high exterior as well as 15 feet within . . . inward itself no hateful citadel”.
59. H5N1 sixteenth century traveller visited the key African civilisation of Kanem-Borno as well as commented that the emperor’s cavalry had golden “stirrups, spurs, bits as well as buckles.” Even the ruler’s dogs had “chains of the finest gold”.
60. One of the regime positions inward mediaeval Kanem-Borno was Astronomer Royal.
61. Ngazargamu, the upper-case missive of the alphabet metropolis of Kanem-Borno, became 1 of the largest cities inward the seventeenth century world. By 1658 AD, the metropolis, according to an architectural scholar housed “about quarter of a 1 M one thousand people”. It had 660 streets. Many were broad as well as unbending, reflective of town planning.
62. The Nigerian metropolis of Surame flourished inward the sixteenth century. Even inward ruin it was an impressive sight, built on a horizontal vertical grid. H5N1 modern scholar describes it thus: “The walls of Surame are nigh 10 miles inward circumference as well as include many large bastions or walled suburbs running out at correct angles to the principal wall. The large chemical compound at Kanta is yet visible inward the centre, amongst ruins of many buildings, 1 of which is said to get got been two-storied. The striking characteristic of the walls as well as whole ruins is the extensive utilization of stone as well as tsokuwa (laterite gravel) or really difficult scarlet edifice mud, manifestly brought from a distance. There is a large mound of this nigh the northward gate nigh 8 feet inward height. The walls present regular courses of masonry to a peak of 20 feet as well as to a greater extent than inward several places. The best preserved part is that known as sirati (the bridge) a piffling northward of the eastern gate . . . The principal metropolis walls hither seem to get got provided a really strongly guarded entrance nigh thirty feet wide.”
63. The Nigerian metropolis of Kano inward 1851 produced an estimated 10 1 M one thousand pairs of sandals as well as 5 1 M one thousand hides each twelvemonth for export.
64. In 1246 AD Dunama II of Kanem-Borno exchanged embassies amongst Al-Mustansir, the manlike soul monarch of Tunis. He sent the North African courtroom a costly present, which apparently included a giraffe. An sometime chronicle noted that the rare fauna “created a sensation inward Tunis”.
65. By the tertiary century BC the metropolis of Carthage on the coast of Tunisia was opulent as well as impressive. It had a population of 700,000 as well as may fifty-fifty get got approached a million. Lining both sides of iii streets were rows of tall houses half dozen storeys high.
66. The Ethiopian metropolis of Axum has a serial of 7 giant obelisks that appointment from maybe 300 BC to 300 AD. They get got details carved into them that stand upward for windows as well as doorways of several storeys. The largest obelisk, at 1 time fallen, is inward fact “the largest monolith always made anywhere inward the world”. It is 108 feet long, weighs a staggering 500 tons, as well as represents a thirteen-storey building.
67. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia minted its ain coins over 1,500 years ago. One scholar wrote that: “Almost no other contemporary province anywhere inward the world could number inward gold, a controversy of sovereignty achieved only yesteryear Rome, Persia, as well as the Kushan kingdom inward northern Republic of Republic of India at the time.”
68. The Ethiopian script of the quaternary century AD influenced the writing script of Armenia. H5N1 Russian historian noted that: “Soon after its creation, the Ethiopic vocalised script began to influence the scripts of Armenia as well as Georgia. D. A. Olderogge suggested that Mesrop Mashtotz used the vocalised Ethiopic script when he invented the Armenian alphabet.”
69. “In the starting fourth dimension one-half of the starting fourth dimension millennium CE,” says a modern scholar, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia “was ranked as 1 of the world’s greatest empires”. H5N1 Farsi cleric of the tertiary century AD identified it as the tertiary most of import province inward the world after Persia as well as Rome.
70. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has 11 undercover mediaeval churches built yesteryear existence carved out of the ground. In the 12th as well as thirteenth centuries AD, Roha became the novel upper-case missive of the alphabet of the Ethiopians. Conceived as a New Jerusalem yesteryear its founder, Emperor Lalibela (c.1150-1230), it contains 11 churches, all carved out of the stone of the mountains yesteryear hammer as well as chisel. All of the temples were carved to a depth of 11 metres or so below basis level. The largest is the House of the Redeemer, a staggering 33.7 metres long, 23.7 metres broad as well as 11.5 metres deep.
71. Lalibela is non the only seat inward Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to get got such wonders. H5N1 cotemporary archeologist reports enquiry that was conducted inward the part inward the early on 1970’s when: “startling numbers of churches built inward caves or partially or completely cutting from the living stone were revealed non only inward Tigre as well as Lalibela but as far S as Addis Ababa. Soon at to the lowest degree 1,500 were known. At to the lowest degree as many to a greater extent than in all probability aspect revelation.”
72. In 1209 AD Emperor Lalibela of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia sent an diplomatic mission to Cairo bringing the sultan odd gifts including an elephant, a hyena, a zebra, as well as a giraffe.
73. In Southern Africa, in that location are at to the lowest degree 600 stone built ruins inward the regions of Zimbabwe, Mozambique as well as South Africa. These ruins are called Mazimbabwe inward Shona, the Bantu linguistic communication of the builders, as well as way keen revered solid as well as “signifies court”.
74. The Great Republic of Zimbabwe was the largest of these ruins. It consists of 12 clusters of buildings, spread over 3 foursquare miles. Its outer walls were made from 100,000 tons of granite bricks. In the fourteenth century, the metropolis housed 18,000 people, comparable inward size to that of London of the same period.
75. Bling civilisation existed inward this region. At the fourth dimension of our finally visit, the Horniman Museum inward London had exhibits of headrests amongst the caption: “Headrests get got been used inward Africa since the fourth dimension of the Egyptian pharaohs. Remains of some headrests, 1 time covered inward atomic number 79 foil, get got been found inward the ruins of Great Republic of Zimbabwe as well as burial sites similar Mapungubwe dating to the 12th century after Christ.”
76. Dr Albert Churchward, author of Signs as well as Symbols of Primordial Man, pointed out that writing was found inward 1 of the stone built ruins: “Lt.-Col. E. L. de Cordes . . . who was inward South Africa for iii years, informed the author that inward 1 of the ‘Ruins’ in that location is a ‘stone-chamber,’ amongst a vast quantity of Papyri, covered amongst sometime Egyptian hieroglyphics. H5N1 Boer hunter discovered this, as well as a large quantity was used to calorie-free a burn downward with, as well as yet yet a larger quantity remained in that location now.”
77. On bling culture, 1 seventeenth century visitor to southern African empire of Monomotapa, that ruled over this vast region, wrote that: “The people wearing apparel inward diverse ways: at courtroom of the Kings their grandees have on cloths of rich silk, damask, satin, atomic number 79 as well as silk cloth; these are iii widths of satin, each width iv covados [2.64m], each sewn to the next, sometimes amongst atomic number 79 lace inward between, trimmed on 2 sides, similar a carpet, amongst a atomic number 79 as well as silk fringe, sewn inward seat amongst a 2 fingers’ broad ribbon, woven amongst atomic number 79 roses on silk.”
78. Southern Africans mined atomic number 79 on an epic scale. One modern author tells us that: “The estimated amount of atomic number 79 ore mined from the entire part yesteryear the ancients was staggering, exceeding 43 1 M one thousand tons. The ore yielded nearly 700 tons of pure atomic number 79 which today would live valued at over $7.5 billion.”
79. Apparently the Monomotapan majestic palace at Mount Fura had chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. An eighteenth century geography volume provided the next data: “The within consists of a keen diversity of sumptuous apartments, spacious as well as lofty halls, all adorned amongst a magnificent cotton fiber tapestry, the industry of the country. The floors, cielings [sic], beams as well as rafters are all either atomic number 79 or plated amongst atomic number 79 curiously wrought, as are also the chairs of state, tables, benches &c. The candle-sticks as well as branches are made of ivory inlaid amongst gold, as well as hang from the cieling yesteryear chains of the same metal, or of silvery gilt.”
80. Monomotapa had a social welfare system. Antonio Bocarro, a Portuguese contemporary, informs us that the Emperor: “shows keen charity to the blind as well as maimed, for these are called the king’s poor, as well as get got the world as well as revenues for their subsistence, as well as when they want to laissez passer on through the kingdoms, wherever they come upward nutrient as well as drinks are given to them at the populace cost as long as they rest there, as well as when they exit that seat to go to some other they are provided amongst what is necessary for their journey, as well as a guide, as well as some 1 to send their wallet to the next village. In every seat where they come upward in that location is the same obligation.”
81. Many southern Africans get got indigenous as well as pre-colonial words for ‘gun’. Scholars get got by as well as large been reluctant to investigate or explicate this fact.
82. Evidence discovered inward 1978 showed that East Africans were making steel for to a greater extent than than 1,500 years: “Assistant Professor of Anthropology Peter Schmidt as well as Professor of Engineering Donald H. Avery get got found as long as 2,000 years agone Africans living on the western shores of Lake Victoria had produced carbon steel inward preheated forced draft furnaces, a method that was technologically to a greater extent than sophisticated than whatsoever developed inward Europe until the mid-nineteenth century.”
83. Ruins of a 300 BC astronomical observatory was found at Namoratunga inward Kenya. Africans were mapping the movements of stars such as Triangulum, Aldebaran, Bellatrix, Central Orion, etcetera, as good as the moon, inward guild to do a lunar calendar of 354 days.
84. Autopsies as well as caesarean operations were routinely as well as effectively carried out yesteryear surgeons inward pre-colonial Uganda. The surgeons routinely used antiseptics, anaesthetics as well as cautery iron. Commenting on a Ugandan caesarean functioning that appeared inward the Edinburgh Medical Journal inward 1884, 1 author wrote: “The whole demeanor of the functioning . . . suggests a skilled long-practiced surgical squad at piece of occupation conducting a well-tried as well as familiar functioning amongst smooth efficiency.”
85. Sudan inward the mediaeval menstruation had churches, cathedrals, monasteries as well as castles. Their ruins yet be today.
86. The mediaeval Nubian Kingdoms kept archives. From the site of Qasr Ibrim legal texts, documents as well as correspondence were discovered. An archeologist informs us that: “On the site are preserved thousands of documents inward Meroitic, Latin, Greek, Coptic, Old Nubian, Standard Arabic as well as Turkish.”
87. Glass windows existed inward mediaeval Sudan. Archaeologists found prove of window drinking glass at the Sudanese cities of Old Dongola as well as Hambukol.
88. Bling civilisation existed inward the mediaeval Sudan. Archaeologists found an private buried at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity inward the metropolis of Old Dongola. He was clad inward an extremely elaborate garb consisting of costly textiles of diverse fabrics including atomic number 79 thread. At the metropolis of Soba East, in that location were individuals buried inward fine clothing, including items amongst golden thread.
89. Style as well as fashion existed inward mediaeval Sudan. H5N1 dignitary at Jebel Adda inward the slowly thirteenth century AD was interned amongst a long coat of scarlet as well as xanthous patterned damask folded over his body. Underneath, he wore land cotton fiber trousers of long as well as baggy cut. H5N1 twain of scarlet leather slippers amongst turned upward toes lay at the human foot of the coffin. The trunk was wrapped inward enormous pieces of atomic number 79 brocaded striped silk.
90. Sudan inward the 9th century AD had housing complexes amongst bath rooms as well as piped water. An archeologist wrote that Old Dongola, the upper-case missive of the alphabet of Makuria, had: “a[n] . . . 8th to . . . 9th century housing complex. The houses discovered hither differ inward their hitherto unencountered spatial layout as good as their functional programme (water provide installation, bath amongst heating system) as well as interiors decorated amongst murals.”
91. In 619 AD, the Nubians sent a gift of a giraffe to the Persians.
92. The East Coast, from Somalia to Mozambique, has ruins of good over 50 towns as well as cities. They flourished from the 9th to the sixteenth centuries AD.
93. Chinese records of the fifteenth century AD annotation that Mogadishu had houses of “four or v storeys high”.
94. Gedi, nigh the coast of Kenya, is 1 of the East African ghost towns. Its ruins, dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, include the metropolis walls, the palace, private houses, the Great Mosque, 7 smaller mosques, as well as iii pillar tombs.
95. The ruined mosque inward the Kenyan metropolis of Gedi had a H2O purifier made of limestone for recycling water.
96. The palace inward the Kenyan metropolis of Gedi contains prove of piped H2O controlled yesteryear taps. In add-on it had bathrooms as well as indoor toilets.
97. H5N1 visitor inward 1331 AD considered the Tanzanian metropolis of Kilwa to live of world class. He wrote that it was the “principal metropolis on the coast the greater constituent of whose inhabitants are Zanj of really dark complexion.” Later on he says that: “Kilwa is 1 of the most beautiful as well as well-constructed cities inward the world. The whole of it is elegantly built.”
98. Bling civilisation existed inward early on Tanzania. H5N1 Portuguese chronicler of the sixteenth century wrote that: “[T]hey are finely clad inward many rich garments of atomic number 79 as well as silk as well as cotton, as well as the women as well; also amongst much atomic number 79 as well as silvery chains as well as bracelets, which they have on on their legs as well as arms, as well as many jewelled earrings inward their ears”.
99. In 1961 a British archaeologist, found the ruins of Husuni Kubwa, the majestic palace of the Tanzanian metropolis of Kilwa. It had over a hundred rooms, including a reception hall, galleries, courtyards, terraces as well as an octagonal swimming pool.
100. In 1414 the Kenyan metropolis of Malindi sent ambassadors to China carrying a gift that created a sensation at the Imperial Court. It was, of course, a giraffe.
