Why are there no great african civilizations?
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heyaa....
The way history has come to be written is often based on our own history. I have studied in America, Europe as well as Africa and have come to understand that the focus on what history is taught in different places is directly linked to how it affects that place. Religion has also helped the history of certain places spread as religion has spread and been questioned.
Having said that, Africa did have a number of rich and flourishing civilizations. Many of these are also not well documented as part of western history because there was hardly any interaction with the west except for a few like the Egyptian's.
Documentation on portable material also was not as popular in many African civilizations as it was in other civilizations. However it did exist in structures and dwelling. This lack of portability makes it hard for information to be moved and shared. Some civilizations even heavily relied on oral history instead of written history. Of course this has inherent problems as stories would change as they were passed down but this also happened with some written history that had first been passed down by word before being recorded.
Africa is also quite a big continent so it would have been very hard for 1 culture to become more prominent than others. Although different influences did spread (as they did in the rest of the world.)
Some cultures that I know of are listed below. I am sure this is by no means a comprehensive list as I have not studied history further than A'level the knowledge i posses in this field is very rudimentary.
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The way history has come to be written is often based on our own history. I have studied in America, Europe as well as Africa and have come to understand that the focus on what history is taught in different places is directly linked to how it affects that place. Religion has also helped the history of certain places spread as religion has spread and been questioned.
Having said that, Africa did have a number of rich and flourishing civilizations. Many of these are also not well documented as part of western history because there was hardly any interaction with the west except for a few like the Egyptian's.
Documentation on portable material also was not as popular in many African civilizations as it was in other civilizations. However it did exist in structures and dwelling. This lack of portability makes it hard for information to be moved and shared. Some civilizations even heavily relied on oral history instead of written history. Of course this has inherent problems as stories would change as they were passed down but this also happened with some written history that had first been passed down by word before being recorded.
Africa is also quite a big continent so it would have been very hard for 1 culture to become more prominent than others. Although different influences did spread (as they did in the rest of the world.)
Some cultures that I know of are listed below. I am sure this is by no means a comprehensive list as I have not studied history further than A'level the knowledge i posses in this field is very rudimentary.
☺☺
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