Wynn 3
Logan Wynn
San Diego Mesa College
Kwayana English 101
Africa Innovations Before European Establishment
Africa has been always been misinterpreted as a continent with little history, present, and no bright future. Albeit, Africa actually has so much history that some scholars believe it is impossible to be able to have so many innovations with what resources were available in Ancient Africa. Africa not only did many great things with what resources they had, ultimately Ancient Africa birthed many innovations that people still use in the present day. These innovations is what really put Ancient Africa as the “motherly” figure of all things that came after.
When people are presented math or anything of that nature, they immediately believe it is some white man in glasses that had created this to torture young adults, such as, ourselves. To the contrary, Geometrical ideas in Africa started very primitively in Ancient Africa. Early humans learned to geometricize in the context of their labor activities. Hunter-gatherers learned how to track animals, learned how to recognize and interpret spoors. This knowledge facilitated the design of not only villagesbut also, large cities that were to follow through history. Not only limited to geometrical shapes “Pythagorean theorem was founded south of Mozambique, while they used the process to wove a basket” (p55). The Pythagorean theorem is well known, but no one knows very much about the person who created this theorem. Many peopled believed it was an Ancient Egyptian named Pythagoras, however the real Pythagoras was African. Mathematics is only marginal compared to all the other things that were brought upon by the Ancient Africans. Mathematics created a stepping stone or block, in which brought forth endless possibilities and innovations.
With that being said, mathematics had introduced a new innovation or science that changed the way people view the world today. This is astronomy, which was another key contributor to the many different discoveries in Ancient Africa. To this day, we still rely on these findings. Ancient Africans would chart the movement of the sun and the constellations, as well as the cycles of the months. With the use of the astronomical analysis, “clocks and calendars were created in Ancient Egypt” (BIS 27-46). There are actually discovered paintings of Ancient Africans looking up to the stars reading the constellations. This astronomical finding, no pun intended, shows that Africa not only birthed innovations to help themselves but also created a window of opportunity and exploration for the whole world.
Math and astronomy go hand in hand in a sense do to the geometrical similarities used, so why not use Architecture and engineering as the third main innovation. With architecture, not only does this endure great levels of observation, it also needs great leaders with knowledge. Lots of past Ancient African societies created “sophisticated built environments” (BIS 157-162). The sophisticated environments brought greater organizational cities, farms, and places to do activities such as iron smiting. There were hundreds of great cities including Zimbabque and Mozambique. These cities had great buildings and rooms, these rooms not only served as occupational places but as wells as living quarters later on. The architecture is what lead to the Ancient Egypt Pyramids. “The largest pyramid covers thirteen acres and is made up of 2.25 million blocks of stone, which none of this would have been possible without the discovery of architecture brought upon by Ancient Africa. The engineering of Ancient Africa also brought much different ingenuities such stone tools. These stone tools would be used daily when needed. These discoveries of architecture and engineering seem to be the most important due to the wide variety of objects or places that can be made from this. Ancient Africa provided not only ways to build societies but also created tools that would keep them successful.
To sum up, Ancient Africa not only birthed the greatest innovations known to man, they also guided the rest of the world with these. By looking back at the history, people see that Africa could come up with brilliant ideas and create something from almost nothing. Ancient Africa is still to this day, misunderstood as a poor civilization that did not bring any creative ideas to present day. This is our duty to give them credit where it is due, without them, the creative innovations and cities we live may not exist today.
Works Cited
Blatch, Sydella. "Great Achievements in Science and Technology in Ancient Africa." Great Achievements in Science and Technology in Ancient Africa.Minority Affairs, Feb.-Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
"The Black Imagination; Science Fiction, Futurism and the Speculative." Reference & Research Book News.N.p., 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Sertime, Ivan. Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern: Brunswick, NY: Transaction, 1983 print.
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