How Many People Feel That Ancient Africans Weren't Capable Of Civilization?

Question

http://www.homestead.com/wysinger/africanhistory.html
This guy emailed me saying we should be happy that Europeans enlaved my ancestors. He is native American btw. How much do you think this viewpoint has affect blacks, whites and relations between the two today?

Plus if created so much culture in America & influenced the mainstream so much, how could we not have been capable of civilization. Do ppl not realize that Europeans were brought out of the "Dark Ages" by the Moors?

murnip-yeah I knew it wasn't all of Europe that they invaded, but the advancements in culture & techonology spreaded to different parts of the continent. What do you mean my "reference" to the Dark Ages was wrong-there were lot of things known-that's why they say they were in the "Dark".

Answer 1

I think a lot of people (ignorant people) believe that ancient africans weren't capable to do amazing things proof of this is that a lot of people think that ancient egyptians were white! people is still discussing if ancient egyptians were black or white when the truth is obvious, Hollywood has a lot to do with this "misunderstanding" they make movies about ancient egypt with white, blue eyed actors! so people take these facts like something true instead of fiction and it create the ignorance among people!. Even today black people is contributing to civilization but whites are credited with their inventions. Ignorance and racism are the key that make believe a lot of white people that black people is not capable to do amazing things.

Answer 2

But there were civilisations in Africa. The ancient Egyptians for one. It makes no sense to say that Africa didn't have civilisations. But your reference to the Dark Ages is wrong. Dark Ages just means that we don't know much about those years because there aren't a lot of written records from the time. It doesn't mean that nothing happened. And the only part of Europe invaded by the Moors was the Iberian peninsula.

Edit:
The Dark Ages are so called because there is relatively little written record from that time, in comparison to the amount that survived from other eras. It means that we are somewhat in the "dark" about what happened at that time; it does not mean that the people of the time were backward or ignorant in some way. So it is incorrect to say that someone "brought" someone else out of the Dark Ages. You wouldn't say that people were brought out of the Renaissance, or brought out of the Middle Ages. Of course there were cultural influences from the Arabs to the Europeans, but this wasn't all due to the invasion of Spain and Portugal: it happened over a few centuries and was also because of trading and exploration by both cultures.

Answer 3

The Songhai, Mauritania, Berbers, Mali and other desert tribes in the western Sahara (around Timbuktu) were great civilisations. That was between 1300 and 600 years ago.

They traded gold, salt and slaves, with Europe and the Middle East.

Answer 4

Does this person realize that Egypt is part of Africa?

There was some big time civilization going on there in ancient times.

Answer 5

Some of the first and greatest civilizations began in Africa. But too many people would rather remain ignorant so they would not have to realize that fact (it would harm thier biases).

Answer 6

Ancient Africans most certainly WERE capable of civilization. It was the civilized, educated Africans who sold their own people (the less civilized ones) into slavery in the first place.

"It was the Africans themselves who were enslaving their fellow Africans, sending them to the coast to be shipped outside," says researcher Akosua Perbi of the University of Ghana. (88K AIFF sound file or 88K WAV sound)

Based on her studies, Perbi says that European slave traders, almost without exception, did not themselves capture slaves. They bought them from other Africans, usually kings or chiefs or wealthy merchants.

Answer 7

don't even entertain conversations with people who discuss history based on their emotions. People who talk about slavery like it was some sort of favor to a whole bunch of others are dim witted. I'm putting it very mildly here.

Answer 8

All people have/live in a civilization, they just don't all match what outsiders think it should be.

Answer 9

WTF? That is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin!

Answer 10

take the word ancient out of your question please.