The history of Africa is a history of mysteries.
Modern African states appeared on the political map of Mary mainly after 1959, many of them were colonies of England and France, Portugal. The colonial period left a strong imprint on African historical science. The colonialists considered themselves carriers of civilization in the "wild" African countries. Many ancient historical monuments were destroyed. Therefore, modern African historical science starts from scratch (with the exception of Egypt and Ethiopia). Was it really so that before the advent of the British, Portuguese and French, there were only wild tribes in Africa. (by the way, Western scientists are constantly trying to convince the Russians that the history of ancient Russia began with the advent of the Varangians (Normans, Anglo-Saxons from Scandinavia, and before their appearance, the Russians did not have any civilization and state).
Whether this was so, I will briefly describe in this article. I'll start with some obscure facts.
Iron metallurgy appeared in Africa much earlier than in Europe. In Africa, iron was smelted as early as the 1st millennium BC. The ancient states of the East brought iron from Africa and this iron was of much higher quality than in the countries of the Ancient East (Egypt, Palestine, Babylonia and India). Even the Roman Empire brought iron and gold from West Africa (these countries were called the countries of the Gold Coast). And the ancient Egyptians called the countries of Africa the country of Ophir, from where many rare goods were brought.
In Africa, there were many ancient states that are very poorly understood due to the activities of the colonial countries.
And now I will tell you my point of view on the ancient history of Africa (which will fundamentally not coincide with official historical science).
17 million years ago there was no mainland Africa, in place of Africa there were small islands (especially in its eastern part). The largest continent on Earth was Lemuria and its first people inhabited it (they can be called Lemurians or asuras) and they had a very developed civilization.
4 million years ago - at that time the mainland of Lemuria began to sink to the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and the mainland of Africa (its eastern part) began to rise above the waters of the World Ocean. Part of the asuras from Lemuria began to move from Lemuria to East Africa. They later became Pygmies, Bushmen, Hottentots, Hadza, Sandawe.
1 million years ago - from the mainland of Lemuria there was one island - Magadascar. The African continent rose even more strongly above sea level.
Approximately 800 thousand years ago, the mainland of Lemuria completely disappeared at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and a large mainland of Atlantis and the Atlantean civilization appeared in the Atlantic. Who was the first to use the natural resources of Africa (iron, non-ferrous metals, gold and silver) is unknown. They could be the descendants of the asuras, but they could also be the Atlanteans. Their civilization also needed a lot of iron, non-ferrous metals and gold. After all, it was the civilization of the Atlanteans that began to lead all of humanity onto the wrong path of development (the path of enrichment, the path of conquest). It was the Atlanteans who invented a new status for subordinate people - slavery. It was at this time that man began to worship a new fetish (god) - money, luxury, gold.
Approximately 79 thousand years ago. the mainland Atlantis suffered the fate of ancient Lemuria - the mainland went under the waters of the Atlantic, only the island of Poseidonis remained from it, where the late Atlanteans lived. Part of the Atlanteans also began to move to Africa. The mainland of Africa basically acquired a modern look, but the territory of the Sahara was still under water.
Around 9500 BC, the island of Poseidonis completely disappeared into the waters of the Atlantic. Part of the descendants of the Atlanteans settled in northern Africa (tribes of the Oran and Sebilko archaeological culture). The rest of the territory was inhabited by tribes of pygmies and Khoisans (these are the descendants of degraded asuras). It is likely that in these times the civilization of African metallurgists in South Africa (the territory of Zambia and Zimbabwe) continued to exist, because iron and gold were required by the new civilizations of the Ancient East (Egypt and Palestine, the Jericho state).
By about 9000 BC, Africa was the same as it is now, only the Sahara was not a desert, humid subtropics and the descendants of the Atlanteans (tribes of the Orange and Sebil culture) lived there. South of the Sahara (at the junction of the northern tribes and the southern tribes of the Pygmies and Khoisans), Negroid peoples begin to take shape.
By about 5700 BC, a new group of peoples formed in northern Africa - the Saharan peoples (these are the tribes of the Capsian archaeological culture). It is possible that the metallurgy of iron and other metals continued to exist in southern Africa at that time. After all, the new states of the Middle East continued to develop. It is also possible that on the basis of the African metallurgy of the Asuras (not those who degraded, but those who continued to develop in the direction of conquering space - they lived in Tibet, the mainland of Mu) and Atlanteans (who also aspired to space) the first spaceships were built.
By the end of 4000 BC, the Sahara is becoming an increasingly arid region, the Saharan peoples are increasingly moving south of the Sahara, their place is taken by the Libyan tribes (future Berbers). Due to the pressure of the Sahats, the Negroid peoples also begin to move south and begin to push the pygmies of the center of Africa. I think that during this period the metallurgy of southern Africa developed for the late Asuras and late Atlanteans (for space exploration), as well as for the rapidly growing states of the Ancient East (Egypt, the Middle East, Sumer, North India). At this time, small states begin to appear in Europe (Crete, Greece).
By 1100 AD, a new group of peoples had formed in Africa - the Bantu, they first lived on the territory of modern Cameroon and Nigeria, from this territory they began an active movement to southern Africa, displacing and destroying the Pygmies and Khoisans. At the same time, a new people appeared on the northern coast of Africa - the Garamants (these are the former inhabitants of Ancient Greece, ousted from there by the Dorian Greeks). In my opinion, at that time, iron metallurgy in southern Africa began to develop weaker, since the Asuras had already managed to conquer space by that time and no longer needed the products of African metallurgists, the Atlanteans may also have begun to take less iron and non-ferrous metals, since in the countries of the Ancient East iron metallurgy was mastered.
By the beginning of our era, the Bantu peoples had already reached the territory of Zambia, where metallurgy by that time had fallen into decay, the civilization of metallurgists had almost disappeared, and the Bantu did not master this craft. At the same time, many new deposits of iron, non-ferrous metals and gold were discovered in East Africa, and metallurgy began to develop there. Perhaps this development was due to the appearance of Garamantes there (after all, they were well versed in the skills of metallurgists). It was from that time that Roman merchants (through the Sahara) began to visit West Africa and buy iron, non-ferrous metals and gold there.
The question of the appearance of the earliest states in Africa (not counting Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Mediterranean coast) is the most obscure in the study of African history. There could not be a developed microtallurgy without civilization (without a state). But it is also possible that the metallurgists of southern Africa existed as part of the civilization of the late Asuras and Atlanteans. And after the services of metallurgists became unnecessary for the Asuras and Atlanteans (they had already become space civilizations), the metallurgy of southern Africa ceased to exist, although there was a Mopomotale state there at the end of the 17th century, which disappeared at the end of the 17th century due to the appearance of new tribes there, those who do not know metallurgy (it was the development tribes that destroyed this state).
According to modern historical science, the first state (south of the Sahara) appeared on the territory of Mali in the 3rd century - it was the state of Ghana. Ancient Ghana traded gold and metals even with the Roman Empire and Byzantium. Perhaps this state arose much earlier, but during the existence of the colonial authorities of England and France there, all information about Ghana disappeared (the colonialists did not want to admit that Ghana is much older than England and France). Under the influence of Ghana, other states later appeared in West Africa - Mali, Songhai, Kanem, Tekrur, Hausa, Ife, Kano and other states of West Africa.
Another hotbed of the emergence of states in Africa is the vicinity of Lake Victoria (the territory of modern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi). The first state appeared there around the 11th century - it was the state of Kitara. In my opinion, the state of Kitara was created by settlers from the territory of modern Sudan - Nilotic tribes, who were driven out of their territory by Arab settlers. Later, other states appeared there - Buganda, Rwanda, Ankole.
Around the same time (according to scientific history) - in the 11th century, the state of Mopomotale appeared in southern Africa, which will disappear at the end of the 17th century (it will be destroyed by wild tribes). I believe that Mopomotale began to exist much earlier, and the inhabitants of this state are the descendants of the most ancient metallurgists of the world, who had connections with the Asuras and Atlanteans.
Around the middle of the 12th century, the first state appeared in the center of Africa - Ndongo (this is a territory in the north of modern Angola). Later, other states appeared in the center of Africa - Congo, Matamba, Mwata and Baluba. Since the 15th century, the colonial states of Europe - Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, France and Germany - began to interfere in the process of statehood development in Africa. If at first they were interested in gold, silver and precious stones, then later slaves became the main commodity (and these countries were engaged in countries that officially rejected the existence of slavery). Slaves were exported by the thousands to the plantations of America. Only much later, at the end of the 19th century, the colonialists began to attract natural resources in Africa. And it is for this reason that vast colonial territories appeared in Africa. The colonies in Africa interrupted the development of the peoples of Africa and distorted its entire history. Until now, significant archaeological research has not been carried out in Africa (the African countries themselves are poor, and England and France do not need a true history of Africa, just like in Russia, Russia also does not conduct good research on the ancient history of Russia, money is spent on buying castles and yachts in Europe, total corruption deprives science of real research).
The ancient history of Africa (and Russia) is still fraught with many mysteries.
Saved
There is a misconception that before the arrival of European colonists, only savages in loincloths lived in Africa, who had neither civilization nor states. At different times, strong state formations existed there, which sometimes surpassed the countries of medieval Europe with their level of development.
Today, little is known about them - the colonialists grossly destroyed all the rudiments of an independent, unique political culture of the black peoples, imposed their own rules on them and left no chance for independent development.
Traditions are dead. The chaos and poverty that is now associated with black Africa did not arise on the green continent because of the violence of Europeans. Therefore, the ancient traditions of the states of black Africa today are known to us only thanks to historians and archaeologists, as well as the epic of local peoples.
Three gold-bearing empires
Already in the XIII century BC. The Phoenicians (then masters of the Mediterranean) traded iron and exotic goods such as elephant tusks and rhinoceros with tribes that lived in what is now Mali, Mauritania, and the Greater Guinea region.
It is not known whether there were full-fledged states in this region at that time. However, it can be said with certainty that by the beginning of our era there were state formations on the territory of Mali, and the first unconditional regional dominant was formed - the Ghana empire, which entered the legends of other peoples as the fabulous country of Vagadu.
Nothing concrete can be said about this power, except that it was a strong state with all the necessary attributes - everything that we know about that era, we know from archaeological finds. A person who owns a letter first visited this country in 970.
It was the Arab traveler Ibn Haukala. He described Ghana as the richest country, drowning in gold. In the 11th century, the Berbers destroyed this, perhaps a thousand-year-old state, it broke up into many small principalities.
The empire of Mali soon became the new dominant of the region, ruled by the same Mansa Musa, who is considered the richest man in history. He created not only a strong and rich, but also a highly cultured state - at the end of the 13th century, a strong school of Islamic theology and science was formed in the Timbuktu madrasah. But the empire of Mali did not last long - from about the beginning of the 13th century. to the beginning of the 15th century. It was replaced by a new state - Songhai. It became the last empire of the region.
Songhai was not as rich and powerful as his predecessors, the great gold-bearing Mali and Ghana, which provided half of the Old World with gold, and was much more dependent on the Arab Maghreb. But, nevertheless, he was the successor of that one and a half thousand-year tradition that puts these three states on a par.
In 1591, after a long war, the Moroccan army finally destroyed the Songhay army, and with it the unity of the territories. The country breaks up into many small principalities, none of which could reunite the entire region.
East Africa: Cradle of Christianity
The ancient Egyptians dreamed of the semi-legendary country of Punt, which was located somewhere in the Horn of Africa. Punt was considered the ancestral home of the gods and Egyptian royal dynasties. In the understanding of the Egyptians, this country, which, apparently, actually existed and traded with late Egypt, seemed to be something like Eden on earth. But little is known about Punta.
Much more we know about the 2500-year history of Ethiopia. In the VIII century BC. Sabeans settled on the Horn of Africa - immigrants from the countries of southern Arabia. The Queen of Sheba is their ruler. They created the kingdom of Aksum and spread the order of a highly civilized society.
The Sabeans were familiar with both Greek and Mesopotamian cultures and had a highly developed writing system, on the basis of which the Aksumite script appeared. This Semitic people spreads across the Ethiopian plateau and assimilates the inhabitants belonging to the Negroid race.
At the very beginning of our era, a very strong Aksumite kingdom appears. In the 330s, Aksum accepts Christianity and becomes the third oldest Christian country, after Armenia and the Roman Empire.
This state existed for more than a thousand years - until the XII century, when it collapsed due to a sharp confrontation with the Muslims. But already in the XIV century, the Christian tradition of Aksum was revived, but already under a new name - Ethiopia.
South Africa: little-studied but ancient traditions
States - precisely states with all the attributes, and not tribes and chiefdoms - existed in southern Africa, and there were many of them. But they did not have a written language, did not erect monumental buildings, so we know almost nothing about them.
Perhaps hidden palaces of forgotten emperors await explorers in the jungles of the Congo. It is known for certain only about a few centers of political culture in Africa south of the Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa, which existed in the Middle Ages.
At the end of the 1st millennium, a strong state of Monomotapa was formed in Zimbabwe, which fell into decline by the 16th century. Another center of active development of political institutions was the Atlantic coast of the Congo, where the empire of the Congo was formed in the 13th century.
In the 15th century, its rulers converted to Christianity and submitted to the Portuguese crown. In this form, this Christian empire lasted until 1914, when it was liquidated by the Portuguese colonial authorities.
On the shores of the great lakes, on the territory of Uganda and the Congo, in the 12th-16th centuries, there was the empire of Kitara-Unyoro, which we know about from the epic of local peoples and a small number of archaeological finds. In the XVI-XIX centuries. in modern DR Congo, there were two empires of Lund and Luba.
Finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, a state of the Zulu tribes arose on the territory of modern South Africa. Its leader, Chaka, reformed all the social institutions of this people and created a truly effective army, which in the 1870s spoiled a lot of blood for the British colonists. But, unfortunately, she could not oppose anything to the guns and guns of the whites.
The book of the well-known German (GDR) historian T. Buttner is devoted to the history of Africa from ancient times to the territorial division of the continent between the imperialist powers. Written from a Marxist standpoint and using the works of progressive foreign scholars, this work exposes the racist and colonial apologetic concepts of bourgeois historiography.
INTRODUCTION
“Africa will write its own history, glorious and honorable for the entire continent, from north to south,” said the unforgettable Patrice Lumumba shortly before he was assassinated in 1961. Indeed, Africa is now
with its revolutionary enthusiasm revives the most important historical traditions and restores cultural values. At the same time, it has to constantly overcome the barriers that the colonialists erected and carefully guarded in order to isolate the Africans from the truth. The legacy of imperialism penetrates deeply into the most diverse areas of life. Its ideological impact on the consciousness of the peoples of Tropical Africa was and remains no less important than the economic and social backwardness, poverty, humiliation and dependence on foreign monopolies inherited from colonialism.
Today, however, the peoples of Africa are resolutely tearing off the chains with which they were bound by the colonialists. In the 1950s and early 1960s, most of the peoples of Africa, under the yoke of imperialism, achieved political independence. This was an important milestone on the difficult path of their struggle against imperialism, for national sovereignty and social progress. Gradually they come to understand that their struggle is part of a world revolutionary process in which the main role belongs to the socialist community of states headed by the Soviet Union. The African peoples are making great efforts to consolidate the political independence they have won and to repulse the numerous intrigues of the neo-imperialists. They are faced with such complex tasks as profound social and economic transformations, democratic agrarian reforms, the elimination of the predominance of foreign monopolies, and the creation of an independent national economy. However, at the current stage, the task of reviving the national culture, partially destroyed or belittled by the colonial powers, and restoring historical traditions and glorious deeds of the past in the memory of the people is no less urgent.
The study of the history of African peoples has received a new direction. In order to successfully fight against imperialism, one must not only know about the glorious exploits of the fighters against colonialism, but also have an idea of the remarkable history of state formations in the pre-colonial period. Researchers have succeeded almost everywhere in tearing down the veil of romance and mysticism that enveloped it, and now they are striving to identify the most important progressive and revolutionary traditions so important for the modern national liberation revolution. Progressive African historiography can only accomplish this difficult task with the support of Marxists and other forces throughout the world fighting against imperialism. They are united by a common desire to overthrow the yoke of the imperialists and neo-colonialists, to eliminate the discrimination they inculcate and, of course, to refute the reactionary bourgeois theories of African history, which are an apology for colonialism.
What fabrications did the capitalists resort to in order to justify the robbery of the colonies! The idea runs through many printed works that before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans were completely or almost completely deprived of the ability to social progress. This idea was developed in every way and was intensively distributed. Just 30 years ago, a colonial official called Africans "savages who have passed history." There are no number of statements that classify the peoples of Africa as "unhistorical" and even reduce them to the "level of wild animals." The history of Africa was portrayed as a constant ebb and flow from outside "waves of higher civilization", which to a certain extent contributed to the development of the African population, doomed to stagnation. The European colonizers attributed to "dynamic, creative, cultural impulses coming from the outside" a lasting rational impact, because "ancient African culture is devoid of the Faustian desire inherent in Western civilization for eternal life, research and discovery"
In fact, the history of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa has been reduced to a system of alien cultural strata. For greater persuasiveness, the imperialists were portrayed as "the highest culture-tragers." Continuing to falsify the history of Africa, the apologists of colonialism evaluated the ruthless colonial robbery of Africans as a boon, especially beneficial for their culture and supposedly opened the way for them from stagnation to modern progress. It is quite obvious what political and social functions such theories are called upon to perform: they are designed to mask the true nature and extent of colonial oppression and thereby deprive the anti-colonial and national liberation movement of its anti-imperialist orientation.
Chapter I
IS AFRICA THE CRADE OF HUMANITY?
DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN ANCIENT AND ANCIENT HISTORY
Apparently, the first people on earth appeared on the African continent, so it occupies a very special place in the study of the entire history of mankind, and the history of the most ancient and ancient periods of our civilization in particular. The discoveries of recent years in South and Southeast Africa (Sterkfontein Taung, Broken Hill, Florisbad, Cape Flats, etc.), in the Sahara, especially in East Africa, have shown that the past of mankind is estimated in millions of years. In 1924, R. A. Dart found in South Africa the remains of australopithecines (human apes), whose age is about a million years. But prof. L. Leakey, later his son and wife after long and difficult excavations in Kenya and Tanzania - in the Olduvai Gorge south of Lake Victoria, and in the area of Koobi-Fora and Ileret (1968), as well as the Laetvlil burial in the Serengeti (1976) - found bone remains, whose age is estimated already from 1.8 to 2.6 million, and in Laetvil - even at 3.7 million years.
It has been established that bone remains representing all stages of human development were found only on the African continent, which obviously confirms Darwin’s evolutionary doctrine based on the latest anthropological and paleontological data, who considered Africa the “ancestral home of mankind”. In the Olduvai Gorge in East Africa, we find the remains of representatives of all stages of evolution that preceded the emergence of Hoto sapiens. They evolved (partly in parallel and not always getting further development) from Australopithecus to Noto habilis, and then to the last link in the evolutionary chain - neoanthropus. The example of East Africa proves that the formation of Hoto sapiens could occur in a variety of ways and that not all of them have been studied.
The climatic changes that occurred in the Quaternary and lasted more than a million years, especially the three great pluvial (wet) periods, had a great impact on Africa and turned the areas that are now deserts into savannahs, where prehistoric people hunted with success. Pluvial-related displacements and changes in water level can be used, among other methods, to date primitive finds. Already among the archaeological materials relating to the first pluvial periods, along with the bone remains of the pre-human, the first stone, or rather, pebble tools, were found. On the territory of Europe, similar products appeared much later - only during the interglacial periods.
Finds of the oldest pebble and stone tools of the Olduvai and Stellenbosch cultures, as well as numerous remains of thick and thin processed cores and axes with a handle dating back to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (about 50 thousand years ago), now found in many areas of the Maghreb (ater, capsium), Sahara, South Africa (foursmith), East Africa and the Congo Basin (Zaire), testify to the development and success of early and late Paleolithic people on African soil
A huge number of improved stone tools and rock carvings dating back to the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) indicates a significant increase in population and a high level of prehistoric culture in certain areas of Africa since the 10th millennium BC. e. The Lupembe and Chitole cultures in the Congo Basin, as well as the Mesolithic centers in northeastern Angola, in some areas of Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, represent an important stage in the further progress of culture. The people of the Lupemba culture were able to make chisels and hollow objects, pointed points with a knocked back and stone leaf-shaped points for spears and dagger-type tools that compare with the best stone points found in Europe.
The whole history of Africa is full of mysteries. And although this continent is rightfully considered the cradle of human civilization, scientists know very little about the actual history of Africa and its population.
Many thousands of years ago, Africa looked very different from what it is today. The Sahara Desert, for example, was a savanna, quite favorable terrain for settlement and agriculture, and was inhabited by people.
Throughout the Sahara, which was then a fertile territory, many household items were found. This suggests that people here were engaged in agriculture, hunting and fishing, and also had their own culture.
It was at that time that the first African was born.
Subsequently, when the savannah began to turn into a desert, the tribes and peoples moved south from here.
In the territories of Africa south of the Sahara, the remains of ancient civilizations are also found. There are several of them and they are all remarkable for their advanced metalworking. 
History of the peoples of Africa
Judging by the findings of archaeologists, they learned to mine and process metals here long before this craft was mastered by other cultures. And it is known that the neighbors willingly traded with the inhabitants of these places, as they were interested in purchasing high-quality metal products.
The entire Ancient East, Egypt, India and Palestine brought iron and gold from Africa. Even the Roman Empire constantly traded with the country of Ophir, as they called these richest lands. Of course, when visiting for goods, the ancient merchants brought here their household items, customs and legends, which ensured the mixing of other continents.
The history of Africa has some modern historical information that one of the first places in Tropical Africa where civilization developed and formed was Ghana, around the 3rd century BC. e. To the south and around it, their own centers of cultures also developed.
It must be said that the civilizations that developed in were not like the civilizations of the Mediterranean or the East. The colonizers subsequently took advantage of this, declaring them underdeveloped and primitive.
The history of the ancient development of Africa
Perhaps the most well studied and described of all of Africa is the Egyptian civilization, but there are still a lot of mysteries of the pharaohs in its history.
It is known that the main trade routes ran here, and there was constant communication with other neighboring and more distant peoples. Cairo is still the largest city in Africa, the center of interaction and trade between the peoples of Africa, Asia and Europe.
Much less studied is the ancient mountain civilization of Abyssinia, whose center in ancient times was the city of Aksum. This is the territory of the Greater Horn of Africa. Here lies the oldest tectonic fault, the reef zone, and the mountains here reach a height of over 4000 meters.
The geographical position of the country ensured sovereign development with little influence from other cultures. It was here, as shown by historical research and archeological finds, that the human race was born, on the territory of the modern country of Ethiopia.
Modern study reveals to us more and more details of the development of mankind.
The culture here is interesting because this territory has never been colonized by anyone and has retained many amazing features to this day.
Arabs came to North Africa in the Middle Ages. They had a strong influence on the formation of cultures throughout northern, western and eastern Africa.
Under their influence, trade began to develop faster in the area, new cities appeared in Nubia, Sudan and East Africa.
A single region of Sudanese civilization is formed, stretching from Senegal to the modern Republic of Sudan.
New Muslim empires began to form. To the south of the Sudanese regions, their cities are formed from the peoples of the local population.
Most of the African civilizations known to historians experienced an upsurge until the end of the 16th century.
Since that time, with the penetration of Europeans to the mainland and with the development of the transatlantic slave trade, there has been a decline in African cultures. All of northern Africa (except Morocco) became part of the Ottoman Empire by the beginning of the 18th century. By the end of the 19th century, with the final division of Africa between European states, the colonial period begins.
Africa is forcibly joined by the conquerors to the industrial European civilization.
There is an artificial planting of lifestyles, relationships and cultures that were not previously characteristic of the area; the plunder of natural resources, the enslavement of major peoples and the destruction of authentic cultures and historical heritage.
History of Asia and Africa in the Middle Ages
By 1900, almost the entire mainland was divided among the major European powers.
Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Portugal all had their own colonies, the borders of which were constantly adjusted and revised.
After the Second World War, the reverse process of decolonization quickly began.
But earlier, all the boundaries of the colonial territories were drawn artificially, without taking into account the differences between peoples and the settlement of tribes. After they were granted independence, civil wars immediately broke out in almost all countries. 
The power of dictators, internecine wars, constant military coups and, as a result, economic crises and growing poverty - all this has been and remains a profitable activity of the ruling circles of various civilized countries.
In general, upon closer inspection, we can see that the history of Africa and Russia are very similar to each other.
Both lands have been and remain the richest pantry not only of natural resources, but also of the most interesting and necessary sources of knowledge of the authentic cultures of local peoples.
Unfortunately, at present, on both lands, it is becoming more and more difficult to find historical truth and valuable knowledge of the ancient great tribes among the remnants of information about the local population.
In the 20th century, the history of African countries, as well as Russia, experienced the destructive effect of socialist ideas and managerial experiments of various kinds of dictators. This led to the total poverty of the peoples, to the impoverishment of the intellectual and spiritual heritage of the countries.
Nevertheless, both here and there, sufficient potential has been preserved for the revival and further development of local peoples.
INTRODUCTION
“Africa will write its own history, glorious and honorable for the entire continent, from north to south,” said the unforgettable Patrice Lumumba shortly before he was assassinated in 1961. Indeed, now Africa, with its inherent revolutionary enthusiasm, revives the most important historical traditions and restores cultural values. At the same time, it has to constantly overcome the barriers that the colonialists erected and carefully guarded in order to isolate the Africans from the truth. The legacy of imperialism penetrates deeply into the most diverse areas of life. Its ideological impact on the consciousness of the peoples of Tropical Africa was and remains no less important than the economic and social backwardness, poverty, humiliation and dependence on foreign monopolies inherited from colonialism.
Today, however, the peoples of Africa are resolutely tearing off the chains with which they were bound by the colonialists. In the 1950s and early 1960s, most of the peoples of Africa, under the yoke of imperialism, achieved political independence. This was an important milestone on the difficult path of their struggle against imperialism, for national sovereignty and social progress. Gradually they come to understand that their struggle is part of a world revolutionary process in which the main role belongs to the socialist community of states headed by the Soviet Union. The African peoples are making great efforts to consolidate the political independence they have won and to repulse the numerous intrigues of the neo-imperialists. They are faced with such complex tasks as profound social and economic transformations, democratic agrarian reforms, the elimination of the predominance of foreign monopolies, and the creation of an independent national economy. However, at the current stage, the task of reviving the national culture, partially destroyed or belittled by the colonial powers, and restoring historical traditions and glorious deeds of the past in the memory of the people is no less urgent.
The study of the history of African peoples has received a new direction. In order to successfully fight against imperialism, one must not only know about the glorious exploits of the fighters against colonialism, but also have an idea of the remarkable history of state formations in the pre-colonial period. Researchers have succeeded almost everywhere in tearing down the veil of romance and mysticism that enveloped it, and now they are striving to identify the most important progressive and revolutionary traditions so important for the modern national liberation revolution. Progressive African historiography can only accomplish this difficult task with the support of Marxists and other forces throughout the world fighting against imperialism. They are united by a common desire to overthrow the yoke of the imperialists and neo-colonialists, to eliminate the discrimination they inculcate and, of course, to refute the reactionary bourgeois theories of African history, which are an apology for colonialism.
What fabrications did the capitalists resort to in order to justify the robbery of the colonies! The idea runs through many printed works that before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans were completely or almost completely deprived of the ability to social progress. This idea was developed in every way and was intensively distributed. Just 30 years ago, a colonial official called Africans "savages who have passed history." There are no number of statements that classify the peoples of Africa as "unhistorical" and even reduce them to the "level of wild animals." The history of Africa was portrayed as a constant ebb and flow from outside "waves of higher civilization", which to a certain extent contributed to the development of the African population, doomed to stagnation. The European colonialists attributed to "dynamic, creative, cultural impulses coming from outside" a lasting rational impact, because "ancient African culture is devoid of the Faustian desire inherent in Western civilization for eternal life, research and discovery."
In fact, the history of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa has been reduced to a system of alien cultural strata. For greater persuasiveness, the imperialists were portrayed as "the highest culture-tragers." Continuing to falsify the history of Africa, the apologists of colonialism evaluated the ruthless colonial robbery of Africans as a boon, especially beneficial for their culture and supposedly opened the way for them from stagnation to modern progress. It is quite obvious what political and social functions such theories are called upon to perform: they are designed to mask the true nature and extent of colonial oppression and thereby deprive the anti-colonial and national liberation movement of its anti-imperialist orientation.
Now these false stories about the historical development of Africa are not spread very often. Imperialist propaganda is compelled - and not only in historiography and politics - to resort to more sophisticated and flexible forms. The growing power of real socialism and the successes of the national liberation movement force it to put forward theories that correspond to the new tasks of neo-colonialism to a greater extent than the colonial-apologist and racist versions of the old model. However, the imperialists still set the tone. True, bourgeois historiography is subject to various processes of differentiation.
In some capital works, for example, the monographs of R. Korneven, R. Oliver, J. Matthew, P. Duignen, L. A. Gunn, Fr. Ansprenger, and in many special works the history of Africa is considered from a more realistic point of view. Their authors in some cases achieved very important results in empirical research and in the consideration of particular issues, but the assessment of historical sources, the formulation of the problem and, last but not least, the non-scientific conclusions and classification of materials make these scientists be attributed to the ideologists of late capitalism. The theoretical propositions they put forward are no less dangerous than the ideas of the apologists for imperialism. Suffice it to say that some of the latest works in history and sociology attempt to separate the struggle of the progressive forces of the national liberation movement for social progress from the world socialist system and the workers' movement in the highly developed capitalist countries.
Many historical works on narrow topics, for example, on the causes of the backwardness of a particular country, on the formation of "elites", serve to mask neo-colonialist expansion.
Marxists and other progressive elements fighting against imperialism, including those in African nation-states, have declared war on these views. In the outline of the history of Tropical Africa from ancient times, which is the content of this book, the historical and cultural development of the peoples of the continent south of the Sahara should be objectively traced and the inhuman exploitation of them by colonialism should be revealed. In this way, the main propositions of the pro-imperialist "science" are refuted.
In the Soviet Union after the October Socialist Revolution, and in the countries of the world socialist system after 1945, a new period of African studies began. Scholars in these countries, as well as Marxists and other progressive scholars throughout the world, and increasingly in African countries themselves, have been publishing serious works on the ancient and modern history of Africa in recent years. This caused a revolution in African studies, which had previously been almost entirely under the influence of the colonialists (especially the historiography of Tropical Africa from ancient times to the division of its territory by the imperialist colonial powers). The monograph "The Peoples of Africa", compiled by a team of authors led by D. A. Olderogge I. I. Potekhin (published in the GDR in 1961), laid the foundation for numerous serious studies of individual problems in Soviet African studies. Thanks to this work, the work of Soviet scientists on linguistics and the history of Africa gained international fame. E. Shik (Hungary), I. Hrbek (Czechoslovakia), M. Malovist (Poland) sought to fill in their works known gaps in the presentation of the general history of the pre-colonial period of the peoples of Africa. Mention should also be made of the works published in the GDR by the French historian and Marxist economist J. Suret-Canal on the history of West and Central Africa and by the English publicist B. Davidson.
Despite the indisputable successes of African studies in the last 20 years, there is still no comprehensive generalizing work on the history of the peoples of Africa, especially in certain periods before the colonial division of the continent by the imperialists. Years of research have prompted me to make available to a wide range of readers the most important moments in the historical development of the peoples south of the Sahara.
To this day, the problem of periodization of the common history of the peoples of Africa, including in our era, presents particular difficulties. On this question there is no unanimity even among Marxist scholars. A correct approach to it requires that Africans should not be regarded as a passive object of foreign influences, but that, first of all, the internal laws of their social development should be taken into account, correlated, of course, with the most important periods of world history and qualitative changes in individual socio-economic social formations. At the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind the dialectical unity of the stages of development of world history and the regional characteristics of African countries. It is on the basis of these general criteria that the book highlights the periods of historical development of the peoples of Tropical Africa from ancient times to the imperialist division of Africa in the last third of the 19th century. For example, the 16th century, when Western European capitalism made economic and political preparations for conquest campaigns and thus laid the foundation for a new era, was not only an important milestone in world history, but was also a turning point in the life of some peoples of Tropical Africa.
Analysis of the social and historical development of the population of so many regions and the identification of general patterns and trends in it are associated with certain difficulties. They are exacerbated by the fact that sub-Saharan countries have achieved varying degrees of progress. In addition, the social development of many African peoples undoubtedly has specific features. Nevertheless, it can be stated with certainty that this development by no means took place outside the natural world-historical process of changing socio-economic formations. Irrefutable historical facts prove that the peoples of Africa, both lagging behind and advancing, have strived and are striving to follow the path of progress. This path is long and difficult, but, as all the experience of history shows, in the final analysis it will also lead the peoples of Tropical Africa to socialism.
In conclusion, some preliminary remarks should be made about the sources and supporting materials available to the Africanist.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that in this area, too, only in the last ten years, virgin soil has been uplifted and the veil that covered the "Black" continent has been somewhat parted. The colonialists considered the archaeological finds to be only an addition to the highly profitable extraction of iron ores and minerals. The ruins of the legendary state of Monomotapa and the most valuable monuments of art of Benin were discovered either by accident or by expeditions acting without any coordination. After the African states achieved independence, the allocations for scientific research became more systematic and purposeful. The results of these studies are extremely important. Thus, thanks to the extremely interesting excavations of Kilwa (Tanzania), the city-states of East Africa appeared in a completely different light. The ruins of the capital of ancient Ghana, Kumbi-Sale (in the south of Mauritania) turned out to be mute witnesses of a long-vanished African civilization. Tens of thousands of beautiful rock paintings and frescoes have been found in the now waterless highlands of the Central Sahara; these highly artistic works of realistic art provide valuable information about the developed culture of Africa. Recent finds make it possible to clarify ideas about the ancient and ancient history of African peoples. Since now the scientific institutions of the young nation-states themselves organize archaeological expeditions to excavate the centers of ancient civilizations, we have the right to expect that their work will enrich history with new data.
Many tribes and peoples of Tropical Africa still do not have a written language. Nevertheless, we know in general terms the individual stages of their history. At the courts of rulers and leaders, there was an institution of storytellers who resembled medieval minnesingers. Lists of names of rulers, chronicles, heroic tales, epic poems, which glorified the exploits and deeds of rulers, have come down to us. In recent times, most of them have been carefully collected and recorded by African scientists and their assistants. Now they have begun to study the content of these sources, and immediately the limits of their use were revealed. Fiction and truth are closely intertwined in them. The history of a particular tribe or people is reduced to the activities of individual rulers. The chronology also leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, the Africanist can and should work on these oral traditions in order to turn them into reliable sources of African historiography through scientific analysis.
In general, it should be noted that there is a certain scarcity of written sources for certain periods and regions. The history of some peoples can sometimes be quite accurately reconstructed on the basis of both the reports of Arab travelers and the written evidence left by these peoples themselves, but when studying the past of other peoples, one has to be content with a few information, sometimes even indirect. In addition, they usually unjustifiably relate to the events of political life, while economic and social relations are reflected in them very poorly.
The first written evidence of Tropical Africa is contained in the reports of Egyptian military leaders. Further I follow the information received by the Carthaginians, Greeks and Romans during travels, military campaigns and trading expeditions. However, these data, which have come down from the period of antiquity, are very modest and are of a random nature.
Only Arab historians of the period corresponding to the European Middle Ages finally paid due attention to the areas south of the Sahara, which then became widely known thanks to numerous expeditions and travels, as well as. vibrant trade links. The stories of Arab travelers, chroniclers, geographers and historians, and above all the descriptions of the travels of al-Masudi, al-Bakri, al-Idrisi, Ibn Batuta, Lion of Africa, contain valuable information. They have been supplemented since the 16th century. the first records in place in the states of the western and central zones of Sudan (meaning the entire strip of the Sahel, which stretches from west to east south of the Sahara and does not coincide with the territory of modern Sudan). Serious gaps in our knowledge were later eliminated by Muslim scholars of the major trading centers of the Songhai state - Timbuktu, Gao and Djenne - who still wrote chronicles in Arabic. Information about the history of the peoples of West Africa is contained both in the records that were made in the Hausa city-states in Northern Nigeria, and in the written documents of the initial period of the Fulbe and Tukuler states in the 18th and early 19th centuries, found and published only recently. Of these, only a small part is written in Arabic.
Several local chroniclers report on the life of East African city-states. They wrote first in Arabic, later in Swahili, and used their own writing system, derived from the Arabic script.
We also draw the most ancient written data from the monuments of the kingdoms of Meroe and Aksum (see Chapter II). In the Middle Ages, their traditions were successfully continued in the annals and church historiography of Ethiopia.
At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, when Portuguese navigators discovered a route around Africa and founded numerous strongholds of colonization, the first detailed accounts of Europeans appeared, stories about their travels and historical writings. From this initial period of colonial enterprise came colorful descriptions that vividly depict life in Benin and other coastal regions of West Africa, in the ancient state of the Congo, and most of all in East and Central Africa. According to Barros, Barbosa, Barreto, Castagnosa, Alkasova and Dapper, they, to their great surprise, saw here highly developed states with large trading centers, where life was in full swing. At first, the Portuguese still quite objectively and busily wrote down their impressions. But when the dreams of the conquerors of fabulous wealth ran into opposition from the population of Africa, their stories - and more and more - began to be filled with slanderous fabrications.
In the 19th century The African continent has become the cherished goal of explorers, travelers and missionaries. From the pen of members of various expeditions, merchants and envoys of the church, who directly or indirectly prepared the capitalist conquests, a lot of notes came out on the geology, geography, economy and climate of African countries (cf. ch. V, 7). They also left us detailed historical and ethnographic sketches of the social development of some African peoples. Although the authors of these works, such as the famous Heinrich Barth in the mid-19th century, could not hide the fact that they were acting on behalf or at the initiative of the colonialists, they often strove for genuine scientific research and recognized the historical and cultural achievements of non-European peoples. However, their works were very soon forgotten in Europe, in the last third of the 19th century. the sub-Saharan region was labeled the "Black" continent and denied the capacity for historical progress. In accordance with this point of view, many evidences of culture and oral traditions of African peoples were denied or attributed to the influence of foreign cultural traders. In the end, the racist theories of the apologists of colonialism triumphed and began to hamper any scientific research, including the study of the history and social development of the peoples of Africa.
This obliges all Marxist scholars, together with progressive African historians, to recreate and correctly evaluate, on the basis of fundamental research, the history of the peoples of Africa, falsified by the apologists of imperialism and colonialism.
From the book History of Spain IX-XIII centuries [deducted] author From the book History of Spain IX-XIII centuries [deducted] author Korsunsky Alexander Rafailovichauthor Smirnov Alexander Sergeevich
Introduction The underdevelopment of the methodology of modern historical science in Ukraine as the basis of falsifications. "Ukrainian history" as an ideology of internal use. Concealment of historical sources and juggling of facts. Obstacles to scientific dialogue between historians and
the author Men Alexander From the book History of Religion in 2 volumes [In Search of the Way, Truth and Life + Ways of Christianity] the author Men Alexander From the book History of Religion in 2 volumes [In Search of the Way, Truth and Life + Ways of Christianity] the author Men Alexander From the book New Chronology of Fomenko-Nosovsky in 15 minutes the author Molot Stepan1.1. Introduction This part outlines the concept of the New Fomenko-Nosovsky Chronology for those who have never heard of it, or heard something very casually, or perhaps heard a lot, but did not catch the essence. On several pages in this part, we will outline the most important thing. For many of
author Macarius Metropolitan From the book History of the Russian Church. Volume 1. History of Christianity in Russia before Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir author Macarius Metropolitan From the book of Enguerrand de Marigny. Advisor to Philip IV the Handsome by Favier JeanIntroduction In the history of France in the XIV century. is a transition period. The feudal institutions that had existed until then, although in a completely unrecognizable guise, were gradually replaced by monarchical institutions. Thus, considering the mechanism of government
From the book Northern Palmyra. The first days of St. Petersburg author Marsden Christopher From the US book author Burova Irina IgorevnaIntroduction The United States of America (USA) occupies almost half of the North American continent, but the exceptional role of this great country, which first stood out among all other territories of the New World, and then gradually turned into one of the world's leading
From the book In Search of the Lost World (Atlantis) author Andreeva Ekaterina VladimirovnaIntroduction In this book you will read the legend of the ancient Greek scientist Plato about Atlantis - the mighty kingdom of the Atlanteans, which flourished on a large island in the Atlantic Ocean and sank to the bottom nine and a half thousand years BC. In the history of mankind
