THE FINAL FRONTIER: AFRICA AROUND THE WORLD

In today’s world of Black dis-integration much contradictions exist that must be explained.  It is the goal and mission of the enemies of Black people to appropriate that which has been created by Black people as their own.  However, with ever more increasing evidence it is becoming obvious that Black people are the originators of all civilizations.  To maintain the illusion though that Black people have not contributed anything the hegemonic order must always shift the modes of knowing so that its supremacy is maintained.  With regards to Black people now being the undeniable original people of the planet and creators of all culture, this must be acknowledged but discredited at the same time.  This is done by calling early civilizations “primitive”, which has the root “prime” in it meaning first, however, the negative connotations for this term have been masterfully created.  The focus of this paper will be to explore how not only Black people were the originators of civilizations inside and outside of Africa but also how Black people have been the ones to constantly re-establish civilization all over the world.

IN THE BEGINNING

When one studies the travels of Black people, it is clearly evident that there is not a piece of land on Earth that was not explored and cultivated.  Runoko Rashidi argues that the earliest movements of peoples into the Americas took place across the short span that is now called the Bering Strait.  For a physical description of the migrants, one need go no further than the 100,000 Blacks of modern Australia or Australian Aborigines.  Similar Australoid descendant groups can be found today among the six million Mundas of East/Central India, and the easily identifiable Vedda populations of Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, Roland Dixon argues that these Black people travelled across the Bering Strait from Asia into the Americas as early as 70,000 B.C.  He goes on to argue that the earliest assignable homeland or focus of dispersion of these Black people, or “Proto-Negroid” type, would be northern and western Africa.  As the Australoids streamed west along the southern margin of Asia, it may be supposed that the “Proto-Negroids”, probably at a later date, drifted eastward through India to southeastern Asia and, therefore, through Indonesia and Melanesia to Australia, with some going through central Polynesia and as far as Easter Island.  Like the presumably older Australoids, they followed northward up the eastern Asiatic borderlands and penetrated to the New World, drifting or being later driven by other immigrants, southward and toward its eastern shores.

Meaningful indications of an African presence in ancient Japan have been unearthed from the most remote ages of the Japanese past. To begin with, and as a significant example, a February 15, 1986 report carried by the Associated Press, chronicled that the oldest Stone Age hut in Japan has been unearthed near Osaka.  Archeologists date the hut to about 22,000 years ago and say it resembles the dugouts of African Bushmen.  Other homes, almost as old, have been found before, but this discovery is significant because the shape is cleaner, better preserved and is similar to the Africans' dugouts.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

By citing a small sample of examples we can see that Black people are not only indigenous to Africa but to many other lands as well.  However, it is also important to note that Black people of Africa constantly travelled to lands all over the world and were able to give, enhance, and establish civilization in these lands.

Wayne Chandler shows that the major influence in China was the Shang Dynasty which was undoubtedly of African influence.  If we look to Shi Jing from the Book of Odes (900 – 500 B.C.) and Sima Qian (90 B.C) they show that it was Black people who brought China out of its state of cultural infancy.  Furthermore, the Chou people who overthrew the Shang Dynasty still credited the Shang people for all that they learned.  In fact, they willingly adopted the Shang culture and way of life as the Chou people were barbarians with no philosophy or culture of their own.

Ivan Van Sertima has laid the foundation for understanding the travels of African people around the world with a specific focus on the Americas.  Van Sertima has come to show that there is a definite African influence on Olmec civilization in what is today Mexico.  The most noticeable are large stone heads that can be found in Tres Zapotes and La Venta.  These heads are a marvel to sculptors standing as high as ten feet tall and being carved from a single basalt stone.  The heads depict broad noses, thick lips, defined cheek bones, and some are so detailed that they even have teeth and braided hair carved out.

The largest of the African heads at La Venta at nine feet high had its domed head flattened so that it could function as an altar.  A hole may be seen at the left ear, running like a tube through the head itself to form a small opening at the centre of the mouth; this head was used as an oracle or a “talking god”.  This is strongly reminiscent of the technique used in the talking god of the Egyptians and Nubians, in the first millennium B.C., Amon-Ra.  They made Amon-Ra into an animated god by invoking oracular pronouncements and creating the illusion of animation.  They could invoke the unchallengeable authority of a god on earth.  The statue would be jointed with a priest especially appointed to work it and hiding places were arranged in the thickness of the wall of the sanctuaries from which the priest skillfully arranged for the oracular voice of the head to be heard.

Van Sertima also properly points out that the emergence of Black faces in differing lands, which the archaeological and cultural data overwhelmingly confirms, in no way “presupposes the lack of a native originality, the absence of other influences, or the automatic eclipse of other faces.  Fusion is the marriage – not the fatal collision – of cultures.”

THE SPIRIT NEVER DIES

Many have difficulty connecting ancient civilizations to contemporary issues and how they are relevant.  Although this line of thinking is flawed it also highlights an underlying belief that the ancient civilizations of Africa are where the contributions of African people to world civilizations end; this is far from the case.  Africa has continuously contributed and established world civilizations even after the devastating effects of slavery and colonialism and a classic example of this are the Moors of North Africa.  The Moors are most noted for being Muslims who entered and conquered Spain bringing them out of barbarism and establishing civilization in Europe for 800 years.

J.C. deGraft-Johnson accurately explains that there is no doubt that the Moors were Black people who allowed all facets of civilization to enter Europe.  The museum at Alexandria, Egypt became the centre of research and learning.  Mathematics, medicine, and the physical sciences received fresh attention.  The clumsy Roman numerals were soon ousted by the Arabic figures which we use today, and the zero sign first came into general usage.  It was through Africa that the new knowledge of China, India, and Arabia reached Europe, and it was Africa which supplied the men who protected Muslim Europe from attack, which made it possible for the new learning to develop.

Cordova, Spain was the most wonderful city of the tenth century; the streets were well-paved, with raised sidewalks for pedestrians.  At night, ten miles of streets were well illuminated by lamps, which is hundreds of years before there was a paved street in Paris or a street lamp in London.  Cordova, with a population of at least a million, was served by 4,000 public markets and 5,000 mills.  Public baths numbered in the hundreds.  This amenity was present at a time when cleanliness in Christian Europe was regarded a sin.

CONCLUSION

The information that can be found that definitively shows the African presence around the world is as vast as the distances Africans travelled around the world.  However, what is still left unresolved is why did these Black people not only travel but leave an indelible mark of their existence?  Looking at the structures and monuments that these Black people built inside and outside of Africa it begs the question did they want to leave undeniable proof that Black people were in these places?  The spiritual connection that these people had was so profound that it is not out of the realm of possibility that the prophecy of their demise would be revealed to them and the necessity to preserve their civilizations would be paramount.  Much work is still left to be done in this regard but if preservation was the key for who is it meant for?