Ancient Africa
The characters in most parts of Africa were formed late, and many questions about ancient history can only be inferred by sporadic archaeological discoveries and oral legends, so far there is no conclusion. However, from the limited data, we can still see that ancient African residents created their own unique culture in the long process of development and made contributions to the progress of mankind.
The appearance of human beings plays an extremely important role in the study of human origin. Since British naturalists C.R. Darwin and T.H. Huxley put forward the hypothesis that human beings originated in Africa in the19th century, although there are still differences and debates on the origin of human beings, a considerable number of anthropologists believe that human beings originated in Africa. In the 20th century, especially since 1950s, archaeologists have discovered a large number of fossils from apes to humans in Africa, making positive and special contributions to exploring the mystery of human origin.
Forest Australopithecus, Rama Australopithecus and Australopithecus Darwin believed that human beings evolved from extinct Australopithecus, and some people thought that the distant ancestor of human beings might be forest Australopithecus. These two kinds of fossils were found in Africa, and they are the earliest fossils of the same kind excavated so far. The "protozoa" discovered in Fayoum, Egypt belongs to Oligocene. The forest apes found in Africa belong to the early Miocene, which is earlier than similar fossils found in Europe and Asia.
The wexler species of Australopithecus australis discovered in Tenenburg, Kenya, was determined by potassium argon method, dating back 654.38 0.4 million years. In the late Miocene strata where the ape-man was found, the digger also found many cracked mammalian bones, and stones with smooth edges were also found in the same place.
Australopithecus fossils with both ape and human characteristics have been found in many parts of Africa. The Australopithecus skull was discovered in South Africa on 1924. 1959 The "East Africans" discovered about 2 million years ago in Odoje, Tanzania, and the Australopithecus fossils discovered about 3 million years ago in Afa, Ethiopia since 1973 belong to Australopithecus. Australopithecus Australopithecus can be divided into slender species and stout species, with a brain capacity of 400 ~ 500 ml, nearly double that of Lama Australopithecus. According to research, Australopithecus has the ability to use tools and speak, and has many characteristics of a developing human being, which is of great significance to the study of human evolution.
1982, 8 million-year-old ape fossils were found in Balagoy, Kenya. Anthropologists believe that the discovery of these fossils may fill the gap between Rama and Australopithecus, and provide another clue for the study of human development.
196 1 year, a human bone fossil dating back to1.80,000 years was found in the Odeye Gorge. It is closer to modern people than "East Africans" and is considered as the maker of stone tools, so it was named "homo habilis" in 1964. Homo habilis has been able to make tools, thus completing the transformation from apes to humans and becoming a "fully formed person". 1972, a homo habilis skull fossil called "Man 1470" was found in Lake Turkana, Kenya. It probably lived 2.9 million years ago and is considered as the earliest human fossil ever discovered.
1975, an older human bone fossil was found in Lettori, northern Tanzania, and the footprints of Lettori people walking upright were also found. According to the potassium argon method, it belongs to 3.59 ~ 3.77 million years ago. Some scholars believe that according to the characteristics of human remains, Lettori people should be the earliest members of human beings, similar to homo habilis, and can walk upright. However, it is still controversial because no stone tools have been found in the strata of Lettori.
Homo erectus appeared in Africa about 6.5438+0.4 million years ago. The Yuanmou man discovered by China and Beijingers belong to the same type. Homo erectus is much more adaptable to the environment than homo habilis. In addition to the tropical rain forest, their skeletal fossils or used tools have been found in many places in Africa.
Homo sapiens appeared in Africa 654.38 million+50,000 years ago. Since then, great changes have taken place in human body shape. Because of living in different environments and engaging in different activities for a long time, people show regional differences in skin color, hair, eye and nose shape, figure, head shape and face shape. The northern part of the African continent has long shown the characteristics of residents along the Mediterranean coast. In sub-Saharan Africa, about 654.38+200 million years ago, three main races were formed today: black, Khoisan and Pygmies. Black people are divided into two systems: Sudanese and Bantu. The Khoisan people have slightly yellow skin color and are divided into two branches: the Khoisan people and the San people. Pygmies are light brown and generally 1.4m in height, making them the shortest people in the world.
The Stone Age culture in Africa can be divided into two systems. North Africa, that is, the Mediterranean coast, is culturally consistent with Europe and West Asia, so the stage of Europe and West Asia can be used. The development of sub-Saharan region is different from that of Europe, so a separate staging system is used. At the seminar on Stone Age culture in southern Africa held in 1927, the stone age in southern Africa was divided into three periods: early stone age, middle stone age and late stone age. This staging method has been generally accepted and applied to sub-Saharan Africa with some modifications. This paper focuses on the Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the early Stone Age, the earliest and most primitive stone tools in the world were found in the stratum where "homo habilis" was found in Odoje I Canyon in northern Tanganyika. The only place in the world where this kind of Audoye stone tool is found is in eastern Africa. It existed about 3-2.5 million years ago, and the typical tool of Odoje-Iraq culture was chopping tools. After Odoje's Type I, the Achery composite stone tools appeared 6.5438+0.5 million years ago. Sites using this stone tool are widely distributed and found in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, rivers in eastern Congo (Zaire River), Angola, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. There are quite a few stone tools in some sites, which shows that the life of African primitive residents began to diversify.
About 654.38+25 million years ago, Africa began to transition to the Middle Stone Age. During this period, the volume of stone tools was further reduced and the processing was more refined. Some are polished, others are equipped with handles. The variety of stone tools is also increasing. Besides digging and cutting tools, there are pointers and scrapers. The number of sites is far more than that in the early Stone Age, and they are more widely distributed, indicating that the population of Africa has increased greatly and the accumulation layer of sites is thicker, indicating that people are no longer constantly migrating. The location of fire pits can often be distinguished from the ruins, which shows that the use of fire has become quite common. Most of the animal skeleton fossils found in the site are females and cubs, which shows that although the hunting technology has made progress, it is still not high enough. A large number of fossils of shellfish, seals and penguin bones were also found in the ruins of the seaside, indicating that seafood was caught at that time. During this period, two cultures adapted to forest environment and grassland environment appeared in stone tools in sub-Saharan Africa. Stone tools in forest areas have obvious wood processing characteristics, such as heavy hand axe, big sharp weapon and high back "plane". This kind of stone tool culture was called Sango subculture in the early stage and Lubumban culture in the later stage. The stone tools it represents are slender tools for two-sided processing. The stone tools in grassland area are Fulsmith type in the early stage and Steelberg type in the late stage.
In North Africa, the stone culture in this period includes Hormuz culture, Levalova culture, Moster culture and Atalin culture.
In this period of the late Stone Age, the production technology of African stone tools was further improved, the volume was further reduced, the varieties were more diverse, the ground stone tools were more widely used, and bows and arrows and pottery appeared. Stone tools in the late Stone Age were called microliths because of their small size and exquisite craftsmanship. The time when the microliths appeared in the Nile Valley was about 16000 BC to 10000 BC. Cyrenaica and Maghreb are about 14000 BC; Sub-Saharan Africa was about 2000 to 65438+200,000 years ago. African microliths mainly include Karp subtype, Wilton subtype, Smithfield subtype, Nachikufu subtype and Sitoli subtype. The number of large animal remains in the late Stone Age sites in Africa has increased significantly, indicating a major breakthrough in hunting technology. The increase of grinding stone tools shows that plant food plays an increasingly important role in people's lives.
Stone Age Art found a large number of Stone Age paintings and sculptures in northern Africa, from the Atlas Mountains in the north to the tropical rain forests in the south, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, and in southern Africa, including South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Tanzania. These African prehistoric art treasures have unique charm, which shows that ancient African residents have high creativity and rich imagination.
Judging from the ancient rock paintings and sculptures, the oldest works in the Sahara region have a history of more than 654.38+200,000 years (see color map), while the oldest works in southern Africa have a history of 28,000 years. Most of Sahara's works were written 5,000 years ago, and most of Southern Africa's works were pre-era.
The emergence of the country and the development of productive forces have promoted the evolution of social organization forms. After entering the early iron age, centralized countries appeared in many places in Africa except Egypt, and some countries were quite vast.
Egypt Egypt is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world. Around 3 100 BC, menes unified Egypt and established the 1 dynasty, and Egypt entered the early dynasty era. The ancient Egyptians not only created their own hieroglyphs, but also left a large number of documents, creating splendid culture in architecture, sculpture, painting, literature, mathematics, medicine and so on (see Egyptian history).
In the northeast of Africa, in about 10 century BC, the state of Cushi appeared south of the second waterfall of the Nile, that is, in today's Sudan. In the 8th century BC, the kingdom of Kush was powerful. Its king Pian conquered Egypt in 75 1 BC, and his brother Sha Baka established the 25th dynasty of Egypt. After the Assyrian invasion destroyed the 25th dynasty, the Kuxi people independently developed their own civilization in Meroe, south of Egypt and north of the 6th waterfall of the Nile. In its heyday, Kush Kingdom developed agriculture, ironmaking and textile industry, which became an important part of ancient African civilization.
In today's Ethiopia, there was a powerful kingdom of aksum in1~ 7th century. The towering megalithic monument is a symbol of this civilization. This country has developed agricultural production and foreign trade very early and has its own writing. In the 4th century, it formed an alliance with Byzantine Empire, and Christianity became its national religion. After the fall of aksum, the Argo kingdom-Zagwi dynasty appeared in the12nd century. (See Ethiopian History)
Maghreb The Maghreb in northwest Africa, after entering 1 millennium BC, Berbers established kingdoms such as Numidia and Mauritania in the long-term struggle with Phoenicians. In the struggle against Arab feudal lords, Berbers established the Almurabit Dynasty and the Almuwahid Dynasty in the 3rd century. The rule of these two dynasties crossed the strait and reached the Iberian Peninsula. During this period, the Maghreb has achieved great economic and cultural development. /kloc-In the second half of the 3rd century, after the disintegration of the Muwahid dynasty, three new countries appeared in the Maghreb, namely Meride, Abdwad and Hafez, and their territories were roughly equivalent to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
West Sudan is in sub-Saharan Africa, and the earliest big country is the West Sudan region west of Lake Chad and north of the Gulf of Guinea. It is not only developed in agriculture, but also the only place for caravans to cross the Sahara desert. From the 8th century to16th century, some powerful kingdoms appeared one after another, such as Ghana, Mali and Sanghai. At its peak, Ghana's territory spanned the present-day Mauritania and the Republic of Mali, and declined in the 1 1 century due to the invasion of the Almurabit dynasty. /kloc-In the 3rd century, the Mali Empire replaced Ghana as a great power in the western Sudan. Because King Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca and squandered gold on the way, the outside world knew the wealth and prosperity of this country. /kloc-In the 5th century, the Sanghai Empire rose and became the overlord of West Sudan. Sang Hai not only surpassed Ghana and Mali in territory, but also made new development in economy and culture. In the east of these countries, there are11~13rd century Mohist countries and Hausa city states. There is also the kingdom of Kanim-Bornu, which rose in Lake Chad in the 9th century. Its Sefava dynasty ruled from 165438+ in the second half of the 20th century to 1846. In the marginal areas of tropical forests to the south of these countries, countries appeared late, but due to the contact with the north, before the invasion of western colonialists, a series of countries appeared, such as Benin, Bono, Dendila and Akoum, Ijeb, Ife and Oyo.
Many iron age sites have been found in south-central Africa, dating back to the middle and late 1 millennium. Most of these sites are stone buildings located at the top of the mountain. On the nearby hillside, ancient terraces and artificial irrigation projects have been discovered, sometimes stretching for dozens of kilometers. From Kenya to Lake Malawi, 800 ~ 900 kilometers, traces similar to ancient roads were found intermittently. Without a higher form of social organization, it is difficult to carry out public works of this scale, but the specific situation is not yet available. Before the colonial invasion, there were many centralized countries here. Such as the Kingdom of Mwinimatapa, the Kingdom of Congo, the Kingdom of Buganda and the Kingdom of Ronda.
Due to the development of overseas trade on the east coast of Africa, there have been some trading posts on the east coast of Africa for a long time. /kloc-Around the 20th century, these trading posts gradually developed into city states, such as Mogadishu, Brava, Malindi, Mombasa, Pemba, Zanzibar and Kilwa (see the city states of Monk). Madagascar Island in southeast Africa has gradually formed a series of countries since the first half of16th century: a country with Bala people in the south, a country with Sakalawa people on the west coast-Manabi and Boina, a country with Merina people in the middle (see Merina) and a country with Bezicha people in the south.
Africa after colonial invasion
Western colonists began to invade Africa in the15th century. At that time, western Europe had entered the primitive accumulation period of capitalism, and countries relied on maritime trade for development. The rise of Ottoman Empire blocked the trade routes through the Mediterranean to India, China and other eastern countries. In order to find a new route to India, European countries sailed their fleets to Africa. The Portuguese invaded Africa first, followed by the Spanish, Dutch, British and French.
Early colonial invasion and slave trade 14 15, Portuguese occupied Ceuta, Morocco by force. 144 1 year, the Portuguese fleet went south and discovered the Planck Point. 1442 Portugal brought slaves from Africa to the mainland for the first time. 1482, they set up a stronghold in Hellmin, Ghana. 1488b。 Diaz found the Cape of Good Hope. 1497 ~ 1498 Da Gama led his fleet around the coast of South Africa to the east coast of Africa, and found a route to India with the help of local sailors who were familiar with the Indian Ocean waterway. The Portuguese set up a series of strongholds along the coast of Africa as trading posts for robbing precious materials such as gold and ivory in Africa, and also as midway supply stations for ships heading for the East. Most of these strongholds were rented by the Portuguese from local kings or chiefs. /kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, Portuguese colonists invaded Congo, Angola and some major cities on the east coast. 1580 After Portugal was annexed by Spain, its power in Africa gradually declined.
After Portugal, other colonial countries also came to Africa. 15 10, Spain first transported slaves to the west Indies. 1598, Dutch colonists began to set up a stronghold in west Africa, and by 1637, it had reached 16. The Dutch drove the Portuguese out of West Africa. In southern Africa, 1652, the Dutch East India Company set up a stronghold at the Cape of Good Hope as a supply station for passing ships. Dutch immigrants expelled and slaughtered the local Khoisan people and seized land to build manors. /kloc-In the middle of the 6th century, British merchant ships began to come to the west coast of Africa, and 1562 began to sell slaves to America. 16 18, Britain established its first stronghold in the mouth of Gambia. 165 1 ~ 1674 After three wars between Britain and the Netherlands, Britain gained maritime hegemony, and the advantage of the Netherlands in West Africa was transferred to Britain. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, France began to enter West Africa. 1659, France established the city of St. Louis as a trading post at the estuary of Senegal. /kloc-at the end of 0/7, Louis XIV actively expanded outward and competed with Britain for colonial hegemony in Africa and the world. Some strongholds in West Africa are sometimes in the hands of France and sometimes in the hands of Britain. From 1689 to 18 15, Britain and France fought seven wars, and France lost again and again. Britain has an advantage in trade in West Africa, and its trade volume is almost equal to the sum of the trade volume of other European countries. During this period, the foreign trade operated by colonialists such as Portugal, Netherlands, Britain and France was mainly bloody slave trade. In order to develop America, the colonists used Africa as a place to hunt for labor. Colonial slave ship transported cheap industrial products from Europe to Africa in exchange for slaves, then transported slaves to America, and then exchanged cheap raw materials from there and shipped them back to Europe. It earned huge profits and accumulated funds for the development of European capitalism. Africa has lost a large number of people. The slave trade lasted for more than 400 years and was not abolished until the19th century (see African slave trade).
In the second half of18th century and the first half of19th century, capitalist countries in Europe and North America entered a period of free competition. The development of capitalist economy requires colonies to become markets for dumped goods and supply bases for industrial raw materials. In order to achieve the above objectives, the colonial countries conducted a large-scale geographical survey of the African continent at the end of 18 and the beginning of 19, and found out the resources of Africa and the access to the mainland. Western businessmen and missionaries entered the hinterland of the African continent and then carried out colonial aggression. 18 17, France regained St. Louis, the mouth of Senegal, and signed treaties with kings and tribal leaders of some small countries along the coast of West Africa through threats and inducements, and gradually gained a firm foothold in the coasts of Senegal, C? te d 'Ivoire, Guinea and Benin and the mouth of Gabon. In addition to occupying the stronghold at the mouth of Gambia River and the colony in Sierra Leone, Britain also established colonial rule in Lagos (now Nigeria) in 186 1, and obtained all Dutch colonial strongholds in West Africa through negotiations in 1869. 1806 occupied the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch colony at the throat of the Indian Ocean trade route, and the Boers migrated northward and occupied African land. 1848, facing the threat of the Boers, Basutoland (now Lesotho) accepted the British "protection". North Africa is close to the Mediterranean Sea. Except Morocco, it was conquered by Turks in the16th century and became a part of the Ottoman Empire. Later, due to the weakness of the empire, the Turkish princes in these areas gradually became independent rulers. With the expansion of the maritime power of European colonial countries, Britain and France gradually invaded this area. 1830, France occupied Algiers on the pretext that its consul was humiliated. 1876, Britain and France used Egypt because of the financial difficulties of the Suez Canal, forcing Egypt to accept their financial supervision of Egypt. 1878, they forced Egypt to accept Europeans as ministers and exercised indirect rule over Egypt. On the Red Sea coast, France bought the port of Obock in 1862. Italian businessmen bought Assab at 1869. By the 1970s of 19, the colonial countries had seized about110 land in Africa.
/kloc-The last quarter of the 0/9th century was the most intense period for the imperialist powers to carve up Africa. Not only did some countries with colonies in Africa rapidly expand their territories, but some later industrial countries such as Germany and Belgium also desperately squeezed into the ranks of seizing African colonies. The invasion of Africa by imperialist countries has caused increasingly sharp contradictions among imperialists.
The Great Powers' Struggle in Africa: Britain extended from the north and south ends of Africa to the mainland. In South Africa, due to the discovery of gold and diamonds, British adventurers flocked, the most prominent of which was C.J. Rhodes. They asked the British to clear the obstacles to the inland, build passages and occupy areas rich in diamonds and gold. However, the British expansion was resisted by the Boers. 1880 ~ 188 1 The first Ying Bu War ended in the defeat of the British army. In North Africa, Britain intervened in Egypt in 1882, and put Egypt, which nominally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, under its actual rule. In addition, Britain has also won some land in the Horn of Africa and the Niger Delta.
The French occupied Tunisia in 188 1. 1883 used internal discord in Madagascar to force Madagascar to accept French protection. In the Horn of Africa and the senegal river Valley, the French tricked some tribal chiefs into signing a series of treaties, accepting their "protection" and acquiring large tracts of land. In addition, France has established a series of strongholds in the upper reaches of the Niger River.
1883, German businessman A. Ludlitz cheated about 2 15 square miles of land near Angela Pecana Bay from chiefs in southwest Africa at the cost of 2,000 marks and some old guns, hence the name Ludlitz Bay. In August of the following year, Germany declared the area from 26 south latitude to Portuguese West African colony (present-day Angola) as a German protectorate, except Walvis Bay occupied by Britain. In West Africa,1In July, 884, the German envoy signed a treaty with the King of Togo, declaring Togo a German protectorate. Soon, Germany seized Cameroon's land in the same way. In addition, the Germans also occupied Tanganyika and announced that East Africa accepted German protection.
1882, the Italian government took over the port of Assab, which was bought by Italian businessmen along the Red Sea, and used it as a base to invade the inland. From 1883 to 1884, Belgian King Leopold II, through the explorer H.M. Stanley, forced the tribal chiefs in Congo to sign many protected treaties, thus turning Congo into a private territory.
Leopold II's invasion of Congo caused fierce competition among Britain, France and Portugal in the Congo River area. France, through its agent P.-P.-F.-C.S.de Blachai, signed a treaty with the chiefs on the north bank of the Congo River, accepting the "protection" of France. In order to cut off the French and Belgian colonies in the Congo River basin, Britain signed a treaty with Portugal in 1884, recognizing Portugal's sovereignty in the lower Congo River. The British-Portuguese Treaty aroused strong opposition from France, Belgium, Germany and other countries. The sharp contradiction between the great powers in the Congo River basin led to the Berlin Conference (1884 ~ 1885). At the meeting, in addition to agreeing that the "free country of Congo" is the private territory of the Belgian king, countries also reached some principles for dividing Africa: when a country takes occupation action on African territory, it must inform other contracting parties of the Berlin Conference; The territory of Africa must be occupied in an "effective way" before it can be confirmed by other countries. After the Berlin Conference, the aggressive activities of the great powers to carve up Africa reached a climax. On the one hand, they define their "spheres of influence" through a series of bilateral treaties; On the other hand, it launched an armed attack and carried out the so-called "effective occupation".
At the beginning of the 20th century, the colonies or spheres of influence directly or indirectly occupied by imperialist countries in various names in Africa were as follows:
Britain: occupied Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, Gold Coast (now Ghana), British Somalia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Uganda, Kenya, Nyasaland (now Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), southern rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Botswana (now Botswana), Swaziland, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Zanzibar. The total area is 8860020 square kilometers, accounting for 29% of the total area of Africa and 36.3 times that of Britain.
France: Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, French West Africa [including Mauritania, Senegal, Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, C? te d 'Ivoire (now C? te d 'Ivoire), Dahomey (now Benin), Haut-Walter (now Burkina Faso), Niger], French Equatorial Africa [including Gabon, French Congo and Ubangi Shari (now Central Africa). The total area is 10795520 square kilometers, accounting for 35.6% of Africa's total area and 9.6 times that of France.
Germany: occupied Cameroon, Togo, German East Africa (including Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi) and German Southwest Africa. The total area is 2,347,034 square kilometers, accounting for 7.7% of the total area of Africa and 6.6 times that of Germany.
Italy: occupied Eritrea (in present-day Ethiopia, it means Somalia and Libya). The total area is 2,339,540 square kilometers, accounting for 7.7% of the total area of Africa and 7.8 times that of Italy.
The Congo occupied by Belgium covers an area of 2,345,800 square kilometers, accounting for 7.7% of the total area of Africa and 76.9 times that of Belgium.
Spain: occupied Western Sahara, Yvonne, Canary Islands, West Guinea (now Equatorial Guinea), Ceuta in northern Morocco and some small islands along the coast. The total area is about 308,355 square kilometers, accounting for 1% of the total area of Africa and 60% of the local area of Spain.
Portugal: Mozambique, Angola, Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), Cape Verde Islands, Madeira Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, etc. , with a total area of about 2,089,089 square kilometers, accounting for 7% of Africa's total area and 22.7 times that of Portugal.
At this point, Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, was completely carved up by imperialism (see color map). The division of imperialism has seriously damaged the traditional boundaries between African countries and nations. For example, the Somali residential area in the Horn of Africa is divided into five parts; The Ivy region in West Africa is divided into four parts; Yoruba region was merged into Nigeria and Dahomey respectively; Part of Hausa belongs to Nigeria and part to Niger; The Mandingos region was divided; The Moxi country was divided; Ronda is divided into three parts: Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia and Angola. Mashona is divided into two parts: southern rhodesia and Mozambique. Tswana is divided into two parts: South Africa and Bethune. The artificial division of Africa by imperialism is the historical root of border disputes and disputes among African countries today.