Lost Civilizations Africa: A History Denied

Watch the Video and Answer the Following Questions:

1) Who were the first to arrive in South Africa: White or Black settlers? How do we know?Ans) Black settlers. By the research done by many white South Africans scientists in the place called mapungubwe, showed that black settlers arrived more than 400 years earlier compared to white settlers. The process of carbon dating of the site confirms that these indigenous people occupied the land centuries before the arrival of Europeans.

2) Explain Karl Mauchs theory of who built Great Zimbabwe.Ans) Like others before him, Mauch refused to believe that indigenous Africans could have built such an extensive network of monuments made of granite stone. Thus, Mauch assumed that the Great Zimbabwe monuments were created by biblical characters from the north: I do not think that I am far wrong if I suppose that the ruin on the hill is a copy of Solomons Temple on Mount Moriah and the building in the plain a copy of the palace where the Queen of Sheba lived during her visit to Solomon. Mauch further stated that a civilized [read: white] nation must once have lived there.

3) Why was Mauchs theory so popular with Europeans at the time?Ans) The first European to visit Great Zimbabwe was a German geologist, Carl Mauch, in 1871. Mauch racist theory was quickly seized upon as valuable propaganda by white setllers seeking to expand british empire. Any proof which stats that whites have already been in Zimbabwe in biblical times will help justify their new exploitation of the region In 1890, British imperialist and colonizer Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) conquered a large portion of southern African and had the region named after himself. Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) came under British control and Rhodes echoed the theme of Mauch as he argued that the Great Zimbabwe monuments were build by foreigners.

4) Describe some aspects of the Shona religion.Ans) The ancestor cult is the dominant feature of Shona religion. Ancestors are largely benign; they protect their descendants from malign influences, both human and spiritual. Ancestors make their wishes known through the mediums they possess and often through causing their descendants to suffer mild but persistent illness. They dislike dissension among their descendants and are therefore a force for keeping groups together. Ancestors can be extremely dangerous; when they become angry, they can cause multiple deaths.Ancestors of chiefly lineages often have a political function. They support and control the chiefly office and are often involved in the selection of a new chief. These spirit guardians are believed to care for all who live in their territory. They are responsible for rain and fertility. In some parts of Shona country, remote hero spirits can take on these territorial and political function. The most important practitioners are spirit mediums, men or women who have been chosen by particular spirits to be their hosts. From time to time, a medium becomes possessed by the spirit, and the spirit is believed to act and speak through the host. Hosts may have relatively unimportant spirits and have little function other than providing entertainment at possession dances. They may have healing spirits and thus be primarily concerned with divination and healing, or they may have ancestral spirits or politically important territorial spirits.

5) Explain the theory described in the movie as to why the Swahili people of the East African coast adopted the Islamic faith. Are you convinced by this theory?Ans) Islam established its presence on the Southeast African coast from around the 9th century, when Bantu traders settling on the coast tapped into the Indian Ocean trade networks. Because of the interactions that ensued with the Arab and Somali proselytizers, Islam emerged as a unifying force on the coast and helped to form a unique Swahili identity.I think the theory behind is pretty clear and I am convinced by it. For Swahili people the main source of earning was trading between these Persian countries and we can always put on many arguments that trade gos well between same religious group.

6) Africa has no history. There is only a history of Europeans in Africa. Explain why you agree or disagree with this quotation.

Ans) Statements denying that Africa has a history are rooted in a crucial conception of valid historical sources. It was believed that societies, developments towards change and progress needed to be recorded in written form at the general time that they occurred. It was this insistence on written documents that rendered Africas past invisible to the historian in particular and the wider public in general. Most African peoples did not develop writing systems until the 19th and 20th centuries. Hence, there was a paucity of written records that historians could draw on to study Africas past. The few written accounts stemmed from Outside observers such as early European merchants and travellers. Hence, it was widely held that Africa had no history.