THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION BY DR CHEIKH ANTA DIOP

REPARATIONS FOR THE BLACK RACE- A FUCTIONAL APPROACH- BY PRINCE FRANK ONAIVI UKONGA
-The white race destroyed all of Africa , our culture, institutions, society,mores, cities etc for a period of 500 years where they removed forcefully more than 500 million men and women in chains from the soils of Africa to slave in the united state, Europe to build their civilizations and this has made Africa poor and Europe and America rich.... It is time to demand for the reparations of the sins of your !! And it is the duty of all black men who are true sons and daughters of their father to demand for restitution and compensations fore the great damages of providence!! The Jews and Israel have collected reparations from Germany for the genocide of NAZI, The Libyans have collected $5 billion from Italy in 2010 for colonization !! it is time for America and the western world to pay Sub Saharan Africa and Blacks in Diaspora reparations!!- Read more in the award winning book of Prince Frank Ukonga- the Seething world, reparations for the black race- A functional approach!!- get the book from Google books, Abe books, get ctied, Amazon books...etc on the net..

The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality
by Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop
Egyptology developed in concurrence with the development of the slave trade and the colonial system. It was during this period that Egypt was literally taken out of Africa, academically, and made an extension of Europe. In many ways Egypt is the key to ancient African history. African history is out of kilter until ancient Egypt is looked upon as a distinct African nation. The Nile River played a major role in the relationship to Egypt to the nations in Southeast Africa. During the early history of Africa, the Nile was a great cultural highway on which elements of civilization came into and out of inner Africa. In the chapter called, “Birth of the Negro Myth,” Dr. Diop shows how African people, whose civilizations were old before Europe was born, were systematically read out of the respectful commentary of human history. This examination is continued in the chapter called, “Modern Falsification of History.” Here, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop deals with how Western historians, for the last five hundred years wrote or rewrote history glorifying the people of European extraction and distorted the history of the rest of the world. Those who read this book seriously are in for a shock and rewarding experience in learning. This is a major work by a major African historian. At last, the renaissance of African historiography from an African point of view has begun, and none too soon.
Turning to the major falsification of the history of mankind, as he puts it, Cheikh Anta Diop underlines that the time has come to bring justice to the Negro race, to give black people their due credit for leading the march, and blazing a trail for humanity to follow.
Egypt Revisited: Journal of African Civilizations
by Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)
A compilation of many great scholars sharing their expertise. This book has many ancient photos.
Contents:
Race and Origin of the Ancient Egyptians, Black Dynasties and Rulers, Philosophy and Science of the Egyptians, Miscellaneous Essays and more.
Authors include: Ivan Van Sertima, Chiekh Anta Diop, Basil Davidson, James Brunson, Bruce Williams, Runoko Rashidi, Wayne B. Chandler, Asa G. Hilliard III, Legrand Clegg II, Phaon Goldman (Tarharka), Habib Sy, Theophile Obenga, Charles S. Finch, Maulana Karenga, Larry Williams, Beatrice Lumpkin and others.
Black Spark, White Fire: Did African Explorers Civilize Ancient Europe?
by Richard Poe
In Black Spark, White Fire, Richard Poe seeks to transcend the passions and politics surrounding this subject. He examines the issues objectively and reaches conclusions that some may find startling.
Based upon seven years of research, including in-depth interviews with leading scholars and scientists, Black Spark, White Fire has been praised by experts as varied as Temple University professor Molefi Kete Asante, Cornell University historian Martin Bernal and Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. With all the suspense of a mystery thriller, Black Spark follows a slender trail of clues that leads from the highlands of Ethiopia to the barrows of the Russian steppes. It pieces together the forgotten story of an Age of Exploration that ended nearly 3,000 years before Columbus — a time when Egypt ruled the waves, Africa was the seat of learning and power, and Europe a savage frontier.
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Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks
by Frank M. Snowden
According to Professor Emeritus Frank M. Snowden Jr., (AB, AM, Ph.D.) Howard University Classicist Department–reading of the sources, the Ethiopians “pioneered” religion, and were key to the origin and propagation of many of the customs which existed in Egypt. The Egyptians, it was argued, were descendants of the Ethiopians. Snowden states that the term Kushites, Nubians, or Ethiopians is to used in much the same way as the modern term “colored”, “black, or Negro”. “The experiences of Africans who reached the alien shores of Greece and Italy constituted an important chapter in the history of classical antiquity,” he writes. “Using evidence from terra cotta figures, paintings, and classical sources like Herodotus and Pliny the Elder, Snowden proves, contrary to our modern assumptions, that Greco-Romans did not view Africans with racial contempt. Many Africans worked in the Roman Empire as musicians, artisans, scholars, and generals as well as slaves, and they were noted as much for their virtue as for their appearance of having a “burnt face” (from which came the Greek name Ethiopian)”.
Professor Snowden received the National Humanities medal in 2003, which honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience
by Frank M. Snowden
Further developing the themes he so eloquently outlines in Blacks in Antiquity, Frank M. Snowden Jr. continues his investigations into attitudes towards Africans in the classical civilizations of Rome and Greece. Snowden identifies the African blacks from Egypt, Nubia (the modern Sudan), Ethiopia, and Carthage (Tunisia), discussing their interactions–including intermarriage–with the Greco-Romans. (He also notes that many of the artistic representations of these people resemble present-day African Americans.) From the trade missions of the Egyptian dynasties to their conquest of the Mediterranean and ultimate downfall at the hands of the Romans, Snowden unravels a complex history of cultural exchanges that went on for several millennia in which racial prejudice was not a factor. “There was a clear-cut respect among the Mediterranean peoples for Ethiopians and their way of life,” he writes, “and above all, the ancients did not stereotype blacks as primitives defective in religion and culture.” — Eugene Holley Jr.
Black Women in Antiquity (Journal of African Civilizations; V. 6)
by Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)
Customer Review:
This is a well researched and very scholarly book. Ivan Van Sertima as well as the contributors to this work have produced much insight on African women in world history like Queen Nzinga, the candace queens, Makeda (Queen of Sheba) Hatshepsut and many others. I feel that this work is of great significance and should be read by all who are interested in the role of African women in world history.
African Civilization Revisited: From Antiquity to Modern Times
by Basil Davidson
From Library Journal:
This book, by one of the premier historians of Africa, is a slightly revised and expanded edition of his The African Past. As before, it consists of snippets of historical source materials from western, eastern, and southern Africa, emphasizing pre-19th century times. The study of black African history was relatively new when this book was originally published, so it was useful as a demonstration that Africa indeed had a history. Now, over 25 years later, one wonders if the point needs to be made yet again. Still, its greatest use may be to point out to students the variety of sources available for the study of African history. This is recommended for collections not having the original edition.
Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Inst. Lib., Stanford, Cal.
The Black Pharaohs: Egypt’s Nubian Rulers
by Robert G. Morkot
Book Description:
A comprehensive investigation of the Kushite kingdom, present day northern Sudan, which briefly controlled Egypt during the 8th century BC and influenced Egyptian affairs for hundreds of years. Morkot examines ancient and antiquarian perceptions of the exotic lands of Nubia and Ethiopia and attempts to tie the towns of Kush to archaeological remains. A large part of the book concentrates on the role of the Nubians during Egypt’s conflicts with Libya and the Assyrians.
Kush – The Jewel of Nubia: Reconnecting the Root System of African Civilization
by Miriam Ma’At-Ka-Re Monges
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
The Great Cheikh Anta Diop identified the roots of African culture from which one can trace the branches. No African researcher since, however, has provided a comprehensive analysis connecting the ancient Nile Valley civilizations with the African universe. From the pyramids of Egypt to the great walls of Zimbabwe, Western scholars have attributed the achievements of these prodigious indigenous African civilizations to people culturally and geographically alien to Africa. However, in the case of the ancient Nubian Empire of Kush, which occupied the southern part of Kemet (ancient Egypt) and all of present-day Sudan, one expects reasonable scholars to attribute this African culture to an African people. The present much-needed work traces Diop’s great “African cultural commonalities” of matriarchy, totemism, divine kinship, and cosmology to the very core of Kushite culture. This book is on the cutting edge of a new generation of Afrocentric scholarship whose mandate it is to provide a clearer picture of Africa’s true nature, it s genius and its genuine contribution to World Civilizations.
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USA
Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from
4500 B.C to 2000 A.D.
by Chancellor Williams
This book without a doubt is one of the most carefully researched books I have ever read.
I love the way that Mr. Williams carefully breaks down the history of the early African and traces them throughout their history. He gives proficient details about the accomplishments and failures of the early African people. There is a reoccurring theme in this book. Indigenous Africans gain power and indigenous Africans lose power. That statement sums up this book briefly. Mr. Williams goes into detail to explain how a black Egypt could be viewed by the world as being white. The answers to this question can be found starting with chapter two entitled Ethiopia’s Oldest Daughter: Egypt. In this chapter, he proposes “the mulatto problem” which I feel is key in understanding how the face of early Africa was changed. When other groups of people came in from the east the Africans allowed them to assimilate into their culture. There were many interracial unions, which allowed for a mixture of kin. This mixture of kin is what lead to the demise of the total black African state. Time and time of again people who did not have a natural birth right to any African state were allowed to do so based on marriage or kinship. This is why Mr. Williams study shows how indigenous African flip-flop control of power so frequently. Whenever indigenous African took control of Egypt the power was relinquish due to an interracial unions or kinship not to mention the violence and acts of war. Again, in many ways this scenario is a reoccurring them throughout this book. The early African inability to hold on to what was natural his has cause others to question whether he should be given any credit at all. Mr. Williams traces what happen and he gives excellent details.
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire, Book 1
by Drusilla Dunjee Houston
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire represents the crowning achievement of Ms. Drusilla Dunjee Houston. The work was originally published in Oklahoma City in 1926. It is the first known attempt by a Black woman, and perhaps anyone, to produce a multi-volume work on African history told from an African perspective.
Ms. Houston herself was an educator, journalist and historian. She spent most of her life in Oklahoma and Arizona and succumbed to tuberculosis in Phoenix, Arizona in 1941.
Her work is broad and comprehensive and was quite advanced for its time. Its audience was not confined to scholars but the layperson, particularly Black folk, who were in need of a accurate tonic to boost Black self-esteem. It retains a powerful value even today, more than seventy years since its initial publication. –Runoko Rashidi
Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization
(The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985)
by Martin Bernal
Unlike most of Martin Bernal’s detractors, I read all three of his books: Black Athena I, Black Athena II, and Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics. Bernal is miles ahead of his light weight, poorly read, reactionary critics, who obviously have not read his highly documented books in there entirety. His detractors are responding to their racist attitudes, inculcated in them through their culture, over the past five hundred years (since the European Slave Trade when albinos attempted to dehumanize melanics). If albinos stop denying the truth of the origin of so-called “Western” Civilization (all civilization came out of the heart of Africa), and read Bernals bibliography, they will see that he documents everything he writes. Some other non-racist albinos everyone should read who tell the truth are: Gerald Massey, Count Volney, Godfrey Higgins, Schwaller de Lubicz to name a few. Some melanics they should read who tell the truth are: Indus Khamit Kush, Chancellor Williams, John G. Jackson, Herodotus (Herodotus was Asian; and so was Thales, the so-called Father of “European” Philosophy. Philosophy originated in Africa were Thales learned his Philosophy), George G.M. James, Cheikh Anta Diop, and John Henrik Clarke. There are many others both melanic and albinic historians such as Martin Bernal who write the truth. Melanics should automatically purchase and read any book about them that is attacked by albinos. Do not believe anything racist albino historians and anthropologists write about melanics. — George Lawrence from Decatur, GA United States
The Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten
by Molefi Kete Asante
Molefi Asante’s Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is a timely redressing of a serious omission in the human history — the antiquarian contributions of African philosophers to medicine, philosophy, science, and the birth of civilization itself. Beginning with a chronology of Ancient World Philosophers, this scholarly, superbly crafted survey covers Imhotep and the “emergence of reason”, Ptahhotep and the “moral order”, Merikare on “common sense”, as well as the contributions and insights of Akhenaten, Amenemope, and others whose work was ignored, suppressed, or simply unknown to the academia based on Greco-Roman sources and histories. Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, philosophy, and the history of science. — Midwest Book Review
Metu Neter Vol. 1: The Great Oracle of Tehuti and the Egyptian System
of Spiritual Cultivation
by Ra Un Nefer Amen
This is known as THE Book. This is the book that puts the science in African-centered spirituality. By revealing the essence of the oldest religion in the world, Ra Un Nefer Amen gives the practical keys to unlocking the “secrets” of the universe. Of course, much will be missed by readers, because they will only read the book, but not apply its teachings.
Reading a book about spirituality does not raise one’s consciousness. Applying the teachings in Metu Neter will.
Stolen Legacy
by George G. M. James
Readers Comments:
George James should be commended for his brave and enlightening work. Stolen Legacy challenges us to reconsider many of the theories and ideologies that have been impressed upon us through the American education system. We are constantly told that the ancient Greeks were the originators of philosophy, science, and many mathematical theories, but we aren’t given an adequate explanation of how they developed these ideas. In fact, James offers a completely different explanation for the origins of philosophy. He claims that what has been passed of as Greek philosophy, is actually stolen Egypt philosophy and was passed down through the Egyptian Mystery System. Little has been told about the Egyptian Mystery System, but James tries to explain the basics of this system and how it spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
This is a must read. It gives another perspective to the idea that the Greeks created Philosophy. The author analyzes several known Greeks including Pythagoras, Aristotle and Plato and their doctrines to show how they are actually Egyptian in nature. He even goes so far as to making some strong recommendations on how we as people of humanity, Blacks in particular, can help change the misconception of crediting Greeks for accomplishments they learned from Africans. (Egypt always has been and always will be an African nation.)
Exiled Egyptians: The Heart of Africa
by Moustafa Gadalla
Readers comments:
I found this book to be very informative and I especially appreciate the fact that the author is from Egypt. I have purchased all of the books this foundation offers and they all live up to this one. I also found his testimony to be one of the most correct and honest in dealing with the origins of Egyptian civilization.
Read a concise and comprehensive historical account of Egypt for the last 3,000 years. Read about the forgotten Ancient Egyptians, who fled the foreign invasions and religious oppressors. Read how they rebuilt the Ancient Egyptians model system in Africa, when Egypt itself became an Arab colony. Read about the Ancient Egyptians’ social, economical, and political systems, and their extended application into sub-Sahara Africa. Find out how the Islamic jihads fragmented and dispersed the African continent into endless misery and chaos. Discover the true causes and dynamics of African slavery.
The Africans Who Wrote the Bible
by Dr. Nana Banchie Darkwah
Reviewer:
Here Are the Puzzle Pieces
This is a great book but there are things you need to know. This book is written based upon the African language similarities with those of present-day Africa, ancient Africa and words found within the bible. With that said, there are sitings noted from various African nations throughout West Africa.
The thing that should be noted is that the author clearly states that the Jewish people are not the original Jews. The author is under the opinion that the original Jewish people were African people who left probably during the so-called Exodus. The present day Jewish people as stated within the book still carry African names. If I read this correctl, that is from cover to cover without skipping pages, this is what the author stated within the book. This is an excellent literary work for all African descendants because it does what so many have feared; connects present and traditional Africa to the ancient Africans and to the Africans Who Wrote the Bible.
No. 1 top seller on this web site!
Editor Choice
From Babylon to Timbuktu: A History of the Ancient Black Races Including the Black Hebrews
by Rudolph R. Windsor (Preface), El Hagahn (Illustrator)
An Awesome Documentary of Ancient African-Hebrew History
Reviewer:
Discovering almost nonexistence information on the ancient African races was a Delight. Being that I have interviewed African Jews myself I know that Mr. Windsor portrays an accurate account of Hebrewisms scattered to the four corners of the earth. He also references several Bible verse that support his idea. This book reads more like a documentary. After reading the Biblical account of the conditions that the Hebrews were prophesied to live in one would know that there is no way that the Jews in Israel today could meet the prophecy guidelines of ancient times. Windsor also points out the origin of the white races. Buy this book and he talks of the first land and people to practice monotheism. This Book awesomely sums up the history of the Black Israelites, and their Black alien god.
African Origins of Major “Western Religions”
by Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan, Yosef B. Jochannan
Book Description:
African Origins of the Major “Western Religions” first published in 1970, continues to be one of Dr. Ben’s most thought-provoking works. This critical examination of the history, beliefs and myths, remains instructive and fresh. By highlighting the African influences and roots of these religions, Dr. Ben reveals an untold history that many would prefer to forget.
Ancient Future: The Teachings and Prophetic Wisdom of the Seven Hermetic Laws of Ancient Egypt
by Wayne Chandler
Reader comment:
I have had my life transformed by the informative information in this book. This book is full of illuminating pearls of knowledge that can propel ones soul and spirit through the cosmos of reality to a level of spiritual awareness and enlightenment unknown to modern men. with this book ancient future, professor chandler has laid the modern day blue print for people of all ethnicities to return to a spiritual consciousness that will ensure their survival from the coming spiritual and electromagnetic surge of energy that is about to be unleashed upon the inhabitants of the earth. He talks about transcending the negative and receiving the positive surge of electromagnetic energy that will shoot through our mind, body, soul and spirit. If we are not in the right frame of mind this energy and electromagnetic gravitational pull will cause mankind to lose his mind and self destruct.
This is a must read book for all races of the world and it should be translated in all languages of the world. For the time is at hand for we are about to enter the Age of Aquarius. This book Ancient Future by Mr. Wayne B. Chandler is truly a prophetic book of wisdom and its timely unveiling is not coincidental by no stretch of the imagination, but divinely inspired by the all (or creative force of the universe) this book Ancient Future will change forever the way you view ancient and past civilizations. It will also help you understand the mindset and the psyche of other races as it pertains to their thinking processes and their reactions to cause and effect and also their historical ancestral profiles.
Egypt in Africa
by Theodore Celenko (Editor)
A reader from Oklahoma:
Egypt in Africa is a great book based on a great museum exhibit and it’s good to see it available through amazon.com. The book avoids the two popular extremes of denying all of the African roots and setting of Egyptian civilization and of claiming that anything and everything worth while in western civilization was African in origin. (This book makes it clear that Africa contributed so much that it’s foolish to discredit its valid claims by exaggeration.) Instead the book is a calm, objective, and persuasive as well as readible and clear look at Egypt in its African context. If you want to understand the “big picture” when it comes to ancient Egypt, you really need this book. A professor of art history.
Click HereThe Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume One: From the Pharaohs
to the Fall of the Roman Empire
by Frank M. Snowden Jr., etc.
During the fifteenth century BC, the pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty established an empire extending from the Euphrates to the Fourth Cataract (Nubia). The southern conquests brought Egyptians into direct contact with black populations who continued to resist and counterattack. In the previous millennium black warriors and captives had occasionally appeared in the art of Egypt, Crete, and Cyprus. The Image of the Black in Western Art shows us, from the mid-fifteenth century to Tutankhamun’s painted box depicting blacks in Egyptian art increasingly portrayed realistic and unmistakable Negroes.
Africa: The Story of a Continent Programs 01-02 (1986)
(VIDEO)
Presenter Basil Davidson
Based largely on images from caves, pyramids, and tombs, Different but Equal, in volume 1 of the four-video series Africa: The Story of a Continent, presents an overview of early African cultures, with an introduction to classical Egypt and a more detailed study of Meroë. One of presenter Basil Davidson’s main theses, supported by period sources from both Africa and Europe, is that racism was not commonplace in classic or medieval interactions between Europe and Africa. In the series’ outstanding second episode, Mastering a Continent, Davidson focuses on three contemporary African societies and the different ways they have adapted to thrive in their environments. He features the iron working and farming advances of the Nok people in Nigeria and the elaborate system of religious belief of the Dogon in Mali. The discussion of northern Kenya’s cattle-raising Pokat people is truly exceptional. Davidson does a spectacular job of demonstrating the elaborate complexity of what may by some be mistakenly considered a primitive society. Fascinating personal interviews with a Pokat woman about men and women’s work and with a Pokat man about what a man needs before he can marry are the highlight of this well-done anthropological study. –Tara Chace
Description:
For centuries, Africa was ravished by the slave trade, which has distorted our view of its people. In Program One, Davidson shows that Africa gave rise to some of the world’s greatest civilizations. In Program Two, Davidson focuses on three different communities to see how African peoples carve out an existence in an often hostile environment.
Opening to Spirit : Contacting the Healing Power of the Chakras and Honouring African Spirituality
by Caroline Shola Arewa
A gifted spiritual guide and a yoga master illustrates the common root of many of our spiritual traditions through the mythology and spirituality of Ancient Egypt, Early India and West Africa. 8 color plates. 40 line drawings.
Book Description:
The chakras are wheels of energy inside the body. This ancient system is often thougth to have emerged from the yogic traditions of India, but in Opening to Spirit, Caroline Shola Arewa explores the importance of the chakras to the ancient Africans and Egyptians. She illustrates the common root of many of our spiritual traditions through the mythology and spirituality of Ancient Egypt, Early India and West Africa.
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
by Malidoma Patrice Some
In the recent years there has been a surge of interest in indigenous tribal life and practices, as Western peoples start to feel the stirrings of their own indigenous tribal souls and go looking for answers to those who still possess the connection with the Land and the Spirit. While a lot has been published about Native American (both North and South), Tibetan, Altaic, Celtic etc., tribal life, rather little is known about Africa. Malidoma Some’s book therefore provides a welcome and highly inspiring contribution.
Any westerner who has ever wanted to know how an African thinks should read this book.
Introduction to African Civilizations
by John G. Jackson, Runoko Rashidi, John Henrik Clarke (Introduction)
Customer Comments:
This is an excellent book, it unfolds the true history of African people. It deals with the multitude of distortion and how African people have been written out of history. Cause of slavery, racism and white supremist propaganda. He deals with Ethiopia and the origin of civilization, showing how the first human being erected from Africa. If Africa gave birth to mankind then it is logical to accept the fact that Africa gave birth to civilization. He talks about Ethiopia, Ancient Egypt, and Nubia, Ghana, Mali, Songhay, etc. He systematical shows how Africans even engaged in sea voyages with ample proof and evidence. This is an excellent, objective and well rounded book.
Mr. Jackson was not just an able scholar, but he was a notable writer. This book, as are his others (I’ve read them all), is very easy to read, never going over the heads of those hardly acquainted with the many aspects of African history with which he deals. His chapters on “Egypt and the Evolution of Civilization” and “Africa and the Civilizing of Europe” are worth the entire price of the book. The introduction, by the late Dr. John Henrick Clarke, is one of the best I’ve read. Introduction to African Civilizations is well-documented, and is, in my opinion, a classic written by an academic giant.
Race: The Reality of Human Differences
by Professor Vincent Sarich & Frank Miele
Sarich, a University of California, Berkeley emeritus anthropologist, and Miele, an editor of Skeptic magazine, cannot resist calling the current view that “race does not exist” a “PC dogma.” They make cogent, if not convincing, arguments of their case in three areas. Race as a concept, they argue, considerably antedates colonial Europe, presenting such examples as an “Egyptian tomb with four races” (as one caption calls a tomb painting) that may point up “awareness” of difference, but whether that awareness correlates to concepts of “race” as currently defined remains unproven. Several chapters are heavy going on DNA-based research into the origin and differentiation of Homo sapiens, here interpreted as branching off from the other hominids recently enough to make differences among people very minor but, in the authors’ view, significant. They move from the Human Genome Project into their final section, in which differences in intelligence are said to correlate to a concept of race (but are not said to be a justification for discrimination). This last argument is predicated on what will seem to many readers an excessive faith in IQ tests.
The authors accepts the Out-of-Africa theory of human origins based on DNA, mtDNA, and
Y chromosome data. They do show how that data supports Out-of-Africa theory.
Click here
African Religions & Philosophy
by John S. Mbiti
African Religions and Philosophy is a systematic study of the attitudes of mind and belief that have evolved in the many societies of Africa. In this second edition, Dr Mbiti has updated his material to include the involvement of women in religion, and the potential unity to be found in what was once thought to be a mass of quite separate religions.
Mbiti adds a new dimension to the understanding of the history, thinking, and life throughout the African continent. Religion is approached from an African point of view but is as accessible to readers who belong to non-African societies as it is to those who have grown up in African nations.
Since its first publication, this book has become acknowledged as the standard work in the field of study, and it is essential reading for anyone concerned with African religion, history, philosophy, anthropology or general African studies.
Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many
by Erik Hornung, John Baines (Translator)
The late Egyptologist Frank Joseph Yurco recommended Erik Hornung’s book, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, translated by John Baines (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982). As he explained, the ancient Egyptians believed that god could reveal himself or herself in any aspect they chose. Thus, the God, Re, had 76 different forms, illustrated in the Ramesside tombs, but he could also be viewed as the solar disk, with the scarab and ram-headed form within; for a Trinitarian expression of the sun god, Re, in the daytime, Khepri in the morning; Aten at noon; and Re-Harakhti in the evening. Other major deities also had multiple forms, for instance Hathor, who could be a full cow in form, or a woman with cow’s ears, or a totally human woman, or a woman in a tree offering cool water to the deceased. In one story she appears to a herdsman, with a furry coat that scares him out of his wits, but the following day, she appears as a beautiful woman, with long hair.
It is this way of identifying deities that gave the Egyptians the ability to interchange images, yet see them as one or more deities, or combine differing deities into one, for instance Amun-Re, combining Amun with Re. So too the goddesses had the power to express themselves in differing forms. That is why Mut can have a lioness’ head, or a human head, wear the double crown, or a solar disk when in leonine form. Hornung’s book lays this out in beautiful detail.
Another book that Dr. Yurco recommended when he taught courses on ancient Egyptian religion is Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion, translated by Ann Keep (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976).
Ancient Civilizations of Africa
(General History of Africa, Vol. 2)
by G. Mokhtar
Published: 1990
Volume II covers the period beginning at the close of the Neolithic era, from around the eighth millennium before our era. This period of some nine thousand years of history has been sub-divided into four major geograophical zones, following the pattern of African historical research. Chapter 1 to 12 cover the corridor of the Nile, Egypt and Nubia. Chapters 13 to 16 relate to the Ethiopian highlands. Chapter 17 to 20 describe the part of Africa later called the Maghrib and its Saharan hinterland, and Chapters 21 to 20, the rest of Africa as well as some of the islands in the Indian Ocean.
By far the largest proportion of Volume II is devoted to the ancient civilization of Egypt because of its pre-eminent place in the early history of Africa.
Lost Cities of Africa
by Basil Davidson (Author)
Book Description:
Combining archeological evidence and scholarly research, Davidson traces the exciting development of the rich kingdoms of the lost cities of Africa, fifteen hundred years before European ships first came to African shores.
Historical Deception: The Untold Story of Ancient Egypt
by Moustafa Gadalla
Historical Deception: The Untold Story Of Ancient Egypt provides a fresh, exciting and reader-friendly study of ancient Egyptian history — a history which has suffered from the ingrained prejudices of religious scholars (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) who deny that Egypt is the source of their creeds (especially monotheism); and rationalist scholars denying the existence of science and philosophy prior to the Greeks. Historical Deception is a much needed correction to a great deal of historical distortion, suppression and denial. Historical Deception is a lively, engaging, stimulating, provocative reading, easy to read and difficult to put down.
Readers comment:
This text presents soundly based historical information that is well-researched and clearly understandable relating to the chronology of biblical events and participants. Citing sources such as the Koran, the Torah, the Talmud, the Hebrew Massoretic text of the Old Testament, and the Greek Septuagint text of the Old Testament, along with a multitude of references to more modern historical works, the author provides a realistic and reasonable explanation for many biblical puzzles and apparent inconsistencies.
The Golden Age of the Moor (Journal of African Civilizations,
Vol 11, Fall 1991)
by Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)
Excerpts:
Who are these Moors? The Moors are black people indigenous to Mauretania. “Mr. Chandler tells us of a different race of Moors who were known as Garamantes/Caucasians, they intermarried with the Black Moors, thus became the ‘tawny Moors’ or ‘white Moors’.”
According to Anthropologist, Dana Reynolds, the original Black Berbers, who were called Moors, were the North African ancestors of the present day dark-brown and dark-black peoples of the Sahara and the Sahel, mainly those called Fulani, Tuareg, Zenagha of Southern Morocco, Kunta and Tebbu of the Sahel countries as well as other black Arabs now living in Mauretania and throughout the Sahel, they include Trarza of Mauretania and Senegal, the Mogharba as well as dozens of other Sudanese tribes, the Chaamba of Chad and Algeria. Apart from her very detailed study of the origins and affiliations of the various tribes, she points out that the Africans involved in the Moorish occupation of Iberia did not just build remarkable things in Europe but also in their native lands. They founded and constructed many industrious and prosperous towns all over the north of Africa and as far south as Timbuktu. The ruins of their many castles can be seen as much in Northern Africa as in Andalusia.
The Westerners have chosen to concentrate on the most recent world of the Arab and Berber-speaking peoples and present it as if it is a world that has always been. “It is like comparing the Aztecs of five hundred years ago with the ethnic mix of America today,” wrote Reynolds. “The story of when North Africa was Moorish and Arabia, the land of Saracens, has yet to be told.”
Oromia: An Introduction to the History of the Oromo People
by Gadaa Melbaa
Book Description:
An account of the struggle of the Oromo people to affirm their place in history. The Oromo make up a significant portion of the Horn of Africa population. Oromia is a title used to refer to the Oromo as a political, cultural, and social entity. Living in East African nations, the Oromo people are largely unknown to most of the world; this work lifts up the people, their culture, and their struggles.
Within the book by Petrie, A History of Egypt (1896) he mentions a group of people in ancient Egypt by the name of Galla also called Oromo. Petrie wrote: “It has long been ago been remarked that the black sphinxes, later appropriated by the Hyksos, approximated to the Galla type of Abyssinia”.
“This starts an enquiry how the Galla connection could thus appear on monuments. In the clearance and planning of the rock tombs at Qau, Antaeopolis, the peculiar plan of those tombs, with great halls and small chambers annexed, was observed to be closely parallel to that of later Nubian temples. In both tomb and temple the chief work is in the solid rock, while the forecourt is of masonry constructed in front of it. Another peculiarity was the hammer-work excavation of one tomb, which had evidently been done with stone balls, as in the Aswan granite working, and this implies a southern connection. These people do not appear in any records, and all their monuments have been reappropriated. They left, however, a most striking style of sculpture, in the sphinxes which were later removed to Tanis, but seem originally to have come from El Kab, where a piece of such a sphinx has been found.The type is closely like that of the Galla. The evidence that all the earlier sculptures of Tanis were collected there by Ramessu II seems clear; and that these sphinxes are earlier than the Hyksos is certain by those kings having appropriated them. No period seems so likely for them as the 7th to the 10th dynasties. The type was heavily bearded, with bushy hair”. Petrie, 1896
Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century
(General History of Africa, Vol. 3)
by I. Hrbek
Published: 1992
The period covered in Volume III is dominated by two movements of major and lating significance in the history of Africa. The influence of Islam was increasing in the north and west; it was interacting with traditional African culture. In the south there was the Bantu expansion.
The book first places Africa in the context of world history at the opening of the seventh century, before examining the general impact of Islamic penetration, the continuing expansion of the Bantu-speaking peoples, and the growth of civilizations in the Sudanic zones of West Africa.
Detailed chapters discussing the successive Islamic dynasties of North Africa and their wider contacts, Christian Nubia, the civilizations of the savannas, forests and coast of West Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Madagascar’s internal development and international contacts.
Three concluding chapters trace the African diaspora in Asia, examine international relations and the spread of technology and ideas within Africa, and assess the overall impact of the period on African history.
The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at its 16th Session instructed the Director-General to undertake the drafting of a General History of Africa. The enormous task of implementing the project was entrusted to an International Scientific Committee which was established by the Executive Board in 1970. The Committee has decided to present the work covering over three million years of African history in eight volumes, each containing about four hundred pages of text with illustrations, photographs, maps and line drawings. The General History of Africa also clearly brings out Africa’s relations with southern Asia across the Indian Ocean and the African contributions to other civilizations through mutual exchanges.
The General History of Africa is, in large measure, a faithful reflection of the way in which African authors view their own civilization. With the appointment of the 39-member International Scientific Committee, two-thirds African and one-third non-African, which assumes intellectual responsibility for the General History of Africa.
“One of the most ambitious academic projects to be undertaken in this century.”
Africa in the Nineteenth Century Until the 1880s
(General History of Africa, Vol. 4)
by J. F. Ade Ajayi
Published: 1998
Volume VI covers the history of Africa from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the onset of the European “scramble” for colonial territory in the 1880s.
In spite of a growing European commercial, religious and political presence during the century, outside influences were felt indirectly by most African societies, and they made a variety of culturally distinctive attempts to modernize, expand and develop. Two influential sequences of events – the Mfecane in Southern Africa with its ramifications in Central and East Africa, and the movements of Muslim reformers in West Africa – owed little or nothing to foreign influence and figures prominently in eight of the chapters.
The book opens with four thematic chapters examining the major forces at work in African society at the beginning of the century; Africa’s changing role in the world-economy; new trends and processes; and the effects of the abolition of the slave trade. These are followed by twenty-three chapters detailing developments in the various regions. Two concluding chapters trace the African diaspora and assess the state of the Continent’s political, economic and cultural development on the eve of the European conquest.
Daily Life of the Nubians
by Robert Steven Bianchi
Published: 2004
Description:
Until recently little was known about ancient Nubia and day-to-day lives of the Nubian people aside from knowing it was a civilization contemporary with, distinct from, and living under the shadow of Ancient Egypt. Nubia existed from about 3500-300 BCE, close to 3,000 years. Thanks to recent massive archeological surveys, we now have a much clearer picture of Nubian civilization, what they ate, how they dressed, how they cared for their dead, their military triumphs and defeats, where their cities were built, and what they looked like. Of course they underwent dramatic changes over time, and these are noted where appropriate. Though often confused with the Ethiopians of Greek lore, little doubt remains that Nubians were in fact black African peoples, and their civilization has been claimed by many as proof of a sophisticated and ancient black African society.
For ease of use by students, the work is organized chronologically. Each chapter is divided into convenient subheads that detail military and warfare, government, language, relations with neighboring civilizations; work and the economy, engineering and architecture, housing, transportation, family life, life cycle events, women’s roles, art, music and dance, literature, science, and religion. It includes a historical timeline of Nubian history, a glossary of Nubian terms, and a bibliography for further reading. Throughout the work, Bianchi, an expert on the Nubians, shows how the modern world has little by little come to discover and recognize the distinctiveness and importance of Nubia in ancient history. This work will replace all earlier resources on Nubian life and will provide school and public librarians with the most up-to-date and historically correct information on the Nubians.
Greater Ethiopia : The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society
by Donald N. Levine
Published: 2000
Editorial Reviews:
Greater Ethiopia combines history, anthropology, and sociology to answer two major questions. Why did Ethiopia remain independent under the onslaught of European expansionism while other African political entities were colonized? And why must Ethiopia be considered a single cultural region despite its political, religious, and linguistic diversity?
Donald Levine’s interdisciplinary study makes a substantial contribution both to Ethiopian interpretive history and to sociological analysis. In his new preface, Levine examines Ethiopia since the overthrow of the monarchy in the 1970s.
“Ethiopian scholarship is in Professor Levine’s debt. . . . He has performed an important task with panache, urbanity, and learning.”–Edward Ullendorff, Times Literary Supplement
“Upon rereading this book, it strikes the reader how broad in scope, how innovative in approach, and how stimulating in arguments this book was when it came out. . . . In the past twenty years it has inspired anthropological and historical research, stimulated theoretical debate about Ethiopia’s cultural and historical development, and given the impetus to modern political thinking about the complexities and challenges of Ethiopia as a country. The text thus easily remains an absolute must for any Ethiopianist scholar to read and digest.”-J. Abbink, Journal of Modern African Studies
Culture and Customs of Egypt (Culture and Customs of Africa)
by Molefi K. Asante
Book Description:
Modern Egypt blends African history and geography with Arab culture and religion. With its position at the crossroads of Africa, its status as a major Islamic nation, and continuing interest in its ancient monuments, Egypt makes for fascinating study. This volume provides an accessible, up-to-date overview of a society that greatly evolved, yet retains traces of attitudes and behaviors from the days of the Pharaohs.
About the Author:
Molefi Kete Asante is Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University. He is the author of more than 50 books, including The Egyptian Philosophers (2000).
Upper Egypt: Life Along the Nile
by Nicholas S. Hopkins (Editor)
Book Description:
Upper Egypt. Life along the Nile describes life in the southern part of Egypt in the twentieth century. The book represents some of the most recent social and cultural research in the area, and it focuses on aspects of Egypt that tend to disappear in the background of the attractions that tourists see. The authors have done field research in Upper Egypt. This is one of the few recent books contributing to our understanding of this neglected region, which is based on first hand knowledge of local conditions. The book contains articles on agriculture and irrigation, language, religious life among Muslims and Christians, Sufism, customary law, crafts and craftsmen, and tribalism.
Book has lots of photos of modern Egyptians.
Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile
Excellent coffee table book: 12.5 x 9.4 x 1.4 inches; Sudan possesses, among other things,
223 pyramids. This book has 400 pages of color photos of Nubian Kings & Queens, and their artifacts and treasures. Nubian photos you will not find on the internet.
Contents: The Prehistory of Sudan; 6,000 years ago; A-Group and Pre-Kerma; The First Kingdoms;
C-Group; The Kingdom of Kerma; Egypt in Sudan; The Image of the Nubian in Egyptian Art; Napata and the Kushite Dynasty; Kings of the Sacred Mountain; Napata and the Kushite Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt; The Kingdom of Napata and Meroe; The Kingdom of Meroe; Meroitic Writing and Language; The Meroitic Pantheon; Meroitic Treasure; Meroitic Ceramics; Meroe and Hellenism;
Late Meroitic Culture; Meroitic Architecture
Authors: Salah Mohamed Ahmed; Charles Bonnet; Fredrich Hinkel; Hassan Hussein Idris; Timothy Kendall; Lech Krzyzaniak; Jean Leclant; Karl-Heinz Priese; Jacques Reinold; Dietrich Wildung
Early Art and Architecture of Africa (Oxford History of Art)
by Peter Garlake
“There is nothing else like it. A sure guide to the Africa of ancient marvels and scenes of confrontation in times and places long forgotten or unknown.” Basil Davidson
This new history of over 5000 years of African art reveals its true diversity for the first time. Challenging centuries of misconceptions that have obscured the sophisticated nature of African art, Peter Garlake uses the latest research and archaeological findings to offer exciting new insights into the period between 20,000 BC and 1500 AD. All the main regions are covered: southern Africa, Nubia, Aksum, the Niger River, West Africa, Great Zimbabwe, and the East African coast.
Acknowledging the universal allure of the African art object, this book restores it to its original social and historical context, helping us to understand more about the ways in which this art was produced, used, and received.
• 112 illustrations with 64 in full colour
• Invaluable guides to museums, galleries, and websites
The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan
by David N. Edwards
348 pages
Routledge (October 30, 2004)
In this book David Edwards, a distinguished specialist in Sudanese archaeology, provides the readers with a very useful and exhaustive outline of the history of the Sudan during the Holocene (from c. 10,000 BC to the present), mainly on the basis of the archaeological evidence which has been brought to light in the last thirty years.
The book is divided into nine chapters about the following topics: Nubia, the Sudan and
Sudanic Africa; Hunters, fishers and gatherers (c. 10,000–5000 BC); The Neolithic (c. 5000–3000 BC);
Kerma and Bronze Age Kush; The Kushite Revival (XXV Dynasty and kingdom of Napata);
Meroitic Kush (c. 300 BC–AD 350); Post-Meroitic transitions (c. AD 350–550); Medieval Nubia
(c. AD 500–1500); and Post-medieval Sudan and Islam (c. AD 1500–1900).
The Rescue of Jerusalem: The Alliance Between Hebrews
and Africans in 701 B.C.
(Paperback – 444 pages – Soho Press (April 1, 2003)
by Henry T. Aubin
From Library Journal:
Aubin argues that the Kushite rescue of Jerusalem from certain annihilation in 701 B.C.E. instigated the Jewish concept of being God’s “elect” and was therefore a seminal event in the development of Zionism. Dealing competently with the biblical and historical sources despite what some might see as a lack of formal training in this area (he is a journalist instead of a historian, though he did do graduate work in history at the University of Strasbourg), Aubin asserts that the Kushites black Africans who ruled Egypt at this time saved the city from destruction by the Assyrians. According to Aubin, historians accepted this view until the late 19th century, when colonialism impinged on the European perception of these events; suddenly, the theory that an epidemic weakened the Assyrian army rose to prominence. Aubin asserts that this was one of the most important battles in history; had the Assyrians wiped out Jerusalem, there would have been no Christianity or Islam. Whether or not one accepts his conclusions, this work is a wonderful exercise in historiography. Recommended for all academic libraries. Clay Williams, Hunter College Library, City University New York
The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile
by Dominique Valbelle & Charles Bonnet
Product Details:
Hardcover; 216 pages
Published: February 2007
Description:
In 2003, a Swiss archaeological team working in northern Sudan uncovered one of the most remarkable Egyptological finds in recent years. At the site known as Kerma, near the third cataract of the Nile, archaeologist Charles Bonnet and his team discovered a ditch within a temple from the ancient city of Pnoubs, which contained seven monumental black granite statues. Magnificently sculpted, and in an excellent state of preservation, they portrayed five pharaonic rulers, including Taharqa and Tanoutamon, the last two pharaohs of the ‘Nubian’ Dynasty, when Egypt was ruled by kings from the lands of modern-day Sudan. For over half a century, the Nubian pharaohs governed a combined kingdom of Egypt and Nubia, with an empire stretching from the Delta to the upper reaches of the Nile.
The seven statues, with their exquisite workmanship, transform our understanding of the art of this period. In particular, the colossal statue of Taharqa–almost certainly done by an Egyptian sculptor–is a masterpiece of stone artwork. Beautifully illustrated with over 170 color photographs, The Nubian Pharaohs illuminates the epic history of this little-known historical era, when the pharaohs of Egypt came from Sudan. In this major new book, which combines the latest archaeological research with stunning photography, Charles Bonnet and Dominique Valbelle narrate the incredible story of their discovery–one that will change our understanding of Egypt and Africa in the ancient world.
Genesis of the Pharaohs
by Toby Wilkinson
Product Details: 208 pages; (2003)
Peer Review Excerpt:
Genesis of the Pharaohs: Genesis of the ‘Ka’ and Crowns?
by Timothy Kendall, Archaeologist
In his Genesis of the Pharaohs, Toby Wilkinson shines new light on the Predynastic by demonstrating that the majority of rock drawings in the Eastern Desert of Upper Egypt date to Naqada I (c. 4000–3500 BC). Since the petroglyphs depict wild African fauna, hunters with bows and dogs, and men herding cattle, it is clear that the now nearly lifeless region up to 100 km east of the Nile between Quft and Hierakonpolis was at this time a well-watered, well-populated, game-rich savanna. That the rock artists were not mere isolated pastoralists but also part-time Nile dwellers is evident because their works commonly include boats. This implies that the artists probably moved from river to range in seasonal cycles. Because of this, and the fact that so many of the drawings echo subjects in later Egyptian art, Wilkinson makes a compelling case that the rock artists were the ancestors of the dynastic Egyptians. His conclusion: “the heavy reliance of these people on herding and hunting rather than agriculture suggests that their roots — and indeed the roots of Egyptian civilization — lay not so much along the Nile but in the pre-arid Sahara.”
Learn to read hieroglyphics
Egyptian Language Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics
by E. A. Wallis Budge (The father of Egyptology)
This remains the classic introductory volumn for beginners.
also purchase:
Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, Vols 1 & 2 by E. A. Wallis Budge
This should be on every students shelf.
King Solomon & the Queen of Sheba
by Blu Greenberg, Linda Tarry, Avi Katz (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Reviewer:
I picked up this book at the library as reading material for my 17-month-old son. He (and I) loved the illustrations. I appreciated it being a real Bible story, and a history lesson–marvelously illustrated in 48 pages; but this books goes where most authors and illustrators don’t. You won’t see this version of the story in movie theatres. I did additional research to verify the accuracy of its’ contents and I discoverd everything to be valid. This book should be read by all African-American children (and adults). They won’t read about their kings and queens in textbooks as others are portrayed–which is a dis-service to their culture. I purchased three copies for myself and will be purchasing more as gifts.
Sudan Ancient Treasures: An Exhibition Of Recent Discoveries
From The Sudan National Museum
by Derek A. Welsby (Editor), Julie R. Anderson (Editor)
Published: 2004
Hardcover: 336 pages; Over 300 color photos of artifacts
Description:
A comprehensive survey of Sudanese ancient cultures, the history of archaeology in Sudan, current work and recent trends. The Sudan is the largest country in Africa. For millennia it has been the zone of contact between the peoples of Central Africa and those emanating from the Mediterranean world. The National Museum in Khartoum houses one of the finest collections of antiquities from the Nile Valley and is of international importance; however, the vast quantity of material is in store and has rarely if ever been seen by the public. This exhibition will seek to display some of the finest objects produced during all phases of human settlement from the Palaeolithic through to the Islamic period.
Ancient African Metallurgy: The Sociocultural Context
by Michael S. Bisson, S. Terry Childs, Philip De Barros, Augustin F. C. Holl, and
Joseph O. Vogel (Foreword, Editor)
Book Description:
Gold. Copper. Iron. Metal working in Africa has been the subject of both public lore and extensive archaeological investigation. In this volume, four leading archaeologists attempt to provide a complete synthesis of current debates and understandings: Where how and when was metal first introduced to the continent? How were iron and copper tools, implements, and objects used in everyday life, in trade, in political and cultural contexts? What role did metal objects play in the ideological systems of precolonial African peoples? Substantive chapters address the origins of metal working and the technology and the various uses and meanings of copper and iron. An ethnoarchaeological account in the words of a contemporary iron worker enriches the archaeological explanations. This book provides a comprehensive, timely summary of our current knowledge. This volume will be of great value to scholars and students of archaeology, African history, and the history of technology.