Africa in the World - Essay Example

Africa in the World Introduction This book dwells on Africa and people living in Africa. The book gives a clear picture about the past events of Africa and perception of historians on these events. Africa is a large continent with many cultures and languages that are found in the fifty nations. Africa is the cradle of humankind as it is believed that humans evolved from Africa, and it posses the world’s ancient civilization of pharaonic Egypt. The book outlines the history of African continent across the diverse countries.

This book analyzes changes that have taken place in the African continent from the past to the present1. The book does not focus on history as a representation of past events but it also considers the history as a sequence of actual events. Discussions in the book are illustrated by several events from the continent as well as emerging issues from African Diaspora. Many issues and problems have risen from African past. These issues have helped understand Africa and history as a discipline. An Idea of African History The past of Africa is a challenging topic because it is associated with physical immensity as well as diversity in the past.

African history has been so contentious since it is taken as insignificant and embraced as weapons by other people2. Writing African history brings an assumption that the continent has some unity beyond the similarity in geographical features that differentiates it from other parts of the world. African history raises a perception of race since African history is seen as history of black people. The question of whether African history ought to encompass both the south and north of Sahara desert or it encompasses that of sub-Saharan is asked often.

If it encompasses those of sub-Saharan, the history needs to include Africans who are in Diaspora. Africans in Diaspora include those who were taken as slaves by the Americans and Asians. It is often asked whether African history is part of the universal truth as that of other continents, or it needs to be studied according to its own logic. Many historians from inside and outside African continent are debating on the issues of African history. Historians are divided on the definition of study in African history.

African history is tremendously vast, but it is also a new discipline, hence, controversies by the historians. African history emerged during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Europeans perceived Africa as a continent with no history. Europeans considered Africans societies as primitive and unchanging; thus, they did not posses any collective history. This form of racism was part of European imperialism and was bases of African partition during the 19th century. Even with the collapse of pseudo scientific racial hierarchies after the chaos of the world war two, Europeans still has doubts about the validity of African history.

European doubters on the validity of African history were wrong because Africans had their own way of the past. African history is a discipline learnt in modern universities, and it has been recognized as an academic discipline like that of other colonized and marginalized people. For people to understand African contours they need to understand its history. These two subjects are not easily separated because to understand Africa as a place we need to understand African history3. Historians who were suspicious have started to uncover political and sociological issues that are significant in connection to Africa history.

This uncovering is associated with the different perception of individuals in the world and changes that occur in the world. It is also connected with Europeans perception to different cultures of the Asians and Africans. Complexity and changes in culture contributes enormously to recognition of African history. Europeans take Africa as an exotic prism where they refract images of themselves and others. This is evident because before the 20th century people from African did not perceive themselves as Africans.

The word Africans is derived from the classical civilizations of the nexus in the ancient Mediterranean. Greeks predicated a 3-way division of the Mediterranean naming it southern shores of Libya. Egypt is found between Libya and Asia and river Nile divides the two realms. Greeks believed that Libyans have an unclear racial connotation since it was used to separate people of the Mediterranean coast from dark skinned Ethiopians. Observers from Greek divided people from Libya into many tribes. Conclusion Africa is a large continent with many cultures and languages that are found in the fifty nations.

The past of Africa is a challenging topic because it is associated with physical immensity as well as diversity in the past. African history emerged during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Many issues and problems have risen from African past. These issues have helped understand Africa and history as a discipline. European doubters on the validity of African history were wrong because Africans had their own way of the past. Bibliography Parker, John and Rathbone, Richard. African History: A Very Short Introduction.

New York: Oxford university press. 2007