Libraries In The Sand Reveal Africa's Academic Past

[Dover]

Libraries in the sand reveal Africa's academic past By Nick Tattersall
Fri Nov 10, 4:54 AM ET




TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance.

Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand.

The texts were stashed under mud homes and in desert caves by proud Malian families whose successive generations feared they would be stolen by Moroccan invaders, European explorers and then French colonialists.

Written in ornate calligraphy, some were used to teach astrology or mathematics, while others tell tales of social and business life in Timbuktu during its "Golden Age," when it was a seat of learning in the 16th century.

"These manuscripts are about all the fields of human knowledge: law, the sciences, medicine," said Galla Dicko, director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a library housing 25,000 of the texts...cont'd

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061110/sc_nm/mali_manuscripts_dc

[RethugAssKicker]

1. What do you call Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics...

That is African... BLACK AFRICAN... From over 5000 years ago!

I thought these facts have already been proved and the "controversies" settled.

The original Egyptians were BLACK AFRICANS... We do not need to go forward in history all the way to Timbuktu to establish african writing.

[Dover]

2. Very good point!....n/t

[skooooo]

3. still its a great find!

No telling what we can learn from those documents.

[A Simple Game]

5. Do they consider it Mediterranean?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Well now...

That's the matter of some debate. Ancient Egypt as evidenced by it's wonderful paintings appeared to be a rather multi-ethnic society. Certainly it was ruled by sub-Saharan African when it was conquered by Nubia, who held on to it for hundreds of years. Of course, Egypt changed hands plenty of times after being invaded by plenty of different people, the hittites for instance.

The ancient Egyptian language, last I read, was considered a semitic language.

Mali and the the University of Sankore, etc., on the otherhand, is utterly sub-Saharan which probably explains why it goes so ignored by Westerners.

[RethugAssKicker]

7. The debate is old news

Event up to today, most Ancient Egyptian history textbooks was taught by English historians of the 1890s, which had an enormous racist slant to them. They just could not imagine how people who they view with such contempt could be the hiers to that incredible civilization..

The debate was certainly around when I was in school (in the 60s and 70s). My understaning is that most of the history books these days are now finally getting it right. The "nubian" dynasty (the 18th) dynasty is the one you refer to. It is the only dynasty that even the old English racists could not deny was black... But no, Egyptian history is black history, but of course there was much mixing going on over those 3 thousand years.

I will not spend time to convince you, the history is out there for you to see yourself, as long as you do not wear white-tainted glasses.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Who said anything about white people?

As far as I know, they had nothing to do with Egypt until 300 BC.

[Odin2005]

9. The Egyptians are NORTH Africans, North Africans are mostly white

Only in southern Egypt to you start getting a significant amount of sub-Saharan genetic influence.

[RethugAssKicker]

10. So black to you is only sub-saharan ?

Is white to you only North of Spain?.. or North of France?...NONSENSE

Especially when you discuss ANCIENT Egypt.

Do you think the same people who live there now were ther 5000 years ago?

[Odin2005]

12. "Do you think the same people who live there now were ther 5000 years ago?"

Yes, there hasn't been much change in the Egyptian population since ancient times, that is a PROVEN fact, claims that there was a huge iflux of Arabians and Greeks and that Ancient Egyptians originally looked like people from southern Sudan or Ethiopia don't know what the hell they are talking about. Egypt has a genetic gradient going from nearly all North African and Neolithic Near Eastern genetically in the Nile delta to mostly East African genetically in Nubia

[RethugAssKicker]

13. Ancient Egyptian civilization was a black civilization.

Just look at the Sphynx itself!!

And I have been there. I have seen for myself!

[Odin2005]

14. If you are going to believe that BS it's no use continuing this discussion.

[semillama]

15. Ancient Egyptians weren't black. or white. or brown.

they were a blend of all three, most likely. This blogger has laid out the argument for this far more clearly and eloquently than I could, so I point all interested parties to his fine website:
http://mutnodjmetsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/11/black-and-white-of-ancient-egyptian.html

It's quite interesting and logical. Basically, he states that there were some egyptians who probably were the dark Nubian types, as represented in their artwork, while some were more like the levantine peoples. I tend to think they looked like how they represented themselves: A brown skin folk with varying facial features, similar to many modern Eygptians.

[nealmhughes]

4. Add Ethopia to that list and other Nilotic countries...Sudan, Chad, etc.

Not to mention the Coptic libraries in Egypt...who knows what is under the sands of the Sahara?

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Only 1 rec ?? Where are all the historians ? nt