Sources about African History and Culture

"The Niger River system flows more than two thousand miles through West Africa from the highlands of the Republic of Guinea to Mali, Niger, Benin and finally empties into the Atlantic Ocean along the Nigerian Coast. The river actually splits the Republic of Nigeria, one of Africa's most important nations, into two halves and is the source of its name. During the Medieval Period from 1,000 A.D. to 1,600 A.D., the Niger River Valley was the center of African Islamic Civilization that produced the great Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhay which were famous for their gold trade across the Sahara with the Mediterranean world. This Sudanic Civilization with its mixture of traditional African cultural systems and Islam was based on agricultural development combined with extensive commercial activity in several city-states, such as Kumbi-Kumbi, Gao, Mopti, Djene, Kano, Sokota, Zaire and Timbuctoo which was famous for its trading and its University of Sankore. Several Arab scholars visited these empires and wrote about their prosperity, the peace and safety throughout the land and the fairness of their systems of justice and administration. The Empire of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay rose to prominence during the period of the Middle Ages when Europe was suffering from the chaos and confusion of the Crusades, feudal wars and the Dark Ages.
The Congo River system is one of the World's greatest watersheds and rivals the Amazon River Valley. It is the center of the great rain forest or so-called jungle that is located in Central Africa. During the slave trading era the Africans of the Congo River Valley and adjacent areas were the victims of a double attack by slave raiders. They were initially victimized by the Arabs raiding from the North and East and later by the Europeans raiding from the West and South. These events triggered continuous warfare among Africans. On the international scale they triggered conflicts and wars among Europeans. This period represents a very sad chapter in African and World history." - Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Jr., "The African Americans Search for Truth and Knowledge"


"Afrocentricity is not a theory just for the African diaspora. In fact, Afrocentricity is fundamentally rooted on the continent of Africa where it has its largest following. Furthermore, Swahili was not been proposed as a Diasporan African language but as a language to unite Africans. It is a very logical choice and the l977 FESTAC colloquium held in Lagos, Nigeria, concluded that it would make an excellent choice for the international African world since it was least attached to a large ethnic group such as Yoruba or Hausa. At any rate, no African slaves were brought to the Americas, only African people were brought here." - Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, "A Quick Reading of Rhetorical Jingoism: Anthony Appiah and his Fallacies"


"This book deals in some detail with the migration throughout West Africa only. This is not to underestimate and/or neglect the dispersion of Egyptians and/or Egypt model society, to east, central and southern Africa. Such dispersion was caused by foreign invasions and the Islamic onslaughts on Western Africa in the 11th century. Substantial archeological evidence shows that there was a significant population growth between 750 and 1110 C E [i.e. AD], accompanied by the emergence of a dozen or so stable and distinct regional traditions, which flourished in central and eastern Africa. These new societies had the same features of the ancient Egyptian model government, beliefs, and building technologies. The dispersion to central and southern Africa in the 11th century, began from near the Upper Bennu River, to the Congo and Southern Africa. Academia and records tell us that this was the largest migration in Africa’s history. These people, who are called Bantu, created states that emerged in Africa’s interior without any reference to events at the coast." — Moustafa Gadalla, “Exiled Egyptians: The Heart of Africa


Here's another good source: "And lastly, just remember that when you see the Ashantis, the Yorubas, and all the other African people, they were not always where they are now. Arab and European slavery made the African migrate from one part of the African world to the other; that is why you can see in Akan culture as written by the African writer Dr. J. B. Danquah, the people with the same hair-cut, and the same beads and jewelry system as Queen Nefertari (the wife of Pharaoh Rameses II in the Nineteenth Dynasty), and Queen Nefertiti (the wife of Pharaoh Akhnaton in the Eighteen Dynasty). It is too much to speak about it, really." - Yosef ben-Jochannan, "Nile Valley Civilization and the Spread of African Culture"