History

Humankind as a biological species appeared, most probably, in Africa, and later spread all over the world. But at the era of emergence of great civilizations in the Middle East and in other regions of Eurasia, most of Sub-Saharan Africa stayed apart. It is true that here, too, evolution was going on: people gradually switched from hunting and gathering to agriculture and cattle-breeding, they learned how to extract iron, some groups of people were pushed from their land by others… However, the lack of written documents leaves us unaware of the details of the ancient history of Africans.

Situation changed in the 7-8th century, when Islam spread to Northern Africa and Arab Muslims organized a lively commerce across the Sahara and the Indian Ocean. They made descriptions of African countries and peoples, their history and customs. Since the 15th century, Europeans accessed the coasts of Africa; their travel notes provide interesting information about the life of the coastal areas at that period. On the other hand, contacts with Arabs and Europeans greatly influenced African societies.

Large periods of African history are quite different from those of Europe and of Asia. Specialists single out the pre-colonial period (sometimes the ancient history, or prehistory, which left no written documents, is put aside), the colonial period, and the period of independence.

Castle in Gondar, the capital  of Ethiopia in 17-18 centuries. Ethiopia. A. A. Nosnitsin. 2006			Wooden figurines of colonizers on the beach  are reminders of the not so close colonial past. Côte d’Ivoire. A. V. Erman. 2007		Stone inscription of the Ezana, the most famous king of Axum. During his reign Aksum was christianized, and a the writing in Ge’ez language was reformed. Aksum. Nosnitsyn D., 2006.
After the independence, monuments to the colonizers were carried from all over the capital to the deserted Portuguese fortress. Sao-Tome. Perekhvalskaya E., 2006.			Typical sight in the Angolan capital: a colonial fortress, a slum, a poster of a mobile phone company. Luanda. Perekhvalskaya E., 2004.		Women on a moto bike is a typical feature of the capital of Burkina Faso. Ouagadougou. Perekhvalskaya E., 2004.