DEDAN KIMATHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

INSTITUTE OF GENERAL STUDIES

CENTRE FOR AFRICAN RENAISSANCE STUDIES

IGS 1201:
AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF AFRICA:
CHRONOLOGY

Prof. Yoporeka SOMET

Ph.D. in Philosophy
Ph.D in Egyptology
1
1- AFRICA – GENERAL CONTEXT: Geography & History

The real size of the African continent

appears to be bigger than shown on most of
the maps:
➢ With 30,37 M square kilometers, Africa is:
▪ 3 times bigger than China (9 M km2)
▪ 3 times bigger than the US (9,8 M km2)
▪ 3 times bigger than Europe (10,53 M km2)
▪ almost twice bigger than Russia (17,1 M
km2 ) and South America (17,84 M km2)
▪ 10 times bigger than India (3,28 M km2)

➢ Africa is also the oldest continent, the

cradle of humankind, and therefore, the
cradle of RATIONALY, ARTS &
TECHNIQUES…

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201. 2

 THE AFRICAN CONTINENT can therefore
accommodate:
➢ Western Europe,
➢ The USA
➢ China
➢ India
➢ Eastern Europe
➢ Japan…

➢ But it has a population of less the 2 billion

inhabitants, which is less than China alone!

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

3
2- CHEIKH ANTA DIOP AND AFRICAN HISTORY

Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986): Historian,

Anthropologist, Linguist, Egyptologist, and Nuclear
physicist, here in his Radiocarbon dating lab in Dakar,
Senegal. He is considered the “father of African History”

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201 4

3- GENERAL INTRODUCTION

A- AFRICA is the birthplace of Humankind, then of rationality, thinking, writing, techniques, sciences,
literature (oral as well as written), cultural values, religion, etc.
B- The apparition of Modern Man/Woman (Homo sapiens sapiens) dates back from 190 000 to 200 000
years, on our continent… This is the common ancestor of ALL humans. He/she was an African, a black
person (Idaltu, Ethiopia).
C- He/she was the inventor and creator of the first civilizations including those presented here…
D- We can therefore assume that this Modern Man/Woman was also versed in sciences, philosophy,
mathematics, arts, architecture, technology, etc.
E- Therefore, Science, Philosophy and Arts cannot be the inventions of the ancient Greeks alone, during
the 6th century BC, as we have been taught…
F- Most of the first Greek scholars referred to Kemet (ancient Egypt) as the source of their learning: Thales,
Pythagoras, Eudoxus, Plato, Aristotle, etc.
According to Plutarch (46 – 125 AD), a Roman philosopher and historian of Antiquity: “the wisest of the
Greeks: Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, came to Egypt and consorted with the priests, and in this
number some include Lycurgus also. Eudoxus, they say, received instruction from Chonuphis of Memphis,
Solon from Sonchis of Saïs, and Pythagoras from Oenuphis of Heliopolis. Pythagoras, as it seems, was
greatly admired, and he also greatly admired the Egyptian priests, and, copying their symbolism and
occult teachings, incorporated his doctrine in enigmas…” (Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, chapter 10)

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

5
G- Most, if not all of them have travelled to Kemet, in the Nile Valley, to be instructed and educated by
Ancient Egyptian scholars in disciplines such as Philosophy, Mathematics, Astronomy, Chemistry,
Architecture, Law, etc.
According to Diogenes Laertius (180 – 240), Thales “had no instructor, except that he went to Egypt and
spent some time with the priests there” (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the eminent Philosophers, Book 1, 2)
The same historian wrote about Pythagoras: “He was in Egypt when Polycrates sent him a letter of
introduction to Amasis; he learnt the Egyptian language… He also entered the Egyptian sanctuaries, and
was told their secret lore concerning the gods. After that he returned to Samos to find his country under
the tyranny of Polycrates; so he sailed away to Croton in Italy, and there he laid down a constitution for
the Italian Greeks, and he and his followers were held in great estimation” (D. Laertius, Ibidem, Book VIII, 1)
H- This means that contrary to what has been taught till now, AFRICA is the birthplace of the first human
civilizations and the remotest source of European and Western Civilization, through Ancient Greece.
I- This also means that ALL human beings are intellectually EQUAL: there is no race, nor is there any inferior
or superior one.
J- The idea of EQUALITY and human brotherhood is deeply rooted in our civilizations: The Manden Charter
(13th century AD, during the reign of Sundiata Keita, Emperor of Mali) declares that: “No life is superior to
another life”. This idea already existed in the Ancient times. In the Coffin Texts (of Ancient Egypt) we can
read that “each human being has been created equal to his neighbor” (§1130).
H- It is now up to us (Africans) to be aware of that and to confront our Present with the lessons of our Past,
so that this Past can address its Present (Wole Soyinka, Nobel Lecture, 1986).

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

6
4- A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE PERIODIZATION OF AFRICAN HISTORY

I- The high Prehistoric Period: around 3 million years up to the apparition of Homo Sapiens (Modern Man) (#200,000
years): transition from nomadic life to a sedentary one, carved stone tools, shelters, invention of fire, basketry, cave art, etc.
II- The Neolithic: starting from 12,000 years BC, with the domestication of crops and animals, sedentary lifestyle,
agriculture, invention of the hoe and fishing tools, the first cities, pottery (Mali, #9400 BC), domestication of rice in the
Niger valley, near the city of Mopti (Mali) #3000 BC.
III- The Metal Age from the 3rd millennium BC: with mainly iron, copper, brass, bronze, gold, lead, etc. The archaeological
site of Obui excavated by Etienne Zangato (CAR) attests to the existence of an iron metallurgy around 2200 BC.
IV- Antiquity: from 3300 BC to the 4th Century AD: invention of writing, Mdw-nTr, or “divine words” (hieroglyphs:
“sacred carvings”) the oldest African Script at Abydos, South of Kemet. It is thanks to this capital invention that the history
and achievements of Kemet (in science, technique, art, literature, philosophy, religion…) are known to us.
V- The African Medieval Period: from the 4th Century AD to 16th Century AD: this is the period of the emergence of
West-African great empires such as Ghana, Mali, Songhay, and Nok-Ife; the rise of Kongo in Central Africa, Axum in East
Africa and Monomopata in Southern Africa, etc.
VI- The Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonization: from the 16th Century to 1960: a dramatic fall of African population
from 800 million to 130 million by 1930. The consequences are as follow: technological dropout, collapse of African
societies, massive deportation of Africans to the Americas, loss of cultural and historical memory, lack of self-confidence,
etc.
VII- Contemporary Africa: from 1960 to the present: the Continent is in search of independence with elites not always
seriously committed to its survival and technological recovery. But HOPE lies in its YOUTH…

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

7
CHRONOLOGY OF MANKIND AND HUMAN EVOLUTION IN AFRICA

HUMAN EVOLUTION FOSSIL NAME DATATION PERIOD

1) Before the ‘Australopithecus’ Toumaï (‘Hope of Life’), Tchad 7,000,000 years

(Pitekos: monkey/Australis: South) Orrorin (‘Original Human’) Kenya 5,000,000 years No Industry

2) Australopithecus Lucy (Ethiopia) 3,000,000 years Early Stone Age

Homo habilis (skilled Human) Olduvai Woman (Tanzania) 2,000,000 Early Stone Age
Homo Erectus (standing H.) Turkana Boy (Kenya) 1,300,000 Invention of fire and carved stone
tools, shelters, etc.

Evolved Homo Erectus 800,000 – 400,000 Old Stone Age

Archaic Homo Sapiens Kanjera Man (Kenya) 400,000 – 200,000 Lower Paleolithic

3) Homo Sapiens (wise Human) -Omo 1 - 2 (Kibish man, Ethiopia) 233,000 (R. Leakey) Upper Paleolithic: First
or ‘Modern Human’ -Idaltu (‘The Elder’), Ethiopia 160,000 (B. Asfaw) drawings, invention of art.
Late Stone Age
Neolithic: agriculture,
12,000
domestication of crops and
animals, cities, etc.
3400 – 3250 Invention of Writing

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

8/I-V
Cheddar Man - 10,000 years ago: A map on the peopling of the rest of the world from AFRICA
the Ancestor of the British

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

9/I-II
AFRICA: CRADLE OF RATIONALITY

The site, called Blombos Cave,

is near the southern Cape shore of the Indian Ocean,
about 200 miles from Cape Town, South Africa.
The artifacts date back to more than 70,000 years. These artifacts are considered
as the first evidence of the expression of Symbolic thought: the use of signs to express ideas.
Christopher Henshilwood, the State University of New York

A set of shellfish originally used

as jewels 75,000 years ago.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

10/I-II
5- AFRICA, THE CRADLE OF MATHEMATICS…

The Ishango bone was discovered at a “Fishermen Settlement” in the

village of Ishango in the DRC. It is believed to be a mathematical device
dating to the Upper Paleolithic, around 23,000 BC. Some
interpretations consider the engravings on the bone whether as a lunar
calendar or a calculator. Other consider them as “prime numbers” (Row b)

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

11/I-II
THE BIRTH OF CAVE ART IN SAHARA AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

Cave art of the

Sahara (from 6000 to
3600 BC).
Note that the
Sahara was a green
oasis (from 11,000 to
5000 BC) before it
became a desert.

Ndanga, Zimbabwe,
Early art.
Nagada, 3600 BC

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201. 12/II-III
END OF NEOLITHIC: 5000 – 3400 BC

Jewelry and set

Burial techniques and

belief in an Afterlife Industry of decorated Pottery

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

13/III
THE INVENTION OF WRITING IN KEMET #3400 – 3300 BC

The invention of writing originated from the southern part of Kemet, in The Narmer Royal Palette #3200 BC is now
the city of Abydos around 3400 – 3300 BC. The signs here are the very considered as the Constitution of the State,
first hieroglyphs. They were excavated in the grave of King Scorpio, one emphasizing unity, justice and order (Maât) and
of the first rulers of Kemet. averting chaos, disorder and injustice (Isefet)…

“The idea that symbols could be used to represent the sounds of a language rather than real
objects is one of the most important, and ancient, of all human discoveries” James P. Allen

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

14/IV
What are the hieroglyphs ? A Pictographic System that uses images to express sounds and/or ideas.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

15/IV
Hieroglyph: from Greek hieros = sacred; glyphein = to carve, hence “sacred carving”. In
the original language, the hieroglyphs are called “medw-netcher” = “the words of God”.

Pictogram: an image (drawing, symbol) that carries sounds, ideas, or meaning.

Ideogram: “idea writing”; an image that displays an idea or a meaning.

Phonogram: “sound writing”, an image meant for sound(s) and therefore, letter(s).

Uniliteral: a sign for one sound and letter: A, B, I, M

Biliteral: a single sign for 2 sounds or letters: MW, KA, RA

Triliteral: a single sign for 3 sounds or letters: NTR, NFR, ANKH

Determinative: a muted sign that displays an idea, not a sound:

Transliteration: conversion of images into letters.

16/IV
MAIN HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET (29 signs): each sign represents a sound of a letter

M (owl) SH (pool)
A (vulture)
Q (hill)
N (water)
I (flowering reed)
O (lasso) K (basket with handle
Y (two reed-flowers
R (mouth) R/L (lion)
E (forearm)
G (stand for jar)
H (enclosure

U (quail chick) T (bread)

H [emphatic] wick of hair

TCH (hobble)
B (foot)
KH (placenta?)
P (stool) D (hand)
KH [guttural] (animal’s belly)
F (viper) J (cobra)
S (bolt of cloth)

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201 17/IV
A total of 800 to 1000 signs are requested to read and understand a text in Mdw. They are classified as follows:

Section A: Man and his occupations (55)

Section B: Woman and her occupations (7)
Section C: Deities (11)
Section D: Parts of Human Body (63)
Section E: Mammals (34)
Section F: Parts of Mammals (52)
Section G: Birds (54)
Section H: Parts of Birds (8)
Section I: Amphibious Animals, Reptiles (15)
Section K: Fishes and parts of Fishes (7)
Section L: Invertebrates and Lesser Animals (7)
Section M: Trees and Plants (44)
Section N: Sky, Earth, Water (42)
Section O: Buildings, Parts of Buildings (51)
Section P: Ships and Parts of Ships (11)
Section Q: Domestic and Funerary Furniture (7)
Section R: Temple Furniture and Sacred Emblems (25)
Section S: Crowns, Dress, Staves (45)
Section T: Warfare, Hunting, Butchery (35)
Section U: Agriculture, Crafts and Professions (41) Djehwty, the Ibis-god of
Section V: Rope, Fibres, Baskets, Bags (38) writings (hieroglyphs)
Section W: Vessels of Stone and Earthenware (25)
sciences, arts and
Section X: Loaves and Cakes (8)
letters…
Section Y: Writings, Games, Music (8)
Section Z: Strokes, Signs derived from Hieratic, Geometrical Figures (11)
Section Aa: Unclassified, doubtful (31)
The bird of knowledge in West Africa

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

18/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections A to D

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

19/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections E and F

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

20/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections G to L

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

21/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections M to O

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

22/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections P to S

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

23/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections T to V

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

24/IV
Hieroglyphic signs: Sections W to Aa

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

25/IV
The direction of writing and reading

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

26/IV
1- The Sun-God rises in the horizon. 2- The man talks, the woman remains silent.
3- The scribe travels downstream toward this city. 4- The scribe listens to (the God) Ptah.
5- The sun is in the sky with the moon. 6- The scribe ignores (does not know) another plan.
7- (When) this boat goes down to the lake, the city rejoices. 8- This humble man hears his name.
9- There is another man in this house.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

27/IV
An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201
28/IV
1) I have given bread to the hungry man, bier to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked.
2) My lord sent me to Kemet so that I could bring back to him all good things found therein.
3) The King is in his Palace like [the Sun-God] Ra in heaven.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

29/IV
Samples of different African Scripts

Papyrus in Hieratic script

Bible in Coptic

Hieroglyphs carved on ceiling and columns. Temple of Karnak.

Hieroglyphs painted on walls and vessels. Tomb of Tutankhamun

Ethiopian Bible written in Ge’ez

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

30/IV
How the hieroglyphs gave birth to the alphabet…
Other different African Scripts

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201 31/IV
 An outline of the history of
the alphabet from ancient
Egyptian script.
Source: Theophile Obenga,
Africa, the Cradle of Writing

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

32/IV
The numbers from 1 to 1,000,000

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201 33/IV
 1 333 330
READ THE NUMBERS INSCRIBRED HERE

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

34/IV
Writing and knowledge: accumulation, conservation, transmission, etc.

The ibis-headed god Djehwty, to « Calao » , the bird of

whom is assigned the invention of knowledge in West
writing. The God of sciences, arts, Africa (Senoufo)
literature. Tomb of Menna, circa
1500 BC (Source : O. Tiano)

Writing material of
a scribe: Papyrus,
calames, inks,
paper-cutter

West African writings

samples

A Moaga Priest (Burkina Faso)

illustrating the common cultural
background between Ancient Egypt
and the rest of Africa. The bird that
the mask represents is called Calao,
the bird of knowledge.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

35/IV
Writing and African Material culture…

« Each sign is an illustration of a fact of civilization »,

Jean-François Champollion, Précis du système hiéroglyphique des Anciens Égyptiens.

Sign Aa7 :
unclassified/doubtful: sqr to
smite.
New code: U42 / U42A

Burkina Faso. Lobi women laying on a terrace.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

36/IV
Linguistic facts: the ancient script was used to write an African language that is related to others African languages…

Scenes of Ancient Egyptian

metallurgists working on a
charcoal grill (brazier). The sign
of the brazier is used to write the
word « km » (kem) which
means “dark black”. This sign
was used to write the name of
the country and its inhabitants:
Kemet.

Kemet: Black Land/Country

Language Word Meaning

Mbochi(Congo) ikama Be black
Bambara(Mali) kami To burn, to reduceto ember Wörterbuch : « Heap of burnt charcoal »
Wolof(Sénégal) hëm Black;dark
Vaï (Cameroun) kembu charcoal
Moore(Burkina Faso) kim To burn; burnt

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201.

37/IV
Now, why is it that you have never been taught this script and language?

- In 525 BC: Cambyses II, king of Persia took over the capital city of Thebes, plundering and destroying it.
According to Herodotus, the embalmed body of the late pharaoh Amasis was removed from his tomb and
beaten with a hundred lashes before being burnt! That was the most traumatic event ever experienced…
- In 343 BC: 2nd Persian conquest. Artaxerxes III defeated the reigning pharaoh Nectanebo II, the last
indigenous king of Egypt, who fled southwards.
- In 332 BC: Alexander the Great took control of Egypt and was enthroned as pharaoh, pretending to be the
legitimate son of the defeated pharaoh Nectanebo II.
- In 48 BC: Roman conquest by Julius Caesar. Egypt then became a Roman province.
- In 392 AD: Roman Emperor Theodosius I took a decree banning ancient Egyptian religion, language, and
writing. Egyptian priests were either deported or killed. Within a century, the native script and language were
forgotten by the Egyptians themselves.
- In 641 AD: Arab conquest of Egypt. Islam becomes the official religion of the country.
- In 1517 – 1798: Conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Empire (Turkish)
- In 1798 – 1806: French domination of Egypt.
- In September 1822, the French scholar Jean-François Champollion succeeded in deciphering the hieroglyphs
after 15 centuries of oblivion.
- In 1867 – 1914: British rule and protectorate.
- 1952: From the Persian conquest (in 343 BC) up to that date, Egypt has been under foreign domination and
therefore lost its sovereignty for almost 2300 years until General Neguib (whose mother came from Sudan) and
the 1952 Revolution took over the control and the administration of the country again.

An Outline History of Africa: Chronology – Prof. Yoporeka SOMET – IGS 1201

38/IV