Professor of History
History Department
CCSU
New Britain
CT06050
In a brief article titled "Africa, Cradle of Writing" and published in the
Africana Bulletin, African Studies Center, No.42. December 1998/January 1999
Boston University, Konrad Tuchsherer points out that "over 5,000 years ago in
Egypt, Africans developed their system of hieroglyphic writing, the world's
earliest known script. Scholars have traditionally asserted that the earliest
writing systems emerged at the end of the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia
and that the idea of writing was borrowed in Egypt around 3100BC at the onset
of the First Egyptian Dynasty. New evidence uncovered by archeologists in
Egypt, however,has revealed that Africans employed their hieroglyphic system
at least 150 years earlier than the Sumerian in Mesopotamia, around 3250BC."
Not only was the Egyptian system the source for the development of Tifinagh
and Ethiopic but it also inspired the Hebrew and Arabic scripts and indirectly
the Greek, Roman and Cyrillic scripts, according to Tuchsherer.
Rumors and Innuendo
The birth of modern science is often associated with the 17th century,
admittedly a period of intensified intellectual activity on the part of
European scholars. But it may be that Modern Science predates such eurocentric
boundaries.It is as difficult to conceive of mathematics without the
Hindu-Arabic numerals, the concept zero and algebraic notations as it is to
think of optics without al-Haitham and al-Kindi. It is difficult to conceive
of Galileo without the pendulum.The Hindu-Arabic numeral system revolutionized
mathematical thought by facilitating the use of decimals and the solution of
complex equations. See Islamic
Science Of Chinese origin are numerous inventions, including the
following:
printing
gunpowder
the compass
paper money
the mechanical clock
helicoptor tops
the parachute
deep drilling
Sivin's Bibliography
on Ancient Chinese Technology
Chinese Museums and Historic Sites
The stirrup, the sternpost rudder, the lateen sail, the abacus, the pendulum,
the game of chess the axle, the bow drill, the chisel, and the wedge are all of
non-European origin. The latter did for building technology what the
Mesopotamian and African sailboat, barge, freight and wheeled vehicle did for
navigation and communication.Add to these the Persian (Iranian) windmill, and
watermill, the predecessors of the modern water turbine, and we have an array of
devices which constitute important landmarks in the history of power generation.
Glass, cement, enamel and porcelain; the nail and saw; the printed book and the
compass, all join this list.The check (cheque) is not of European origin. Arab
traders pioneered this important commercial device.
Northeast African battleships, Mesopotamian armor and Chinese gunpowder
became integrated in much of the conventional warfare of early Europe.It is
seldom mentioned that the industrial revolution developed largely on the basis
of Asian- derived techniques and a complex system of import substitution and
protectionism on the part of British producers. South Asian cotton fabrics were
imitated and copied by the British who tried to reverse the historical
manufacturing capabilities of that region to turn India into a mass exporter of
raw cotton. For more on India go to South Asian History.
Native
Americans gave the world a major portion of the crops now in cultivation
including:
a.potatoes
b. the cacao bean
c. varieties of beans
d. strawberries
e. corn
f. sunflowers
g. tomatoes
h. cassava
Their agricultural expertise is often neglected and seldom acknowledged.
1.The high rate of obsolescence of contemporary technology
2.The loss of skilled manpower and expertise to Euro-American regions
3.The existing structure of secrecy and competition
4.The high cost of patents, trademarks and licenses
5. The imposition of IMF- derived structural adjustment policies which
directly and indirectly affect economic and technological growth
See the IMF and Africa
volume 16. no.3.1989
Several strategies have been used to reinforce the myth that regions outside
Europe contributed nothing to the development of science and technology either
in terms of hardware or software- the view that historically the majority of the
world have been passive recipients of a so-called Western science and
technology. Here are some of the strategies used by a long line of deceptive
scholars.
Selective Omission of Information
Silence reigns with respect to non-European predecessors of significant
inventions.Thales is declared the Father of Science but the partial Asian
parentage of Thales whose mother was Phoenician ( Lebanese), or Pythagoras,
possibly of similar parentage, is hardly ever mentioned. The constant
interaction of the Ancient Greeks with their African counterparts is ignored,
even when the Greeeks themselves gratefully acknowledge this interaction.
Euphemisms and Circumlocutions
Neckam's magnetic compass is represented as being" similar to the Chinese
one," in a well-known text. There is no attempt to acknowledge the fact of
prior invention by the Chinese.
The Conferment of Honorary Western Nationality
Westernization of the names of outstanding scientists and their devices;
and the Europeanization of scientific documents and processes are frequently
done. These ploys are used to undermine equal and fair assessment of the
global multiregional history of science and technology.The Egyptian Claudius
Ptolemeaus and the Algerian/Tunisian Constantine assume European identity in
some of the texts, whilst West Asian (Middle Eastern )scholars such as Ibn
Sina (Avicenna), al-Kindi (Alkindius), Ibn Rush'd (Averroes) and al-Ghazali
(Algazel) become indistinguishable from their European counterparts.The
ancient Egyptian arithmetical and medicinal documents become known as the
Rhind, Ebers and Edwin Smith papyri, and the comet identified by the Chinese
as early as 2,500 years ago is attributed to Haley.
Blind Citation of Greco-Roman References
European progenitors are created where they do not really exist. That the
Greek alphabet is largely of Syrian/Lebanese origin and that there is a
proliferation of loan words in both languages is hardly ever explained. The
African and Asian origin of many linguistic terms and concepts associated with
the Greco-Roman cultural zone, is concealed from the unsuspecting layman.
Double Standards of Assessment
Most of the technological creations of Africa are assigned to artistic
designations. Africans find some of their scientific and technological
achievements confined to fine art museums. The scientific and technical
processes underlying the creation of various inventions are deliberately
trivialized.
Africa is assailed for not inventing the wheel as if (to imply that) it
were a European invention. The fact remains, though, that Greek and Roman
wheeled vehicles and chariots are the directs heirs of Mesopotamian ingenuity.
Moreover, African Saharan rock paintings reveal chariots and wheeled vehicles
of great antiquity.
Manipulation of Dates
For more on China visit these sites.
Inventors such as Ibn Yunus the Egyptian and Pi Cheng,
identified with printing from movable type, are very seldom acknowledged. It is
interesting to note that the first printed text on record dates back to 868AD.
It was found in the Gobi Desert in Northern China . It was vertically printed
and was apparently one of numerous mass-printed texts sent to various Buddhist
temples.
In the orthodox eurocentric accounts the proverbial engineers
are the Romans but what of Persian, Mesopotamian and African expertise in that
field? The first underwater tunnel was constructed in ancient Iraq, a feat as
noteworthy as the Egyptian embankment across the Garawi valley 850 years
earlier. The stone wall terraces of Gwoza in Northeast Nigeria are significant
evidence of engineering skill and so, too, are the fortifications of Benin,
which cover over 2,500 square miles and consist of more than 500 interconnected
enclosures. These remain major engineering feats not only of West Africa but of
the world. The enclosures of Zimbabwe, the Lalibela churches of Ethiopia,
Axumite obelisks and sphinxes, as well as Sudanese (Nubian) and Egyptian
pyramids, of Ancient Southern and Northeast Africa, are no less impressive. For more on Africa view some of
these.
Scholars such as Gerbert of Aurillac formed part of a long
line of European pioneers of technology transfer, including such distinguished
seekers of knowledge as Adelard of Bath, John of Seville, Leonardo of Pisa and
Albert the Great. Leonardo of Pisa's exposure to mathematical scholarship in
Algiers, North Africa, facilitated the introduction into Europe of one of the
most significant innovations in the history of mathematics, namely, the
Hindu-Arabic numeral system cited earlier. These scholars added to the diffusion
of skills and techniques by pilgrims, trading columns, migrant craftsmen,
professional spies and diplomatic missions, and indirectly injected greater
precision and accuracy in the works of engineers, technologists, and artisans.
In more recent times African countries have been overwhelmed
by various problems.Having been handicapped in various ways in the period of
colonial rule, they find themselves affected by various tendencies including
some of the following:
*This is a modified updated version of an earlier paper first published by
Gloria T. Emeagwali, in Science and Public Policy, Journal of the International
Science Policy Foundation, Surrey, UK
Samir Amin, Eurocentrism, Monthly Review, 1988
J.M Blaut, 1492: The Debate on Eurocentrism and History, AWP, 1992
J.M Blaut,The Colonizer's Model of the World, Guilford, 1993
A.G Frank, Re-Orient,Univ. of California Press, 1998
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing The Past- Power and the Production of
History, Beacon, 1995
Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, Vintage, 1994
Martin Bernal, Black Athena, The Afro-Asiatic Roots of Classical
Civilization, Rutgers University Press, 1991
See also some classic texts on Eurocentrism:
Review of Eurocentric Authors and Texts
(Reviewed by Gloria Emeagwali)
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Send comments to Dr. Gloria Emeagwali, History Department, Central
Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT06050 Tel: 860-832-2815