100 Black History Facts.pdf

Improving Education will help diversity and eradicate racism

2. 1. The human race is of African origin. The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically
modern humans [or homo sapiens) ware excovoted at stes in East Africa, Human remains wer
discovered ot Ome in Ethiopia that were dated el 195,000 years old, the oldest known

in the world

2. Skeletons of pre-humans have been found in Alice thot date back between 4 and 5
million years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is thought te hove been the
Sentralopilhecus romidus, who lived ot least 4.4 million yeors ago

3. Africans wore the first to organise fshing expeditions 90,000 yeors ago. At Katondo,

‘wrought series of harpoon
volly wall crafted,
ly aquatic or ishing

+ region in northeastern Zaire [now Congo), was recovered a Final
points, all slaberotely polished and borbed. Alto uncovered was lool,
Balieved to be a dogger. The discoveries suggested the existence of ons
bosed culture

4. Africans were the first to engage in mining 43,000 years ago. In 1964 a hematite mine
wos found in Swaziland of Bomvo Ridge in the Ngwenye mountain range. Ultimately 300,000,
Grtelacts were recovered including thovsands of stone-mode mining tools. Adrion Boshier, one
of he archaeologists on the site, dated the mine 10 staggering 43,200 years old.

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

arithmetie 25,000 years ago. The Ishongo bone is a 1901
hondle with notches corved into it found in the Ishango region of Zaïre (now called Congo]
near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought 1o have been over 8,000 years ld
but a more sensitive recent dating hos given dates of 25,000 years old, On the fool ore 3 rows
of notches. Row 1 shows three notches carved next 10 six, four carved next to eight, ten carved
ext to two fives ond nal a seven. Ihe 3 ond 6, 4 and 8, and 10 ond 5, represent the process
‘of doubling, Row 2 shows eleven notches carved next to twenty-one notches, and sineteen
notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1,20 + 1, 20 : 1ond 10 I. Finally,
Row 3 shows eleven noiches, thirteen noiches, seventeen notches and sinateen notches, I. 13,
17 and 19 ore the prime numbers between 10 ond 20.

5. Africans pionoered

6. Africans cultivated crops 12,000 yeors ago, the rat known edvonces in agriculture.
Professor Fred Wendort discovered that people in Egypt's Western Desert cultivated crops

of barley, capers, chick-peas, dates, legumes, lentil and wheat. Their ancien! tools ware also
Fecovared. There were grindstones, milling stones, culling blades, hide scrapers, engraving
boring, ond mortars ond pestles

7. Africans mummified their dead 9,000 years ogo. A mummified infant wos found under
the Uan Muhuggiog rock sheller in south western Libya. The infant war buried inthe fo
portion ond wor mummified using a very sophisticated technique thot must have token hundreds
(of yeors to evelve, The technique predates ihe earliest mummies knows in Ancient Egypt by of
laos 1,000 yeors. Corbon doting l controversial but the mummy may date from 7438

(2220) ac.

8. Afticons corved the world's rst colossal sculpture 7,000 or more yeors ogo. The
Great Sphinn of Giza wes fashioned wüh the head of à man combined ik he body of on
Aloy and important question rare by thi monument wor How old a In October 1991
Professor Roban Schach, geología om baton University, dononsrated hor the Sphinx
A ca cuipred between 5000 SC and 7000 BC, dates thot he considered conservative.

3. 9. On the 1 March 1979, the New York Times carried on article on is fron! page also
age sixteen thet wor entiled Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In this article we were assured
Hot: “Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of i
torlies! Egyption kings by several generations, hos been discovered in artifacts from ancient
Nubie” (ie. the territory of the northern Sudan ond the southern portion of modern Egypt]

10. The ancient Egyptians had the seme type of tropical adapted skeletol proportions
3 modern Black Africans. À 2003 paper appecred in American Journal of Physical

Anthropology by Dr Sonia Zokrzewski entiled Variation in Ancient Egyptian Stature and Body
Proportions where she states hat: “The row valves in Table 6 suggest thot Egyptians hed the

super-Negroid’ body plan described by Robins (1983). The values for Ihe brochiel and crural
indicas show thatthe distal segments of each limb ore longer relativ 10 Ihe proximo! segments
hon in many “African” populations.”

11. The ancient Egyptians had Afro combs. One writer tells vs that the Egyptians
“manufactured a very striking range of combs in ivory: the shape of these is ditinely
‚African ond i like the combs used even today by Africons and those of African descent.”

12. the Funerary Complex in the ancient Egyptian city of Saggara isthe oldest
building thet tourists regulary visit today. An outer wall, now mosly in ruins, surrounded
the whole structure. Through the entrance ore à series of columns, the frst stone-bull columns
known to historians. The North House olso hos ormamentol columns built into the walls #

hove popyrus-like capitals. Also inside the complex is the Ceremonial Court, made of limestone
blocks that have been quorried ond then shoped. In Ihe centre of the complex ts the Step.
Pyramid, he Brat of 90 Egyptian pyranid.

13. The fest Great Pyramid of Gixa, the most extraordinary building in history, wos a
sloggering 481 foe! tal «Ihe equivalent of 40-slorey building, I wor made of 2.3 million
blocks of limestone and gro

14. The ancient Egyptian city of Kahun was the world’s frst planned city. Rea
wolled, the city wos divided info two ports, One part hovsed the wealthier inhabı
scribas, oficial ond foremen. The other,

(western section in particular, were straight, laid ou! on 0 grid, end crossed each other at
glas. A atoge guile, over hall a meire wide, rán down Ihe centre of every

15. Egyptian mansions were discovered in Kahun - each boosting 70
into four sections or quarters. There was a moster’s quarler, quarter for women ond servant
querters for offices and finally, quarters for granaries, each facing a central courtyard

The moster's quarters had on open court with o stone water tank for bething. Surrounding
is wot o colonede.

16 The Labyrinth in the Egyptian city of Hawara wih its massive loyo
courtyards, chombers ond hall, was the very largest building in amiquiy
‘thousand rooms, 1,500 of them were above ground and the ather 1,500 ver

1, multiple
sting three
underground

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

4. 17, Toilets and sewerage systems existed in ancient Egypt. One of the pharaohs bull city
now known ar Amorne. An American urban planner noted thet: "Great importance war oltached
lo cleenliness in Amorno os in other Egyption cities. Toiles ond sewers were in use 10 dispose
monte, Soop was mode for washing the body. Perfumes and essences were popular against body
Sdour. A solution of moron was used to keep insects from houses ... Amarno may have been

the fet planned "garden city.”

18. Sudan has more pyramids than any other country on earth - oven more than Egypt
There ore ot least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkel ond
Meros. They ore generally 20 10 30 metres high ond steep sided

19. the Sudanese city of Moroë is ich in surviving monuments, Becoming the capital of
the Kushite Empire between 590 BC until AD 330, there are 84 pyramids inthis city alone,
many built with their own miniature temple. In addition, hare ore runs of bath house sharing
faites with those of the Romans. Is central feature 1 large pool opprocched by a Right of
‘eps with waterspouts decorated with lion heads

20. Bling culture has a long and interesting history. Gold wos used 10 decorate ancient
Sudonese temples. One writer reported that: "Recent excavations ol Meroe and Mussowwarat
sr-Sulro revealed temples with welle ond statues covered with gold le

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

21, In around 300 BC, the Sudanese invented a writing script that had twenty-three
letiers of which four were vowels and there wos also o word divider, Hundreds of ancient texte
have survived thot were in this script. Some are on display in Ihe Briish Museum.

22, In central Nigeria, Wost Africa’s oldest civilisation flourished between 1000 8C
fond 300 8C. Discovered in 1928, the ancient culture was called the Nok Civilisation, named
alter the village in which the early ortelach wore discovered. Two modern scholars, declare
thot “[o]ftercolibeation, he period of Nok ant spans from 1000 BC until 300 BC". The site
itself is much older going back os early as 4580 or 4290 BC.

23. West Africans bui
archaeologists hove found "large stone masonry villages” that date back to 1100 8C. The
villoges consisted of roughly circular compounds connected by “well-defined street.

24. By 250 BC, the foundations of West Africa’s oldest cities were established such os

(1d Djenné in Mol

25. Kumbi Saleh, the capital of Ancient Ghana, flourished from 300 to 1240 AD. Located
in modern doy Mouritoni, archaeological excovetions have reveoled houses, olmost habitebl
today, for want of renovation and several storeys high. They had underground rooms, stircases
‘ond connecting halls. Some had nine rooms. One part ofthe city alone is eslimoted 10 hove
housed 30,000 people.

el + in the pre-colonial period. Winwood Reade,
‘on English historian visited West Alice in Ihe ninoteanth century ond commented thot: “There
are thousands of large wolled cities resembling those of Europe in the Middle Ages, or of

y

5. 27.10: “on English officiel, estimated in 1904 thet there were 170 walled towns til
in existence in the whole of jus! the Kono province of northern Ni

we. Inthe tenth
nt Ghons. Wi
sant inthe i

28. Cheques are not quite as new an invention os we were led to bel
century, on Arab geographer, Ihn Haukal, visited a fringe region of An

951 AD, he told of o cheque for 42,000 golden dinors written 10 0 me
Audoghest by his partner in Sidilmesso,

informs us thot the King of Ghona was “the richest king
on ¡ho face of the earth” whose pre-eminence wor due tothe quantity of gold nuggets thot hod
Ben omossed by the himself ond by his predecessors.

30. The Nigerian city of Ile-Ife was paved in 1000 AD on the orders of o female ruler
with decorations thot originated in Ancient Americo. Naturally, no-one want to explain how
this took place approximetely 500 years before the time of Christopher Columbus!

re in 1067 AD. One source mentions that when the Emperor
of Ghana gives sudience to his people: “he sits in o pavilion around which stand his hors
<oporisoned in cloth of gold: behind him stand ten pages holding shields and gold-mounted
‘words! and on his right hand ore the sons ofthe princes of his empire, splendidly clad ond
wrth gold ploited into their hair The gate of the chamber is guarded by dogs of on
excellent Breed they weor collors of gold ond silver”

21, West Africa had bling cul

1d at that time. The
thoroughly fortied,
+. and hoving glass windows.”

32. Glass windows 6
AD wos: “A well-built ca

lance of the Ghonoion Emperor in 1116
jeceroted inside with sculptures ond

33. The Grand Mosque in the Malian city of Djonné, described os “the largest adobe
Ac] building in the world”, wos frst raised in 1204 AD. I was built on a square plan wher
‘ach side is 56 metres in length. It hs three large towers on one side, each with projecting
Wonden bultestes

34, One of the great achievements of the Yoruba wos th
‘A.D. 1300," soys a modern scholar, “the Yoruba people built numerous welled cities sur
rounded by farms". The cities were Owo, Oyo, lisbu, lise, Ketu, Pope, Egbe, Sabe, Dasso,
Egbado, Ighomino, the sixteen Eki principalities, Owo and Ondo.

urban culture. “By the yeor

35. Yoruba metal
Yoruba ort “wou
Rome, or Renaissance Europe had to oler

36. In the Malian city of Gao stands the Moviolavm of Askio the Graot, o weird sixtsenth
Santury edifice thet resambles o step pyromid

al tumuli have been found across West Africa. Naarly 7,000
‘Senegal alone spread over nearly 1,500 sites They were
en 1000 and 1300 AD.

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

6. 100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

38. Excavations at the Malian city of Gao carried ou! by Cambridge University re
glass windows. One of the finds wos entiled: “Fragments of alabaster window surrounds ond o
E window glass, Gao 10th lath century.”

rogramme

In the fourteenth

y, the century ofthe seythe, natural disesters threat 2 with extinction

lack Death kills more people in Europe, Arie ond North Africa than ony catastrophe has
“Civilisations which avoid the plague thrive. In West Africa the Empire of Moli becomes

Ihe richest inthe world.”

in 1311 AD, 101 yeors before Columbus. An Egyption
published on this sometime around 1342. In the tenth chapter of his
book, there it on account af two large maritime voyages ordered by the predecessor of Manso
Maso, a king who iaherited the Malion Ihvone in 1312, This mariner king is mol named by
Al-Umari, but modern writers identify him os Mansa Abubokor I

ivelve years for the economies ofthe region 10 normalise,

18 gold mining took place on a vast scale. One modern writer said thot
‘thet the total amount of gold mined in West Arica up 10 1500 was 3,500 toms,
worth more than $30 billion in Today's market.”

43. the
Audience. I war on surmounted by
The windows of on upper Root were pl
Reor were ploted with wood, from

the 14th century was
scholar, wrote the following
urban civilisation. At the height ofits pow
the Niger Della wer very denssly populated”

45, the Malian city of Timbuktu had a 14th century population of 115,000 - 5 times larger

val London. Manse Muse, built he Dingue: fourteenth century
y Mosque in which 25,000 students studied and the Oratory of Sidi
150 Koran schools in which 20,000 children were instructed. Londor
by controst, had total 14th century population of 20,000 people

ed Timbuktu os the Poris of the medioeval
world, on account of is intellectual culture. According to Professor Henry Louis Gates, 25,000
University students studied there

47. Many old West African families have private library collections tho! go bock
hundreds of years. The Mauritanian cities of Chinguelti ond Oudane have a total of 3,450 hand
written medisevol books, There may be onother 8,000 books sill surviving In Ihe other city of
Walote. Some dote back tothe 8th century AD. There are 11,000 books in private collections in
Niger. Finely, in Timbokto, Mali, there ore about 700,000 surviving books

7. books war considered o small library for
© West Alrican scholar of the 16th century. Professor Ahmed Bobo of Timbuktu is recorded os
Soying that he hed the molles library of ony of his friends ~ he had only 1600 volumes

49. Concerning manuscripts, Michoel Palin, in his TV series Sohoro, said the
imam of Timbuktu “hos o collection of scientific texts that clearly show the planets circling the
tun. They dote back hundreds of years. ls convincing evidence thet the schelars of Timbuktu
naw o lot more thon their counterperts in Europe, Inthe Aftoanıh century in Timbuktu the
‘mathematicians knew about the rotation of the planets, knew about the details ofthe clips
they knew things which we hod to wait for 150 olmos! 200 years 10 know in Europe when
Galileo ond Copernicus come vp with these some calculations and were given very hard
time for i>

50. the Songhai Empire of 16th century West Africa hod a government position colled
Minister for Etiquette ond Protocol

51. The mediaeval Nigerian city of Benin was bull to “a scale comparable with the Great
Wal of China”. There was a vost system of defensivo walling totaling 10,000 miles in ell. Even
before the fll extent ofthe city walling had become apparent Ihe Guinness Book of Records
corried an entry in the 1974 edition that described Ihe city os: “The largest worthworks in the
World carried out prior to the mechanical sea.”

52. Benin art of the Middle Ages wos ofthe highest quality. An official ofthe Berlin

Museum für Völkerkunde once stoted thal: "These works (rom Benin ore equal tothe very ines!

examples of European costing technique. Benvenuto Cellini could not have cast them better, nor

could anyone else before or after him. Technically, these bronzes represent the very highest
‘cchievemenl.”

53. Winwood Reade described his visit to the Ashanti Royal Palace of Kumost in
‘We went 10 the king's poloce, which consists of many covriyords, each surrounded with

res and verandahs, and having Iwo gates or doors, 20 the! each yard was a thoroughore

But the part of the poloce fronting the sree! was o siona house, Moorish in its style... th

+ fot roof and o parapeı, ond suites of apariments onthe frst hoor It was built by Fanti masons

many years ago. The rooms upnteirs remind me of Wardour Street, Each wos a perfect Old

Curiosity Shop. Books in many languages, Bohemion gloss, clocks silver plo

Persian rugs, Kidderminster corpets, pictures ond engrovings, numberless chests ond coffer.

À tword becring the inscription From Queen Victorio to the King of Ashante

Times, 17 October 1843. With these were many specimens of Moorish ond Ashanti hondicraft.”

54, In the mid-nineteenth century, William Clarke, on English visitor to Nigeria,
marked thet: “As good an orticle of cloth can be woven by the Yoruba weovers os by ony

ty of Fredo wor found 10 be
seventy feet high in places. The internal

ra war e sloggering 400 square miles

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

8. 100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

4

feto, cloth of tissue ond velvet. Professor DeGraft-Jobnson made the curious observation
‘ocades, both high and low, were for more valuable then the lion."

e metallurgy of the Middle Ages, one modern scholer wrote thot:
“There is no doubting the existence of on expert metallurgical art inthe ancient Kongo
The Bokongo were aware ofthe loxiity of leod vapours. They devised preventotive and curative
methods, both pharmacological [mossive doves of pawpow ond palm oll) and mechanical

ing of pressure lo free the digestive tect), for combating lead poisoning.”

the royal palace in the city of Kono dates back to the Afteonth century.
gun by Muhommad Rumfa (ruled 1463.99) I has gradually evolved over generotions into a
very impoting complex. A colonial report ofthe city from 1902, described if os “a network of
buildings covering an area of 33 acres and surrounded by o wall 20 10 30 fas! high outside
nd 18 fost inside... in vel no moon citado!”

50. Ihe central African civilisation of Konem-
and commented hat the emperor's cavalry had golden “sirrups, spur, bits and buckles
“even the rulers dogs had “chains of the Anest gold”

60. One of the government

ol Kanem-Borno was Astronomer Royal

ne, become one of the largest cities
ntury world. By 1858 AD, the metropolis, according 10 on architectural
scholar housed "about quarter of o million people”. It hed 660 streets. Many were wide ond
unbending, caBective of town planning,

jan city of Surame Aovrished inthe sixteenth century. Even in ruin it war

Ivo-storied. The striking feature of the walls and whole ruins i the extensive use of stone and
okuwa (laterite grovel] or very hard red building mud, evidently brought from a distance,
There it @ big mound of his near the north gate about fect in height. The walls show regular
courses of masonry 1o a height of 20 feat ond more in several places. The best preserved
Portion is that known as siat (he bridge) a litle north of th goto. The moin city
Wells here appear 10 hove provided o very strongly guorded entronce about 30 feat wide

63. The Nigerian city of Kano in 1851 produced on estimated 10 million poits of sandols
fond 5 million hides each year for export

64. In 1246 AD Duneme Il of Kanem-Borno exchanged embassies with Al-Mustansir,

the king of Tunis, He zen! the North African courte coslly present, which appareniy included
+ girofle. An old chronicle noted thatthe rare animal “created a sensation in Tunis”

9. third century BC the city of Carthage on the coast of Tunisie wos opulent and
tive. 1 had a population of 700,000 and may even have approached o million Lining
both sides of three aires were rows of tall houses tix soreys high

66. The Ethiopian city of Aksum hos a series of 7 giant obeliks that date from perhaps.
300 BC te 300 AD. They have details corved into them thot represent windows ond doorways
of several storeys. The largest obelisk, now follen, isin Foe! “the largest monolith aver mode
(anywhere in the world”, Its 108 foo! long, weighs a staggering 500 tons, ond represents o
Iieteon-storsy balding.

67. Ethiopia minted its own coins over 1,500 years ago. One scholar wrote the!
"Almost no olher contemporary stole anywhere in the world could issue in gold, à statement of
soveraignly achieved only by Rome, Persio, and the Kushan kingdom in norihera Indio a! the

68. The Ethiopian script of the 41h contury AD influenced the writing script of Armenio
A Russian historian noted thot: "Soon alter is creation, the Ethiopic vocal
infenco the x D. À. Olderogge suggested thot Mesrop Moshtotz
used the vocolised Ethiopic script when he invented the Armenion alphabet.”

a
2
o
4
É
>
à
©
pa
2
3
x
ö
<
a
e
=

69. “In the frst half of the first millennium CE,” says a modern scholar, El
“wos ranked os one of the world’s greatest empires”. A Persian cleri of the third century AD.
‚lied it os the thied most important state in Ihe world after Persio and Rome.

contains Il churches, oll corved out of Ihe rock of the mountains by hommer ond chiel
All of the temples were corved to o depth of 11 metres or so below ground I

is the House of he Redeemer, a staggering 33.7 metres long, 23.7 mi
mures

71. Lalibela is not the only place in Ethiopia to have such wonders. A cotemporory
rchosologist reports research thal wos conducted inthe region inthe early 1970's when
“artling nombars of cherches belli coves tly cut from the living rock

revealed not only in Tigre ond Lolibele but os far south as Addis Abobo. Soon ol let
1/500 were known. At lost os many more probably owait revelation.”

72. In 1209 AD Emperor Lalibela of Ethiopia sent an embassy to Cairo bringing the sultan
‘unsavol gifts including on elephont, a hyeno, o zebra, and o giraffe

73. In Southern Africa, there are at least 600 stone built ruins inthe regions of
Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. These ruins are called Morimbabwe in Shona,
the Bantu language of the builders, and means great revered hause ond “signifier court”

74. the Great Zimbabwe was the largest of these ruins. It consists of 12 clusters of
buildings, spread over 3 square miles. Is outer walls were made from 100,000 tons of granite
bricks Inthe fourteenth century, the city housed 18,000 people, comparable in size 10 thot of
London of the same period

10. 100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

75. in this region. At the time of our lost visit, the Horaiman Museum
in London had exhibits of headrests withthe coption: "Headrests hove been used in Africa since
the time of the Egyptian oharashı. Remains of some headrests, once covered in gold fol, have
been found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe and burial sites like Mopungubwe doting o the
Iwellth century after Christ.”

76. Or All
out thot wr
in South Africa For th
handen

hunter discovered this, ond o large avant
quantity remained there now.

* Churchward, author of Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, pointed
ing was found in one of the stone built int: “Ut -Col. E. L. de Corder. who wor
« yeors, informed the writer that in one ofthe “Ruins” there is stone

with o vost quontiy of Papyri, covered with old Egyption hierogiyphics. A Boor
‘was vied 10 light a fee with, and yet stilo o

77, On bling culture, one seventeenth century visitor to southern African empire of Monomo-
Napa, thet evled over this vost region, wrote that: "The people dress in various ways: ot court of
the Kings their grandes: wear cloths of rich silk, damask, soli, gold and silk cloth; these or
‘hres widths of satin, each width four covados [2.64m, each sewn to the next, sometimes wi
gold lace in between, tsinmed on two sides, like o carpet, with o gold and silk fringe, sewn in
Place with a ¡uo Angers” wide ribbon, woven with gold roses on silk”

78. Southern Africans mined gold on an epic scale. One modern writer tells us thot
“The estimated omount of gold ore mined from the entire region by the ancients wos stoggering,
exceeding 43 million tons. The ore yielded neatly 700 tons of pure gold which todoy would be
volved at over 57.5 billion.”

79. Apporently the Monomotapan royal palace at Mount Fura hod chandeliers
hanging from the ceiling. An eighteenth century geography book provided the following date:
“The inside consists of a great variety of sumplvous apartments, spaciovs and lotly halls, oll
adorned with a magnificent cotton topastry, the manufacture ofthe country. The facts, celings
sic], Beams and rafters are all either gilt or pleted with gold curiously wrought, os ore also the
chairs of state, tables, benches Ac. The candle-sticks and branches ara made of ivory inloid
with gold, and hong from the cieling by chains of the some metal, or of silver gilt”

80. Monemetapa had a social welfare system. Antonio Bocarro, a Portuguese conlampo-
rary, informs us thot the Emperor: “shows great charity the blind and maimed, for these
<olled the King’s poor, and hove land ond revenues for their subsistence, and when they wish 10
oss theough the Kingdoms, wherever they come food and drinks ore given to them af the publie
ost os long os they remain there, ond when they leave thet place to go to another they are
provided with whol is necessary for hair journey, and a guido, and some ona to carry their
Folie tothe next village. In every place where they come there i Ihe some obligotion.”

81. Many southern Africans have indigenous and pro-colonial words for ‘gun’
Scholars have generally bean reluctont to investigate or explain this Fact.

82. Evidence discovered in 1978 showed that East Africans were making see! I
more thon 1,500 yeors: "Assistant Professor of Anthropology Peter Schmidt and Professor of
Engineering Donald H. Avery have found as long os 2,000 years ago Africans living on the
western shores of Lake Victorio had produced carbon steel in prehected forced draft furnaces,
@ method that was technologicelly more sophisticated then any developed in Europe uni the
mid-nineteenth century.”

11. 83. Ruins of 300 BC astronomical observatory wos found ot Namoratungo in Konya.
Alricans were mopping the movements of stars such os Triongulum, Aldebaran, Bellatrix,
Central Orion, etcetera, os well as the moon, in order to create a lunar calendar of 354 days.

34, Autopsies and caesarean operations were routinely and effectively carried out by
surgeons in pre The surgeons routinely vied ontiseptics, anaesthetics and
cautery iron Commenting on a Ugandan <ossareon operation het oppecred in the Edinburgh
Medical Journal in 1884, one author wrote: "The whole conduct of the suggerts
skilled long com of work conducting a well-tried ond familiar oper

wrth smooth efficiency."

85. Sudan in the medi
Their reine ail exist today.

drals, monasteries ond coses

ms kept archives. From the site of Gast Ibrim legal
is, documents ond correspondance were discovered. An archaealogis! informs vs tht
"On the site are preserved thousonds of documents in Meroitc, Latin, Greek, Coptic, Old
Nubien, Arabic and Turkish.”

87. Glass windows existed in mediaeval Sudan. Archosologists found evidence of
window glass a! the Sudanese cities of Old Dongola ond Hambukel

88. Bling culture existed in the mediceval Sudan. Archosologists found an ind

buried ot the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Ihe cily of Old Dongalo. He wos clad in an

extramely elaborate garb consisting of couly textiles of various fabrica including gold thread

[tthe city of Sobo East, there were individuels buried in fine clothing, including items with
read.

‘and fashion existed in mediaeval Sudan. A dignitory ot Jebel Addo inthe late

leenth century AD was interned with a long coat of red and yellow patterned damask folded

‘var his body. Underneath, he wore plain cotton trousers of long and baggy eu. A pair of red
et of the coffin, The body wos wrapped in

enormous pieces of gold brocaded striped silk

90. Sudan in the ninth century AD had housing complexes with bath rooms and piped
woter. An archaeologist wrote thot Old Dongolo, the copitol of Makurio, hod: “ola] -.- eighth
lo... ninth century housing complex. The houses discovered here differ in their hitherto
'nencountered spatial loyou! as wall as their functional programme [water supply instal
Lothroom with heating system) and interiors decorated with murals”

91. In 619 AD, the Nubions sent o

tof giraffe to the Persons

92, the E
ond

Coast, from Somalia to Mozambique, hos ruins of well over 50 towns
They Rourished rom the ninth 19 the sixteenth centuries AD.

93. Chinese records of the At
four or fre tareys high”

nth century AD n

hot Mogadishu had houses of

100 BLACK HISTORY FACTS

£

12. 100 BLACK LISTORY FACTS

94. Gedi, near the coast of Kenya, is one of the Eost African ghost towns. I ruins,
dating Irom the fourteenth or Blteenth centuries, include the city wall, the palace, private
houses, the Great Mosque, seven smaller mosques, and three pillar tombs.

‚Ps. In addition it had bathrooms and indoor to

red the Tanzenion
principal city on the coos the
Zoni of very black complexion." Later on he says that
wellsconstricted cities in the world, The whole of i iz elegant

rly Tanzania. A Portuguesa chronicler of the sixteonth
Frnely clad in mony rich garments of gold and silk and cotton,
‘and the women as well; also with much gold ond silver choins and bracelets, which they we
fon their legs ond arms, and mony jewelled earrings in their ears”

99. In 1961 a British archaeologist, found the ruins of Husuni Kubwa, the royel polace of
the Tonzanion city of Kilwo. It had over o hundred rooms including o reception hall, galleries,
courtyards, terraces and on octogonal swimming pool

100. In 1414 the Kenyan city of Malindi sent anbassadors 10 Chino e
{Giroffe] thot created o sensation o the Imperiol Cove.

Written by Robin Walker © 2006

Designed by Jorge Asore-Djon © 2019

Published by The Black Secret Education Project
& A Tribe Colled Progress © 2022 www.etep.co

otep contact email: [email protected]

Our motto is "Qui

ly Empowering the People”

Our vision isto shed light on the wonders of Africa & the Black World’ ich histories,
to Educate, Enlighten, Empower and Ent

+ @: www.theblacksecret.co.uk

ive Africon & Black History online course in the world,
fond learn everything currently available te know about Africa's rich Nsteries and the amazing
contributions of Black people all over the world.

Contant vs @: [email protected]