African History Seminar

AFRICAN HISTORY SEMINAR by Sbu Jali Tsipa

Who are we? Where do we come from?

Omo I lived about 195,000 years ago -- the oldest known bones of the human species Discovered between 1967 and 1974 near the Omo River, in south-western Ethiopia

• Earliest evidence for modern human behaviour, small blade tools, spear throwers • Excavations began in the year 2000 AD. • First known to have been harvested and eaten this included shellfish, whale, and

seal • Use of fire to make stone tools harder and easier to work • First known use of decorative red ochre (imbola)

Blombos Caves, Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay • Occupied between 170,000 to 40 000 years ago

• Discovered in 1947 AD • Known to Early Man for its deposits of red and specular haematite, used in

cosmetics and rituals • Red ochre from here was extracted by the ancestors of the San and used in rock

paintings • By about 400AD other, Bantu-speaking, peoples had arrived from north of the

Limpopo River

Ngwenya Mine, Bomvu Ridge, northwest of Mbabane,, Swaziland • World’s oldest mining activities

43,000 years ago

Stone Age Hunter-gatherers

• Domesticated the dog as a hunting companion

• Roughly from 3.4 million years

ago to between 6000 BC & 2000 BC (BCE) with the advent of metalworking

Agricultural Revolution / Neolithic Revolution

• Began roughly from 10 000 years ago in Ethiopian Highlands, Sahel & other parts of the world

• Domestication of plants (Sorghum, Wheat & Black Eyed Peas)

• Domestication of Cows, Goats & Sheep

Nile Valley Civilization

• Around 5000BCE, people started moving from Ethiopia, Great Lakes & Sahara towards the Nile river for a better climate & region for agriculture

• First based in Nubia & many moved further north & settled in Kemet

• Kemet soon became the World’s first great civilization leading in Agriculture, Architecture, Astronomy, Engineering, Science, etc…

• Taharqa - pharaoh of Kemet in the 25th Dynasty and qore (King) of the Kingdom of Kush. Reign from 690 BC to 664 BC.

• Featured in the bible as the king of Ethiopia (Kush), who waged war against Sennacherib during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9)

Imhotep c. 2650–2600 BC

Pharaoh Djoser 2670 BC

• First known architect, engineer, priest & physician in history. Later became a God • Built the stepped pyramid for Djoser & first known polymath • Father of medicine & wrote 1st surgical textbook differentiating medicine & magic

The Great Pyramid of Giza - Largest Pyramid in the world, was the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years. Height – 147 metres Built by Pharaoh Khufu (reign 2589–2566 BC) in c. 2580–2566 BC in Giza, Kemet Great Sphinx of Giza - believed to represent the face of the Pharaoh Khafra Built in the Old Kingdom of Kemet during the reign of the Pharaoh Khafra c.2650 BC–2480 BC)

Merit Ptah c. 2700 BC

• First known female Physician , first named woman in medicine & in all of science • 5 000 years before Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to obtain a degree

in medicine

• born to the goddess Isis (Auset) & god Osiris (Ausar) • Master of Heaven, Sky God of war and hunting • Merged with Ra (the Sun god) after which he “dies” and is “reborn” every day as

the sun rises • Pharaoh as Horus in life became the Pharaoh as Osiris in death

Horus (Heru) ~ 3000 BC

Original Holy Trinity: Osiris (Ausar) – The Father, Horus (Heru) – The Son & Isis (Auset) – The Mother

Geb (earth)

Nut (Sky)

Shu (Air)

3000BC - Auset (Isis) & Heru (Horus) son of Ausar (Osiris) 325 AD – Creation of a holy Mary & Jesus at the Council of Nicea by Roman Emperor 1503 AD - Pope Alexander VI commissions Leonardo da Vinci to create a white painting of Mary & Jesus after his son, Cesare Borgia...

Egyptian god Khnum (right) is creating two humans from clay, on his potter's wheel, seated next to the goddess Hathor who is imparting the breath of life into thm by pointing the ankh at their nostrils

Ram-headed god Khnum (center) fashions a man (left) upon his potter’s wheel, while the ibis-headed god Thoth (right) stands behind and records the number of years

Montu (Ntu) • Montu was a falcon-god of war in Ancient Kemet • He was represented as a raging bull for his

strength and war • Kemet’s greatest general-kings called themselves

Mighty Bulls, the sons of Montu

Kemetic (Egyptian) Gods & Goddesses were only representations of the divine principles that exist with you & in nature!

Amenhotep iii and Queen Tiye (ruled from 1390 BCE –1352 BCE the 9th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (Middle Kingdom)

Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) Reign 1353–1336 BC • First person in history to believe in the existence of

a single God. He is the father of monotheism • abandoned Kemet’s polytheism & introduced

worship centered on the Aten (sun disc) • Moved the capital city from Thebes to a new

capital, Akhetaten known today as Amarna

Tutankhamun (Living Image of Amun) Reign c. 1332–1323 BC • One of the most popular Pharaohs • Known as the boy king • He reversed several changes made

during his father's reign. He ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy

• Capital was moved back to Thebes and the city of Akhetaten abandoned

• His tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and George Herbert

Xerxes’ grandfather, Cambyses II defeated Psamtik III, the last Pharaoh of the 26th Dynasty of Kemet (Egypt) at the Battle of Pelusium in 525 BC, leading to mass migrations of people from Kemet to other parts of the African continent

Imhotep c. 2650–2600 BC in Kemet

Real father of Medicine

Hippocrates c. 460-370 BC in Greece FAKE/ COPY father of Medicine

“The day will come when history will speak... Africa will write its own history... it will be a history of glory & dignity...” Patrice Lumumba

Mayibuye!