History of Africa
The Birthplace of humanity All people are most likely to be descendents of beings who lived in Africa millions of years ago. Fossils and genetic evidence suggest that both humans and the forest dwelling great apes descended from a common ape like ancestor who lived in Africa 5 to ten million years ago. The earliest known hominids to which humans belong were the australopithecines, which emerged about four million years ago. Recently scientists have found Homo habilis fossils in the Caucasus region of southern Europe. A more advanced human, Homo erectus, spread even farther from Africa. According to a multiregional model, model human evolved throughout Africa. Africa provides a comprehensive and contiguous time line of human development going back at least 7 million years. Africa gave humanity the use of fire a million and half to two million years ago. It is the home of the first tools, astronomy, jewelry, fishing, mathematics, crops, art, use of pigments, cutting and other pointed instruments and animal domestication. In short Africa gave the world human civilization. This is 1st importance to me because you must know where you originated from before anything else. It is important to understand that African Americans were all born in Africa before they were forced to move from their homeland. The slave trade in Africa While some slaves shipped to Europe and America had previously been African slaves, many enslaved had been innocent bystanders. It was not uncommon for the Europeans to hide and wait for an African to come along, and then kidnap him. The retrieval of slaves was also obtained through Africans convicted of a crime. It was also likely for Africans of a tribe to be captured by an enemy tribe as a prisoner of war and then exchanged for goods. This lasted from the 15th to the 19th century, devastating the lives of at least ten to twenty million Africans. All forced into foreign enslavement, exported in exchange for imported goods. This is known as