What was Africa's greatest invention?
The first evidence of both mathematics and astronomy are in Africa. The stone circles in South Africa known as Adam's calendar may be the oldest human-made structure. The use of tally sticks and bones show people doing math up to 44,000 years ago.
What has Africa given to the world?
The earliest human inventions such as the hand-axe and manipulating fire originated in Africa. People in Africa developed inventions used up to the modern day, including fish hooks, bows and arrows, and boats. The most important center of learning in the ancient world was the library of Alexandria in Egypt. Many of the most important Greek contributions to math, science, medicine, astronomy, and more were made in Alexandria.
The origin of the human species was on the African continent, and so it should come as no surprise that ancient African inventions were the first in human history. Even the ancestors of Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, had developed wooden tools, stone tools, and the ability to use fire. Physically modern humans emerged in East Africa between 200,000-150,000 years ago. By around 100,000 years ago there is evidence to show that humans had fully developed modern brains and cognitive function. Once human language had developed with toolmaking and use people began to migrate both within and outside of Africa to other continents. Some of the earliest inventions and African technology include hand axes, fishing hooks, bows and arrows, and even boats. Many of the African inventions in history pre-date the use of the written word by tens of thousands of years.
There is a long and rich tradition of both oral and institutional knowledge in Africa in medicine, math, and education. Many traditional medicinal practices involved using plants that have chemical compounds used in modern medications, such as salicylic acid, now used in aspirin and kaolin, used to treat diarrhea. In Egypt the ancient polymath Imhotep developed systems of medicine so popular and effective that he was deified in the Egyptian pantheon, and was also recognized as a divine figure by many Greeks and Romans. Also in Egypt, the library of Alexandria was perhaps the best and largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world.
In the Middle Ages, Timbuktu, in the Kingdom of Mali, was an important center of learning. The university at Sankore especially thrived in the 14th century under the patronage of Malian king Mansa Musa. The oldest university that still educates students today was founded in the 9th century in Fez, Morocco. Using records from Timbuktu and even traditional games such as Mancala as evidence, scholars have shown that Africa had a rich and complex indigenous traditions of mathematics long before the arrival of the Arabs or later European colonizers.
African Technology and Architecture
One of the most iconic architectural feats in Africa are the pyramids in Egypt. Just to the south, the Nubian pyramids are smaller, but much steeper and more numerous in modern-day Sudan. Mozambique and Zimbabwe boast of impressive stone structures, the most notable being the complex of Great Zimbabwe. The main mosque in Timbuktu is a prime example of traditional mud brick techniques in parts of Africa. Unfortunately, because mud brick and some other building materials are sensitive to the elements and need constant maintenance, not all of the old structures have survived into the modern day.
Egyptian medicine was highly developed through millennia of constant refining of techniques with medicines combined with beliefs in magic. The architect Imhotep was also an accomplished scientist and established the idea that diseases and illnesses had natural causes, and therefore could have natural treatments, as opposed to strictly supernatural ones. These ideas were flourishing in Egypt thousands of years before the works of Hippocrates. Egyptian practitioners of medicine required both education and training in their field.
Contributions to Math
The oldest evidence of people using mathematics is found with the Lebombo bone in Southern Africa. Radiocarbon dating places the bone between 43,000-44,000 years ago. The bone has notches that indicate a lunar month. Some scholars have even postulated that the first mathematicians in human history were African women tracking menstrual and lunar cycles. Games such as Mancala in West Africa and Gebet'a from Ethiopia date centuries before the Common Era and involve mathematical skill. Even the Yoruba language uses a system of counting that requires mathematical functions to express many numbers.
During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, many African scholars were kidnapped from their civilizations and were renowned for their skills. These include the "Virginia Calculator," who was forcibly taken from his home at the age of 14 and re-named Thomas Fuller. Tragically, many of these skills were passed down orally between generations, and the slave trade wrecked many of these educational ties.
The Calendar and Astronomy
The oldest calendars and evidence of astronomy came from Africa. Scholars are still debating the exact date and meaning of stone circles found in South Africa, known as Adam's calendar. The oldest estimates are up to 75,000 years old, and the alignment of the stones and materials show strong evidence of a calendar based on celestial bodies.
As part of institutionalized education in Egypt there was comprehensive observation and study of the heavens, including records of Sun and Moon cycles. The Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to develop a written calendar. The division of days of the year in the Egyptian calendar informed the Julian calendar developed centuries later by the Romans. The Gregorian calendar used in many parts of the world today is a correction of the Julian calendar, and therefor a descendent of Egyptian contributions.
The Use of Metal
Some of the earliest and most impressive works of technology in Africa involve metallurgy. In the early middle ages (and possibly before) African smiths were able to create ovens that burned hundreds of degrees hotter than their contemporaries. Archeology suggests African societies created high quality carbon steel 2,500 years before the rest of the world. Some of the metal products in Africa would not have a rival in quality until the industrial revolution. In addition to practical uses, metallurgy in Africa had also developed to produce stunning works of art such as the Benin Bronzes in the Middle Ages.
While many traditions and education in Africa have been transmitted orally, there were also important institutions of education. The most impressive institutional centers of education was Alexandria, Egypt. A range of lasting contributions of Greek scholars such as Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, Hypatia, and many more were made thanks to education in Alexandria. The library of Alexandria was the largest in the world and an important center of education for mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, and many other fields of study. The education and library in Alexandria enriched scholarly fields both in and beyond Africa.
Human history began in Africa. Ancient African inventions are humanity's earliest technology. From the very earliest times African technology such as the use of fire and hand-axes helped humans to survive and thrive in their environment. Inventions became more complex and spread outside of Africa to other continents. The richness and diversity of inventions in Africa has been developed both through oral traditions and through institutional knowledge. The earliest examples of the use of mathematics can be found with tally sticks used to record quantities, such as the Lebombo and Ishango bones found in Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively. Possibly the oldest human-made structure in the world is a series of stone circles known as Adam's calendar in South Africa.
Metallurgical techniques developed in ancient Africa were of a higher quality than any contemporaries, and evidence suggests that in East Africa people had developed Carbon steel centuries ahead of the rest of the world. Before many civilizations had even adopted writing, ancient Egypt had begun formal training of students, and ongoing practices of astronomical observations and medicine. The library of Alexandria was unparalleled in quality and quantity of ancient knowledge. Many of the most well-renowned Greek scholars gained their best knowledge and training in Alexandria.
Inventors in Ancient Africa
The human species evolved on the continent of Africa. This means that Africa has been inhabited longer than any place on Earth, so it's not surprising to learn that some of the greatest inventors in human history were living on this continent.
The history of African inventors dates back to before modern humans technically existed. It was our genetic ancestors like Homo erectus who invented stone tools and discovered how to make fire. As soon as anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa, they started creating things too. The fishing hook, bow and arrow, and even boats were first invented by Africans long before the advent of written history. Even as humans started migrating out of Africa, those remaining on the continent just kept on inventing.
Let's talk about some of the great inventions that ancient Africans produced, starting with medicine. Human groups likely had some sort of medicine since the earliest days of the species, but what we're talking about here is the development of a systematic medicinal culture. The ancient Egyptians have one of the oldest institutionalized cultures of medicine in the world. Professional healers not only used routine treatments for a variety of ailments, but recorded their knowledge as well. This let them establish schools of medicine, with each generation building upon the accomplishments of the last.
As a result, the ancient Egyptians could do some pretty advanced stuff. They were able to complete complex surgeries, mend broken bones, and deal with maladies of the digestive, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. These treatments required medical tools and healing herbs and minerals, as well as magical spells.
Math & The Calendar
Along with complex systems of medicine, ancient Africans also developed systems of mathematics. Ancient Egyptians institutionalized the learning of math, which resulted in monumental architecture like the pyramids.
Further evidence of mathematics stemming from Africa is the finding of tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities. These simple devices have been found around the world, but the oldest may be the Lebombo bone that was discovered in Swaziland of southern Africa. At roughly 43,000 years old, it represents the oldest indication that ancient humans were using organized systems of mathematics to account for various quantities. In this case, it's widely believed that the markings relate to the number of days in a lunar month.
That brings us to another notable invention: the calendar. Ancient African societies had advanced knowledge of astronomy and had learned from very early dates how to present the movements of the Earth, Sun, moon, and stars into an organized system.
The earliest evidence of this dates back to a mysterious structure in southern Africa made up of stone circles, called Adam's calendar. It's a large collection of stone structures, assembled into what appears to be an astronomical calendar. It's basically like Stonehenge, but much older. While this remains one of the most controversial sites in Africa, some scholars have proposed that it may be up to 75,000 years old. If this date is accurate, it would be the oldest human-made structure in the world.
Metal is pretty useful. Ancient Africans seem to have realized this early on. While humans in other parts of the world did not start fully utilizing metal until much later, Africans were smelting iron nearly 2,500 years ago. Metal tools can be found across Africa where ancient societies began exploiting rich mineral deposits millennia ago.
Some of the most impressive ancient metallurgists may have lived in what is now Tanzania 2,000 years ago. Archeological evidence from this region suggests that ancient peoples may have actually been able to make carbon steel by at least 500 CE, if not earlier. The secret was in the advanced furnaces created by African peoples of this region that burned hotter but used less fuel. In fact, the ancient Tanzanians seem to have been systematically producing steel of a quality that would not be matched until England's Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.
The last major African contribution we're going to talk about is education. Again, we're not just talking about the passing on of information, humans have always done that. Instead, we're focusing on a systematic, institutional culture of education. The ancient Egyptians began recording knowledge and developed professional groups of academics who specialized in certain areas. Over time, certain regions in Egypt became noted as the centers of education in the ancient world and the first semblances of universities as we know them.
The most famous of these was in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The famous repository of written knowledge in the Mediterranean, the Library of Alexandria, was first constructed around 300 BCE. Even the ancient Greeks often traveled to Alexandria to study and learn. Many systems of geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, and medicine that we still use today were established in Alexandria by scholars like Euclid and Ptolemy, as well as dozens of African intellectuals. With educational centers like Alexandria, Africa remained one of the hotbeds of invention and innovation in all of the ancient world.
Okay, let's now take a moment or two to review. As we learned in this lesson, Africa is the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, and home to some of humanity's greatest inventions. This list includes individual inventions that range from fishing hooks to boats to carbon steel, but also many of the first organized systems in the world.
For example, ancient tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities, suggest that Africans had developed consistent systems of mathematics millennia ago. These systems became advanced enough to allow for monumental structures to be built, sites like the African stone circles (called Adam's calendar) that suggest ancient systems of astronomy, while ancient furnaces were so efficient that they remained unmatched until the modern era.
Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, ancient Africans established some of the oldest institutions of education and created systems that would redefine human societies and allow for many more inventions yet to come.
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