How Africa rose out of darkness to become a rising star.

Hegel, the German philosopher, delivered a series of lectures on the philosophy of history in 1820, pronouncing Africa a ‘dark’ continent. His view was repeated by many historians without any investigation and it was based on the belief that Africa (as it was known then) was primitive, and had no culture, history or any positive contribution to the world.

At the time, the European powers were engaged in slave trade with Africa. Millions of Africans were sold in the slave markets of the American and Caribbean islands where, treated as subhumans, they worked in mines and sugarcane plantations. Therefore, the African continent was thought to be lagging far behind in terms of civilisation as compared to European countries.

When the European imperial powers colonised the African countries, they exploited their natural resources and manpower to further their material interests. They adopted racist policies and treated the African people with arrogance and contempt. When they found historical monuments in some part of Africa which indicated the traces of past civilisation, these were either ignored or assumed to have been built and left behind by foreign occupants or invaders. The imperial policy did not permit Africans to be treated as civilised or cultured people.

Later, the discovery of the ancient Egyptian civilisation, pyramids, mummies, sculpture, vivid paintings on the walls on the temples, system of writing, and contribution in medical, science and literature changed the image of Africa over the passage of time.

Herodotus, the Greek historian acknowledged the greatness of the Egyptian civilisation pointing out that the Greeks had learnt a lot from the African model. Another centre of civilisation was the Phoenician city of Carthage, now situated in modern-day Tunisia. The Phoenicians were traders and sea-farers who had colonies in Spain, Sicily and France. They fought against the Romans in the Punic wars. Hannibal, a great Carthaginian general defeated the Romans in many battles but eventually Carthage was destroyed by the Romans as it threatened their monopoly in the Mediterranean Sea. Traces of this ancient civilisation are found in Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Zimbabwe and other African countries. Ethiopia, once a great power, occupied Yemen and invaded the holy city of Mecca. It has the oldest Jewish and Christian communities. Nubia, a region along the Nile, located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt was ruled by the Kingdom of Kush; famous for its goldmines.

The African continent became significant as a result of new research in archaeology and history which proved that it was the cradle of human civilisation. When researchers found fossils and skeletons, they constructed the evolutionary process of human beings and the theory of the hominoid, homo-hablis, homo-erectus, and homo-sapiens was developed with it roots in Africa; the centre being Ethiopia and the Sahara. Darwin reiterated the evolutionary process having taken place in Africa. From there, the journey of the homo-sapien migrating to the other parts of the world was traced through research based on fossils and artifacts.

As research advanced, new facts about Africa emerged to change the old perception. Martin Bernal, the author of Black Athena discusses the glorious past of Africa which was previously ignored by modern European historians who wrote history with a Eurocentric point of view. Now, African studies have assumed an important position in Europe and America where scholars are busy researching the African past while African scholars are constructing the history of their respective countries. Based on modern research Africa is no more a dark continent.