Africa's Contribution To Contemporary Western Civilization
CONCLUSION
From the history of four of Africa's great empires, it can be clearly seen that Africa and Africans have contributed to what we now consider Western Civilization). All along the West African coast, Africans had developed various systems of government, from the extended family to regional empires and the Village State. Many of them consisting of those attributes of a modern state (i.e., armies, courts, etc.). According to Melville J. Herskovits, a known anthropologist, "of the areas inhabited by non-literate people, Africa exhibits the great incidence of complex governmental structures. Not even the kingdom of Peru and Mexico could mobilize resources and concentrate power more effectively than could some of these African monarchies, which are more to be compared with Europe of the middle ages then referred to the common conception of the 'primitive' state."
From the mystery schools of Egypt to the University of Sankore and other intellectual centers in Timbuktu and Jenne, scholars throughout the Western world came to Africa in search of knowledge and wisdom. Leo Africanus, a Christianized moor, informed us that at the time, "In Timbuktu there are numerous judges, doctors, clerics, all receiving good salaries from the king. He pays great respect to men of learning. There is a big import from Barbary. More profit is made from the book trade than from any other line of business." The learning centers in Timbuktu had large and valuable collections of manuscripts in several languages, including Greek and Latin.
Africa's Contribution To Contemporarily Western Civilization
CONCLUSION
From the history of four of Africa's great empires, it can be clearly seen that Africa and Africans have contributed to what we now consider Western Civilization). All along the West African coast, Africans had developed various systems of government, from the extended family to regional empires and the Village State. Many of them consisting of those attributes of a modern state (i.e., armies, courts, etc.). According to Melville J. Herskovits, a known anthropologist, "of the areas inhabited by non-literate people, Africa exhibits the great incidence of complex governmental structures. Not even the kingdom of Peru and Mexico could mobilize resources and concentrate power more effectively than could some of these African monarchies, which are more to be compared with Europe of the middle ages then referred to the common conception of the 'primitive' state."
From the mystery schools of Egypt to the University of Sankore and other intellectual centers in Timbuktu and Jenne, scholars throughout the Western world came to Africa in search of knowledge and wisdom. Leo Africanus, a Christianized moor, informed us that at the time, "In Timbuktu there are numerous judges, doctors, clerics, all receiving good salaries from the king. He pays great respect to men of learning. There is a big import from Barbary. More profit is made from the book trade than from any other line of business." The learning centers in Timbuktu had large and valuable collections of manuscripts in several languages, including Greek and Latin.
Africa's Contribution To Contemporarily Western Civilization