Answer to Question #316686 in History for Thando

Question

Africa had no history prior to European explanation and colonisation that there is only the history of Europeans in Africa .The rest is darkness Her past the unedifying gyrations of barbarous tribes in pictureresque but irrelevant corners of the globe (Trevor Ropert 1968:871)

Based on the historical debates you have come across ,do you agree with Trevor Roper's View ?Discuss your answer in 200 words

Answer 1

The African continent is full of diversity, seen arguably in every facet of life. As a result, over time, different explanations have been given to Africa’s actualities and conditions. Archaeological studies in East Africa postulated that Africa was the foundation of human life, and historical evidence has shown that Africa once stood as an entry to the “awesome civilization”. Writing the African history has been challenging and mostly difficult, due to a lack of both inclusive written records and universal archaeological evidence that cover all the regions of Africa from past times. This has left Africa’s historical learning in the hands of foreign explorers, mariners, authors, and substandard historians, most of whom never submitted beyond the coastal peripheries of the areas of Africa they visited. Unfortunately, the history of Africa tended to focus on the activities of two groups, the Arabs and the Europeans in Africa. This situation produced a medley of confusion in African historiography, as African history was written merely from the bird’s-eye view of aliens and, second, was sequenced following patterns of historical developments outside the continent. The consequence was that Africa’s historical sequences became jumbled, and externalities not congruent with trends in Africa’s past and realities shaped her historical timelines.