The Contributions of People of African Heritage to World Civilizations

The Contributions of People of African Heritage to World Civilizations

Lily J. Wieleba

Guilford College

Author Note

Lily J. Wieleba, first year at Guilford College.

Contact: lilywieleba@guilford.edu

Abstract

This paper explores the different ways in which African culture has contributed to other societies and civilizations around the world. It expands on things that have greatly benefited society and the world as a whole that originated within the African continent. This paper mainly examines contributions from Africa that are widely used across the globe and are commonly known and used in everyday life. Throughout this paper, we see things contributed from Egypt, for example, their contribution of the first paper (papyrus). The Nigerian contribution of cloth dyeing, and general contributions from communities across Africa on different ways to pass down and preserve history. This paper explores certain technologies and contributions used even in school today as a basic skill, for example: geometry, medicine, and knowledge of the human anatomy. These contributions are a key in modern day society around the world, this paper explains in depth these contributions that have been made by the people of African heritage.

Africa has contributed many skills still used every day in society. There is a large amount of significant contributions from Africa that would be impossible to live without now, there are skills that have been passed down that we now use to simply function and without these contributions the world would certainly not be as educated

Egyptian contributions

Egypt is one of the most notable countries from Africa that has major contributions to the world. The Egyptians spread glass making techniques around the world. Egyptian style glass vases spread across the Mediterranean and were copied by the Phoenicians, who turned it into an industry (Nadoury). The Egyptian’s glass blowing techniques spread as far as China and Rome (Saawua G, 2005).

Another far more known contribution to the world by Egypt is Papyrus: the first paper.

Papyrus was very fragile and could not withstand most conditions. It was created out of papyrus reed which was then made into Papyrus. Egypt passed on the papyrus technique to the Greeks, the Romans, the Copt, the Byzantine, the Arameans and the Arabs. Many works of Greek and Latin literature that have been discovered is written on papyrus (Saawua G, 2005).

            Egyptians also had a vast knowledge of how to make tools and also a wide variety of them. They used flint to carve instruments of good quality, such as carved stone vases, made even with the hardest variety of stone. All over the Mediterranean world, people copy the Egyptian technique (Saawua G, 2005).

Egyptians developed complex quarrying techniques, an example would be the construction of the Great Pyramids. The granite stone used for the Pyramids was taken from the Eocene cliffs, bordering the Nile River (Saawua G, 2005).

Egyptian mummies contributed greatly to our understanding of human anatomy. As a part of their traditions and religious beliefs, the bodies of the dead were taken into the afterlife, so they had to stay fresh and un-decayed (Saawua G, 2005). The dead were soaked in Natron (a preserving agent, also discovered by Egyptians) for seventy days. The brain was sucked out through the nose, and intestines pulled out of a slit cut along the side of the body. Such operations bear testimony to an accurate knowledge of anatomy (Saawua G, 2005).

Arithmetic came about because the administration in Egypt once Required that scribes keep exact records of land under cultivation. Geometry was needed to calculate area of land affected by the flooding of the Nile. Saawua G, 2005)

Cloth-dyeing

Cloth-dyeing is a contribution from the Nigerians. The origins of cloth-dyeing started in Nigeria and were particularly popular within the Osogbo, Oyo, Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Iseyin, Abeokuta and Ilorin communities (Ogunbiyi, 1988). The dyeing was mainly done by women at certain set dyeing stations or dyeing areas within the community. The dye could be collected from several different materials, ranging from minerals to flowers and tree roots (Olaoye, 2005).  

There are also many different dyeing techniques that were used throughout this time. One technique, known as ikat, was used when dyeing yarn before it was woven so that the yarn would have color (Olaoye, 2005). This was done by, either dyeing the yarn completely and then letting it rest in the sun, or by, tying multiple pieces of yarn together and then dyeing them. This would create a color changing effect, the areas in which the yarn was tied together would stay white, while the dyed areas would change color, thus creating a color changing effect (Olaoye, 2005).