George Hegel, a widely regarded German philosopher in the nineteenth century, was ignorant about the significance of Africa as a content and of Africans as people. Africa has been a hotbed of history since the beginning of the world. There were as many ancient civilizations as there were in Europe in Africa. Also, the languages, religions, and customs of Africa were unique to Africa throughout history just like the languages, religions, and customs of Europe. All of this data, however, did not affect George Hegel’s view of Africa. Hegel made three major claims about Africa in the parts of his speech that I read. According to Hegel, Africans had no idea of themselves as individuals; in other words, they could not grasp concepts of God or Law
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Hegel would claim that these Negroes (as he would call them) were unable to function in contemporary society because they had no etiquette, no idea of community, and no mental ability to perform the duties of a member of community. This entire argument was pre-Darwinian (The Origin of Species came out in 1859), yet Hegel was basically claiming that African Americans were of a lesser species than Europeans. Take, for example, the empire of Meroë. Meroë was centered on the town of Medewi, the capital of Meroë. This empire was contemporary with Kush (taking over Kush as Kush declined) in the early AD period (before 300 AD). This empire was iron-based; in fact, this society smelted metal better than many other societies. They relied on metal for agriculture and livestock and hunting. Meroë quickly became a trade center and an empire. Dr. Michael Kithinji, the historian who provided some of that information about Meroë, also lectured about how we define a civilization. Kithinji argued that civilization is really defined by a society’s ability to stop roaming the land, and have a healthy community in one location with steady supply of resources. In other words, civilization began as men figured out the world of agriculture (making food rather than hunting and gathering food). By this definition, the people of Meroë were a civilized and African society as early as 1,800 years before George Hegel was giving this lecture. The evidence is archeological, but it is not circumstantial. George Hegel was definitely wrong when he claimed that Africa was a land of uncivilized
Hegel would claim that these Negroes (as he would call them) were unable to function in contemporary society because they had no etiquette, no idea of community, and no mental ability to perform the duties of a member of community. This entire argument was pre-Darwinian (The Origin of Species came out in 1859), yet Hegel was basically claiming that African Americans were of a lesser species than Europeans. Take, for example, the empire of Meroë. Meroë was centered on the town of Medewi, the capital of Meroë. This empire was contemporary with Kush (taking over Kush as Kush declined) in the early AD period (before 300 AD). This empire was iron-based; in fact, this society smelted metal better than many other societies. They relied on metal for agriculture and livestock and hunting. Meroë quickly became a trade center and an empire. Dr. Michael Kithinji, the historian who provided some of that information about Meroë, also lectured about how we define a civilization. Kithinji argued that civilization is really defined by a society’s ability to stop roaming the land, and have a healthy community in one location with steady supply of resources. In other words, civilization began as men figured out the world of agriculture (making food rather than hunting and gathering food). By this definition, the people of Meroë were a civilized and African society as early as 1,800 years before George Hegel was giving this lecture. The evidence is archeological, but it is not circumstantial. George Hegel was definitely wrong when he claimed that Africa was a land of uncivilized