by DR. LEROY VAUGHN, MD, MBA, HISTORIAN is now available on
amazon.com.
ANCIENT PERIOD
WHO CREATED CIVILIZATION?
HATSHEPSUT
BLACK EGYPTIANS
ANCIENT NUBIAN BLACKS IN AMERICA
BLACK MULTI - GENIUSES
HANNIBAL: AFRICAN MILITARY GENIUS
WHO CREATED CIVILIZATION?
President Thomas Jefferson said, "Never yet could I find that a Black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration...never saw an elementary tract of painting or sculpture." Congressman Thomas Hardwick of
Georgia, in 1904, demanded and received the disenfranchisement of Black people from the gains made after the Civil War. He said, "Black people never founded a government nor made a single step toward civilization that did not soon lapse in barbarism, except under the fostering care and guidance of White people." Historian Arnold Toynbee wrote in his 1934 history book: "It will be seen that when we classify mankind by color, the only primary race that has not made a creative contribution to any civilization is the Black race."
Former President Richard Nixon was quoted in the Haldeman Diary as stating "the Black race is the only race, which never founded a civilization." Scientist and Professor R. B. Carrell concludes, “Savages, including the whole Negro race, should on account of their low mentality and unpleasant nature be painlessly exterminated.” Were White scholars and presidents never taught the correct version of history, or has there been a conspiracy for the past 200 years to deny Black civilizations? Before
Greece,
Rome or
Europe were ever established, there were multiple Black civilizations throughout the world, which were already thousands of years old.
All of the elements of civilization first began in Africa, including religion, art, science, government, mining, writing, mathematics, architecture, engineering, and agriculture. Dr. Charles Nelson at the
University of
Massachusetts states that animal domestication occurred in
Kenya 15,000 years ago; and that agricultural sites have been carbon dated in
Egypt to 18000 B.C.
The oldest numeration system was found in
Zaire by Dr. Jean de Heinzelin with markings on the Ishango Bone dated 8000 B.C. She also said that the people were familiar with prime numbers and multiplication by two since the markings were paired at 3-6, 4-8, and 5-10.
Astronomy and astrology are believed to have existed for almost 50,000 years. The oldest stellar calendar is dated 4241 B.C. It has 365 1/4 days and 12 months with 30 days in each month. The ancient Africans were also the first to divide the day into 24 hours and to begin the day at midnight.
African medical textbooks have been found that are over 5,000 years old. Ancient Africans were very well versed in medical diagnosis and treatment with as many as 1,000 animal, plant and mineral products used in the treatment of illness.
All religions are believed to have originated in
Africa, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. General Massey states that the religious records of all religions including the Christian Bible are traceable and in many cases are direct copies of the religious records of ancient
Egypt and
Nubia.
St. Augustine, one of the founding fathers of Christian Theology, wrote "What is now called the Christian religion has existed among the ancients and was not absent from the beginning of the human race."
The ancient Black Egyptians created paper about 4000 B.C., which made the recording of history and science more practical for library storage. It is estimated that over 700,000 books were in the libraries of
Egypt before Homer, the father of Western literature, was even born.
Could it be that Black history is the best kept secret in the world or have politicians, including past presidents, denied Black history to accelerate Black disenfranchisement?
WHO CREATED CIVILIZATION BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ben-Jochannan, Y. A. (1970) African Origins of the Major Western Religion, Baltimore Black Classic Press
Ben-Jochannan, Y. A. (1988) Africa: Mother of Western Civilization. Baltimore, MD
Browder, A. (1992) Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization. Wash., D.C.: Institute of Karmic Guidance.
Budge, E. A. (1967) The Egyptian Book of the Dead, New York: Dover Publications
Diop, C.A. (1981) The African Origin of Civilization.: Myth or Reality. Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company.
Finch, C. (1990) The African Background to Medical Science. London, U.K. Billing and Sons Ltd.
Finch. C. (1991) Echoes of the Old Darkland, Decatur, Georgia; Khenti, Inc.
Haldeman, H. (1994) The Halderman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House, NY: Berkley Pub. Group.
James, G. (1954) Stolen Legacy. San Francisco: Julian Richardson.
Khamit-Kush, I. (1983) What They Never Told You In History Class. Bronx, NY: Luxorr Publications.
Massey, G. (1970) Ancient Egypt; New York: Samuel Weiser.
Massey, G. (1983) Natural Genesis: London: Williams and Northgate.
Rogers, J. (1991) Africa’s Gift to
America.
St. Petersburg, Florida: Helga Rogers Publishing.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) (1991) Blacks in Science. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books.
HATSHEPSUT
Hatshepsut of ancient
Egypt is considered the greatest female ruler of all time. This Black empress is the first woman in recorded history to challenge and destroy the theory of male supremacy. After fighting her way to power, she held the throne of the world’s mightiest empire at that time for 34 years. Since her father Thutmose I had conquered most of the known world, Hatshepsut was not faced with an external enemy. Her greatest nemeses were the priests of the God Amen who were determined not to end more than 3,000 years of masculine tradition.
When the priests demanded that she step aside and allow her brother Thutmose II to rule as pharaoh, Hatshepsut tried to discredit her half brother by announcing that Thutmose II was the son of Mutnefert, a concubine, and therefore royal blood was only passed through to her. She knew that all Black African societies, including
Egypt, were matrilineal, which means that inheritance, including the power of the throne, was passed through the female line. Hatshepsut could easily trace her female ancestry to her jet-black Ethiopian grandmother, Nefertari-Aahmes, but faced with the alternatives of possible civil war or compromise, she agreed to marry Thutmose II. By all accounts, however, Thutmose II was an overweight, sickly, weakling and allowed Hatshepsut to run the affairs of the monarchy unopposed during their 13 years of marriage (1492-1479 B.C.). Upon the death of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut startled the nation by boldly announcing that she was a man. She donned a fake beard, male clothes, and changed her name from Hatshepsitu to Hatshepsut, its male equivalent. This would be similar to changing one’s female name from Demetria to the male version of Demetrius. Hatshepsut crushed all further opposition by also announcing that she was not the daughter of Thutmose I, but the virgin birth son of God Amen and her mother Ahmose. She declared that the great God Amen appeared to her mother “in a flood of light and perfume” and by “Immaculate Conception” this union produced a baby boy. For those in doubt, she had the entire bedroom scene painted on the walls of her temple in intimate detail. Thereafter, her sculptured portraits depicted her with a beard and male features. She also demanded that her title be changed to “King/Pharaoh of the North and South; the Horus of Gold; Conqueror of All Lands; the Mighty One.”
These changes must have come as quite a shock to the priests who had witnessed her giving birth to two daughters, Nefrure and Merytra-Hatshepset, while married to Thutmose II. Several priests also joked that the one title she could not add was “Mighty Bull of Maat” which implies male fertility.
Hatshepsut became firmly established as King/Pharaoh for the next 21 years (1479-1458 B.C.), and her popularity increased tremendously as did the prosperity of
Egypt. She was such a shrewd administrator, sending ambassadors to all her conquered lands, that gold tributes became so plentiful they no longer were weighed but measured in bushel baskets. J. A. Rogers wrote: “She began to publicize herself in the most sensational manner of that time, that is, by the building of temples, pyramids, and obelisks, the size and grandeur of which had never been seen before and regarded by the popular mind as a gauge of the ruler’s power.”
To further demonstrate her triumph over the priests of Amen, Hatshepsut commissioned her Black architect boyfriend, Senmut, to build a structure that would overshadow the colossal
temple of
Amen-Ra (
Karnak), which was the stronghold of her opponents. Under Senmut’s genius was created a magnificent temple, called Deir el Bahari, out of the sheer rock cliff that looks down on the
temple of Amen-Ra.
It sits high in the cliffs with a frontage of 800 feet and a series of courtyards and colonnades decorated with relics, shrines, inscriptions, innumerable statues, wonderful terraces, and paradisiacal gardens. Deir el Bahari is still considered one of the world’s most remarkable architectural specimens and the embodiment of Senmut’s multi-faceted genius. Hatshepsut lined the walkway to her temple with sandstone sphinxes of herself. Sphinx monuments were previously reserved only for the male as “Loving Horus”.
As a final blow to her detractors, Hatshepsut ordered the creation of two of the largest most beautiful rose granite obelisks the world had ever seen and presented them as gifts to the
temple of Amen-Ra. Hatshepsut astutely ordered the obelisks taller than the temple so that the roof had to be removed to accommodate her gifts, despite the fact that this temple was one of the most colossal structures made by man. Hatshepsut made the obelisks even more conspicuous and overshadowing of the temple by encasing their tops with a precious gold-silver mixture. This made the obelisks so brilliant in sunlight that whenever a visitor looked out on the city, the most dazzling sight was no longer the temple of Amen-Ra but her obelisks.
By riding into battle with her troops, Hatshepsut was the forerunner to all the great African warrior queens from the Candaces of Ethiopia to Queen Nzinga of
Angola. Although there were no major wars during her reign, there were revolts. One ancient scribe recounted Hatshepsut’s military accomplishments during a Nubian revolt on a wall in Senmut’s tomb: “I followed the ‘Living Horus’ (Hatshepsut) of upper and lower Egypt - may HE live forever! I saw when HE overthrew the Nubian Bowman, and when their chiefs were brought to HIM as living captives. I saw when HE razed
Nubia, I being in HIS majesty’s following…” Denoting Hatshepsut with masculine pronouns was demanded by her and was also a method used to exalt her position as “Living Horus”.
Despite the fact that she often dressed as a male, she never lost touch with her feminine side. Scribes wrote that she was “lovely to look at; graceful in her movements, and fragrant as a flower.” Hatshepsut wrote of herself: “My fragrance is like a divine breath; my scent reaches as far as the
land of Punt; my skin is that of pure gold…I have no equal among the gods who were since the world was.”
Hatshepsut’s rule was one of the most prosperous times ever for the people of
Egypt who had abundant work, shelter, and food. Memories of Hatshepsut persisted for many centuries after her reign and stories were passed down from generation to generation about her wonderful deeds, brave nature, beauty, and ingenuity until she reached godlike stature. Hatshepsut, a great Black leader of
Africa’s Golden Age, has been called “the first great woman in history” but in actuality may be “history’s greatest woman”.
HATSHEPSUT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Breasted, J. (1937) A History of
Egypt.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Cottrell, L. (1961) The Lost Pharaohs,
New York: The University Library
Diop, CA (1978) The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: Chicago: Third World Press.
Hyman, M. (1994) Blacks Before America. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
Montet, P. (1964) Eternal Egypt. New York: The New American Library
Murnana, W. (1977) Ancient Egyptian Coregencies. Chicago: Oriental Inst. of the University of Chicago.
Murray, M. (1963) The Splendor That Was Egypt. New York: Hawthorne Books
Redford, D. (1967) History & Chronology of the 18th Dynasty of
Egypt.
Toronto.
Univ. of Toronto Press
Rogers, J. A. (1946) World’s Great Men of Color. New York: Collier Books.
Romer, J. (1981) Valley of the Kings, New York: William Morrow and Co.
Sewell, B. (1968) Egypt Under the Pharaohs. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons.
Sweetman, D. (1984) Women Leaders in African History. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) (1988) Black Women in Antiquity. New Brunswick, New Jersey; Transaction Publishers.
Wells, E. (1969) Hatshepsut. New York: Doubleday and Co.
Williams, C. (1987) The Destruction of Black Civilization. Chicago: Third World Press
BLACK EGYPTIANS
The ancient Egyptians produced one of the highest forms of civilization ever known. They were outstanding in the fields of mathematics, astronomy and astrology, medicine, religion, philosophy, architecture, engineering, art, government, science, mining and virtually all other fields involving the elements of civilization.
In mathematics, the ancient Egyptians gave us not only arithmetic, but algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and also calculus. Higher math was needed for building temples and pyramids. The Egyptian Great Pyramid is among the
Seven Wonders of the World, and even today we could not reproduce this structure. Egyptian medical textbooks have been found which are over 5,000 years old and many of their methods of diagnosis and treatment are still used today.
Gerald Massey states that the religious records of virtually all religions including the Christian Bible, are traceable and in many cases, direct copies of the religious records of ancient
Egypt. J. A. Rogers says, "Every Christian priest from Moses through Jesus was taught in the Egyptian mysteries system". Acts 7:22 in the Bible confirms that Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians. Every Greek philosopher and writer from Homer to Pythagoras and Aristotle are known to have studied in ancient
Egypt. The Egyptians were also the first to produce paper and had over 700,000 books in their libraries when invaded by Alexander.
Given the outstanding accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians, it is understandable why every society on earth has claimed the ancient Egyptians as their ancestors including: Arabs, Europeans, and Asians. However, the current Egyptian is as different from the ancient Egyptian as the current American is from the ancient American. Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese professor and scientist, claims that the original ancient Egyptian civilization was built by Black Africans long before
Egypt was invaded by Assyrians, Libyans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs.
A Cairo symposium was held on February 3, 1974 by the United Nations Economic Social and Cultural Organization called (UNESCO) on the ethnicity of the ancient Egyptians. Diop convinced everyone in attendance that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans based on his seven-point presentation.
First of all, he developed a melanin dosage test and demonstrated that ancient Egyptian mummies had heavy doses of melanin in their skin, which was non-existent in White skinned races.
Second, he proved that ancient Egyptians had group B type blood, common among Africans, and not group A type blood, characteristic of the White race.
Third, he gave osteological measurements of the skull and long bones and demonstrated typical Negroid facial and bodily proportions among the Egyptians.
Fourth, Diop produced records from ancient Greek and Latin writers, who were contemporary with the ancient Egyptians, including Herodotus, Aristotle, Lucian and Diodorus. These writers all claimed that the ancient Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Colchidians all had Black skin, thick lips, kinky hair, and thin legs.
Fifth, Diop showed artwork by ancient Egyptians who drew themselves with Black skin and wooly hair. They even named their country Kemit, which means Black and called themselves Kemites.
Sixth, ancient Egyptian gods were all portrayed as jet-black in color and during this period most nations drew their deities in their own image.
Seventh, circumcision is of African origin beginning before 4000 B.C. in
Ethiopia and
Egypt. Circumcision was not practiced in the rest of the world unless they were taught by the Egyptians.
Finally, there is a strong linguistic kinship or affinity between the ancient Egyptian language and the languages of
Africa, especially the West African language of Wolof. These languages have many words, which are the same in sound and meaning.
Cheikh Anta Diop was successful in convincing everyone at the 1974 UNESCO Symposium that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans, and yet western society continues to portray them as White. The epitome of unconscionable cultural thievery is the Pyramid shaped Luxor Hotel in
Las Vegas, which displays White Egyptian figures inside, and a Sphinx outside with blue eyes and a European nose.
BLACK EGYPTIANS BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernal, M. (1987) Black Athena. London: Free Association Books
Diop,
C.A. (1978) The Cultural Unity of Black
Africa.
Chicago:
Third World Press
Diop, C.A. (1981) The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality.
Westport CT: Lawrence Hill & Co.
Diop,
C.A. (1981) “Origin of the Ancient Egyptians” in Mokhtar, G. (ed.) Gen. History of
Africa. Univ. of CA Pr.
Diop, C.A. (1991) Civilization or Barbarism. Westport Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Co.
Greenburg, J. H. (1963) The Languages of
Africa.
Bloomington,
Indiana:
Indiana Press.
Herodotus. (1983) The Histories. Middlesex, U.K.: Penguin Books
James, G. (1954) Stolen Legacy, San Francisco: Julian Richardson
Massey, G. (1970) Ancient Egypt. New York: Samuel Weiser
Massey, G. (1983) Natural Genesis. London Williams and Norgate.
St. Clair, D. (1987) Black Folk Here and There, Los Angeles; UCLA.
Van Sertima, I. (ed. (1986) Great African Thinkers, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) (1989) Egypt Revisited. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
ANCIENT NUBIAN BLACKS IN AMERICA
Nubians played a major role in Egyptian civilization, both at its beginning and near its end.
Nubia is an ancient Black country now located within Southern Egypt and
Northern Sudan. Dr. Bruce Williams from the
University of Chicago published in 1979, after extensive archaeological investigation, that a great Black Nubian dynasty preceded the 1st Egyptian dynasty by several hundred years and introduced all of the principles of civilization, which were later brought to fruition by the ancient Egyptians. Evidence of an advanced political organization with Pharaohs, an advanced writing system with hieroglyph, and an advanced religious concept with Horus and Osiris were all found to precede the first Egyptian dynasty.
During the Ninth Century B.C.,
Egypt became dominated by foreign rulers including the Libyans and Assyrians and again looked for help from her southern Black neighbor. The Nubian emperor Piankhy conquered all of
Egypt and became the first ruler of the 25
th Egyptian dynasty. He sponsored a cultural revival in
Egypt and resurrected the linguistic and artistic style of the old and middle Egyptian kingdoms. He refurbished all the Egyptian temples and monuments and had many new pyramids and other buildings erected.
It was during this 25
th Egyptian dynasty, between 800 B.C. and 654 B.C., called the "Nubian Renaissance," that Africans were also responsible for tremendously influencing the first American civilization called the Olmec civilization. Speculation as to a possible African element in the first major American civilization began in 1858 A.D., when the first of many colossal stone heads were discovered by Mexican peasants. These colossal heads were over eight feet in height and weighed over 10 tons each. The colossal heads were carbon dated to 800 B.C. and all have typical Nubian features including full lips, fleshy noses, and Africoid facial contours. The ancient Egyptian harbor at
Tanis is the only other place in the world with colossal heads of Nubian Blacks.
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima studied extensively the Egypto-Nubian presence in ancient
Mexico and found tremendous technological and cultural contributions made to the Olmec civilization by Nubians.
These technological advancements included the art of mummification, the art of pyramid building, and the skills needed to transport massive blocks of stone for long distances. Buildings required great mathematical precision in the laying, reveling, and fitting of the stone, and this was done for the first time in ancient
America with Nubian instructors. Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard says the Egypto-Nubian hieroglyphic writing system has been found as far north as eastern
Canada, among the Micmac tribe after spreading from its Olmec center. Bronze technology was also given to the Olmecs in addition to the Egyptian calendar.
Cultural traits adopted by the Olmecs from the Egypto-Nubians included the use of the color purple, the artificial beard, and the double crown headdress for signifying royalty. Professor Wiercinski, a Polish skull and skeletal expert, says that 13.5% of the bones found in one Olmec cemetery were African and that many were dressed in a royal or priest fashion and were lying side by side with a native American female.
During the Nubian renaissance, long before Christopher Columbus and even before Jesus Christ, Blacks were masters of the old world of
Egypt and the new world of
America. Dr. Van Sertima says that this fact in itself opens a new historical window from which to view the history of
America and of the entire Black race.
ANCIENT BLACK NUBIANS IN AMERICA BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dee Roo, P. (1900) History of
America Before
Columbus.
Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott.
Hyman, M. (1994) Blacks Before
America.
Trenton,
NJ:
Africa World Press.
Irwin, C. (1963) Fair Gods, and Stone Faces.
New York:
St. Martin’s Press
Jairazbhoy, R. A. (1974) Ancient Egyptians and Chinese In America. New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield.
Jairazbhoy, R. A. (1992) Rameses III: Father of Ancient America. Chicago: Frontline International.
Nettleford, R. & Hyatt, V. (eds.)(1995) Race, Discourse & Origin of the Americas. Wash., D. C. Smith. Inst. Pr.
Peterson, F. (1959) Ancient Mexico. New York: Putnam and Sons.
Van Sertima, I. (1977) They Came Before Columbus. New York: Random House.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) (1992) African Presence In Early America. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Von Wuthenau, A. (1975) Unexpected Faces in Ancient America. New York: Crown Publishers.
Von Wuthennau, A. (1969) Art of Terracotta Pottery in Pre-Columbian South & Central
Am. NY: Crown.
Wiener, L. (1922) Africa and the Discovery of America. Philadelphia: Innes and Sons.
BLACK MULTI - GENIUSES
World history has produced many men who have been described as geniuses but very few have ever been described as multi-genius. European historians have used the term multi-genius to describe such men as Aristotle and Leonardo de Vinci. However, these historians have never described a Black person as a multi-genius despite the fact that there have been just as many Black multi-geniuses as there are White. In fact, the world's first and greatest multi-genius in recorded history is a small Black Egyptian named Imhotep. Others include Benjamin Banneker and Cheikh Anta Diop.
Cheikh Anta Diop was born in 1923 in
Western Senegal. He completed his bachelor's degree in
Senegal and his doctorate degree in
Paris. Diop began as an extremely promising physicist who did experiments in the world famous laboratory of Marie Curie (who earlier had won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radiation). At a time when only a handful of people in the world understood Einstein's relativity theory, Diop translated the theory into his native Senegalese language of Wolof.
In mid stream, Diop decided to change his Ph.D. dissertation to ancient Egyptian history and to use his scientific background to prove that ancient Egyptians were Black skinned indigenous Africans, who taught the Greeks what later became Western civilization. Diop wanted Black people around the world to be able to claim the ancient Egyptians with great pride as their ancestors.
Diop’s Ph.D. dissertation was rejected three times until he developed a chemical process for testing melanin in the skin of Egyptian mummies and proved that ancient Egyptians were a dark skinned race. He also became an expert in linguistics and proved that the Egyptian language was African and that it was genetically related to a family of African languages including his own native Wolof. In 1966, Diop built a radiocarbon laboratory in
Senegal for carbon-14 dating to help prove that the human race first started in
Africa.
Another Black genius was Benjamin Banneker, who was born near
Baltimore, Maryland in 1732. At the age of 22, he looked at a pocket watch from
England and constructed
America's first large wooden clock in his front yard, which kept accurate time for over 20 years. White people traveled from five neighboring states to see this unusual clock built by a Black man.
The first scientific book ever written by an African American is believed to be the “Astronomical Almanac” first published by Banneker in 1791, which accurately predicted eclipses, high and low tides, positions of the planets, times for sunrise and sunset, and many other useful items. Banneker was also the most important member of a federal surveying team, which laid out plans for the construction of
Washington, D.C.
The first and greatest of all multi-geniuses was Imhotep, who served the Egyptian Pharaoh Zoser around 2980 B.C. His titles included: Chief Physician, Grand Vizier, Chief Architect, Head Priest, Chief Scribe, and Astronomer. Imhotep was the real “Father of Medicine”, and his reputation as a healer was so great that he was worshiped as the “God of Medicine” by Persians, Greeks, and Romans over a period of 3,000 years.
As Grand Vizier, Imhotep served as the king's supervisor of all departments of State including: the judiciary, the treasury, the army and navy, agriculture, and on all the king's construction projects. Imhotep's father was a distinguished architect who taught his son very well. Imhotep built the first and largest stone structure in recorded history called the Step Pyramid of Zakkarah. It was designed to become the tomb of Pharaoh Zoser and consisted of large blocks of limestone, which reached 195 feet high and 396 feet wide at the base.
BLACK MULTI-GENIUSES BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stetter, C. (1993) Secret Medicine of the Pharaohs. Carol Streams, Illinois: Quintessence Publishing Co. Inc.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) (1986) Great African Thinkers. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.Adams, R. (1969) Great Negroes: Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Co.
Diop, C.A. (1978) The Cultural Unity of Black Africa. Chicago: Third World Press
Diop, C.A. (1981) The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Westport CT: Lawrence Hill Co.
Diop, C.A. (1991 Civilization or Barbarism. Westport Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Co.
Diop,
C.A. Origin of the Ancient Egyptians in Mokhtar, Gen. History of
Africa.
Berkeley: Univ. of CA Pr.
Finch. C. (1990) African Background to Medical Science. London, U.K.: Billing and sons Ltd., Worcester.
Hayden, R. (1992) 7 African American Scientists. Frederick, Maryland: Twenty-First Century Books.
Hurry, J. (1987) Imhotep: The Egyptian God of Medicine. Chicago: Ares Publishers Inc.
Rogers, J. A. (1946) World’s Great Men of Color. New York: Collier Books.
Rogers, J. A. (1989) Africa’s Gift to
America.
St. Petersburg, Florida: Helga Rogers Publishing.
Sally, C. (1993) The Black 100.
New York: Carol Publishing Group.
Van Sertima, I. (ed.) )1991) Blacks In Science, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
HANNIBAL: AFRICAN MILITARY GENIUS
Hannibal Barca (247-183 B.C.) from the ancient city of
Carthage (
North Africa), is considered the greatest military genius of all time. The maneuvers and strategies this Black general used to defeat the larger Roman armies repeatedly over a period of 14 years while on Italian soil have been studied for centuries at military academies throughout the world. Moreover, it is believed that the German army successfully used several of
Hannibal’s strategies in World War I, including the “Schlieffen Plan” of envelopment that was based on
Hannibal’s famous battle at
Cannae.
Ancient
Carthage was a magnificent city founded on the northern coast of Africa (near present day
Tunisia) around 800 B.C. This city was the undisputed leader in maritime trade and commerce throughout the
Mediterranean Sea and most of the known world for over 400 years. During the third century before Christ,
Rome became powerful enough to challenge its African rival, and eventually they fought three bloody wars called the Punic Wars.
Hannibal’s father was also a great general named Hamilcar Barca, who lost to
Rome in the first Punic War that was fought for control of the Mediterranean Sea and trade with several neighboring islands, especially
Sicily.
After loosing the first Punic War (264-241 B.C.), Hamilcar Barca conquered most of southern
Spain (called
Iberia by the Romans) in an attempt to replace or compensate for the trade and commerce lost to
Rome. It is believed that
Barcelona,
Spain was named for the Barca family.
Hannibal’s father made his sons pledge undying hatred for
Rome and eventual revenge for Carthaginian losses during the first Punic War. Hamilar also made certain his sons were trained in the finest African military tradition, and also had them tutored by superlative Greek scholars.
Hannibal was the eldest and most brilliant of the sons and could speak five languages, including Greek and Latin, before age 20.
Upon the death of his father,
Hannibal was appointed supreme commander of the Carthaginian military at the tender age of 25. After
Rome continued to attack Carthaginian allies and suppress trade routes,
Hannibal decided to organize the world’s most diversified army and attack
Rome. His 90,000 men included soldiers from several different North African tribes, in addition to swarthy Spaniards, and White Celts and Gauls. His multiracial army was also multilingual and required over a dozen interpreters for
Hannibal’s every word. Few military minds today would have given
Hannibal much of a chance against a powerful homogeneous single race, single language Roman army fighting in defense of its own homeland.
Hannibal’s other greatest challenge was getting his army into
Italy since
Rome controlled the waterways. His decision to march his massive army over the
Alps had never been attempted before and is again a testimony to his great genius. For example, in crossing turbid river, such as the Rhone,
Hannibal would build large flat rafts and cover them with dirt so as to trick the elephants on board. The larger elephants were forced to cross upstream, which provided a partial damming of the river, that allowed the smaller pack animals and horses to cross down stream.
On one occasion, large 1,000-ton boulders blocked
Hannibal’s only path, and his soldiers were afraid they would have to turn back.
Hannibal drew upon the Greek science he had learned and ordered his men to cut down all the neighboring trees and place them under the boulders. Once the trees were set afire and the boulders became so hot they glowed, he then ordered his men to pour large amounts of vinegar on the stones, which caused the boulders to break up into smaller movable pieces.
Hannibal repeatedly provided ingenious solutions to apparently unsolvable problems that made this African appear god-like in the eyes of his soldiers. However, traveling over 1,000 miles and five months through the
Pyrenees Mountains and the Alps was still very treacherous, and
Hannibal lost half of his army through harsh weather exposure and battling with hostile tribes seeking plunder.
Once
Hannibal reached northern
Italy, he attempted to enlarge his army by telling local inhabitants that he had come to liberate them from the oppressive Romans. He had the wisdom to form an alliance with several of the larger tribes by using his army to defeat their local enemies.
Hannibal thoroughly interviewed all the local leaders and also sent out scouts to determine the best areas for battle and ambush. He would also thoroughly investigate the character of his opposing Roman generals to determine which generals were most likely to be short tempered, impetuous, and prone to mistakes. The
Roman Republic elected two different generals every six months and allowed those generals to rotate leadership every other day.
Hannibal only did battle when the general he considered less capable was in charge.
In his first battle against the Roman army (217 B.C.) at the
Trebia River,
Hannibal hid several thousand of his best soldiers and cavalry in the swampy river bed overnight. Once the Romans arched past the hidden troops,
Hannibal’s army was able to attack them from the front and rear and destroyed them easily. The Romans soon regrouped and sent a second army after the Carthaginians.
Hannibal studied a local lake adjacent to a steep mountain cliff (
Lake Trasimene) and chose this as his second battleground. He noted that the lake produced a heavy fog in the morning, which allowed his soldiers to hide in the cliffs and pounce upon the unsuspecting Roman army, which could not see his troops until it was too late.
After having two large armies slaughtered by
Hannibal in ambush, the Roman Senate decided to canvas all of southern
Italy and to produce the largest army in their history, which would only fight
Hannibal in open combat. Over 80,000 troops were recruited to fight against Hannibal who had less than 40,000 soldiers left in his multiracial army.
Hannibal defeated the large Roman army in a strategy that was copied for centuries thereafter. Noting that the Romans fought only in rigid columns, he placed his poorest Gaullic soldiers in a large semicircle facing the Romans and his best African soldiers far to the left and right of this semicircle. As their rigid Roman columns beat back the semicircle of Gaullic infantry, which went from convex to concave, they failed to notice that
Hannibal’s best African soldiers were forming a vice on the left and right.
Hannibal’s crack Numidian cavalry fought their way to the rear of the Roman army, which was now surrounded. In this deadly Battle of Cannae, more than 70,000 Roman soldiers were killed within three hours, which in comparison was more than one third of all Americans killed during the first four years of World War II.
One of the greatest mysteries of all time is why
Hannibal did not attack the city of
Rome after destroying its entire army. Many of his officers were bitterly disappointed. Some historians suggest that
Hannibal may have become compassionate after seeing 70,000 Romans dead on the battlefield. Perhaps he felt he could not penetrate the fortified walls without battering rams and other wall storming equipment he did not have. Over the next 14 years,
Hannibal conquered all of southern
Italy virtually unopposed since Roman armies were afraid to confront him.
Hannibal divided his war spoils and booty between his troops and
Carthage, which disposed both to hold him in high esteem.
After many years, a brilliant young Roman general named Publius Cornelius Scipio, who spent most of his life studying
Hannibal’s warfare techniques, convinced the Roman Senate that
Hannibal would leave
Italy if
Rome attacked
Carthage. Scipio was also able to turn almost all of
Hannibal’s north African allies against him including the powerful Numidians by making outlandish and unfulfilled promises of land and riches. Upon returning to Africa (202 B.C.),
Hannibal could not defeat the combined alliance of Africans and Romans at the Battle of Zama, and
Carthage was forced to surrender. Unable to escape,
Hannibal subsequently chose poisoning over imprisonment.
One has to speculate what type of world we would have if
Hannibal had destroyed the city of
Rome after completely destroying her entire army. Perhaps the Black Africans of Carthage could have provided a “kinder and gentler” world than the
Roman Empire did over the next 700 years.
HANNIBAL AFRICAN MILITARY GENIUS BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arnold, T. (1886) The Second Punic War.
London: Macmillan and Co.
Baker, G. (1929) Hannibal. New York: Dodd Meade.
Cottrell, L. (1988) Hannibal: Enemy of Rome. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc.
De Beer, G. (1959) Alps and Elephants:
Hannibal’s March.
New York: Dutton.
DeGraft-Johnson, J.C. (1954) African Glory. Baltimore: Black Classic Press.
Gilbert, C. (1968) Life and Death of Carthage. New York: Tapinger.
Hyman, M. (1994) Blacks Before America. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.
Jackson, J. G. (1970) Introduction to African Civilizations. New York: Carol Publishing Group.
Lamb, H. (1958) Hannibal: One Man Against Rome. New York: Doubleday.
Law, W. (1866) The Alps of
Hannibal.
London: Macmillan and Co.
Liddell, H. (1926) Greater Than Napoleon - Scipio Africanus. London: William Blackwood and Sons.
Rogers, J. A. (1946) World’s Great Men of Color, New York: Collier Books
Van Sertima, I (ed.) (1986) Great African Thinkers. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
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