Why did humans originate in Africa, but the development of African civilization lags far behind?

Archaeological materials prove that people of all ethnic groups in Africa created and developed splendid ancient civilizations very early on. In ancient times, when the homeland of the Western colonialists was still in the stage of glaciation, life was already boiling on the African continent. At that time, the Nile River Basin was still a swamp uninhabitable, but now the desolate Sahara Desert is a forest and grassland crisscrossed by rivers. About 10,000 years ago, the climate in North Africa changed dramatically, and the savannah gradually became dry and turned into a desert.

The Nile River Basin is one of the cradles of ancient civilizations in the world. Egypt, located on the lower reaches of the Nile River, is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world. Agriculture appeared in Egypt as early as 5,000 BC, and it knew how to cultivate grains and build water conservancy. The Egyptians developed astronomy very early. As early as 4241 BC, the Egyptians formulated the earliest human solar calendar that was quite accurate. The solar calendar has 365 days in a year, divided into three seasons, one season is 4 months, each month is 30 days, and the last month has 5 extra days as religious holidays. It deviates from the tropical year by only about a quarter of a day each year. Ancient Egypt created hieroglyphics in the 35th century BC. In the 19th century BC, they knew how to calculate the side length of a square and the volume of a truncated pyramid. Around the 21st century BC, the Egyptians were able to determine the pi ratio of 3 almost accurately. ·16.

Ancient Egypt also made great achievements in the arts such as architecture, sculpture and painting. The magnificent pyramids and the Sphinx, which still stand tall near Cairo on the banks of the Nile, are masterpieces of ancient Egypt around the 27th century BC. They are miracles in the history of human architecture and are immortal monuments to the outstanding wisdom and hard work of the working people of ancient Egypt.

In the middle reaches of the Nile River in what is now Sudan, the Kushite Empire arose in the 16th century BC. It had developed agriculture, iron smelting and textile industries, and was one of the richest and most prosperous countries in the world in ancient times. . Its capital, Meroe, was the largest iron-making center south of the Mediterranean and was called the "Birmingham of ancient Africa" ??by Western archaeologists.

What is now northern Ethiopia was an important center of ancient African civilization. The Kingdom of Aksum, which arose there around the first century AD, reached a high degree of prosperity in the fourth century. Domestic commodity exchange had developed to the extent of using gold, silver, and copper coins. The writing created at that time is still basically in use today, with up to 60 ft. of Aksum and the Rock Church of Lalibela are among the world-famous historical wonders of Africa.

The Berbers, who have lived in the Maghreb since ancient times, have been engaged in farming since the end of the Neolithic Age, built primitive water conservancy facilities, and made bronzeware around 500 BC. The Berbers established two kingdoms in Mauritania and Numidia before BC and left behind a large number of rock art works.

About 2000 BC, the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa began to develop from hunting and collecting wild plants to domesticating animals and cultivating crops. More than 250 crops in the world originate in sub-Saharan Africa.

West Africa is the birthplace of much of African agriculture. Sorghum, oil palm, etc. are all inherent products of West Africa. Some statues and cave paintings left in the Sahara Desert from history are a portrayal of West Africans first grazing and then pastoral life. Refined terracotta sculptures have appeared in West Africa for thousands of years BC. After entering the Iron Age around the 3rd century BC, powerful ancient empires such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhay appeared successively.

In central and southern Africa, you can see the remains of the Iron Age everywhere, as well as the ruins of ancient terraces and artificial irrigation projects. The ruins of the ancient city of Ngaruka with thousands of houses and the ruins of stone buildings in Great Zimbabwe built around 500 AD are all symbols of ancient civilization in Central and South Africa. There have also been some famous countries in central and southern Africa, such as the Kingdom of Monomotapa, which has developed agriculture, mining and foreign trade, the Kingdom of Congo, which has established a highly centralized system, and Kuba, which has reached a considerable level of sculpture art. Kingdom, Buganda State with very developed social division of labor, etc.

The east coast of Africa, which borders the Indian Ocean, has been prospering in trade since ancient times. Iron and salt were traded as early as before the Era. In the first half of the 15th century, the east coast of Africa had developed enough to send envoys across the ocean to visit China.

Africa is not just a "place where lions roam" as described by some Western scholars, but a continent with a high level of civilization in ancient times. Africa has made significant contributions to the development of world civilization.