Let's Talk African History: Nigeria

[SouthSac916]

What i love about early Yoruba civilization is that not only does it have this mystic feel to it, but it reminds me of "Atlantis" for some strange reason. The Yorubas were literally the "Greeks" of Africa imo. Anyhow let me drop some interesting info.[/.

I think it’s its important early in in this thread that we not use language like this. I get what your trying to say but let’s not insert things like this into African or Nigerian history. Greece has been use to give support to this aryan superiority race myth and should not be mentioned in a thread celebrating African people’s excellence. Not to mention that Egypt is the reason for Greece’s innovations. So a real comparison would be with Egypt. Greece is good for democracy but African based civilizations hold there own as well.

Also Atlantis is something created in another continent and separate. Yourba people already had their own mythology stories, no need for comparison.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

@Dip

 

[Bawon Samedi]

I think it’s its important early in in this thread that we not use language like this. I get what your trying to say but let’s not insert things like this into African or Nigerian history. Greece has been use to give support to this aryan superiority race myth and should not be mentioned in a thread celebrating African people’s excellence. Not to mention that Egypt is the reason for Greece’s innovations. So a real comparison would be with Egypt. Greece is good for democracy but African based civilizations hold there own as well.

Also Atlantis is something created in another continent and separate. Yourba people already had their own mythology stories, no need for comparison.

I think you are being a bit paranoid. No offense. A comparison is just a comparison. I'm not like the racist cac historians saying Yoruba civilization was INFLUENCED by the Greeks. Just that Yoruba civilizations REMIND ME of the Ancient Greeks. From their gods, artwork and some other things. Shango reminds me of Heracles. Thats NOT TO SAY Yoruba religion/civilization was influenced by the Greeks. Just a thing I do... Nothing more.

 

[Warthog]

I think it’s its important early in in this thread that we not use language like this. I get what your trying to say but let’s not insert things like this into African or Nigerian history. Greece has been use to give support to this aryan superiority race myth and should not be mentioned in a thread celebrating African people’s excellence. Not to mention that Egypt is the reason for Greece’s innovations. So a real comparison would be with Egypt. Greece is good for democracy but African based civilizations hold there own as well.

Also Atlantis is something created in another continent and separate. Yourba people already had their own mythology stories, no need for comparison.

At the bolded part - And the Middle East namely the Phoenicians!

 

[SouthSac916]

I think you are being a bit paranoid. No offense. A comparison is just a comparison. I'm not like the racist cac historians saying Yoruba civilization was INFLUENCED by the Greeks. Just that Yoruba civilizations REMIND ME of the Ancient Greeks. From their gods, artwork and some other things. Shango reminds me of Heracles. Thats NOT TO SAY Yoruba religion/civilization was influenced by the Greeks. Just a thing I do... Nothing more.

I understand that you don’t see the complexities in what I’m say but I can assure you from a scholarly perspective that using those comparisons is not healthy.

Do you ever hear Yorubaland mentioned when conversations of Greece are being held? No.

That’s because Greece has been romantized by Europeans as being theirs. Which in turn led Europeans to develop racial science believing they were superior to civilization on the African continent. Then they used this racial science to enslave Africans like the ones residing in present day Nigerian. This science is still used today to explain false narratives about Africans today even tho we know from DNA that this is false.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Nupe Kingdom/Bida Emirate
A little known kingdom that managed to beat, ransack and conquer the Oyo Kingdom/Empire.
They were know for their powerful cavalry.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Will post stuff about the origins of Nigeria's peoples tonight

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Part of the reason why Nigeria has such a huge population was because it was an agricultural cradle. From Nigeria, the African yam agriculturalists spread across West Africa:

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

It has a 3-4000 year head start on agricultural practices which were spread across the region

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Moreover, Central Nigeria (at Taruga) was an early iron-working site. Iron is a great metal for cutting down forests and clearing more land to plant even greater number of plants for food

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Let's talk about the Hausa. @IllmaticDelta has said this about the Hausa:

According to a Y-DNA study by Hassan et al. (2008), about 40% of Hausa in Sudan carry the West Eurasian haplogroup R1b. The remainder and majority belong to various Sub-Saharan paternal lineages: 15.6% B, 12.5% A and 12.5% E1b1a. A small minority of around 3% are E1b1b clade bearers, a haplogroup which is most common in North Africa and the Horn of Africa.[45]

In terms of overall ancestry, an autosomal DNA study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) found the Hausa to be most closely related to Nilotic populations from Nigeria, Cameroon, central Chad and South Sudan. This suggests that the Hausa and other modern Chadic-speaking populations originally spoke Nilo-Saharan languages, before adopting languages from the Afro-Asiatic family after migration into that area thousands of years ago.[46]

"From K = 5-13, all Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from Kenya, Tanzania, southern Sudan, and Chad cluster with west-central Afroasiatic Chadic-speaking populations (Fig. S15). These results are consistent with linguistic and archeological data, suggesting a possible common ancestry of Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from an eastern Sudanese homeland within the past ~10,500 years, with subsequent bi-directional migration westward to Lake Chad and southward into modern day southern Sudan, and more recent migration eastward into Kenya and Tanzania ~3,000 ya (giving rise to Southern Nilotic speakers) and westward into Chad ~2,500 ya (giving rise to Central Sudanic speakers) (S62, S65, S67, S74). A proposed migration of proto-Chadic Afroasiatic speakers ~7,000 ya from the central Sahara into the Lake Chad Basin may have caused many western Nilo-Saharans to shift to Chadic languages (S99). Our data suggest that this shift was not accompanied by large amounts of Afroasiatic16 gene flow. Analyses of mtDNA provide evidence for divergence ~8,000 ya of a distinct mtDNA lineage present at high frequency in the Chadic populations and suggest an East African origin for most mtDNA lineages in these populations (S100)."[46]

 

[Warthog]

Part of the reason why Nigeria has such a huge population was because it was an agricultural cradle. From Nigeria, the African yam agriculturalists spread across West Africa:

I love yams! LOL

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

More on Nigeria and the origin of the Bantu from this thread: The Peopling of Africa

Bantu Origins and Dispersals

• Bantu languages probably originated in the Cross River valley near the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. 5000 years, proto-Bantu were cultivating yams, legumes, peppers and gourds. This was supplemented by fishing, hunting and gathering.
• Adamawan languages (from the Adamawa plateau in Nigeria - proto Zande, Banda, Ngabanda, Amadi etc.) pushed the Bantu out of the moist woodlands north of the equatorial rainforest.
• Bantu expansion kept travelling east until they reached what is now Uganda and formed a new population nucleus.
• Entry into the rainforest brought the Bantu into contact with pygmoid peoples but given their different subsistence requirements, not that much competition occurred compared to the Bantu versus Khoekhoe. Trade relationships may have been established. The Bantu stuck close to river valleys in the Congo river basin.
• Iron-making arrived as a diffusion from Nok-Taruga (in Central Nigeria). However, iron hoes were not immediately adopted and digging sticks remained central planting tools - though iron axes cleared forest and more land for Bantu settlers.
• Bananas and plantains reached Africa from Asia. They fast become primary staples when the environment permitted it, solidifying higher population ceilings.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

^^^Yes its known that the genetic structure of Hausas are more similar to other Nilo-Saharan groups. Especially those of the Central Sudan.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORIGINS OF THE BORNU EMPIRE (NORTH-EAST NIGERIA)

• East of Lake Chad, Nilo-Saharan herders migrated southwards in search of pasture land and water for their cows. As they mixed with Chadic speakers, they become more sedentary. The prior inhabitants are called the So or Sao and easterly Chadic groups like the Kotoko, Buduma and Musgu may be their descendants. However, the nomads' culture and language prevailed.
• • The Zahgawa, ruled between Lake Chad and Dar Fur around 1000 CE, were the last in a long line of Nilo-Saharan nomads who had the eastern Lake Chad basin as their destination. The synthesis of Nilo-Saharans and Afro-Asiatics led to the formation of the Kanuri people. The founders of Kanem with its capital at Njimi. Their agricultural economy and salt mines at Bilma was the foundation of their wealth. Kanem became regularly involved in the Trans-Saharan trade around the 11th century CE. The caravans left Kanem to Fezzan on their way to Tripoli to exchange slaves for horses. Horses were needed to form cavalry contingents. Since Kanem had no gold, slaves were the priciest 'commodity' they could offer to the North Africans. Islam followed trade and soon the Kanuri populace and elite converted to Islam.
  • Kanem reached its height in the mid 13th century CE, with its territory including the desert to Fezzan. Kanuri activity then shifted towards the west of Lake Chad - building a new capital at Ngazaragmu. Chadic peoples were either pushed out or absorbed. A new state, Bornu, came into being. The Kanem were conquered by the Bulala who in tern were conquered by Bornu. But, Kanuri lands east of Lake Chad had been lost, largely to Shuwa Arabs. Bornu continued with Kanuri leadership in the West for several more centuries.