₦airaland Forum

PhysicsMHD: In Dafuna Canoe, History is Being Made
ARCHAEOLOGY: by Kazeem Adeleke

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The dream is great and when fully accomplished, will be one of the greatest historical documentations and tourist attractions in the whole of Africa. "What we are trying to do is to build a museum where the canoe will be kept. There, a lot of people from across the world will come and see it. I must tell you, this will be a major tourist attraction in the whole of Africa," says Dr. Omotoso Eluyemi, Director and Chief Executive of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments last week.

Since the Dufuna canoe was discovered by a local Fulani herdsman in 1987 archaeologists have been in a frenzy about the discovery.

The canoe which was excavated by a combined team of Nigeria and German archeologists in 1994 at Dufuna, a village along the Komodugu Gana river in Fune local government area of Yobe State has continued to amaze them for the simple reason that it has changed the course of history.

Presently undergoing conservation at Damaturu, Yobe State, it was dug out from a depth of five meters beneath the earth's surface and measured 8.4 meters in length, 0.5 meters wide and about 5 cm thick varying at certain parts of the surface. The age of the canoe has been put at about 8000 years old (6000 BC), thus, becoming the oldest boat in Africa and third oldest on earth.

The canoe belongs to the Late Stone Age period (Neolithic Age), when humans ceased to roam the face of the earth hunting to become herdsmen and cultivators and in the process becoming modifier of their environment with complex social structures in response to new problems and ways of dealing with situations.

"The discovery of this boat is an important landmark in the history of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general" says Eluyemi.

Besides proving that the Nigerian society was at par (if not earlier) than that of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoa and Phoenicia, the discovery also provides the first concrete evidence that Africans possessed the ability to reason and have been exploring technology to modify their environment to suit their needs.

But more importantly "the canoe has shown that people in the Niger area had a history of advanced technology and that they had mastered the three major items of Paleolithic culture which were the fashioning, standardization and utilization of tools according to certain set traditions," explains Eluyemi.

But beyond that, the discovery has also revealed that, Nigerians were not static people. "It gives concrete evidence of transportation by seas as well as providing evidence of some form of long distance commercial activities indicative of existing political and economic structures."

One great benefit of the discovery is that it has helped archaeologists draw a relationship between what was happening in Nigeria and else where in the world during that period. Indications are that while Nigerians were making canoes in Dufuna village in 6000 BC, the people of Catol Huyuk in Turkey were making pottery, textiles etc, like the people of Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) were forming urban communities and the Chinese were making painted pottery in the Yang Shao region. But particularly of interest to archaeologists is the proof that some form of advanced civilization existed in the Lake Chad Basin around 6000 BC.

Documentation has showed that based on the minimal available technology during this period, the making of the Dufuna canoe must have been a ponderous task which called for mastery, specialization and ingenuity. A lot of work, man hours and skill must also have been put into the production since no iron tools were in existence at the time. The tools used were probably Post Pleistocene ungrounded core axe - like and pick - axe bifacial tools of microlithic appearance. It can be assumed that the canoe must have been made near a river to eliminate the difficulty of transporting it over long distances.

Read more: http://egyptsearchreloaded.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=hist&action=display&thread=591#ixzz1J5UDSfQN

PhysicsRND: "[b]In pre-colonial times, as now, the builders were specialists, often (in
the case of those building the bigger boats) living in the forests which
provided the raw material, where they either were visited by their clients
or worked from 'childrens' boats' sent to them as models. According to
Barbot, 'Axim, Ackum, Boutroe, Tacorary, Commendo, Cormentim and
Wineba' were 'the most noted places' on the Gold Coast for canoes,
which were sold by the builders there both to their neighbours and to
the Europeans; the men of 'Achombene' were also reputed as builders
and suppliers of the larger canoes.[/b]32 On the Upper Niger, two servile
peoples, the Tyindiketa and the Zendji, were prominent in the Songhay
empire both as boat-builders and as crews,33 and from the sixteenth
century may have been making larger vessels from planks (presumably
carvel, not clinker-built) as well as canoes.34 In the Niger Delta, where the
ubiquitous mangrove was unsuitable for boat-building, canoes were
supplied by the Ijo from the forested region of the upper Benin river,
though the Apoi of the central delta were also known as builders and
hirers of canoes.35 In Lagos, the smaller canoes were built on the beaches,
while the larger ones were obtained from the inland forests.36 A noted
boat-building centre in the Ijebu kingdom in the early nineteenth century
was 'Boughiye', said by Osifekunde, the informant of the French ethnographer
D'Avezac, to lie on the south shore of the Lagos lagoon and
to be 'famous throughout the country for the superiority of the vessels
that come from its boatyards '.3 As this is a sandy region with few trees
other than palms, wood was presumably imported here from the mainland.

II

For hundreds of years the canoe, both as a ferry and as a means of lateral
communication, has played a major role in the political and economic
life of West Africa. It has been said that 'mountains divide, rivers unite',
and the history of the Niger bears out the latter part of this statement."



- The Canoe in West African History
Author(s): Robert Smith
Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1970), pp. 515-533

PhysicsRND: "West African canoes were constructed according to a method which
probably varied little for over a thousand years, and in places is still
practised (though it is doubtful whether any of the largest types have
been built in recent years). Olfert Dapper described the manufacture
of canoes on the Gold Coast in this passage:


They are made all in one piece, from a single tree trunk, which the Negros
fashion in this way. They round off the trunk at each end, then dig it out
with an iron tool. They leave the thickness of two fingers at the bottom and
one finger on the sides: and then burn straw in the hollow, in order to prevent
the sun from splitting the boat or worms from entering. The sides are propped
up by wooden posts [presumably to prevent expansion of the wood on heating]
,  Some of the largest size are made at Cabo das tres Puntas, where trees
grow which are seventeen or eighteen spans in circumference.28



Most of the West African canoes in use today are pointed at both
bow and stern, but another common hull-form ends in dovetail projections,29
which on lagoon and river canoes are sometimes wide enough to form
a platform for poling. Thwarts are often absent, and there is no evidence
of the use of outriggers or, until the present century, of leeboards. Accounts
of contemporary canoe-building30 indicate that the softer woods are
preferred as material, Ceiba pentandra (the silk cotton tree) and Triplochiton
scleroxylon being in special demand for bigger craft. After felling and
shaping, the trunk is excavated by an adze-like iron tool. In the case of
large and heavy boats built in the bush, the operation is sometimes
carried out by cutting sections which the builders then excavate simultaneously,
leaving temporary bulkheads between each section in order
to facilitate the draining of rainwater. Excavation is usually completed
by burning out the interior, using dry grass as fuel. This operation serves
to disinfect and preserve the fabric of the boat (since a tar-like substance
is produced by the heating of the wood) and to drive out insects and other
parasites. During the burning, the wood tends to expand; in the case
of the sea-going canoes this-and the resultant cracking-is prevented
by squeezing the canoe between props; lagoon and river craft, on the
other hand, are allowed to expand, and then contraction on cooling is
prevented by placing struts of wood across the boat. Paddles are made
of wood, carved according to various patterns, and poles from bamboo or
palm. The finished canoe is taken to the nearest navigable water either
by motor transport or by the ancient method of rolling it over a pathway
of logs. The life of a lagoon canoe is reckoned at only some 2-3 years, but
the more costly and carefully made canoes for sea fishing, when properly
treated and 'patched', are used for up to 15 years.31"

PhysicsHD: 13.


"Two possible lines of explanation suggest themselves for this distinction
between seafarers and the rest. The first is geographical. On the Gold
Coast, firm beaches, backed by relatively open and dry country, afforded
easy access from the land to the sea, while the small promontories which
jut out south-westwards from Axim nearly to Accra gave shelter from
the prevailing wind and current to the beaches in their eastern lee.14
East of the Volta, moreover, lagoon systems roughly parallel to the coast,
and networks of rivers offered alternative and less hazardous water
communication and fishing. A second explanation may be sought in the
early history and traditional origins of the different peoples. The Yoruba,
for example, who have few references to the sea in their myth and legend,
seem in origin to have been an inland people who settled near the coast
only within the last four or five hundred years; though they made much
use of canoes on their lagoons and rivers, it is unlikely that in precolonial
times they ever ventured through the Atlantic surf on to the open sea.15
The West African canoes, each 'carved' and 'dug out' from the trunk
of a tree, [b]varied considerably in size, from small fishing canoes carrying
a crew of from one upwards, to canoes over 8o ft. in length and with a
complement of one hundred men or even more. The largest canoes were
built for the relatively calm waters of the lagoons and great rivers.
Fernandes, writing about I506, speaks of 'huge canoes carrying I20
warriors' on the Sierra Leone river, while Hawkins saw boats on the
Sherbro which were some 24 ft. long, carved and painted, and could
carry some sixty people in calm water.'6 Pacheco writes of large canoes
in the same area which carried up to fifty men and were used for war
and other purposes. But he was especially impressed by the canoes on
the Rio Real (the Bonny and New Calabar rivers in the eastern delta of
the Niger): 'The bigger canoes here, made from a single trunk, are the
largest in the Ethiopias of Guinea; some of them are large enough to
hold eighty men '.7 According to Dapper, these canoes of the Rio Real
had their own cooking hearths, and special arrangements for the storage
of the crew's sleeping mats."' Barbot adds that they were much larger
than the canoes on the Gold Coast, 'some being 70 ft. in length, and
7 or 8 ft. broad; very sharp pointed at each end, fitted with benches
athwart for the conveniency of the rowers, who sit as near the sides of
the canoes as is possible'. Some had 'a sort of quarter-deck, made of
strong reeds'.19 'Fo'castles' had also been noted by Pacheco on the
(presumably sea-going) canoes of the Ivory Coast,20 and the feature occurs
in the canoes seen in the Niger Delta by the Landers; one of the drawings
in the latter's account of their journey in I830 shows an 'Iboe canoe' with
about twenty-two men engaged in paddling, two standing in the bows
and stern with long poles as steersmen, and a platform amidships on
which three warriors are standing and a number of muskets are stacked.21
The war canoes with which Kosoko, the exiled Oba of Lagos, attacked
across the lagoon towards his former capital in I853, were apparently
of two types, some being 8o ft. in length and carrying 'upwards of a
hundred men', while others carried thirty to forty men each.22 [/b]On the
Upper Niger, where there were few large trees, tree trunks were occasionally
joined by cords end-to-end (rather than as a catamaran).23

The usual method of propulsion for the canoes was by paddles and, in
shallow lagoon and river-water, by punting. Barbot refers to the use of
sails by the natives of Axim and Winneba, and implies their use also off
the Senegal coast.24 The sails on these sea-going canoes were presumably
of cloth, perhaps copied from the Portuguese, and their rig probably
afforded a limited capacity for sailing into the wind. The canoes seen by
members of the I84I Niger expedition at Fernando Po, however, were
fitted with sails of grass fibre attached to masts of light cane.25 The Yoruba
on their lagoons, according to G. J. A. Ojo, used 'woven fresh palm
branches held upright and turned as the occasion demanded', but John
Whitford noted that the trade canoes plying between Badagry and Lagos
in i865 were fitted with square sails 'of strong cotton cloth, woven in the
interior, blue, white or striped '.26 On the Upper Niger, sails were apparently
unknown and the wind was by no means a friend to sailors.
Nevertheless, transport could be quite rapid, though Es-Sadi's claim to
have navigated 300 miles in 5 days on the Niger (presumably with the
current) is perhaps exaggerated.27"

PhysicsHD: I posted three more things, but the spambot attacked me.


12:


Note that the Nubian style boat became the standard style of Egyptian boat:


https://historylink101.net/egypt_images/boat.jpg





https://www.telecomtally.com/blog/modelboat.jpg

"An ancient model of an Egyptian boat (2052-1778 BCE) looks like this one at the North Carolina Museum of Art. "

http://www.telecomtally.com/blog/2005/03/ship_remains_from_the_time_of.html


^^^^

This link also has an interesting discussion of the fabled Land of Punt.

Another link on Egyptian ships: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Ancient_Egyptian_boat_building



More images:

http://www.google.com/images?q=egyptian+boat&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1680&bih=857

PhysicsMHD: 9:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_military_systems_%281800%E2%80%931900%29

"In the Niger Delta, the bigger Itsekiri war canoes mounted multiple cannon and swivels, and carried 40 rowers and 100 warriors, with slaves doing most of the rowing duties. Slaves were also tasked with providing food for the canoe men.[8] Commerce sometimes operated closely with war-making. Itsekiri traders operated their own fleets of fighting vessels, and the British navy was often unable to stop these fast-moving warrior-merchants as they flitted between the streams, lagoons and waterways of the Delta. On several occasions they fended off British warships by blockading narrow creeks and waterways, and in disputes with the colonial regime or European merchants, shut down trade on the Benin river for several months.[9] Pirates also made use of fast canoes to plague commerce and local citizenry alike. War-canoe ports were often fortified with extensive stockades, and multiple trench lines, behind which teams of gunmen and other fighters were marshalled for defense.[10]"

[8] ^ P. C. Lloyd, "The Itsekiri in the Nineteenth Century; An Outline Social History," The Journal of African History, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1963), pp. 207-231
[9] ^ Lloyd, op. cit
[10] ^ Robert Smith, The Canoe in West African History, The Journal of African History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1970), pp. 515-533.; Lloyd, op. cit


10:



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Afrimilibowarcanoe2.jpg

"Iboe war canoe"


R and J. Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger, (London 1832). pp. 283-214"

"Ibo war canoe from Nigeria, circa 1830s, demonstrates a blend of indigenous and imported technology. Construction is of a single log. Steering is provided by two oars-men in bow and stern. Muskets stand ready on the fighting platform in the center, and captured enemy flags and trophies fly overhead. Swivel guns and small cannon were sometimes installed."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_military_systems_%281800%E2%80%931900%29



" 'Fo'castles' had also been noted by Pacheco on the
(presumably sea-going) canoes of the Ivory Coast,20 and the feature occurs
in the canoes seen in the Niger Delta by the Landers; one of the drawings
in the latter's account of their journey in I830 shows an 'Iboe canoe' with
about twenty-two men engaged in paddling, two standing in the bows
and stern with long poles as steersmen, and a platform amidships on
which three warriors are standing and a number of muskets are stacked.21"

- Robert Smith, The Canoe in West African History, The Journal of African History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1970), pp. 515-533


(note 'fo'casles' above is an old spelling of forecastles (the upper deck of a ship))


11:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Duala_war_canoe.jpg

A Duala war canoe, Cameroon, 1884. Scan from Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and Their Hinterland, c. 1600–c. 1960 by Ralph A. Austen and Jonathan Derrick. Originally from an illustration in Die Gartenlaube: Illustriertes Familienblatt, vol. XXXII, no. 37. Based on an original photograph.

PhysicsMHD: Really?


1:
https://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7439/nubianboatsceneblackpha.jpg


http://kennethgarrett.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Nubian-Pharaohs/G0000zfJA49PwJoY/I0000Y9NTS0w.xmE/P0000F0AYdFLNvYI



2 :
https://d2nine.com/assets/model_of_boat.jpg



3:

https://img816.imageshack.us/img816/2262/maiherpripapyrusbookoft.jpg

http://kennethgarrett.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Nubian-Pharaohs/G0000zfJA49PwJoY/I0000eFrLPwfZhKg/P0000F0AYdFLNvYI



4:

https://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/EgyptBoat2.jpg

http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2011/02/one-armed_tut_hawass_issues_de.html


5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubia_%28Mesolithic%29_/_Nile_boat

"A very important question arises about hull construction. Only two options are known to be available: a hull formed from a large log (tree trunk) or built up as with a papyrus reed boat. True planked hull construction cannot be documented earlier than the 1st Dynasty with the discoveries at Tarkhan of planked hull boards that were re-used as coffin and roof timbers [6]  However the architectural features of the Khartoum Mesolithic boat were refined and executed, they received broad acceptance among Egyptian ship builders and were widely utilized in nautical architecture during the next periods of Egyptian history. The limited opportunities provided by the Papyrus reed raft had been transcended.[7]  Mankind's ability to utilize the resource opportunities provided by the broad Upper Nile basin, and the large Nile delta of Upper Egypt had taken a quantum leap forward with this 'new' boat design as depicted on the Khartoum Mesolithic pebble."


6: http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/usai/index.html

"In particular the image of a steering gear fixed to a vertical pole inserted in the stern upper hull can be found in boat rock engravings from the Abka region in Sudanese Nubia; and from Akkad which is south of the third Cataract on the left bank of the Nile in the Northern Dongola Reach. The blade strongly resembled those of the boat of El Khab. This kind of composite helm was still in use on Egyptian ships built during the New Kingdom. The dome-like cabin on the upper hull is also a well known feature on boat representations dating to the Gerzean and Predynastic periods in Egypt and Nubia."

^^^^^

Educate yourself man. Nubian boat making was quite ancient and influential.

Also,

7:

https://www.dignubia.org/maps/timeline/img/b3400-incense-burner.gif

"These drawings show the carved decoration on two stone vessels found in rich graves at Qustul, in northern Nubia, dating to about 3400-3200 BCE. These vessels, carved of Nubian stone, show kings sitting in boats and wearing the "White Crown". This crown was once associated only with Egyptian kings. Because these vessels came from Nubia, some archaeologists think these kings may not be Egyptian but very early Nubian rulers. Also shown in these carvings are: a palace front, bound prisoners (suggesting that these scenes commemorate a victory), and a lion in a boat (perhaps symbolizing the king)."

http://www.dignubia.org/maps/timeline/bce-3400.htm


8:

In particular, note that:



http://nautarch.tamu.edu/Theses/abstracts/vinson.html

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/Theses/pdf-files/Vinson-MA1987.pdf


^^^^

So the earliest evidence of boats in that area (around the Nile) has been found in Nubia, it influenced Egyptian  boat building, and there is reason to believe certain aspects of Egyptian boat building influenced that of the Greeks.

Pleep: African Man building a fishing sailboat in the same way his ancestors did hundreds of years ago.
http://polishingpeanuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Will-Boase-African-Boat-Builder.jpg

There are also many first hand accounts of malian ships from the 1400's

The ships from mali were " full size" so to speak, with sails and decks. Around the size of columbus's ship the Pinta, which i have had the pleasure to see, which measures i would guess around 50 feet?

(Dr. Chami)"It was thought that Swahili settlements were founded by foreigners, particularly by Islamic traders," he says. "But these discoveries show the people here were interacting with other civilisations - and long before the Islamic era."

Dr Chami believes the coastal communities may have been trading animal goods, such as ivory as well as iron.

Dr. Chami utilised the writings of Greek geographer Ptolemy (c.87-150 AD) who described settlements in East Africa as "metropolis" and also referred to "cave dwellers".

Ptolemy even specified a latitude eight degrees south on a large river -the location of the Rufiji river.
It was there on the hills above the river that Dr Chami found the remains of settlements with ancient trading goods and evidence of agriculture.
Directly opposite the Rufiji delta are Mafia & Juani Islands.
Dr Chami's excavations uncovered cultural artefacts which have been carbon dated to 600 BC.
They included Greco-Roman pottery, Syrian glass vessels, Sassanian pottery from Persia and glass beads.

But Felix Chami believes the new site on Juani Island may well be the most significant yet.

It is known by historians that at its height the Mali Empire built a large naval fleet under Emperor Mansa Musa in the late 13th and early 14th century.[23] Arabic sources describe what some consider to be visits to the New World by a Mali fleet in 1311.[24]

Possible visits from Africa
The Portuguese explorers discovered the islands in 1456 and described the islands as uninhabited. However, given the prevailing winds and ocean currents in the region, the islands may well have been visited by Moors or Wolof, Serer, or perhaps Lebou fishermen from the Guinea (region) coast.

RandomAfricanAm: @kingston277
Thumbs up to you. That said you are going to run into the same problems with the self haters over and over. Typical broad issues are...
1. The attempt of translating African ideas/institutions into incompatible European intellectual containers.
2. A poor(lopsided) grasp of the general history of Humans and their activity through time.
3. A poor ability to process historical knowledge of Human activity through time to make insightful descriptions of todays society.
4. Misguided rationalizations exacerbated by issues #1-3 above.
5. Dogged stubbornness brought on by the idea that "I didn't come to this conclusion by an emotional fit, I came to a rational well thought-out conclusion". This being done under the more fundamental issue noted in #4
6. A poor "spiritual/emotional" relationship with the topic under discussion brought on by personal observation(school/real world) of that topic. While the rationalization serves as justification for the stated position; the spiritual relationship mediates which rationalization was stated in the first place.




I feel a need to repost this...

KoloOyinbo: OK it looks like you want the last word on this nonsense.

KoloOyinbo: I know I will not convince you as you have not even attempted to address the point of this thread and only attempted to spout illogical superstition about juju etc which no rational argument will ever convince a silly believer that it is rubbish.

KoloOyinbo: THE DOGON BULL**** IS NOT UNDER DEBATE BY ANY SCIENTIST JUST A FRINGE OF SEMI EDUCATED PSEUDO SCIENTISTS.

KoloOyinbo: To say the West (I presume you mean the DEVELOPED World) is hypocritical, is offence and just plain wrong!

KoloOyinbo: The beliefs of long ago have been put to the test. Those passing are incorporated as science, those failing get relegated to superstition. That is how society and science works.

KoloOyinbo: As for Bigfoot and UFO's (lol)... please... again you take some uneducated non scientists as representative of our societies!

KoloOyinbo: Instead ask if a belief that JUJU can make a human bullet proof - often in the papers in Naija and even included in a recent Police Report - is helpful to Naija in its attempt to develop.

KoloOyinbo: Instead of trying to argue that Developing world societies are no more superstitious than developed you would be better addressing your efforts to debunking and eradicating those stupid superstitions that exist in your local.

KoloOyinbo: I don't want to clutter this thread any more so please reply direct.

KoloOyinbo: However please don't bother to quote newspaper clippings and utube nonsense to include in a scientific argument.

KoloOyinbo: To even quote the Dogon rubbish (resolved MANY years ago) show the false information and lack of scientific training that you are arguing from.

KoloOyinbo: As for all other readers please lets return this thread to its original premise and not be distracted by any justification of primitive beliefs that are just plain wrong and diminish the society they are in and those uneducated enough to believe them.

ladionline: It's on record how the 'doctor' of the time administered bleeding on George Washington and jeopardise the old man's life thinking they were 'curing' him. But that never stopped earl Nightingale from revamping old ways of doing things. Hipocrate did not invent medicine but he was sung. Imagine if these individuals were just all about what their ancestors 'almost' or 'actually' got right! We would still be in the woods right now. Like John occam would say 'do not invent new weird theory when a simple common sense one already exist' any procedure that can not be adaptable to industry or mas production but subsistent process is D.O.A.! The glory of Africa is what the future hold, not the 'almosts' of the past.

KoloOyinbo: Check around the web?? Where some people promote superstition along with science and others (often intelligent but lacking in a scientific education) cannot tell the difference between the two. Sorry I prefer to leave those in ignorance alone as long as they are not harming others. Don't believe every video on the web please.

KoloOyinbo: I am really not sure what point you are trying to make by these repeated posts?

KoloOyinbo: Is it that old superstitions are correct??

KoloOyinbo: No scientist would believe even a fraction of the things you have quoted.

KoloOyinbo: Mankind progresses and nonsense gets left behind although new nonsense gets dreamed up to put in its place. 'Bush Doctors' and herbalists or the equivalent in every society often get some things correct (penicillin etc) but good modern medicine is far better and the bush docs also do a lot of damage as well.

mimifonwon: i so agree with this, for western medicine no matter the developments -it cannot cure all the ailments in africa, for africa must learn to look inward to help itself advance to better nations, am proud of nigeria for this, if it is carried out right. The problem sometimes in naija is that we have good ideas but it is rarely carried out right. There are so many ailments that dibia's or native doctors know how to cure better. For example when am on my period, i drink 4oz onugbu( ewuro), ugba water, and nchawu boiled with 1teaspoon of salt added and i dont get cramps through my period, and it helps with stomach aches too, and if you boil mburogu with ayakata, fish head and aligator pepper and give to a woman who just gave birth it helps her heal faster. Also if you have high fever and you drink ewuro( first rinse) and oha water ( 1 full cup), your fever will go within an hour. ( crush akilu,akanwu( 1/5 tsp), palm oil(1tsp) and oji( kolanut and its fruit and orchard fruit and you drink it while studying it helps your memory and keeps you awake like hell depends on the amount you take. Its better than red bull. (my grandma-native doc makes them). It helped me through out college, and my brother who had what americans called add and my grandma was like, "rubbich, bringi him to nigeria and i will cure him" lol - my mom did as she said and my brother was definitely cured, his now a physicist and i guess it made him too focused. But what am trying to say is that most of our cures we need is in nature and our native doctors are better than most western doctors, and understands our body and nature better, its just ignorant and brainwash that makes us believe that western medicine is better than our native medicine. Yes there are things western medicine can offer that native cant, but its better if they work together. Btw my grandma is a healthy 98 year old woman, still farms and cooks her own meals and take care of herself without anyone's help. So I trust her native medical ways, and she has never been to a modern doctor or to a hospital( she hates western doctors).

KoloOyinbo: No properly educated person will accept the nonsense of Dogon or some of the other things you mentioned. Tribal superstitions are holding Africans (and other developing societies) back from taking their rightful place in the world. Fortunately they slow the process but do not stop it.

KoloOyinbo: Now I am sorry but I cannot waste either of our times disproving every stupid superstition you care to post here. I have other things to do and only entered this thread to disagree with the extremely racist idea that white people were more intelligent than black. You seem to have taken my remarks on the primitive beliefs of developing cultures as some sort of personal attack. they are not. Merely historical fact. Now I don't want to spend more time on Ghosts, Juju, Magic and that nonsense. If you believe that stuff then fine but dont blame me for what people think of you (it will not be complimentary).

I do hope I am not being offensive but really I travel often to Naija (my Fiancee is an Edo gal from Fugar) and i get so embarrassed when I am with any other Oyinbo friends and any of my Naija pals mention Juju, Mami Waters etc etc etc. I just want to wipe the condescending smiles of my friends faces and make them realise that some aspects of cultures in the developED world were in the past every bit as stupid as some aspects in the DevelopING world today. (Witches, bleeding for sickness etc etc)

KoloOyinbo: Yes it is clear you are NOT a scientist. That is OK. Please when quoting about science though it is best to quote FROM SCIENTISTS and NOT from the popular press or stupid internet articles/blogs/social media sites by uniformed non scientists.

KoloOyinbo: They DO NOT represent science. Science WORKS (otherwise our technological world today would not).

KoloOyinbo: Science is proven! And if you have travelled as widely as I have you realise that stupid superstition is present everywhere by is much more prevalent in the developing world for obvious reasons discussed at lenght before.

kingston277:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvAnizSfbho
and in uganda:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Uganda_cesarean_section.gif
http://www.reunionblackfamily.com/apps/blog/show/7509452-scientific-medicine-in-pre-colonial-uganda

KoloOnyinbo: Yes ancient beliefs are primitive compared to 21st century knowledge which incorporates these beliefs into it's philosophy and passes it off as modern science, but in ancient times it was top notch info. Are you comparing an average African to western scientists? I like in the west and am having a hard time believing that statement about westerners being enlightened with all those people over here believing in ancient aliens, phycic mediums, ghosts, race, bigfoot, ufos, etc. Please explain how they are different again. If you long for an enlightened developing world, start with the developed world first plz.
To add, the average citizens do not represent complete precolonial knowledge as they are not of that profession. For instance I read and article that some iron working associates had citizens that believed blacksmiths had special powers, they though this because the ability to blacksmith was limited to certain people. The article was saying that the priests, medicinemen, etc were more scientific and logical than the rest of the population. Not to mention ancient peoples all over the world mixed science with religion, that's how science was born in the first place, philosophy leads to logic even in the midst of religion.

Yes ALL knowledge is a progression. THIS IS SELF EVIDENT FOR GOODNESS SAKE! But we have refined ancient discoveries and the developed world rejected all the nonsense primitive superstition! Now as for ancient aliens, bigfoot and UFO's etc - the people who believe in them are regarded with mild amusement bordering on pity. We respect people in the developing world more because many of them have the excuse of a poor standard of education and the burden of the moronic superstitions attached to otherwise great cultures. Modern Science acknowledges where proper where its discoveries come from. Are you a scientist? I was an astronomer for over 20 years and spent much time debunking all this nonsense.

I guess we will just have to disagree on this one but please I beg you don't judge the majority of the developed world (you say western) on a tiny minority of limited intelligence who hold such beliefs.

MY ORIGINAL STATEMENT STANDS THAT INTELLIGENCE IS NOT A FUNCTION OF SKIN PIGMENT AND ALSO THAT PRIMITIVE SUPERSTITION AND BELIEFS ARE MORE PREVALENT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD LENDING WEIGH TO THE FALSE IDEA THAT THE PEOPLE THERE ARE LESS INTELLIGENT - THEY ARE MERELY (AS A GENERALISATION) LESS WELL EDUCATED.

kingston: 277http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/survey-shows-republicans-conspiracy-theories-article-1.1306229
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2165449/More-Americans-believe-aliens-2-try-attack-bumped-one.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/23/on_in_five_americans_believe_in_scientific_evolution_without_god/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/23/on_in_five_americans_believe_in_scientific_evolution_without_god/ (we canadians have lesser funded science programs than they do)
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2013/10/on_halloween_polls_show_many_a.html

KoloOyinbo: The Dogon were actually quite unaware of Sirius B. (I was an Astronomer for over 20 years) and simply had some guesses misinterpreted. The had zero 'secret knowledge'.

KoloOyinbo: All ancient beliefs were primitive! African are otherwise. i am not attacking African culture merely supporting it as no more primitive or advanced than any other ancient culture. My point is that the DEVELOPING world (Note I did NOT say African and would reject that premise entirely) still retains non logical or scientific superstitions. I HATE this as it allows Racists to Denigrate people they have no right to. I look forward to an enlightened Developing world (including Africa) free of superstitious nonsense and when I can travel to Naija without people chattering about 'JuJu', Mami Waters and such. (Dogon Mythology is OK though) I hope i have not offended but am actually trying to be supportive.

KoloOyinbo: KoloOyinbo:

OK. Firstly do NOT confuse intelligence with education. Forget black and white. The people in the developed world are in general better educated simply because they come from the developed world! People in the developing world however, often have not had the benefit of a full education to the standards of the developed world. NOT THEIR FAULT AND IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE LESS INTELLIGENT JUST LESS FORTUNATE.

Because of the lack of proper education, primitive beliefs linger and take root. When Europeans hear of many African beliefs, JUJU, Mami Waters etc they think of silly unintelligent people. Instead they need to realise that the person is just not educated enough to see through primitive nonsense. All my Naija friends are very intelligent irrespective of their educations. To say intelligence can be equated to skin colour, tribe or even nationality is simply RACIST.

OK Remember I am supporting the Black Man here and saying that he is every bit as intelligent as the white. It is just the standard of education that is different between the developed and developing world.

As to the Dofon that is all well know and the nonsense of them having correct 'arcane knowledge' was very popular in the 70's amount 'fringe pseudo-scientists' and uninformed TV shows. It was all explained in the eighties. See a few of the proper scientific papers on it but please DONT refer to any of the cheep popular paperbacks. It was all exploded along with the 'Chariots of the Gods' nonsense of Eric Von Daniken.

KoloOyinbo: OK. Firstly do NOT confuse intelligence with education. Forget black and white. The people in the developed world are in general better educated simply because they come from the developed world! People in the developing world however, often have not had the benefit of a full education to the standards of the developed world. NOT THEIR FAULT AND IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE LESS INTELLIGENT JUST LESS FORTUNATE.

Because of the lack of proper education, primitive beliefs linger and take root. When Europeans hear of many African beliefs, JUJU, Mami Waters etc they think of stupid unintelligent people. Instead they need to realise that the person is just not educated enough to see through primitive nonsense. All my Naija friends are very intelligent irrespective of their educations. To say intelligence can be equated to skin colour, tribe or even nationality is simply RACIST.