Bahddo:
Hmmm... I like this. There are questions though...

If blacks ruled Europe, how is it that the Europeans saw blacks as sub-human species only fit to be sold as slaves? How come the blacks that ruled Europe lost their influence to the extent of being wiped out? Today there are no traces, except for these 'artworks'. Why is that so?

irynterri:
this is so interesting, since they have refused to teach us history in schools, why can't nollywood depict these characters on their movies the way Chinese always show their history and tradition?

Bitterleafsoup:
Thanks you two.

Rossikk:
You are putting the cart before the horse. It was only AFTER Europe began the slave trade that their elite began propagating tales of African 'inferiority' in order to justify to the world and their own people, their barbaric and brutal treatment of the Africans. Prior to the slave trade, no European on earth felt superior to an African. As for the second part of the question, the blacks were "wiped out" the same way other eras come to an end. For instance, today, do you see any traces of white colonial rule in Nigeria? Or Ghana? Or Sierra Leone? Nope. They've all gone. Once your time is up, you'll disappear from the scene eventually.

Bahddo:
no, you didn't get my question. It's not a question of when but why. Why would one dare to sell as slaves and treat as inferior on the basis of skin color those no different from their rulers? We were once ruled by white skinned folks and till tomorrow, most Nigerians shamelessly worship white skin.

If the blacks where amongst the elite as the artworks show, who sanctioned the slave trade and the accompanying brutality and inhumanity towards native Africans? When did it start and what did the black rulers do about it?

We speak British English... That's a residue of British colonial rule. Unless you mean the black Africans colonized European countries (the way Britain or Portugal or Spain colonized countries in Africa and South America), as against being a part of their civilization, I'm afraid I can't see the connection.

Believe me, I like the tales of historical black superiority and white conspiracy but it doesn't really add up as I expected.

Jaideyone:
interesting... this should be on the front page.


Africa will rise again. sooner than we think

GenBuhari:
Who wants to bet that this thread will never make the front page?

When you learn the true reason this thread can never make the front page, you would also learn that it is closely linked to the reason Africans have remained mentally enslaved and under the control of their enslavers till this very moment.

Rossikk:


It's a mystery to me, General. On the FP I see topics like ''Lovely photos of Actress Funke Akindele's Family'' etc, and I just wonder....

Rossikk:


You're assuming everything happened in one uniform, fell swoop across Europe. The slave trade occurred over a period of 300 core years. Starting slowly in some European countries, and quicker in other countries, and in some, not at all. etc etc. The black European elite, there since 711 AD, were at the tail end of their dominance as the slave trade gained steam by the late 17th century. By the 18th century, at the height of the trade, they were virtually a memory. It wasn't difficult for the white elite to disseminate propaganda on African 'inferiority' after that. People can be very receptive to propaganda which demonises the 'Other'. See how easy it was for Hitler to turn an entire nation of Germans against the Jews, leading to six million of them slaughtered? He made them subhuman in the eyes of Germans. The Jews were in the elite class, mind you. And they were of the same colour as the Germans, yet the Nazis somehow sold the people the idea that they were an inferior race.

So it's very easy to manipulate people.

The reason the white elite went to the extent of inventing the phenomenon of racism, through various - and now discredited - racial theories, was out of desperation to justify the horrific slave trade to their people, as the period of the Enlightenment emerged, with people rejecting barbarities.

So only by claiming that the Africans were little more than primitive beasts of burden, using ''scientific'' studies and publications which emerged at the peak of the trade in the late 17th and 18th centuries, and by systematically erasing all traces of previous black dominance (through for instance, whitening black images of kings on paintings) could they gain public support for the continued operation of the slave trade, and counter the growing abolitionist movement.

Even the black colour of Jesus and Mary was gradually transformed to white. How could the Christianized European masses support a system in which the people who looked like the Lord were being brutalised? Solution? Turn the Lord white! And make black synonymous with bad, the devil etc.

The huge economic implications of public opposition to the trade simply compelled the elite to cook up various racist theories and absurdities from their 'elite' institutions and their 'scholars'. The public ate it up. The slave trade flourished, and those involved made the money.

It always boils down to money and profits at the end of the day, doesn't it?

GenBuhari:
The Imperialist powers are working feverishly to maintain control of the information the African consumes.

That is why any media that has large African or even black audience is quickly taken over or shutdown.

Its no mystery really, once you understand their game plan. NL was taken over years ago, remember that time NL was down for some days or weeks and when it came back online large chunk of its archives was deleted. This was probably just after it was taken over.

Check the front page nothing negative about the white man or positive about Africans can ever be allowed on there.

Threads negative about the white man has a good chance of being deleted . yes the entire thread.

GreyLaw:
An breathtakingly beautiful piece!

However, I'm tempted to ask, how were our ancestors so powerful and intelligent, roaming the then world with so much power and splendor, but left their brothers back home in Africa in absolute backwardness? I mean, the Europeans met blacks jumping off trees and selling their children for a shards of painted glass, called mirrors! How?

Rossikk:
^^Absolutely amazing find, Horus!

Good heavens!

The ancient Greeks were ruled by blacks too?

Or were blacks the ancient Greeks themselves?

No wonder, when you look at a modern Greek person today, he resembles a mixture of ancient black with white.

Bahddo:
no, you didn't get my question. It's not a question of when but why. Why would one dare to sell as slaves and treat as inferior on the basis of skin color those no different from their rulers? We were once ruled by white skinned folks and till tomorrow, most Nigerians shamelessly worship white skin.

If the blacks where amongst the elite as the artworks show, who sanctioned the slave trade and the accompanying brutality and inhumanity towards native Africans? When did it start and what did the black rulers do about it?

We speak British English... That's a residue of British colonial rule. Unless you mean the black Africans colonized European countries (the way Britain or Portugal or Spain colonized countries in Africa and South America), as against being a part of their civilization, I'm afraid I can't see the connection.

Believe me, I like the tales of historical black superiority and white conspiracy but it doesn't really add up as I expected.

PetroleumJelly:


Don't allow them to deceive you.

You are on the right track.

So we were great, yet, they bought us as slaves, paying with mirrors, lol.

ROSSIKK always has this false sense of black pride.

PetroleumJelly:


Don't allow them to deceive you.

You are on the right track.

So we were great, yet, they bought us as slaves, paying with mirrors, lol.

ROSSIKK always has this false sense of black pride.

Rossikk:


You seem to have been influenced by stories of Tarzan, and a series of invented tales. There are no records of Africans ''swinging from trees'' or ''selling their children'' as you insinuated. These are fabrications of the European elite, made at the height of the slave trade, to justify their inhuman treatment of the Africans. The truth was that Africa was home to various important civilizations - Mali, Ghana, Songhai, the Hausa States, the Benin Empire, the Oyo Empire, the Ife Kingdom, the Igbo Republican Chiefdoms, the Ashanti Kingdom, the Ethiopian Empire, and numerous other political configurations varying in size and complexity. Many of these places mentioned were visited by European explorers, and were highly praised for their organization, their laws, their cleanliness, and their architecture.

15th century Benin City was compared favourably to Lisbon and Amsterdam, by European visitors. The Mali empire attracted scholars from all over the world to its universities. Proximate to the Oyo empire was built the Eredo Earthworks, a massive kingdom rampart that stands as the largest man-made structure in Africa, requiring more earth moved than was needed to build the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The main streets of ancient Ife were paved. You can actually visit Ife today and see the remnants of the ancient pavements throughout the entire city. I could go on and on.... But you get the drift.

The slave trade itself was what decimated Africa and curtailed her development from the 17th century onwards.

GreyLaw:


I have read about all this and, trust me, I want to believe it. I have always been happy to believe it.

My question, however, remains: how come a people so powerful were subjugated, even to the point of becoming slaves. I mean, every trace of African dominance was completely and effectively wiped out! Does it not annoy you?

Finally, I feel the developed world has left Africa behind by almost 300 years in EVERY aspect of life, and it would be near impossible to catch up with them.