Sub-Saharan Africa countries. Black Africa. the Russian Academy of Sciences

Folklore of the peoples of Africa south of the Sahara. The work of collecting and studying African folklore was carried out with late XIX V. Europeans missionaries, travelers, colonial officials, and later scientists linguists, ... ...

This term has other meanings, see Africa (meanings). Africa on a map of the hemisphere ... Wikipedia

Africa. Ancient history- Ancient human site near Lake Rudolf (Turkana). Kenya. North and North East Africa. In the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. in the northeastern part of Africa, social differentiation has intensified, from many small ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"

Africa. Middle Ages- North Africa and Egypt in the VIII first half of the XII centuries. North and North East Africa. The Middle Ages of North Africa and Egypt are closely connected with the Northern Mediterranean. Starting from the III century. Egypt and the countries of North Africa that were part of ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"

Africa. Physico-geographical essay. Flora and vegetation- Floristic zoning. The nature and distribution of African vegetation is determined by the present geographical situation, as well as by the geological past of the mainland. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a significant number of systematic … Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"

Africa. I. General information Regarding the origin of the word "Africa" ​​among scientists there are great disagreements. Two hypotheses deserve attention: one of them explains the origin of the word from the Phoenician root, which, with a certain ... ...

Africa. Historical outline- Literature: Marx K., Economic Manuscripts 1857 1859, Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 46, part 1 2; Engels F., Anti Dühring, ibid., vol. 20; Lenin V.I., Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism, complete collection works, 5th ed., ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "Africa"

I I. General information Concerning the origin of the word "Africa" ​​among scientists there are great disagreements. Two hypotheses deserve attention: one of them explains the origin of the word from the Phoenician root, which, when ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

General information. A. the second largest continent after Eurasia. Area 80.3 million km2 (with islands). Crossed almost in the middle by the equator. A. is washed: to the north by the Mediterranean m. (part of the Atlantic. approx.), to the west of the Atlantic. ca., on V. Indian ca. and incoming... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Books

• Black Africa. Past and present. Textbook on New and Recent History of Tropical and South Africa, Alexander Balezin, Sergey Mazov, Irina Filatova. The team of authors - employees of the Institute world history RAS, Institute for African Studies RAS and teachers Russian universities(ISAA Moscow State University, MGIMO, NRU HSE) - in an accessible and concise form outlined ...
• Black Africa: past and present. Tutorial , . The team of authors - employees of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and teachers of Russian universities (ISAA MSU, MGIMO, NRU HSE) - presented in an accessible and concise form ...
• Black Africa past and present Textbook on New and Recent History of Tropical and South Africa, Balezin A., Mazov S., Filatova I., ed. Moscow State University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, National Research University Higher School of Economics) - in an accessible and concise form outlined ...

THE CONCEPTOLOGY OF BROTHERHOOD

BROTHERHOOD OF THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA

Irakose Oleg, Niengabo Jean-Jacques, Sindayigaya Calixte (Burundi), cadets; scientific adviser: Lapshina Olesya Gennadievna, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor, Omsk, Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Omsk Branch of the Military Academy of Logistics named after. Army General A.V. Khruleva"

Annotation. The article deals with the relationship between the peoples of Africa in the pre-colonial and colonial periods and in the period of the struggle for independence. Key words: the concept of "brotherhood", the history of Africa.

BROTHERHOOD OF THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA

Oleg Irakose, Jean-Jacques Nyengabo, Kalikst Sindaygaya (Burundi), cadets Supervisor: Olesya G. Lapshina, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor Omsk, Federal State Military Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Omsk branch of the Military Academy of material and technical assistance named after General A.V. Khrulev"

Abstract. The article examines the relationships between the peoples of Africa in the pre-colonial and colonial periods and during the struggle for independence. Key words: the concept of "brotherhood", the history of Africa.

what do we know about Africa? We know that this is the cradle of mankind, according to anthropologists; it is a world of exotic animals and plants, hundreds of [tribes and languages; it is a continent on which countries have a geometric clearness of borders; we know that the whole of Africa suffered from the colonial regime and the slave trade.

From childhood, many remember the stories and novels of Haggard and Boussenard. Later they learned about the brutal slave trade, colonial division and heavy exploitation of the peoples of dependent countries. In the 60s became famous names heroes of the national liberation struggle, for example, Patrice Lumumba. The idea of ​​unity - brotherhood - of the peoples of the whole continent against the colonialists became a key one in the 20th century. We are aware of the economic difficulties and armed clashes. But this is very superficial knowledge. But the history of Africa has several thousand years. There were ancient states, their monuments of art have been preserved.

In our report, we want to talk about the relationship between the peoples of Africa in the pre-colonial and colonial periods and in the period of the struggle for independence. About what is included in the concept of "brotherhood" in the representation of Africans in these periods of history.

We will also turn to what are the features of the conflicts on the African continent and what is being done to unite the many ethnic groups of Africa now.

First of all, we will talk about Tropical and South Africa (also called Black Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa), because we are citizens of Burundi, which is located in this part of the African continent.

In antiquity and the Middle Ages, it was known about Egypt and the northernmost regions. Ideas about the lands in the depths of the continent, its size, shape and culture were more than vague and relied on descriptions of ancient (Herodotus), ancient Egyptian and Arab travelers and merchants, and later European ones. And the traditions of cartography, laid down by Ptolemy, were actually preserved until the end of the 19th century. . This is due to several reasons:

Tropical Africa is separated from North by several deserts - the Sahara, the Libyan Desert, Danakil, therefore it developed in isolation and in a completely different way than the north of the continent. Deserts prevented the conquerors from getting to the center and south of Africa and exploring it;

Africa was studied at first and for quite a long time only by conquerors and merchants. Their goals were obvious - the development and exploitation of the fertile territory, the extraction of wealth, the slave trade. Therefore, the earliest ideas about the peoples and their culture are known to us only from the records and reports of captains and owners of slave ships and merchants. Scholars who were interested in the culture and history of Africa went there only in the 18th and 19th centuries. Missionaries and colonial officials who left detailed descriptions peoples, records of historical traditions, who studied the languages ​​and culture of African peoples;

Lack of written sources. Most of the peoples of the continent did not have a letter, they were considered unwritten. Many of them received a written language several decades ago (“youngly written peoples”). However, other peoples used their own or borrowed writing systems. So, the peoples of Ethiopia still use the original ancient syllabic script. The oldest inscriptions date back to the 2nd century BC. n. e. This written language not preserved. African researchers themselves believe that the most important source is oral materials(chronicles, sayings and proverbs, epic tales and law, in the norms of which ideas about social relations are preserved). However, archaeological excavations also shed light on the history of the peoples of Africa. But getting well-preserved antiques is not easy, because in areas with a humid climate, wood rots, metals rust and crumble very quickly, and abandoned settlements are overgrown with tropical vegetation. Thus, changes in non-tropical countries that occur over a period of 100 to 300 years occur in this part of Africa in 30;

The problem of chronology. The peoples in Africa, like many peoples of antiquity, did not have a single calendar. Each nation had its own calendar system. Sometimes the data of the oral historical chronicle can be compared with the records of the Arabs or Europeans, and their dates of stay in Africa according to the calendar familiar to us are known. Sometimes information about eclipses of the sun and moon, comets, preserved in the memory of the people, helps to set the dates of events.

^L^bU^L^ 155

■^CONCEPTOLOGY OF BROTHERHOOD_

Irakose Oleg, Nyengabo Jean-Jacques, Sindayigaya Calixte "The Brotherhood of the Peoples of Africa"

So, let's turn to how the early state formations were formed, about which one can get an idea thanks to written and oral sources and archaeological excavations. The tribes of Tropical Africa, although they had different languages and religious cults, but similar natural conditions allowed them to develop in many respects comparable cultural features of a special civilization, not similar to either European-Christian, or Buddhist, or Muslim. Here, the first major political associations appeared already in the early Middle Ages. One of the Arab travelers, Leo Africanus, mentioned 15 kingdoms of the Black Land, and those kingdoms that he did not see remained three times as many.

In the pre-colonial period, the peoples of Africa coexisted in constant migration. It's connected with environmental issues. Thus, the desertification of the once fertile Sahara led to a large migration of tribes to the south and east of the continent. According to many researchers (R. Moni), "the drying of the Sahara, which at the beginning of the Neolithic was not yet a desert, but became one at the end of the period, led to the isolation of Tropical Africa from the Mediterranean at this decisive moment in the history of mankind" . The result of this was the migration of tribes from north to south. The migrating tribes either assimilated or subjugated the tribe in the new territory by force. Separate peoples in the XIX-XX centuries. practically preserved the tribal system, others have long had political associations of different levels.

Interesting attitude to land ownership. Some authors said that in Africa the land does not belong to anyone, others - that there is no "no one's" land. In fact, the land belonged to the community as a whole, which, in the opinion and idea of ​​Africans about the world, included not only the living, but also (primarily) the ancestors. It was the ancestors who were considered the true owners of the earth, and those who are already living in united in a tribe, since they were born from the same ancestors. This idea of ​​kinship in science is called tribalism (from the English "tribe" - "tribe"). To this day, the consciousness of different origins among the Hutus and Tutsis within the Banyaru-anda and Barundi has been preserved. Therefore, in the territorial big states with very difficult ethnic composition single large ethnic groups were rarely formed. Family relations can also be traced in relations within state entities that took the form of blood relations, there were such titles as “ruler’s brother”, “son”, “uncle”, “sister”, “wife”, etc. In fact, the bearers of these titles were just dignitaries, not connected by real blood relationship with the supreme rulers.

The idea of ​​unity can be seen in such social formations as a militia (when every adult man became a warrior in case of war, he provided himself with weapons and food), secret societies, which ensured order (in fact - the police and the court), age classes, mainly formed from young people (elements of pre-class society): "shepherd class", "class of young warriors", "class of senior warriors", "class of elders" and etc. .

In the Middle Ages, many peoples created political formations - chiefdoms. They were headed by leaders (as a rule, from the family of the first settlers), who appropriated the labor of their fellow tribesmen and demanded unquestioning obedience. Some peoples of the continent retained such chiefdoms until the end of the 19th century.

Omsk Orthodox Theological Seminary

centuries. In other cases, early states emerged from them.

Thus, we can draw the following conclusions about the relationship between the peoples of Africa in the pre-colonial period:

the idea of ​​brotherhood between tribes was, because the rulers and leaders of that time understood that this was the basis of a strong tribe or public education, therefore, some tribes and chiefdoms united and managed to form states with a single language;

brotherhood is present in a single tribe and separate groups of a tribe; connects people common goal or activity;

caste and disunity of tribes, isolation, unwillingness to come into contact with those who were not born from “their” ancestors, nevertheless surpassed the idea of ​​​​national brotherhood and became one of the most important (besides the lack of modern weapons and equipment for that time) reasons for defeat in the war with the conquerors. The colonialists skillfully kindled internecine struggle between rulers and leaders, using their beliefs and worldview.

The modern borders between some African countries are absolutely even, geometrically precise lines, as if the continent was cut like a pie. This is exactly what the conquerors did, dividing the territory into new countries, completely ignoring their national, ethnic and religious values. It is impossible to talk about the history of the Congo, Nigeria or Tanzania in the pre-colonial period, since, for example, the territory of the medieval Congo is included in several countries: Angola, People's Republic Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These examples can be continued endlessly.

For four centuries, Africa south of the Sahara was a continent from where "black gold" - slaves - went to the countries of the Middle East and Europe, and then to America. Fleeing from this horror of forced resettlement, many tribes left their homes. Others disappeared altogether: they were either destroyed or merged into other tribes and ethnic groups.

A common misfortune united the peoples of Africa. In the new, colonial period, the idea of ​​brotherhood and popular unity prevailed. The idea of ​​national, one might say, continental unity arose, which helped to gain liberation with the help of all friendly countries. Secret brotherhoods were created in which the ideas of liberation were born. These are the brotherhood of Muslims in Algeria, the brotherhood of Afrikaners in South Africa, the Madaniya and Kadiriyya brotherhood orders in northern Africa, etc. Note that the Christian faith played a significant role in uniting the tribes, as it preached other values ​​that bring people together under the rule of one God.

The main process of African decolonization began after World War II. The year of Africa - the year of liberation - was declared 1960, when 18 countries freed themselves from colonial dependence. And in the period 1961-1963. 9 more countries. The slogans of almost every country speak of the desire for freedom and unity of all the oppressed. Thus, the word "unity" is found in the slogans of 22 countries: Angola - "Unity provides strength", Burkina Faso - "Unity, progress, justice", Burundi - "Unity, work, progress", Guinea - "Labor, unity, justice ”, Guinea-Bissau - “Unity, struggle, progress”, Djibouti - “Unity, equality, peace”, Republic of the Congo - “Unity, peace, progress”, Ivory Coast - “Unity, discipline, work”, Ni -

■^conceptology of brotherhood_

Irakose Oleg, Nyengabo Jean-Jacques, Sindayigaya Calixte "The Brotherhood of the Peoples of Africa"

Geria - "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress", Papua New Guinea - "Unity in Diversity", Rwanda - "Unity, Work, Patriotism", Tanzania - "Freedom and Unity", Central African Republic - "Unity, Dignity, Work ”, South Africa - “In unity - strength / Different people unite”, etc. The word “brotherhood” is in the slogans of 3 countries: Benin - “Brotherhood, justice, work”, Mauritania - “Honor, brotherhood, justice”, Niger - “Brotherhood, work, progress”. The idea of ​​unity can also be expressed in phrases with the meaning "together as one": Zambia - "One Zambia - one nation", Kenya - "Let's work together", Mali - "One people, one goal, one faith", Swaziland - "We are a fortress", Senegal - "One people, one goal, one faith."

Africa has simply become indispensable for the presence of a pan-African organization, since no country can overcome the colonial legacy on its own. The Europeans still had very strong influence on the new politicians of African countries. However, this time did not become calm and joyful at all, as people expected. This is a time of endless conflicts, a change of power, if representatives of non-elite tribes got into the ruling elite. An endless division of power, racial discrimination and the establishment of the apartheid regime in South Africa began. This was the cause of internal conflicts that do not subside at the present time. To regulate the processes that were in full swing on the territory of the vast continent, the Organization of African Unity (OAU; Organization of African Unity) was created in 1963, in 2001 it was renamed the African Union. By the end of 1973, the OAU included 42 states: Algeria, ARE, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Burudi, Upper Volta, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Dahomey, Zaire, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, Congo, Lesotho , Liberia, Libya, Mauritius, Mauritania, Malawi, Malagasy Republic, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Senegal, Somali Democratic Republic, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Central African Republic, Chad , Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia.

The objectives of the OAU: strengthening the unity and solidarity of the countries of the continent; the main principles of the OAU are equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of the member states; respect for their territorial integrity and independence, peaceful settlement of disputes, etc.

The entire post-colonial period, Africa is in a state of war. And this is one of the features of Africa. In the 90s of the last century, military operations were conducted on the territory of more than 15 African states (Angola, Ethiopia, Liberia, Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Somalia, Senegal, Sudan, Mali, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, etc.). Now the sources of conflict are inside the country. They are associated with socio-political, economic (resource), national-ethnic, territorial and ideological disagreements. In the 1990s, the OAU was no longer able to regulate the situation on the continent. The leaders of many countries called for the creation of organizations that unite African countries, so Gaddafi proposed the creation of the United States of Africa.

In the 21st century, the situation has changed little. Local conflicts and hotbeds of tension arise in a number of countries. And while there is no way to talk about the trend of increasing the level of security. The reasons remain the same as many years ago:

ethnic thinking. This is such a mentality, when as "their" identities

representatives of only a certain tribal group are identified. This gives rise to clashes between tribes, since several different tribes can live in one state. Inter-tribal clashes can be very violent, sometimes becoming genocidal. Tribalism has a negative impact on social processes, hinders unification and contributes to the preservation of national-tribal isolation (at the same time, it allows you to preserve the traditions and language of the tribal group);

high degree of personification of power. The development of a political situation or conflict often depends on the behavior of the leader, his personal motivation. Many of them are military. And their modus operandi is different from that of civilian politicians;

the rich resources of Africa, which, as before, attract other countries that are fighting for the redistribution of spheres of influence.

So, we can draw two different, even opposite conclusions about the attitude of the peoples of Africa towards brotherhood:

the peoples of Africa are striving for unification. They realize that together they are strong. For them, the word "brotherhood" is synonymous with the word "unity";

the presence of a huge number of ethnic groups with their own language does not allow achieving unity;

Bibliographic list:

1. Balezina S. Tropical and southern Africa in the new and modern times: people, problems, events. Tutorial. M.: KDU, 2008. 272 ​​p.

2. Lvova E.S. History of Africa in faces. Biographical essays. Issue 1: Africa in the pre-colonial era. M.: Ant, 2002. 256 p.

3. Organization of African unity (History of creation and activity). Sat. documents, M., 1970.

4. Organization of African Unity (Collection of Documents), c. 2 (1966-1969), M., 1973.

Black Africa meets ancient Mexico

Supporters of the long-standing pre-Columbian contacts of the black inhabitants of the African continent with America in their hypothetical constructions especially often turn to Mexico. True, the number of scientists who defend the idea of ​​such contacts remains insignificant to this day. This can be explained as follows. First, as already mentioned, the study of the pre-colonial past of African peoples is only just beginning in earnest; many, even cardinal, problems remain very far from a final solution. Secondly, it is widely believed in scientific circles that the inhabitants of the Black Continent, who lived south of the Sahara, have always been land people, unable to make distant ocean voyages. And finally, thirdly, one should not discount and still popular in historical science Western countries have Eurocentric views, according to which Negro tribes and peoples by nature are not given to be skillful sailors and builders of prosperous states.

Scientists provide various evidence for the existence of long-standing transatlantic ties between the two continents.

These are the data of botanical science - plants characteristic of one region and found on the territory of another (cotton, gourd, tobacco, maize, etc.), and materials of physical anthropology, from which it follows that the skeletons of American Indians of the pre-Hispanic era were found negroid traits. It also speaks of works of ancient Mexican art depicting people with a clearly Negroid type of face. Finally, the last thing that justifies the emergence of hypotheses about the penetration of Africans into New World in pre-Columbian times - this is evidence of written sources about the distant campaigns of Negro fleets in the blue expanses of the Atlantic. Moreover, it is believed that intensive Mexican-African contacts began in the era of the Olmec culture (1500-1000 BC) and continued until the XIV century.

Not being able to analyze in detail all the hypotheses of this kind that exist in science, I will focus only on some of them, the most significant and original.

L. Wiener, a professor of philology at Harvard University (USA), was the first who fully opened the African theme when considering the problem of pre-Columbian relations between the Old and New Worlds. In 1920-1923, he published a solid three-volume book "Africa and the Discovery of America", where he tried, on the basis of evidence from ancient written sources, to prove the existence of a continuous and long-term influence of the Black Continent on the origin and development of the pre-Columbian cultures of the American Indians.

Later, in 1930, the Frenchman J. Cuvier argued in his book "Berbers in America" ​​that the inhabitants of this North African region crossed the Atlantic more than once and had a noticeable influence on the natives of the New World. The proof of this was the "coincidence" in the names of peoples and localities: for example, the Lipi tribes from Bolivia and the ancient Libyans; brain from the Sahara and American muskogee, moki, mosquito, moho, midge, etc.

For his part, the American R. Harris (1936) argued that geographical names in the region of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and in the Antilles, they completely coincide with the North African ones. However, these linguistic manipulations lack scientific character. The languages ​​of the ancient Indians in terms of grammar and vocabulary are absolutely not similar to either Indo-European or African. These are completely different language groups, and, snatching out random sound equivalents, would-be theorists make a gross methodological error, which, of course, entails false conclusions.

At present, the most active preacher of L. Wiener's somewhat corrected views is a certain L. Clegg. Citing impeccable, in his words, facts from anthropology, archeology, folklore and art history, he argues that Negroid groups of settlers came to the New World in ancient times: not only before Europeans, but also long before the Mongoloids - the recognized forefathers of the Indian population of America . For Clegg, even Australoids - dark-skinned people with thick hair - are just a variant of African Negroids. He further states that the Olmec civilization - the first vibrant and highly developed culture of pre-Columbian Mexico - was created solely by newcomers from Black Africa.

Particularly often used to prove transoceanic contacts between America and Africa are some ancient Mexican sculptures depicting people with clearly African features (giant stone heads belonging to the Olmec culture on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico; clay figurines and stone sculptures of the Nahua Indians, Zapotecs, Totonacs, Maya, etc. in Central and Southern Mexico).

In 1869, a small note appeared in the Bulletin of the Mexican Society for Geography and Statistics, signed by X. M. Melgar. Its author, an engineer by profession, claimed that in 1862 he was lucky to discover an amazing stone sculpture, unlike any known until now, on a sugar cane plantation near the village of Tres Zapotes (Veracruz state) - the head of an African. The note was accompanied by a fairly accurate drawing of the statue itself. And already in 1871, Melgar announced, referring to the "obviously Ethiopian" appearance of the sculpture he discovered: "I am absolutely convinced that Negroes have been in these parts more than once and this happened in the first era from the creation of the world." It must be said that such a statement was absolutely groundless, but it fully corresponded to the general spirit of the theories then dominant in science, which explained any achievement of the American Indians by cultural influences from the Old World.

Giant stone heads in helmets, carved from blocks of basalt, were repeatedly found after that in various parts of the southern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco (Gulf Coast). As it turned out, all of them (11 pieces are now known) belong to ancient culture Olmecs, which flourished, according to some scientists, in the 1st millennium BC. e. (800-400 BC), according to others - in the XIII-X centuries BC. e. After a careful study of them, it was found that these stone sculptures depict the heads of people of the Mongoloid race. Africans are generally a long-headed people with a strongly protruding lower face, and Olmec sculptures are round heads of the Mongoloid type.

In the swampy jungles of southern Mexico, you can still meet purebred Indians, like two drops of water similar to the ancient sculptural images of the Olmecs.

Another frequently encountered argument in favor of the existence of pre-Columbian voyages of Africans to Central America is the figurines of dark-skinned people painted on clay vessels of the ancient Maya. But the drawings clearly show that people are depicted during the performance of some religious rituals and only their faces and some parts of the body are painted.

The black color was considered by the Maya to be a sacred and ominous color. Priests used to paint themselves to participate in human sacrifices. Mayan artists depicted the gods of thunder, war and death with the same paint.

In 1961, two speleologists from the United States discovered a strange stone sculpture of a Negroid man in the depths of the Loltun cave on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico). Some idle minds immediately declared this to be reliable evidence of the presence of blacks in the country of the ancient Maya. Long-forgotten lines from the Mayan manuscripts about the arrival from the east, from the side of the sea, ferocious black people - eaters of human meat were also pulled into the light. However, experts immediately rejected these ridiculous speculations, convincingly proving that the Mayan annals dealt with one of the raids on the Yucatan by cannibals-Caribs - the warlike inhabitants of the Antilles.

Sometimes, guided by the desire to prove the existence of significant cultural achievements among the ancient population of Tropical Africa, modern authors make obvious exaggerations in their conclusions. So, G. Lawrence in the article "African discoverers of the New World" claims that Negroid tribes discovered and colonized America long before the voyages of Columbus and Vespucci. In support of his views, he refers to ancient Mexican images of anthropomorphic creatures with Negroid features, as well as to burials in the New World of people of a clearly Negroid appearance (in the Pecos River Valley, in Texas and in the Virgin Islands). Alas, recent research in this area has completely refuted his hypotheses. Studying the blood types of American Indians, anthropologist E. Matson (USA) and his colleagues convincingly proved that the Amerindians (native Americans) were not descendants of ancient African aliens, since their blood does not contain any elements characteristic of Negroid groups.

Some Soviet authors also contributed to this "pan-African boom". So, E. Lvova, known for her works on the history and ethnography of Africa, also tried to find the "Negroid roots" of ancient American civilizations. At the same time, she used the arguments of many of the authors mentioned above, including G. Lawrence.

“The Spaniards,” says E. Lvova, “met animals unfamiliar to them in America - non-barking dogs. According to later reports, Europeans met such animals only in one place in the world - West Africa ... One cannot fail to mention the “African” motifs imprinted in fine arts America. These are sculptures in Chichen Itza of "tall figures with narrow heads, thick lips and curly short hair that gives the impression of wool ...""

However, the evidence presented here for the existence of ancient African-American links across the Atlantic does not stand up to scrutiny. First, about the barking dog. Such animals were distributed all over the world and in America too (they are both in the north and in the south of this part of the world). It is unlikely that they come from the same and necessarily Mexican source. Most likely in different regions of our planet they were taken out completely independently.

The mention of E. Lvova about the sculptures of people with Negroid features should rather be considered as a curiosity, and not as serious evidence in a scientific dispute. The fact is that the people who are depicted on the reliefs and copper-gold disks from Chichen Itza do not have any "African" hair or Negroid features at all. Oki are depicted in round shaggy (possibly fur) hats or helmets - a common detail of the Toltec warrior's clothing. Legions of conquering Toltecs invaded the Mayan lands from Central Mexico in the 10th century and settled there in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, turning the Mayan city of Chichen Itza into their capital.

How some evidence of African-American connections comes to light can be seen in the discovery of an "ancient African object" in El Salvador, "more than two meters below the surface of the earth."

Local professional archaeologist S. Boggs decided to check the reliability of this fact and went to the town of Colon (El Salvador). It turned out that the object was found in an undisturbed layer of the earth at a depth of more than 2 meters, which clearly indicated its antiquity. It is made from a curved tusk of a hippopotamus about 19 centimeters long and is a stylized depiction of a monster (crocodile or snake) swallowing a naked female figurine. According to the conclusion of authoritative experts, this thing is really of African origin and most likely made in the Eastern Congo, but ... not earlier than the end of the 19th century. The object was discovered near the road in a layer of volcanic ash thrown out during earthworks from a nearby ditch, which gave such a depth - 2 meters. Not far from the moat in the 19th century was the house of a colonel - a collector of ancient weapons and other rare items, and there is no doubt that the thing belonged to him. This is the end of this story. But the deed was done. Rumors about the find spread widely enough, penetrated into local newspapers, and the "Salvadorian masterpiece" for the most zealous diffusionists became another argument in favor of African influences on pre-Columbian America.

In disputes about pre-Columbian ties between Africa and America, such an argument as the presence of Negroid features in ancient Mexican sculptures depicting anthropomorphic creatures (for example, terracotta figurines from the graves of the Olmecs, Nahuas, Totonacs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs and Mayans) is very often used. The West German art critic and diplomat Alexander von Wutenau collected an extensive collection of such rarities and presented his views on the problem of interest to us in two colorfully designed books: "The Art of Terracotta in the Pre-Columbian Central and South America"and" Unexpected faces in ancient America, 1500 BC. e. - 1500 AD e .. ". The main postulate of a diplomat-archaeologist is simple: Indian masters could not depict typically African faces and details of African jewelry and costume without seeing the Africans themselves.

But does not the native population of the New World show a great diversity physical type, hairline, skin color and other signs throughout the entire territory of this part of the world - from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego? And who, if not the anthropologists themselves, after a long debate and careful study of the facts, unanimously decided that many of the genetic traits of the American natives were brought to America through the Bering Strait and Alaska by the first settlers from Northeast Asia. Among these primitive hunters and gatherers were people with Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid features. "Therefore, Negroid skeletons (as well as images of people with Negroid features. - V. G.) are not evidence that any flotilla or individual ships crossed the South Atlantic in pre-Columbian times."

The most serious arguments in favor of ancient African-American ties are biological, or rather, botanical data - finds of plants characteristic of one region and found on the territory of another. Of course, maize (corn) plays the main role among them - the culture, as you know, is primordially American and cultivated by the Indians of Mexico and Peru almost from the 5th millennium BC. e. In the soil that experts got from deep well, dug in the territory of Mexico City, wild maize pollen was found. Scientists have determined that pollen entered the soil about 80 thousand years ago, that is, long before the appearance of man in the New World.

Until now, it was believed that the Portuguese brought maize to Africa after their discoveries in South America (Brazil), not earlier than the first half of the 16th century. But archaeologist A. Goodwin, during the excavations of the city of Ife (Nigeria) - the capital of the ancient state of the Yoruba - discovered several fragments of ceramic vessels decorated with imprints of corn cobs. Another enthusiastic archaeologist, M. D. Jeffries, hastened to determine the age of these ornamented shards - 1000-1100 years. Thus, it turned out that the Yoruba tribes from West Africa corn was known 400–500 years before the voyages of Columbus. How could she get to the Black Continent? Who brought her there? Finally, is the age of such an important find accurately determined?

The last question is by no means a tribute to modern archaeological fashion. The final answer depends on his decision: whether the inhabitants of Black Africa maintained transoceanic contacts with the Indians. Moreover, the problems of chronology and periodization in the history of pre-colonial Africa are still far from their final solution. The finds in the city of Ife were no exception in this regard. Sherds with imprints of maize, along with other thousands of fragments of ceramics, formed a pavement in one of the city blocks. Under what king did ceramic pavement appear? It is not yet possible to answer this question precisely. How then did the date 1000-1100 come about?

M. D. Jeffreys deduced it purely speculatively, on the basis of the following reasoning. Some old Yoruba legends say that the first capital of this African state was in Ile-Ife (i.e., in Ife). But during the reign of the fourth king of the local dynasty, the capital was moved to the city of Oyo. According to other sources, it is known that between 600 and 1000 years, some newcomers from the east flooded the country, who founded Ile-Ife. This is followed by a simple trick: both semi-mystical legends are combined, and the time of functioning of Ile-Ife as the capital is limited to 1000 years. There is also evidence that the city of Oyo was founded around 1100. Maize was found in Ife, and, therefore, the archaeological layer with shards dates back no later than 1000-1100 years.

Meanwhile, even without taking into account the above dubious chronological calculations by M.D. African soil in the pre-Columbian era, a number of scientists, including F. Willet, who proved with the help of facts the obvious Portuguese participation in the spread of this valuable agricultural crop in the west of the Black Continent. Other authors suggested that it was not an ear of maize that was "rolled" over the wet clay, but some other similar cereal - for example, sorghum. But, despite the objections of experts, the sensational news that corn cobs came to Africa from across the ocean 400-500 years before Columbus instantly spread around the world and still successfully continues to pass from book to book.

Another plant commonly used to prove African-American connections in antiquity is the gourd. It has always been considered only African culture. But already the first Europeans, who arrived in the New World in the 16th century, were amazed to see the same plant among the Indians. So, there were transoceanic connections after all? Do not rush to conclusions. The fact is that the remains of gourd seeds have now been found in the mountain caves of Mexico in layers dating back to 7000-5000 BC. e .. But not even the most fanatical supporter of pre-Columbian contacts has yet claimed that at that time the primitive inhabitants of Africa could cross the ocean. Moreover, the long-term experiments of scientists T. Whitaker and J. Carter with gourd seeds proved that these seeds can be in salty sea water without changing their properties for more than 225 days, that is, the time that is quite sufficient for their natural drift from Africa to America. shores.