DEVELOPMENT OF ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
• The Romans adopted the Greek traditions of writing history (what were these traditions ?). Initially, they wrote their history in Greek. However, for the purpose of castigating Greek culture and upholding Roman culture, they eventually turned to their own language (Latin) in writing their history.
– The first historical document in Rome was written by a great states man, Cato the elder (234-149 BC). This earliest work among the Romans took the title of the origines. It aimed at challenging Greek culture and influence which was dominant around the Mediterranean world.
– The work of Cato inspired other historians in Rome to produce historical knowledge.
• The work of Cato, the origines, reflected several aspects such as :
– In his discussion, Cato discusses the nature and value of education and the place of history in education.
– He further identified the purpose of history in education as including:
• instilling patriotism,
• teaching morals and
• shaping the character of young.
– In the proceeding chapters of his work, he provided a remarkable survey of the tribes of Italy with regard to anthropology, geography, customs and laws, institutions, religion, culture, and civilization.
POLYBIUS (200-118BC)
• Another important historian who contributed to the development of Roman historiography was a non Roman historian, Polybius .
• This was a Roman historian of Greek ( Arcadia) origin. Following political complications in Greece and the imprisonment of his father, Polybius was deported to Rome. He therefore wrote his history from Rome as Roman.
– His work consisted of 40 books containing the history of the expansion of the Roman empire
– He described how the Romans managed to conquer the whole of Western Europe and Mediterranean region.
– He wrote his history when Roman empire was a super power in the Mediterranean after defeating their enemies surrounding them especially Egypt (146BC).
• Therefore, the central theme of Polybius history was how Rome emerged as a superpower in the Mediterranean.
Regarding his historical writing:
– He reflected what would be the factors behind the rise of the Roman empire to that an extent of being a superpower.
• Continuation……
– He wrote very few accounts on economy, geography, ordinary people, etc
– He was also concerned in examining how and why societies (city states) changed their political forms
• In his historical accounts, he described various types of societies. His description included:
– Egalitarian society
To him, this was the earliest form of society characterized by equality and absence of classes. All people are equal, but they had some kind of a leader who acted as a unifying factor. In his view, leadership came as result of a need of people to stay together, and defend themselves against enemies and common interests.
• Continuation….
– Monarch society
Monarch, this was the next form of a society headed by a King or Queen. The King was close to his people, and the people accepted the rule of the King. The King was considered to be the protector of the society.
• Continuation…….
– To Polybius, the historian’s job was to analyze the historical documents, review relevant geographical and political experience. Thus, a historian required political experience (which differentiated facts and fictions) and familiarity with the geography surrounding one’s subject.
– Polybius himself exemplified these principles as he was travelled and possessed political and military experience that enabled him to write down history. Polybius acquired such experiences as he was a close friend to the Roman military general, Scipio Almilianus. He for example witnessed the Romans’ conquest of Carthage (modern Tunisia) in 146 BC.
• Though he adopted Greek approach of historical writing ( use of eye witness and oral testimony) , but he did not neglect written sources that proved essential for his historical writing. In other words, Polybius made use of both, eye witness, oral testimony and written sources.
• Continuation….
GRECO-ROMAN PHILOSPHIES
• These were the philosophical ideas that developed in ancient Greece and Rome between the 4th century BC and the 6th century AD.
Ancient Greco-Roman philosophies is usually divided into three periods:
üThe Pre-Socratic period (philosophy)
üThe Socratic period (philosophy)
üThe Post Aristotelian period (philosophy)
Ø The Pre-Socratic philosophy
This was a period of Greek philosophy before Socrates. Philosophers of this period were known as Physiologoi/cosmologists/naturalists meaning physical or natural philosophers as they were much concerned in analyzing the nature of the universe than human beings. It was in the same ground that these philosophies were also known as naturalism as they were interested in external world or nature.
– They also questioned about the multiplicity/plurarity of things found in nature and their incessant (continuous) changes.
– They wanted to find out the origin of the cosmos through rational explanation instead of attributing creation /origin of the earth to the gods . In other words, they wanted to break away from arguing that the universe/cosmos is a result of gods’ creation.
• Physiologoi was represented by such figures like,
– Pythagoras
– Heraclitus
– Thales
– Anaximenes
– Anaximander
– Anaxagoras.
• It was out of these philosophers that ancient Greco-Roman philosophical school of thoughts developed. Good examples of such school of thoughts included:
Ø Pythagorean school of thought.
This school of thought was advocated by Pythagoras (582-507BC) and Archytes (428-347BC). This school of thought mainly concerned with issues related to:
üEthics
üCosmological issues
üMathematics
• Some of the main ideas of this school of thought included the following:
– Pythagoras most important contribution to the world society was the Pythagorean theorem. This theorem states that, in any right triangle, ABC, where “C” is the hypotenuse, A squared + B squared = C squared
– He is credited for inventing the word ‘philosopher’: instead of claiming to be a sage or wise man (sophos) as he thought ‘wisdom’ itself belongs to God, he modestly said he was only a lover of wisdom.
– They believed in the transmigration of soul after death. This was based on the belief that the soul is the prisoner of the body and it would be released from the body after death and go finally to different animals and finally come back to human being.
– Basing on the belief of transmigration, they performed purification/cleansing rights and developed various rules of living which prohibited immoral acts . They believed that these rules would enable their souls to rank higher among the gods. Music was believed to play a part in purifying their souls.
– Pythagoreans admitted the existence of an unseen world of demons which lived under the earth or in the air. Some of demons were good and therefore assisted men where as other demons were evil and caused harm to human kind.
– The Pythagoreans were known for their vegetarianism (never consumed meat) which they practiced for religious, and ethical reasons, in particular, the idea of transmigration of souls into the bodies of other animals.
– Pythagoreans were prohibited from consuming or touching any kind of beans. This was so because of they believed that beans and human beings were created from the same materials. For example :
o Beans cause flatulence ( the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are by products of the digestion process)
o Beans perhaps resembles the genitilia.
– Pythagoras is also said to have preached that men and women ought not have sex during summer, holding that winter was the appropriate time.
– Pythagoras also argued that the earth is spherical and that the sun, moon and planets have movements of their own.
Heraclitean school of thought
• This school of thought was founded by Heraclitus (535-475BC). The main philosophical ideas of this school of thought were:
– Most objects and substances are produced by a union of opposite principles. He regarded the soul for example as the mixture of fire and water.
– Matter consisted of infinites small particles or atom
– Heraclitus personally was principally concerned with the philosophical question of how things change and how there can be many things in the world. Therefore he was trying to resolve the problem of multiplicity of things.
– Nature is guided by some kind of great force and intellect ( some one very intelligent) which are called ‘Logo’ (God or the wise).
– He is said to be the father of antithesis (opposites). To him antithesis is very important, without evil, there would be no good.
– He taught that all things are flux or change , things are always in a state of unrest. Nothing is permanent, but everything is constantly becoming something else or going out of existence, that is, “all things flows and nothing stands”.
o After his assumption, Plato says, “ Heraclitus is supposed to say that all things are in motion, and nothing at rest; he compares things to the flowing river, and says that, you can not step into the same water twice.
Milesian school of thought
The advocates of this philosophical school of thought came from Miletus, east of Greece. The prominent philosophers includes Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. These philosophers devoted their time in understanding and explaining the nature of the universe (cosmos).
Thales (624-548BC)
His philosophical ideas greatly influenced philosophers and thinkers that followed him as he was believed to be the founding father of Greece philosophy. In addition to his philosophical influence, he was a rich merchant and statesman (Great politician).
Some of his philosophical ideas are:
– He argued that God has no beginning and has no end
– Thales made a comment on what was the condition for the honorable (moral) life. His comment was “ don’t do anything to others, if you don’t want it to be done to you”.
– He is also known to predict a solar eclipse (when the moon passes between the sun and the earth) which occurred on 28th may 585BC.
o This account of the eclipse is from Herodotus who described that “ On one occasion, armies had a battle in the darkness, an event which occurred when two armies had already engaged and the fight was in progress, then the day was suddenly turned into night”.
o This change from daylight to darkness had been told to the Greece by Thales of Miletus, who fixed the date for it within the limits of the year in which it did, in fact, takes place.
o Modern astronomical calculations confirms that this eclipse indeed occurred and it was a total one
– In mathematics, Thales was geometer (specialist in geometry) as he was the founder of a right angled triangle.
o He used his mathematical knowledge to measure the height of pyramids by measuring their shadow at the time of the day.
o He also used the knowledge of right angled triangle to calculate the distance of ships at the sea.
– Thales is also said to have been the first to show that the year contained 365 days .
– Thales stated that the origin of all mater, including the universe is water. Although this idea sounds a bit odd (strange), there may be some truth in it. Thales used two arguments to make his point:
o All things have the same basic nature, that is water. The earth nourishes (provide with food) plants, plants nourishes animals, animal nourishes men. Therefore, men, plants, animals, and the earth posses a common fundamental element, a common basic nature, this nature is that of water
o Water alone can assume the conditions of solid (ice), liquid (water) and gas (moist or vapor), and all things in the world are sold, liquid, and gaseous.
» Thus, water (hence the universe) is alive, as suggested by the fact that moisture supports life. Living things are always moist, plants requires moist soils, animals and men requires moisture to make food digestible.
– Thales is said to have taught that the earth floats on water like a leaf upon the surface of a pool. When that pool is disturbed we have earthquakes.
Anaximander (610-540 BC)
He was a student and a very close friend of Thales and therefore, he was greatly influenced by Thales. His main ideas were:
• The universe was a liquid in the very beginning of its existence and gradually became dry and then life appeared first in water , and later on the land.
• He also proposed that the earth was hanging freely in an empty space. He was able to defend his theory of the free- floating, and unsupported earth against the question “ why does the earth not falling” ?
– About 2500 years later, astronauts have seen the earth floating in space and confirmed Anaximander’s conception.
• The shape of the earth according to him was not spherical, but cylindrical, and we are living on top of the surface of it. It is generally unknown why Anaximander chose this strange shape of the earth.
• In Herodotus writings, it is understood that Anaximander was the first person to produce the a map of the world.
The Sophists
The Pre- Socratic philosophers were followed closely by the Sophists and, then, Socratic philosophers.
These were travelling / mobile / roving teachers / philosophers (itinerant philosophers) whose teachings had great influence on the thoughts and development of Greece philosophy. They were general intellectual descendants of the Pre-Socratic philosophers .
– Because of contradictory answers(?) offered by Pre-Socratic philosophers about the origin of the universe, the sophists turned from understanding the universe to the rational examination of human affairs for better life.
– Thus, the philosophical teachings and ideas of these philosophers centered in politics and ethics with the aim of resolving human problems and improving human life.
– For example, they taught Arete, that is “excellence” in the management and administration of city states, that is how best could the city states be administered?
• Thus they were teaching the Greece aristocracy about:
• Rhetoric , that is art of persuasion (convincing) and public speaking
• Art of legal arguments
• General culture of Greece
– Most of the Sophists were non Athenian who attracted large followers among the Athenians especially youth and administrators. This gave them a chance to charge large fees for the services they offered.
Up to the 5th Century BC, it was a common belief in ancient Greece that “excellence” in the administration of city states in ancient Greece was inborn (natural), and that aristocratic birth (being born in a ruling family) alone qualified a person for politics ( to become a ruler) and fit for administration of the city states.
– But the sophists claimed that “excellence” is a result of training and not innate (inborn). Thus the sophists claimed to be able to teach and help people acquire certain practical skills especially those related to administration ( e.g. Rhetoric).
• The main philosophical ideas of these philosophers were :
– They believed in empiricism, this was the doctrine that experience (knowledge), particularly of the senses(?) is our only source of knowledge. In other words, knowledge is not inborn, but rather a result of sense experience. That is why they argued that “excellence” is a result of training.
– They believed that knowledge is relative, in other words, knowledge depends on the senses of the knowing person. Two persons may have different knowledge on the same thing. Therefore they were against established principles.
– The sophists were also interested in the cultural development of man as a member of the society. They saw man himself a product of nature, but the society and civilization as artificial human products.
• On one hand, man is a natural creature and he is subjected to laws of nature (natural laws) which he can not change them. But on the other hand, he lives in a society with rules and structures which have no roots in nature and based only on custom.
– Most sophists saw the gods as creation of men. In general the sophists saw the universe as operating on the principles of nature rather than divine(gods) creation.
– To the sophists, there was no universal wrong or right. Thus, in the city states they did not like other people to impose ethical rules and issues over others.
– The sophists claimed that every individual has the right to judge matter for himself, this greatly contributed to the development of democratic principles.
SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS
SOCRATES (469-399BC)
This is one of the famous philosophers of all time, and has been sometimes referred to be one of the wisest men to have ever lived. He was a student to Anaxagoras.
He was deemed so because of his professed (supposed) ignorance, which may seem contradictory to being wise. However, Socrates was termed so because he realized that he knew nothing and was aware of his ignorance, which in fact made him wise, as many people who professed to be wise were in fact not.
Socrates devoted most of his time to the development of philosophy. Socrates was distinctive (unique) for:
– Devotion to ethics, he devoted most of his time in laying down ethical principles. Ethics refers to the norms by which acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are measured.
• To Socrates, one develops ethics through maturity, wisdom, and love.
• He believes that if one knows what the good is, one will always do what is good
• He believes that vice is a result of ignorance, no body knowingly does what is wrong, they always think that what they are doing is right. Even the person who performs the worst acts imaginable always thinks that he is doing them for some good reason
– Development of inductive method of reasoning- reasoning from the particular to general assumptions.
– Linking knowledge and happiness - he believed that knowledge was the foundation of virtue and happiness.
– Rationalism- a belief that man was capable of arriving at truth through the use of reasoning.
Socratic method
• The city of Athens became the classroom of Socrates. He moved around the city asking questions of authority and of the man in street, market places and area of public gatherings in order to arrive at political and ethical truth.
• He also questioned groups of his students as a means of instruction to encourage his students to think a problem through in order to reach a logical conclusion. His method of investigating problems through questions and discussion, came to be known as Socratic method. This method involved:
ü Socratic irony
In this approach, Socrates pretended that he knew no answer. His assumed ignorance or willingness to learn from others was a basis for his skillful and clever questioning to reveal the truth or expose the error of the answers he received.
ü Definition
The first question usually required the definition of the concept
ü Analysis
A series of questions aimed at deep examination and clarification of the defined concept.
ü Generalization (arriving at broad statements/general idea)
After a critical examination of a concept, then Socrates persuades his students to reason from the particular to the general (induction) in order to arrive at a particular conclusion.
Major philosophical ideas of Socrates.
Although Socrates wrote no books, his major philosophical ideas are known through the writing of historians and his students, especially Plato . Major ideas in the Socratic philosophy were:
• The proper study of philosophy is man
Socrates was not concerned with questions about the universe as such. He believed that philosophy should achieve practical results in the form of improving the well being of man. Philosophy should pose questions that would assist to improve man’s well being. That is why his philosophies centered in ethics and politics.
• Natural ethics:
he tried to establish an ethical system based upon human reason rather than theological directives (religious teachings). In other words, reasoning should help man to differentiate between what is good and what is bad. Morals should not be directed by theological teachings but reasoning.
• Knowledge and wisdom
To Socrates, the highest good for human being is happiness. Whatever a man chooses is motivated by the desire for happiness. Therefore, the more a man knows ( is knowledgeable) , the greater his ability to reason out the correct choice and to choose action which truly bring happiness to him.
• Politics
Socrates did not approve tyranny (dictatorship) or democratic form of government. He believed that the best form of government was the one ruled by an individual possessing greatest ability, knowledge and virtue.
• Self knowledge
The knowledge that an individual acquires constitutes of ultimate wisdom. This knowledge enables man to act in a virtuous manner at all times, because he knows what will bring him true happiness.
The education implication of Socratic thought
The contribution of Socrates to education were:
1. Teaching methods :
Socratic method has four important areas which are advantageous to the teaching and learning process:
• Problem centered method
The Socratic method begins with a problem (question) which must be analyzed. For example, what is your opinion about the kind of education offered by the St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Bukoba center?
• Based upon student experience
The student respond to the problem (question) on the basis of his / her own previous knowledge and experience.
• Critical thinking
Through this approach, a student is exposed to critical thinking making learning more meaningful.
• Learning is discovery
The student learn effectively when he discovers the true generalization through his reasoning process
2. Purpose of education according to Socrates
The aims of education as described and derived from Socratic thoughts are:
– Individual moral good
Education should aim at making an individual virtuous and happy. To him, knowledge is morally important for all men
– Skill in thinking
Education should help an individual to develop thinking skills and critical reasoning.
PLATO (427-347 BC)
Plato was a Greece classical philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of the philosophical dialogue of Socrates and the founder of the academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in western world.
• Plato's main philosophical ideas were :
– The idea or form exist first before an object. For example, the idea of a house must exist before the material shape can take place. Where any house exists, it conforms to the general idea of house.
– According to Plato, man has a soul chained to the material body. The soul is liberated at death of an individual.
– He further maintained that, the purpose of the soul is justice, that is to do acts that are moral. Just soul will be rewarded by God after death. Sufferings in life are a result of the evils that one did in prior existence. To him, after death, the soul chose its future body and destiny (where to go)
– To him knowledge is innate (inborn). Knowledge is now a matter of recalling ideas that are innate in the soul. To him, ideas are innate and the senses misleads and deceives man. Ideas are within man’s soul. Man need not to experience any outward events in order to know.
– All truth are eternal and absolute. What is true to day will always be true.
– Each man is able to reason to arrive at innate truth through the use of his reason. In other words human beings are not born empty minded ( children are not tabularasa / empty vessels to be filled with knowledge)
– He believed that justice is the most important virtue. Virtue can only exist in a just state. If a state is not just, then, even the members of that state will never be just.
– The features of an ideal just state according to Plato are
• Rule by the best
The ideal state would be ruled by the men or women who would demonstrates ability and skills of ruling. In other words states should be ruled by philosophers.
• Organizing the just state
The just state would be organized into three separate parts:
» The guardians (Golden boys):
This ruling group would be made up of philosopher kings, especially trained for state administration. This group would never marry nor own property . He emphasized that reason and wisdom should govern. He concluded that the state would never experience peace and harmony unless the philosophers rule.
» The warriors (iron boys)
A group of warriors (soldiers) would be trained from youth in military skills in order to protect and defend the state.
» The workers (silver boys)
This group represents the laborers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers etc. This group would do all farming and other works necessary to feed the people.
– The proper virtue for each group would include the following:
• Wisdom : the ruling guardian would have wisdom
• Courage: the warriors would have courage
• Temperance: the workers would have temperance (self control).
– The virtuous state, the state would be just when its citizens had wisdom, courage, and temperance. Each citizen would serve the state to the best of his ability. Man would be an organism in the body of the state. This means that, individuals would be subordinate to the state and they would be required to serve the interests of the state.
– Although Plato would allow friendship between sexes in his ideal state, the reproduction of children would be controlled by government. To improve the quality of children (race), a careful selection of mates would be made. For example;
• Only men above the age of 30 years and below 45 years, and women above the age of 20years and below 40years would be permitted to have children.
• Any children born in violation of the outlined state laws would be abandoned outside the walls of the city.
Educational theory of Plato
The major ideas in Platonic educational theory are:
– Education for all: Plato would educate everybody, boys and girls to the limit of their abilities.
– State education: all children would be taken from their parents and educated by the state
– Aims of education
• To produce future servants of the state
• To develop virtuous intellectuals among the future rulers
• To impart courage and military skills among the warriors of the state
• To develop competent, obedient and temperate workers
• To help citizens behave according to the moral standard of their society
• To train the character of each citizen so that he or she may control his or her appetites (desires)
• .
Educational organization and curriculum
• Elementary level
Both boys and girls would be educated together. They would study mathematics, literature, poetry, and music until they were 18 years of age.
• Physical training
The next two (2) years of the youth’s life would be devoted to physical education alone. There after, the best youth would be selected for the higher education given to future guardian of the state.
• Higher education
Between the age of 20 and 35 years, the future guardians would receive a higher education to prepare them for the ruling of the state.
ARISTOTLE (384-322BC)
• The main philosophical ideas of Aristotle includes the following:
– Nature of man, man is a rational animal. He is an animal in his possession of a body with its physical needs and appetites (desire). He is a rational because he has a soul. The soul has two parts:
• The active element which is the soul itself. This element is immortal (undying).
• The passive element which is the individual personality (body). This passive element ceases to exist with death. The soul and the body forms the necessary whole for the existence of an individual.
– Source of truth, to him the major source of truth is reasoning. Reasoning can be trained through the principles of logic so as to arrive at truth and reasonable conclusion.
– Happiness, the highest good to which man may aspire is happiness. A truly happy life can be assessed only upon its completion (death).
– Naturalism, man lives happily when his actions are in accordance with his nature. The highest good for any man is actuality of his soul
– The faculty of reason resides in the soul of an individual. The physical appetites must be controlled by reason. Reason therefore, is the source of virtue.
– The ideal state must be reasoned as a mean between two governmental extreme, despotism and democracy.
– Constitutional monarch: according to this philosopher, the best form of government is a constitutional monarchy, which is the mean between the extremes of despotism(dictatorship) and democracy. The mean is achieved through the constitution.
• The constitution guarantees moderation between the demands of the wealthy and the interests of the poor.
– Public education, the state is perpetuated (continued) through the education of its citizen. Therefore, education is of necessity, and public in nature. Thus, Aristotle was advocating for universal education.
The educational theory of Aristotle
The importance of education in the philosophy of Aristotle was great, since an individual man could learn to use his reason to arrive at virtue, happiness, and political harmony through the process of education.
Aims of education
The purpose of education should be to produce good human persons. Man is not good by nature. He must learn to control his animal activities through the use of reason. This learning is facilitated by the educational process.
ü Education should aim therefore at the development of the full potentialities (holistic formation) of a human person. It must seek to develop man’s intellectual capacities to their full extent. It must aim also aim at developing each individual’s body to its highest level of health and strength (physical education)
Education for women
To him, women were considered inferior to men. The nature of women suggested that their proper functioning was fulfilled only in the home (girls performs better in domestic affairs).
ü Therefore, women would not be educated with men. They would receive training in gymnastic and domestic arts to enable them manage households , to bear and raise children, and to please and be obedient to their husbands.
Education of men
Education would be given to the aristocracy (ruling class), which included rulers, soldiers, civil servants and priests only. The farmers, merchants and slaves, would be trained in whatever specific skills were required of them
ü According to Aristotle, vocational training was not education. Education is that which liberates man, enabling him to live happy life according to his full potentialities.
Content of education
The subject material must train future rulers in the use of reason. Future rulers must learn obedience and responsibility before they rule. The ideal curriculum may include the following subjects
• Basics: these would include reading, writing and mathematics (not for trade, but as a preparation for the intellectual abstractions of higher mathematics)
• Natural science: he emphasized natural science of astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics.
• Physical education: the training of the body is important to the physical well being of every citizen
• Humanities: he argued that, rhetoric, grammar, poetry and philosophy would be important subjects. During the early education of the child, Aristotle would have the state legislature censor (edit) the materials which would be read by children.
• Method of education: he placed much emphasis in the learning process. Man learn by nature, habit, and by reason. Repetitive drill would be used to reinforce what was understood by reason, an elementary knowledge of reading and writing.
• HISTORIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE ARAB WORLD BEFORE MODERN ERA
Historiography of early Islam refers to the study of the early origins of Islam based on a critical analysis, evaluation and examination of authentic primary source material and organization of these sources into narrative timeline.
– Muslim historical traditions began developing from the 7th century with the reconstruction of Muhammad’s life story following his death.
– Because stories regarding Muhammad's life came from a number of different and contradicting sources, then it was important to verify which sources were authentic and reliable.
– In order to verify these sources, various methodologies were developed. These methodologies then, laid down the basis of Arab historiography. They include the following:
(i) The science of biography
This refers to the detailed account of someone’s life. It includes basic facts such as education, work, relationship, death, and the way an individual experienced such events. It is generally a life story of an individual reflecting various aspects of his or her life.
(ii) Science of Hadithi
Hadithi refers to reports of Muhammad’s actions and life. The science of hadithi therefore, covers a number of religious disciplines used in the study and evaluation of Islamic hadithi by Muslim scholars.
• The aim of the science of hadithi is to distinguish sahil (authentic/correct) information and unauthentic (incorrect) information regarding Muhammad’s life.
(iii) Isnad
This involves evaluating a chain of transmission of information back to those who new Muhammad in order to find out the authenticity of information regarding Mohammad’s life.
Ø The first detailed study on the subject of historiography itself and on historical methods in the Arab world appeared in the work of the Arab Muslim Historian and Historiographer, Ibn Khalduni (1332-1406), the Muqaddimah. Khalduni rejected to accept uncritical historical data. As a result, he introduced scientific methods to the study of history.
• Khalduni presented history as the new science guiding principles of sociology and political economy. He therefore :
– Believed that societies are bonded together by the power of social cohesiveness which can be explained by the unifying force of religion.
– He believed that human nature is determined by the nature of the environment. In fortifying his argument he argued that, people of the Mediterranean( Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, Italy and Greece) were nice people compared to people living in the region with harsh environment.
– He also emphasized on the continuity of history. History is a process, not just an event. History is a record of changes in the society. He conceptualized history to be cyclic. He used the analogy of living things:
• Coming into being (existence), Growing, Getting old, Declining, and Collapsing
– The societies too are subjected to the coming into being(rise), growth, decline and collapse.
– In addition, Khalduni argued that societies all over the world passed into two phases which represent human civilization:
• Rural phase, he described this phase as brutal and uncultured. The rural people were described as cruel, crude, uncultured, uncivilized and backward compared to those living in cities due to lack of exposure.
• Urban phase, the urban people are progressive and civilized. The people in urban areas enjoyed high standard of living. High standard of living, resulted to addiction(habit) of luxury life, unnecessary luxury life especially among the ruling class. This luxurious life on the side of the ruling class had an adverse impact on the ruled (ordinary people).
– To him luxury life meant an increase in the expenditure of those in power and hence heavy taxation to the ordinary people. This will produce social tension between the rulers and the ruled leading to the collapse of the society.
• 4. MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN THEORIES OF SOCIETY AND HISTORIOGRAPH
MIDDLE AGES (MEDIEVAL PERIOD)
• Defining middle ages.
This was the period of European history covering the 5th century to he 16th century AD, normally marked from the collapse of the Roman empire until the beginning of the Renaissance (rebirth) and the age of discoveries. It was divide between ancient and modern times.
• The early period of the middle ages was known as the Dark Ages. It was the Dark Age because the civilization reached during the time of the Romans and Greeks almost collapsed and disappeared. Why?
• This was attributed to the fact that, after the collapse of the Roman empire , what followed was a state of confusion and chaos because, there no body to rule (leadership vacuum) the whole region. Thus, Europe fell back to barbarianism, characterized by violence.
• Major features of the Middle Ages
• Emergence of feudalism, where by land came under the feudal lords and the landless, poor peasants were working for the landlords. This led to the emergence of feudal states and governments. The feudal states were ruled by the most outstanding feudal lords known as the Barons.
• Low level of literacy. During the Roman time, literacy rate was very high. But, with the middle ages, very few people could write and read. The development of ancient literature, philosophy, architecture, and paintings declined. This was attributed to the fact that there was no formal schooling except that provided by the Roman catholic church in the monasteries.
• Because of low literacy rate, during this period, Europe had extremely strong beliefs in witchcraft, beliefs in magic and demons
• Continuation…
• Europe was featured by constant warfare between rival kings (Barons). Wars among Barons struggling for power, land and slaves. Generally, there was no peace and Europe was thus featured by confusion and disorder.
• There was destruction of economic activities especially trade and agriculture as a result of constant wars
• The church had the political and spiritual power. Roman catholic church was the dominant religion and a symbol of unity in Western Europe. If you are born in Western Europe, then, you become automatically a follower or believer of Roman catholic church.
ü The church performed both, spiritual and political functions. It was a single example of strong organization after the collapse of the Roman empire. The most literate individuals were the Roman catholic priests. Thus, the church was the center for education. It was during the middle ages that Christian conception of history and society developed.
• Historiography of early Christian era
• The late Medieval period (14th-16th centuries) is also referred to as the Christian era. This is because, it was at this time when Christian ideas and philosophies were dominant in Europe. The Christian era was characterized by Christian conception of history and society.
• The possible explanation behind the emergence of Christian philosophy and conception of history was the dominance of the Roman catholic church.
• Politics was merged together with religion, there was no separation between the state and religion. Thus, the Catholic church controlled not only the state and religion, but also knowledge and knowledge production.
• This was so because the monasteries were the centers for education its priests were among most educated individuals . Scholars who contradicted the truth accepted by the church were severely punished. It was in these grounds that Christian conception of history and philosophies emerged.
• Christian conception of history and society
• The major reason behind the emergence of Christian philosophy and conception of history and society was the dominance of the Roman catholic church as a political and religious institution.
• During this period, politics was merged with religion, it was impossible to separate the state and religion. The church was the most powerful institution, and therefore it had also the ability to dictate and influence political matters and decisions
• Therefore the church controlled not only the state and religion, but also knowledge and knowledge production ( what kind of knowledge to be produced).
• Scholars who contradicted truth accepted by the church were severely punished. This give room for the emergence and development of Christian philosophies and Christian conception of history and society.
• Continuation…..
• The Christians conceives history to be linear with a beginning and an end. Thus, the Christians believes that human history had a specific beginning ( creation) and is being directed by God towards a specific end (end of he world).
• Basing on this conception, then, historical events follows non-repetitive direction towards the end. This conception has its origin from the Holly Bible.
• The bible is the collection of textbooks written by people who heard and witnessed events that took place during the life of Jesus Christ.
• The Holly Bible consists of Old Testament and the New Testament. They were produced between 70 and 100AD. The work of writing the Bible came after the death of Jesus based on eyewitness and oral traditions.
• In writing the Bible, subjectivity was there, but efforts were made to ensure objective presentation of the Bible.
• Continuation….
• Following the Bible, the Christian conception of time and hence history was linear and progressive. It is linear in the sense that, in Christian perspective, history has beginning (alpha) and an end (omega).
• The beginning of history is the creation of man, and the end is the end of the world
• CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHIES
ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354-430 AD)
Aucelius Augustinus ( St. Augustine) lived in the Roman empire from 354 to 430AD. In 386AD he converted to Christianity from a pagan religion, the Machanean religion. He was the first Christian philosopher, the teacher of rhetoric and later became the bishop of the city of Hippo, in Algeria, North Africa.
• The major philosophical thoughts of St. Augustine covered:
– The nature of human society
– Justice
– Nature and the role of the state.
– The relationship between the church and the state
– Just and unjust wars
– peace
• General philosophical ideas of St. Augustine of Hippo
• Reality and truth can only be found on the word of God. It is the word of God which enables human beings to know the truth. The word of God is obtained through revelation / illumination / God’s light.
• God exists: St. Augustine as a Christian, believes in the existence of God. This God is the creator, all powerful, all knowing, pure spirit, an intelligent being and all loving.
• God’s creation : God created all beings from nothing through creation. Creation was out of God’s free will. According to St. Augustine, creation was the begging of time and history. That time came to be divided into the future, present and the past.
• The concept of the soul: the soul is real (it is there, it exist), simple, but immortal (undying, it is there for ever). Every human being has a soul, and human soul has five sense. To him, human soul has the following major functions: intellectual memory, intelligence, and will or love
• Continuation….
• At one time man misused his free will, he choose to disobey God, and that was the beginning of original sin. All human beings are bone with that original sin.
ü However, man was redeemed by Christ by dying on the cross. Through God’s mercy, he decided to forgive man, and allowed him to enjoy some of the favors.
• Importance of grace. In order to overcome natural weaknesses of human nature, one need to have grace (loveliness). That grace has to come only from God.
• According to St. Augustine, man has two faces. The face of good and the face of evils. Throughout his life, man has an endless struggle between the good and the evils. If one needs to have good life one has to defeat the evil.
• Continuation….
• The just war: traditionally, the philosophical treatment of a just war is divided into two categories:
ü Jus ad bellum: this describes the necessary conditions for justifying engagement in war.
ü Jus in bello: this describes the necessary conditions for conducting war in a just manner.
v Augustine's jus ad bellum maintains that, wars can be initiated just only on the basis of :
ü A just cause. According to St. Augustine, just causes of a war includes:
o To defend the state from external invasion
o To defend the safety of the state
o To avenge (to take revenge) injuries
o To punish a nation for failure to take corrective measurers for wrongs committed by its citizens
• Continuation…
o To come to defense of allies
o To gain return of something that was wrongfully taken by another country
o To obey a divine command to go to war
ü Declaration of war by a competent authority, and except in the most unusual circumstances, in a public manner, and only as a last resort.
v St. Augustine Jus in bello. In this St. Augustine holds that, once a war begun, it must be fought in a just manner:
ü There should be proportionate response to the wrong to be avenged, with the fighting being confined in within the limits of the battle fields.
ü The fighting and targets should discriminate between the militias / fighters (combatants) and civilians (non-combatants) such as women, children, elderly, and the clergy. Attacks should not be directed to civilians.
• Continuation…..
ü Observe faith when fighting with the enemy, for example respecting all war treaties, and wars should not be organized in a treacherous manner.
v The city of God. This book was written by St. Augustine between 413-426AD. In his book he described two cities. The earthly city (city of man) and the city of God.
q The earthly city ( city of man): this city consists of the sinners, who God has not chosen to save. This city consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present world.
ü He used the Roman empire to represent the city of man. He argued that the multiple gods of Rome were in fact demons encouraging people to be immoral, especially rivalry, jealous, warfare, adultery and all forms of immoral life.
• Continuation….
q The city of God: this city consists of people who have been repaired or saved by God’s grace, and therefore who are able to escape immorality, and to love God as their savior.
ü The city of God is not situated physically in heaven. It is not even a single city like Bukoba or Kampala.
ü Instead , it refers to the collection of good people on the earth, and the good society they can form among themselves. These are the people who forgot earthly pleasures to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith.
• Each city had its own function
ü The city of man was to prepare people for political authority
ü The city of God was to prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ.
• THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD
• Renaissance is the French word for “rebirth”, to be born again. It was the period during the 16th century when there was a revival of learning , revival of Greece and Roman literature, revival of philosophy and revival of scientific ideas.
• Generally, during this period Europe experienced renewed interests in ancient and Roman and Greece civilization after a long middle ages where the achievements of Greece and Roman civilization declined.
• Key features of the Renaissance.
– General rebellion against the medieval ideas. The renaissance period passed a very strong opposition against what was believed to be correct in the Christian middle period. During the medieval period , the Christians had religious and political power. They also dominated knowledge and knowledge production. Whoever criticized Christian ideas, was severely punished. With the renaissance period, the beliefs and ideas that developed during meddle ages were severely criticized.
• Continuation…..
– Development of Humanism. Humanism placed man at the center. This aimed at empowering human being, giving people power through education. Emphasis was on knowledge for the people as the medieval era was a long night of ignorance. In addition, it advocated for absolute freedom of man, with the belief that human being are free by nature.
– Strong belief in ancient Greece and Roman civilization. During this period there emerged the belief that ancient Greece and roman civilization could be used to promote changes in society. Therefore, there was a general move to return back to the classical times when philosophers advanced various ideas. Thus, there was the search for ancient books written in Latin and Greece. Thus Europeans started translating these ancient books into their languages
• Continuation……
– Development of science and technology. The renaissance period was featured by widespread discoveries in the field of science for example:
• Discovery of portable cloaks, short gun, and the discovery of America
• Discovery of printing press, printing of books made possible for libraries to develop. For example, the Vatican library,
• Newton developed various theories of motion and gravity
• Studies of botany and zoology were developed.
– Rapid transformation of society from feudalism to capitalism. The society was changing due o the new scientific discoveries and influence of long distance trade. There was also wide spread rural –urban migration. The serfs were transformed into wage laborers
• Continuation…..
– Religious reformation. The new ideas of humanism and rebellion against beliefs that developed during the middle ages were directed against the Roman Catholic church leading to the breakdown of the church.
üThis reformation was pioneered y the Catholic monk, Martin Luther, ended up with the division of the church into Roman Catholic and the Protestant church. This division was caused by the fat that Luther protested against the key teachings of the Roman Catholic church.
• THE ENLIGHTMENT PERIOD 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES
• This was a period of light between the English revolution of 1688 and the French revolution of 1789. It was the age of philosophers who stressed the importance of reason and critical evaluation of ideas.
• Generally, it can be said that the enlightenment period was a mature stage of the renaissance. For example:
– From the Renaissance, the enlightenment inherited strong opposition to feudalism and church ideas.
– The enlightenment emphasized the study of natural science than social science (history, philosophy, and theology)
– There was general refusal to understand the past as the past was considered useless, and had nothing to each
– It was a period when capitalism was struggling to win European societies.
– Philosophical teaching was against religion. Nature determined what is wrong and what is right
• EMPERICISM AND POSITIVISM
EMPERIALISM
• Is the philosophical concept that experience which is based on observation and experimentation, is the source of knowledge. According to empiricism, only the information that a person gathers with his or her senses should be used to make decision and generate knowledge
• Thus, empiricists believes that the only source of knowledge is experience. The main advocates of this school thought were Francis Bacon, John Locke, and David Humes just to mention a few.
• Their general beliefs are:
– They rejected the idea that human beings are born with ideas (ideas are innate). To them, human beings are born tabula rasa, they are bone with nothing, and acquire knowledge through experience.
– Knowledge must be acquired through experience
• Continuation….
– Valid statement must be proved. E.g. we can not prove the existence of angels, and therefore angels do not exist
– According to Bacon, knowledge is obtained through two processes, observation and experimentation. And therefore, it is impossible to claim any knowledge if you can not observe and make experiments.
– Becon further agues that, in order to observe anything we have to avoid biases in order to get pure images/ knowledge. Thus Becon outlined several types of biases:
• Bias of human nature. Some bias are caused by human nature, that is the way people are. For example, by nature human beings like to be winners in everything they do. Thus, they will not be objective if they narrate on how they were defeated in a certain war. They will only tell stories how they defeated others. However, we need to overcome human nature in order to produce good knowledge.
• Continuation….
• Psychological condition, these are biases coming from individual psychological conditions. People are sometimes psychologically stable or not stable, and this elasticity can affect observation.
• Social relation, this bias arise from human relation in the community. For example, family relation, political relation, ethnic relation etc.
• Philosophical bias, this bias arise from philosophical view point. For example, a Capitalist historian writing about Africa will differently from a Socialist historian writing on the same theme about Africa.
• Implication of empiricism in writing history
• Empiricism as a method of writing history focuses on the accuracy of the primary sources. The empiricists advocates the use of primary sources as many as available.
• The writing of history should avoid bias as much as possible. The historian should use sources which are authentic and must ask who created that source.
• The process of building evidence is inductive, this means working from particular towards the general conclusion.
• Allow facts to speak by themselves, facts be should independent from a historian.
• POSITIVISM
• It is a strong form of empiricism advocated by the French mathematicians and philosopher, August Compte (1798-1857). It advocated for the need to transform the society through the study of natural science (mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry built on observation)
• The positivist philosophers claimed to address the real life situation. They wanted to go away from the imaginary world of ideas.
• They argued for a positive philosophy, philosophy that is concerned itself with useful things and ideas. The philosophy that does not waste time discussing speculative metaphysical issues, for example existence of god, whether angels put on dress or not.
• Positivism emphasized positive knowledge that would clarify things so that human beings can improve their life by posing precise answers and constructive ideas.
• Continuation…..
• Comte argued that human society had passed through three stages:
– The theological stage, it was a stage of knowledge in which people conceptualized everything in terms of God or any Supernatural power / beings. It is in fact a stage of knowledge where man explains nature with myth and invisible supernatural power. There was overdependence on the supernatural power in explaining the natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, diseases, poverty and death.
– The metaphysical stage, it is the phase where people explain nature in terms of nature beyond our physical world. People were wasting a lot of time to reflect on the causes of visible phenomena.
• Continuation…
– The positive stage, it is the scientific stage where people try to explain the phenomena according to their relationship with very clear methodology, observation and experimentation. Therefore, positivism is another word scientific stage.
• THEORIES OF SOCIETY AND HISTORY UNDER CAPITALISM
The rise of European capitalism and Hegelian theory of history
• The Hegelian theory of history is very much related to the success of European capitalism during the 19th century.
• Hegel wrote his ideas during the 2nd half of the 19th century when Europe was in the process of rapid industrialization leading to the emergence of the Bourgeoisie as a dominant class in the society.
• Because the writing of history is always influenced by the main ideas of the dominant class, then Hegelian historical ideas were written along lines of capitalism. In fact these ideas tried to romanticize capitalism as mode of production which have played a major role in civilizing human race.
• Hegelian capitalist perception is clearly seen through out the work of Hegel. For example:
• Continuation…
• Hegel wrote his history with his mind fixed to the civilized Germany and other European capitalist countries. He thus rejected the existence of history in Africa since Africans were still primitive, uncivilized and irrational.
ü For example, to him Africa was dark as its people. It was along these lines that Africa came to be known as the Dark Continent without history.
• Being influenced by capitalist spirit, Hegel argues that the history of mankind is the progression from slavery to freedom (capitalism). To him, history is conceptualized as the movement towards greater freedom. He thus outlined 3 stages of historical development:
– In ancient oriental ( Asia and Middle East), only the rulers were free, the rest were slaves
– In ancient Greece and Rome, the rulers were also free, the rest were slaves
– In the modern world (capitalist world), all the people were considered to be free. The struggle for individual freedom was one of the key characteristic
• Continuation….
• Being influenced by dominant Bourgeoisie ideology, Hegel justified the existence of a capitalist state, believing that capitalism was the highest level of civilization. He thus concluded that capitalist state was the best.
• Hegelian historical writing emphasized on the importance of human labor. He argued that work was an indicator of man’s ability to create his own world (to change his life). In this way he was encouraging the proletariats to work and produce for the capitalists
• He defended the necessity of private property. He argued that equality of property was not a solution to the problem of poverty.
ü To him, even if properties are equally divided, new inequalities would soon arise due differences in human skills, size of the family, etc. therefore, equality of property was undesirable and unattainable.
• Continuation…..
• In writing his history, Hegel glorified the role of great men as agents of historical changes. To him, these great men were special messengers of God, who were born to be leaders responsible to bring changes in the society.
o He thus defined history of world as the record or biographies of the great men. To him the great men includes Politicians, Scientists, Military leaders, Economists, Philosophers, etc.
o Thus, the key feature of capitalist conception of history was the glorification of individual historical figures at the expense of the common people in the society
• In defending capitalism, Hegel argued that historians can only study the world but can not change the world. This clearly indicates how Hegel, influenced by the spirit of capitalism attempted to maintain the status quo by sending a clear message to the radicals who wanted to revolt against capitalism that the change was not possible. People had no choice, except to accept capitalism.
• 6. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF AFRICA
DEFINING HISTORIOGRAPHY
– The body of historical literature or the writing of history
– Written records of what is known of past human lives and societies and how historians have attempted to understand such records.
– From these two definitions, then, it can be said that, historiography is the study of writing of history and how historians comes to understand written records.
– Generally, it is the study of historical writing. How historians have been producing or reconstructing historical knowledge? What approaches and methodologies historians use to generate historical knowledge? What kind of evidences historians uses to produce historical knowledge? Generally, it deals with how history has been written and is being written.
• CONTINUATION
Ø Historiography focuses on the following aspects:
ü Individual or group of historians who have produced important historical knowledge about Africa
ü Body of historical knowledge produced by historians, particularly types and characteristics of knowledge produced by historians
ü Significance of knowledge produced, what contribution a body of knowledge is bringing in understanding the history of mankind?
ü Development of historiography especially the changes and continuity in the production of historical knowledge
ü The context of knowledge production; what conditions shaped the production of historical knowledge in a given time
ü Evidences, sources of information and theories that define these historiographies. For example, where the information were obtained, how the evidences obtained were used in writing history
• COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
• Colonial historiography was popularized mostly by European philosophers, historians, anthropologists, travelers, missionaries, and colonial administrators. These were of two types: conservatives, racists and to a lesser extent the liberals.
• These were strong defenders of colonialism. Why? Because they were themselves the product of imperial expansion of the 19th century. They therefore believed on white supremacy, and therefore concluded that Africa has no history.
Ø The conservatives and the racists
• The ideas of the conservatives and the racists dominated up to 1930s. These scholars believed in Charles Darwin theory of evolution and natural selection: struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest.
• To Darwin and his followers, they believed that Europeans were more fit to struggle against nature and other human race. These scholars viewed African history in the following grounds:
• Continuation….
• These scholars completely accepted the idea that Africa had no independent history before it got into contact with people from Europe or Asia.
o To them, Africa was a static continent until it came into contact with other people from outside the continent. They argued for example, changes in Africa were brought by Hamites from Asia, and Europeans. In other words, Africa had no changes and history until when it came into contact with foreigners.
• Examples of scholars who supported the conservative view includes the following:
ü George Hegel: this scholar argues that Africa is not a historical continent, it shows neither changes nor development nor education. As we see them today, so have they always been.
ü Newton (1930) : this scholar aired the theory of no history in Africa before the coming of Europeans. He argues that “history begins when men take to writing”. He was therefore, trying to refute the existence of an independent African history basing on the idea that Africans had no ability to write.
• Continuation…
ü Seligman (1930) : this scholar argues that the civilization of Africans is the civilization of the Hamites. He concluded that all achievements and advances made by other groups like the Negroes and the Bushmen were due to the influence of the superior Hamitic race.
ü Roper (1960) : he argues that “perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach, but at present there is non, there is only the history of Europeans in Africa, the rest is darkness, and darkness is no the subject of history”
§ But an important question may be why the conservatives aired such kind of arguments? Historians have tried to find out and establish why the conservatives argued along such lines. Some of the possible explanations are:
o Methodology; these scholars believed that the only source for producing historical knowledge was through written sources, and therefore Africa had no history because had no writings.
• Continuation….
o They wanted to justify colonialism by using racist explanations. They wanted to establish that Africans were inferior race, and therefore the white race had the right to dominate (colonize)the black race.
o They wanted to justify that Europe was the center of everything good, and therefore even history had its origin in Europe
o They wanted to justify that Europeans were the only superior race
o Even when they were correct that knowledge is to be found in books, in African context, some societies kept their records in writings.
Ø The liberals
• These are European scholars who began to have interests about the history of Africa in the 1940s. This was because of the wind of change (liberation struggles), and the emergence of African scholars. The liberals at least in theory ( partially) accepted the existence of an independent African history.
• To them, history emanated from certain centers of civilization in the African continent. For example, ancient Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, the Great Zimbabwe, etc. These are the centers from where civilization came up and then spread to the rest of Africa.
• The liberals justifies the Nile valley and Ethiopian highlands as centers of civilization and changes on the following grounds:
ü They mentioned these areas that they were in constant contacts with other early centers of civilization like Mesopotamia and the Indian world
ü Civilization spread to the rest of Africa through trading contacts between North Africa and other parts of Africa.
• Documents that prove the existence of independent African history
• The Periplus of the Erythrean sea: was a Greek document which described and provided information about sailing conditions, trading centers (ports), and trading opportunities in the Indian ocean (the Erythrean sea)
ü Generally, it was a marine book which had important information regarding sailing direction, navigation hazards (strong winds), harbors, cities, markets, and trade goods. It was written by unknown author about 70 AD in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
ü The work consists of 66 chapters. In many cases the description of places is sufficiently accurate to identify their present locations. However in others, there is a considerable debate. For example “ Rhapta” is mentioned as the farthest market down the African coast of “Azania” but there are at least five locations matching the description ranging from Tanga to south of the Rufiji river delta.
• Continuation….
• The Kilwa chronicle; is the name given to a collected genealogy (lineage) of the Sultans who ruled the Swahili cost from Kilwa. The chronicle has two texts, one written in Arabic and the other in Portuguese. Both were written in early 1500 and together, they provide light into he history of the Swahili coast, with particular emphasis on that of Kilwa Kisiwani and its Sultans.
ü The Arabic version of the chronicle is called the Kitab al Sulwa. It was compiled by unknown author about 1520
ü The Portuguese version. This document was also prepared by unknown author. These accounts were likely collected and provided to the Portuguese during their occupation of Kilwa between 1505 and 1512.
• Continuation…..
• The Kano chronicle. This is a written account of the history of the Hausa people who inhabited Northern Nigeria. Although it relates only to Kano, it is typically drawn to explain the early history of the Hausa as a whole. The chronicle also includes a list of rulers of Kano going back to the 10th century A.D
• Tarrik al Fattash. It is a journal written in Arabic in the second half of the 17th century. It provides an account of the Songhai empire from the reign of Sunni Ali ( 1464-1492) to 1599 with a few references to events in the following centuries
• Tarrik al Sudan. Is a journal written in Arabic in around 1655 by Abd al Sad. It provide the single most important primary source for the history of the Songhai empire. The early section of the journal provides brief histories of earlier dynasties of Songhai, Mali empire, and the Tuaregi and biographies of the scholars and holly men of both Timbuktu(Songhai) and Jenne (Mali).
• Continuation……
• Egyptian hieroglyphs / pictograms ( a form of picture writings). These were a formal writing system used by ancient Egyptians. Egyptians used Hieroglyphs for religious literatures written on papyrus, papers, and wood. These hieroglyphs are now decoded ( interpreted) to reveal historical facts
• Ptolemy geography: Claudius Ptolemy (90-168AD) was a Greek Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. The Ptolemy geography consisted of several books accompanied by maps
ü Ptolemy’s maps of Africa shows the source of the Nile and direction of flow. He also produced maps that were important to early travelers of the continent. He also gave historical accounts of the East African coast trading activities. He also gave accounts of the ancient empire of Axum in Ethiopia
• NATIONALIST HISTORIOGRAPHY
• This historiography emerged in the 1960 when most African countries were attaining political independence. It was a period when we had a generation of historians who were interested in their own history.
• Examples of such historians are K.O. Dike, J.C. Anene B.A. Ogot, Sheikh Anta Diop, N.I. Kimambo, J. Temu and A. Ajayi to mention a few. At the time there was a generation of non African scholars, from Europe who developed a strong interest in African history like T.O. Rangers, B. Davidson and J. Vansina
• The main mission of these historians was to challenge colonial representation that Africa had no independent history. The central arguments of these scholars are:
o Africa had its own independent history which was created by African themselves from the activities they performed when struggling against nature
• Continuation…..
o Africans attained development in various fields :
üCreation of big political kingdoms such as ancient kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Buganda, the Great Zimbabwe, Kush, Congo, etc.
üDevelopment of various trade systems both local, regional and interregional trade. The East African Long distance trade and the Trans-Saharan trade are good examples
üDevelopment of various writing systems such as the Egyptian hieroglyphs (Egypt), Osmanya (Somalia), Insibidi (Southern Nigeria), Mwangwego (Malawi), Ge’ze (Ethiopia and Eritrea) and Tifinagh ( Morocco, Algeria, )
üIn terms of science and technology Africans achieved a lot in the fields of medicine, irrigation, architecture and astronomy. The ancient kingdoms of Great Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Kush to mention a few may prove this reality
• Continuation…
o Africa may have been the source of other developments in Europe and Asia. This can be explained by analyzing the operation of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the East African coastal trade
o Africa was and is part of the universal history
• Nationalist historiography emphasized on the following topics or themes
o African agency; in this regard, nationalist historians views Africans as historical agents who could initiate all levels of development. Africans were not passive, instead, they were active creators of their own history.
o African initiative and adaptation; Africans are active on taking initiatives and adaptation to exploit and control their environment
• Continuation…
o Pre-colonial history on state formation, trade and exchange systems
o African civilization and creativity
o The use of oral histories as the most valuable and reliable means of reconstructing African history
• However, nationalist historians have been challenged on the following grounds:
o They were over romanticizing / glorifying leaders of post independence African states even when they failed to perform. This is because they wanted to please these leaders since they were their major financiers for their publications.
o They treated Africans as super geneous who could engineer development at all levels
o They did not reveal political divisions among Africans during struggles for independence
• Continuation….
o They forgot the fact that Africa never existed as an island, it was in constant contacts with other parts of the world. Therefore it is possible that to some extent certain African civilizations were imported from outside the continent through trading contacts and migrations.
• UNDERDEVELOPMENT HISTORIOGRAPHY
• This historiography emerged in the 1970s as a reaction to nationalist historiography which romanticized/glorified African achievements but failed to address the problem of poverty and underdevelopment.
• Prominent scholars includes Walter Rodney and Samir Amin. These scholars argued that why romanticizing new leaders and their governments which have failed to address the problem of poverty after the end of colonialism.
ü Africans were getting poor and poorer despite attaining their independence. They thus analyzed the causes of Africa's economic predicaments and underdevelopment.
• But an important question may be why underdevelopment historiography emerged in the 1970s? The possible explanations can be the fact that:
• Continuation….
o During this period Africa was experiencing economic difficulties accompanied by drought, shortage of food, oil crisis, and generally governments were unable to meet the needs of the people.
o As a result of all these growing economic difficulties, historians had to shift their thinking frameworks from glorifying political leaders and their new governments to economic analysis. This implied a shift in the generation of historical knowledge from political history to economic history
• However, one major shortcoming of this historiography is the fact that it analyzed Africa's economic predicaments from external links (external dimension). For example, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Rodney. But forgetting about internal sources of Africa's economic problems such as corruption, insensitive utilization of resources, tribalism and political instabilities.