PART FIVE. THE DELUGE AND TODAY
Author’s Note
That the Africans have a long and vivid history of their own is now widely understood. But what manner of history has this been? Here I have attempted three things. First, to offer a summary of what is now known, or what it now seems reasonable to think, about the ideas and social systems, religions, moral values, magical beliefs, arts and metaphysics of a range of African peoples, chiefly in tropical Africa. Then to consider the ways in which these cultures have grown and changed from distant times until now. Lastly, to fit these aspects of African civilisation into their modern perspective as the connected parts of a living whole.
Illustrations
Map
Approximate location of sixty-four peoples mentioned in this book (drawn by John Flower)
Drawings in the text
Forced-draught furnace for smelting iron ore
Ancestral figures from the country of the Ekoi, south-eastern Nigeria
The distribution of parts of a sacrificial beast among the Dinka
Karimojong cattle classification by hide markings
Wooden mask of the Ekpo Society, region of Benin
Soapstone carving from Great Zimbabwe
‘Nomoli’ soapstone figurine from the Mende country of Sierra Leone
Kalabari water-spirit mask in the form of a crocodile
Zither from the Kweri of Tanzania
Diagram of Dogon village
Imaginative reconstruction of an ancient burial chamber at Ukwu in eastern Nigeria
Wrought-iron figure of a long-horned cow from the old kingdom of Karagwe in north-western Tanzania
East African mtepe, coastal trading vessel with ‘sewn’ lashings
Interior of mosque at Zaria, northern Nigeria
Pattern of distribution of temples and domestic shrines in Oyo
Nineteenth-century tomb at Ununio, coast of Tanzania
Siwa or ceremonial horn from Lamu, north-eastern Kenya
African Christian Church symbol on hillside near Johannesburg
Anyanwu, The Awakening: by Ben Enwonwu, Lagos
Photographs (before text)
1. Akan shrine priest, central Ghana
2. Tallensi hut interior, northern Ghana 1965
3. Akan ceremonial stool, central Ghana
4. Ancient bronze ceremonial vessel, Ita Yemoo, Yorubaland
5. Ancient terracotta head, Ife, Yorubaland
7. Balante village shrine, Guinea-Bissau 1967
8. Assembly for public ritual of Karimojong adult juniors, 1957
9. Assembly for public ritual of Karimojong elders, 1957
10. Small bronze figure representing an Akan ancestor
11. Spanish witches in flight, with attendant owl: aquatint from Goya’s Caprichos
12. A medieval ‘Witches’ Sabbath’: woodcut from Hans-Baldung Grien, 1510