EFLA Unit 1

Unit Overview

The Beginning of History

The history of humankind began in Africa. The first homo sapiens (modern human beings) originated in Africa 200,000 years ago. In fact, human beings lived in Africa and Africa alone for over 100,000 years before leaving the continent. We are now in the year 2015 A.C.E. Ancient Egypt begins around 4000 B.C.E. (10,000 – 5,000 B.C.E. by some accounts). This constitutes a mere 6,000 years of human history compared to the over 100,000 years of history in which Africa was the only home to human beings, and the people who today we call "Africans" were the only people on the planet.

By the time ancient Egypt was established, all of the tools necessary to construct a dynamic civilization had been created: the planet, moon and stars and their relationship to time and nature had been observed for thousands of years; language and forms of communication had already been developed; hunting techniques and tools were sophisticated, and fire, water and permanent shelter was secured; and even more importantly, the population had increased exponentially, allowing for a surplus in labor, and thus the opportunity for the large range of diversification of occupations that would foster the development of what we consider civilization.

So if Africa is the "birthplace of humankind" and the "cradle of civilization," and all human beings originated in Africa, why do we know so little about Africa? Why doesn't history in school begin in Africa, the place were humans began? Why do we think so negatively about Africa? If human beings lived in Africa and Africa alone for thousands of years, how can Africa so easily be written out of history? As you have learned in the Introductory Unit, these questions speak to the political nature of education. This curriculum applies a "logic model" to history, which dictates that any comprehensive study of history begin when and where human beings began, and continues in chronological order. Only then can we objectively chart the progress of humankind and expose the negative historical propaganda created from omitting the history of others.