When you hear “Africa”, what comes to mind? Some think about food. Others think of African culture and the colorful aesthetic that most African media relies on. Unfortunately, most people who do not wish to learn more about the continent know little or nothing about this continent before slavery. This has led to a lot of ignorance on the topic of African history. However, the history of the African people has a broader time span than that of colonialism and the slave trade. Civilizations such as Great Zimbabwe and the city of Timbuktu are excellent examples of Africa's wealth of education and innovation before European intervention. In previous history, each continent had a special resource required by other countries, and Africa was no exception. However, the resourcefulness of this continent extends far beyond the resources provided by Africa, as many inventions developed in Africa have greatly advanced humanity. In fact, many of the things made in these places are still used today, such as the oven and various forms of medicine. Overall, the history of the African continent before 1500 is a hidden gem that needs to be discussed more when the innovation is mentioned in a historical context. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first known African people were the San, who had existed for about 20,000. They were nomadic and survived through a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The Khoi people existed around the same time and their lifestyle was focused more on pastoralism. However, Bantu-speaking people are the most important of all three, as most of Africa is Bantu-speaking due to their migrations. After migrating for some time, they settled and founded large kingdoms such as Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe. However, their teachings on iron smelting led to the development of more civilizations than Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe. This is described as “The Iron Age”. The journey of the Bantu peoples across Africa during this period is what leads their culture to be so widespread. The Iron Age was not a world historical event, but rather a timeline that varied depending on the continent in question. In Africa, the Iron Age began much earlier than in other continents, starting from the 6th century. It has spread to Ethiopia, the Great Lakes region, Tanzania and Nigeria. The discovery of iron led to the creation of furnaces, equipment that helped smelt things more effectively, and other tools. Pots and plates were also made of iron, but sometimes caused lead poisoning. Because of this new set of innovative ideals, metal swords, bulletproof armor, and better catapults were no longer a fantasy. Because metals were such a hot commodity, knowledge about mining had to develop rapidly. Like falling dominoes, pumps were created to keep the mines from flooding. The Iron Age was an important time for Africa and it couldn't have come at a better time. This was all the work of the Bantu people. Thanks to the Iron Age and the spread of knowledge on topics that made life much easier, more people were able to settle in communities and villages. This later led to the development of countries, cities, cultures and even civilizations. The more ideas spread, the more complex cultures became. This caused people in sub-Saharan Africa to become less nomadic. As groups became more and more established, societies gradually became more organized, which led to thepeople from these communities to specialize more in different skills. The city of Timbuktu was the largest center of learning in the world during this period, as it was one of the few places of its kind. In the midst of all this, administration, the African economy, commerce and politics were born. Because people worked much more efficiently, there was a much higher yield of goods, especially in an agricultural sense. It was necessary to enter the trade place capable of allowing Africa to receive goods that it could not otherwise obtain. One of the best-known examples of this is the trade of gold for salt, since in Africa gold was so abundant that it was practically worthless. Salt was desperately needed because the people of this region were deficient in essential vitamins and needed salt to preserve food. Later, after the colonization of Africa, trade shifted from gold to humans. After suitable preservation techniques were discovered, pottery was further developed to contain food. The need to keep track of trade and production/productivity led to an increase in literacy and mathematical skills, which were also taught in Timbuktu in a more advanced form. As transportation and communications increased, there was an inevitable increase in population. Africa was thriving. So far we have discussed the development and complexification of civilizations, but we have not delved too deeply into individual examples. Great Zimbabwe is a great way to set the tone. Great Zimbabwe began in 400 AD Strangely, although Great Zimbabwe is seen as an important example of ancient African civilizations, we know little about it! There are no testimonies that make it clear how it was built, organized and what led to its decline in the 1600s. Furthermore, there is no written or oral history about the people who inhabited Great Zimbabwe. The only source considered credible are the ruins. What we know is that Great Zimbabwe was the central point in the Kalahari Desert for Iron Age innovation. In 500 AD, the ancestors of the Bantu-speaking Shona people arrived in the area of ​​what would be one of Africa's most important civilizations. In fact, "Zimbabwe" is actually Shona for "rock or stone house", or "venerated house". The class system in Great Zimbabwe was ruled by the elite. They controlled the wealth of the region through management of the civilization's livestock. It is estimated that there were around 10,00 - 20,000 people in the civilization overall. One of the main things that Great Zimbabwe is known for is its enormous walls. About 200-300 people lived inside them, all belonging to the ruling elite. The walls are thought to have been used to preserve the privacy of the elites and keep them separate from and above the common people. However, the houses inside the walls were still huts, although larger than the others. This is the only information that could be recovered from primary sources. External documents are the only things that can be found after this point. On 5 September 1871, Carl Mauch's diary states that he believed Great Zimbabwe to be the ruins of Ophir, a region mentioned in the Bible. A single German man was the only known person who helped Mauch, simply mentioning “rather large ruins that could never have been built by blacks.” The Karanga tribesmen led him to the site. Another secondary source is European travelers and British colonizers in the 1870s. They were amazed by the clever workmanship and the large dimensions, but there was still a lot of ignorance on the subject of Africans. They felt that their architecture could not be local, as they did not believe that iAfrican “savages” could have built such a grandiose structure. Instead, they thought it was the work of foreign powers, such as the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, or even Priest John. It was not confirmed that the ruins were built from Africa until the early 20th century, when David Randall-MacIver and Gertrude Caton-Thompson confirmed its African origin and age. Given that much of the information about the structure of Great Zimbabwe has been theorized, it stands to reason that the information about its collapse is the same. Hypotheses include changes in the environment involving weather, and another theory is that usable land, gold resources, water and other resources were depleted. Most notable is the possibility of a decline in gold trading. As mentioned above, tradeAfrica went from gold to slaves very quickly, which is a valid explanation for the sudden collapse. This ties back to the idea that Zimbabwe's trade and industry were disrupted by the Portuguese. Contrary to popular belief, Africans traded across the ocean before the transatlantic slave trade. In fact, ancient Africans sailed to Asia and South America hundreds of years before Europeans. Most of this can be attributed to the kingdoms of Mali and Songhai. They are responsible for building boats 100 feet long and 13 feet wide that could carry up to 80 tons. Trade between East Africa and Asia led to the development of city-states along the African coast, which includes the Swahili cities of Kilwa and Sofala. Initially there was only trade between the Swahili and Arab people, but cowrie shells, cloth, beads for gold, rhino horn, iron and ivory spread further inland. The trade, however, did not only include physical items. Islam spread to Africa through Arab traders. The trade route used by the Arab people also contributed to the development of the Swahili language and culture. Currents in the Atlantic Ocean also flow from West Africa to South America, which indicates that Africans sailed from the east coast of South America and continued to stay there. Genetic evidence in plants and animals supports this idea. The art of these South American societies indicates this to be true. This is a great example of the idea that trade encompasses much more than just items and resources. People tended to move along trade routes and form new ethnic groups, as demonstrated by South Americans with African roots. This is also confirmed by the Swahili culture, which was cultivated because merchants from Arabia, India and Southeast Asia married locals from East Africa and settled there. The fusion of these two cultures created the Swahili ethnic group. Swahili cities became among the richest in the 1400s, playing an important role in the world economy despite the fact that Europe had no idea. In retrospect, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe had an economy based on the sale and purchase of goods. along the river, while coastal Swahili towns traded with inland kingdoms such as Great Zimbabwe for gold, iron and ivory. All these assets were sold to India, Southeast Asia and China. Since they were all rare in Asian countries, they could be sold at a fairly high price and a profit would be made. In exchange, East Africa received cotton, silk, and porcelain from East Asia at high prices. Both regions were made much richer through mutual trade. Trans-Saharan trade should not be forgotten even when talking about African trade during the 1400s. The presence of this trade route expanded with the arrival of the Arabs and Berbers,.