African Contributions to Civilization - Essay Sample

The argumentative African role in global history varies with the perspective of those writing regarding the continent. The Eurocentric opinions place Africa in an isolated and minor role where else the Afrocentric views offer credits to the African continent. Civilization can be regarded as the process through which a place or society reaches an advanced phase of cultural and social development. The global civilization as it is today is the product of over 5000 years of cultural development from the rise of Ancient Sumer (Barrows 144). During this period, Africa, as part of mankind's cradle, play a substantial role in the world's civilization. It is with no doubt that Africa played a crucial role in the world's civilization through exploration, the Caesarean surgical process, astronomical knowledge, mummification, science and technology, as well as in metallurgic sciences.

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Firstly, exploration played a key role in global civilization. Isaac and Andrew assert that Africans were the first people, and without their exploration spirit, the world would not have become populated (1). All human beings are in debt to the pioneering spirit of the Ancient African hinterland after the Sahara desertification. Additionally, all the human population carries the African evolutionary and genes instincts gained from the life of the African plains.

Secondly, African took part in the Caesarean surgical process. Their contribution to medicine, particularly the Caesarean section of the surgical process, needs to be noted. The procedure was practiced in Uganda with Dr. Robert Falcon as the eye witness, who was an English clinical missionary in the 19th century in Uganda. After witnessing the Bunyoro C-section, he wrote a comprehensive account of the process, including the healing process of women. The conclusion from the scholars indicates that the sophisticated process was passed down from the Ancient Times (Mokhtar).

Thirdly, the Mali Dogon people are well recognized due to their Ancient Astronomical insight grounded on the "Sirius Star Religion" of Ancient Egypt. From ancient times, the Dogon people were available, and the Sirius system was regarded as the Binary Star, along with other information that basically could not be attained using naked eyes. The distant past of the Dogon astronomical insight is both mysterious and impressive, which counts as a significant contribution to the human insight resulting from the Sirius Dwarf Star discovered in the 20t century by Western Astronomers (work 38).

Similarly, the contribution of African to the burial procedures of mummification was part of the global civilization. Human burial is regarded as a significant part of society, and the conception of mummification as a way of burying people indicates the evolution of the cultural thoughts in line with the concepts of death. Work postulates that civilization entails a collection of the human project unfolded in unexpected ways with time from previous generations in other areas of the globe (40). It is a dynamic process where Africans had a role since the emergence of humans in the African plains.

Furthermore, the application of technology and scientific discovery, particularly to the natural environment, has been vital to African history, especially Americans. The migration of Africans, whether through voluntary traveling or under slavery, carried with them knowledge regarding agricultural skills and techniques to exploit the nature of the environment, which is essential for development. As it has been done elsewhere around the globe, for survival, Africans depended on their ability to adapt an ecological setting as well as apply the needed insight in a way that surged their production while at the same time enhancing their quality of life. The contribution of Africans to science and technology can be treasured in line with American development, which encountered adverse population destruction through European conquest and disease after 1942 (Lovejoy 18). Portugal, Spain, and the rest of the western states took advantage of the demographic catastrophe and military superiority in the Americans to confiscate huge tracks of land that only required labor and shifted the technology for their development. The enormous wealth of the European empires depended on the combination of technology, labor, fertile lands, largely Africans, as well as the ability to garner high profits from the worker's resilience who were not paid for their technology or labor (Mokhtar).

Additionally, the contribution of Africa to the iron age is of equal importance. African continent did not have bronze age but started from the stone age to iron, which was unique. The leap of metallurgic made Africa the inventor of the Iron Age by having iron smelting furnaces, particularly in Nigeria, which dates to 2000 BC (Work 40). It was earlier than any other iron found around the globe. Apart from iron, one of the valuable attainments in the history of the human being is the manipulation as well as the creation of elements exemplified in metallurgy art. The science of metallurgy has enhanced humanity significantly, where metals are used for agriculture and welfare. For instance, the Edo people were highly skilled at manipulating brass, where else their skills are immortalized in the Benin Bronzes (Lovejoy 31).

Conclusively, as mentioned above, it can be validated that Africa played a substantial role in the global civilization. Failing to recognize Africa and its contribution to the world's civilization, which ranges from its involvement in exploration, surgical procedure, astronomical insight, mummification, science and technology, and metallurgic sciences, is prejudicial. Africa took a significant role in most of the development, which is seen in most of the developed countries across the globe. Therefore, its involvement in global development needs to be acknowledged and respected.

Works Cited

Barrows, Leland Conley. "African Civilization in the 21st Century." Comparative Civilizations Review 76 (2017): 144. https://s3.amazonaws.com/crawl.prod.proquest.com/fpcache/7f017d03f207db6a46f6584771ec1075.pdf?

Isaac, Tseggai, and Andrew Targowski. "African Civilization in the 21st Century." (2015): 1.

Lovejoy, Paul E. "African Contributions to Science, Technology and Development." (2014): 1-38. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/pdf/P_Lovejoy_African_Contributions_Eng_01.pdf

Mokhtar, G., ed. Ancient civilizations of Africa. Unesco, 1981. https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/general_history_africa_ii.pdf

Work, Monroe N. "The passing tradition and the African civilization." The Journal of Negro History 1.1 (1916): 34-41. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2713514.pdf.