From: L' Ermit (lhermit@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Feb 05 2002 - 02:27:29 MST
[Joe Dees 1*]
[url=http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::c2pkLDMW-TlVw-Vzwq-Lw0p-BFwfWhMfc05K]"virus:
Muslim Law Causes Rioting In Nigeria",Joe Dees, Sat 2002-02-02 00:05[/url]
<Massive snip>
[Hermit 4] I have shown that the fighting in Nigeria (and anywhere else in
Africa for that matter) has historically been perceived as ethic (tribal).
While you have asserted that it is religious, I do not see that you have
supported why this war is so fundamentally different from previous wars. I
would appreciate some support for your hypothesis.
[Joe Dees 3] I wonder how many massive conflicts of this type occurred there
prior to the infusion of Islam into part of that culture...
[Hermit 4] Herodutus [b480 BCE] spoke a lot about the tribes of Africa and
their military capabilities. For example, he described the African interior
in the land of wild beasts, north of the belt of sand that runs from the
Nile to Gibraltar. Each group lives around one of a string of salt hills
with freshwater springs spaced ten days' journey apart. These groups he
described as warring and raiding one another for slaves. Skimming over a
long list of groups, many of whom he knew a considerable amount about: The
Ammonites led by King Etearchus lived at the site of an oracle consulted by
the Greeks at Cyrene... Augila, the region where the Nasamones went for the
date harvest in the fall/winter... The Garamantes used four-horse chariots
to hunt Ethiopian "hole-men" or troglodytes, who were very fast, ate snakes
and lizards, and spoke a unique language that included bat-like squeaks [Now
shown to be related to the bushmen of Southern Africa]... The Atarantes who
have no individual names... The Atlantes near Mt. Atlas, who eat no living
creature. Herodotus reported on the land 'west of the river Triton'
[probably the Chott el Jered/Chott el Fedjaj, which empties into the
Mediterranean near Gabes, Tunisia]. People live from sedentary
agriculture... the soil is generally poorer than in Europe or Asia... The
Maxyes live in forests inhabited by exotic creatures... the Zaueces use
women to drive war chariots, and the Gyzantes bring up gold from the bottom
of a lake. Describing the Libyan coast and its peoples: the Adyrmachidae
live along the coast. They live like Egyptians but dress like Libyans [ie.
Egyptian culture reached non-Egyptians]... Giligamae had a port... Cyrenians
were further west on the coast. The Asbystae lived inland from Cyrenians...
They use four-horse [war] chariots like the Cyrenians. The Nasamones
(Nassamonians) are a larger tribe than the others... They leave their cattle
on the coast in the summer and go inland for the date harvest at Augila...
The Nassamonians know of black-haired pygmies on an west-east river far to
the south... The Garamantes lived further inland behind the Nasamones in the
land of wild beasts... The Garamantes avoid all men and live without any
means of defense [i.e. nothing that Herodotus recognized as an army - and
this was worthy enough for him to note - implying that the others did have
armies]... The Macae wear mohawk haircuts and carry ostrich skin shields in
war... etc. So, from Herodotus, war in Africa, including widespread
multitribal war featuring temporary alliances and tributary relationships
between usually fueding tribes dates back to at least 500 BCE - which
precludes Mohommed and his followers from having anything to do with
inventing it - unless you assert reincarnation... while Islam is a very
modern idea - especially in Nigeria.
[Hermit 4] As far as Nigeria goes,
[url]http://africanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uiowa.edu%2F%7Eafricart%2Ftoc%2Fcountries%2FNigeria.html[/url]
[quote]Nigeria had an eventful history. More than 2,000 years ago, the Nok
culture in the present plateau state worked iron and produced sophisticated
terracotta sculpture. The history of the northern cities of Kano and Katsina
dates back to approximately 1000 A.D. In the following centuries, Hausa
Kingdoms and the Bornu Empire became important terminals of north-south
trade between North African Berbers and the forest people, exchanging
slaves, ivory, and other products. The Yoruba Kingdom of Oyo was founded in
1400s. It attained a high level of political organization. In the 17th
through 19th centuries, European traders established coastal ports for slave
traffic to the Americas. Commodity trade, especially in palm oil and timber,
replaced slave trade in the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the
Fulani leader Usman dan Fodio launched an Islamic crusade that brought most
of the Hausa states under the loose control of an empire centered in Sokoto.
[/quote]
Hermit.
_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Sep 25 2002 - 13:28:42 MDT