From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Tue Feb 05 2002 - 20:12:19 MST
On 5 Feb 2002 at 3:27, L' Ermit wrote:
> [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.
>
Simple; all the Muslim tribes are allied to attack all the non-Muslim
tribes. Even where two or more tribes are tpopgraphically integrated,
i.e. share the same geography, this characterization reflects the
situation. Clearly, this entails that the differentiation is a religious one.
>
> [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.
>
I shudder at the suggestion that Islam could be in any manner
construed as modern; for the greater percentage of Muslims that are
extremist than belong to any other extant major faith, the mindset is
more medieval, fundamentalist, literalist, and jihadic than any other
extant body of religious extremists.
>
> [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.
>
>
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