by born-again-atheist » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:52 am
Oral traditions are not a reliable source of history, and as value goes they are some of the lowest.
neither are many written ones...see bible
When Does World History Begin? (And Why Should We Care?)
By David Northrup, Boston College, Massachusetts, USA (August 2003)
Advances in evidence and understanding challenge the conventional view that history begins with written records.
Nonliterate societies and unlettered social classes, not just the literate élite, are now standard subjects of historical inquiry. Moreover, advances in archaeology and other disciplines have made ‘prehistory’ knowable. Advocates of ‘Big History’ start history with the Big Bang, but a less radical beginning is the point at which humans first began to display modern esthetic and intellectual traits – a point that now seems to coincide with the evolution of biologically modern humans.
I'd say he has the background to make that claim
cademic Profile
Professor Northrup teaches courses on the history of sub-Saharan Africa, Atlantic history, globalization, and world history. His research has dealt with pre-colonial Nigeria, early colonial Congo, the Atlantic slave trade, Asian and African indentured labor migration, and African encounters with Europe in the pre-colonial era. His work has included British, Belgian, and French colonialism in Africa. He served as President of the World History Association during 2004 and 2005.
For instance Shaka Zulu has as much influence on Southern Africa and it's configuration as Napoleon did in Europe yet there was not written account from the Zulus themselves....
Their loss to the British ( a near thing ) shifted the entire focus of how Southern Africa developed....
Is the Zulu version not history??
BTW Shaka Zulu is an incredible story....few in history have been able to transform a people into a war machine, weapon change, tactics change, even to the point of sending sons to other families the way the British nobility did....powerful enough to send the might of the English Empire reeling...
Some background...
http://www.heritage-history.com/www/her ... s_zulu.php
We are far too Euro centric.....few understand just how big Africa is.....