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Journal of African cities: chapter 16.
When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as “one of the greatest cities of the interior of Africa” with “endlessly long and wide streets made up of trading stalls.” However, unlike many of the West African cities he had encountered which were centuries old, Ibadan was only about as old as the 36-year-old explorer, yet it quickly surpassed its peers to be counted among the largest cities on the continent by the end of the century.
The East African coast is home to the longest contiguous chain of urban settlements on the continent.
The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650, contains an interesting account explaining the migration of a group of scholars from medieval Malī against the wishes of its ruler:
The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related languages that are referred to as the Bantu languages.
More in history
The Year of the Plague #5
As a New York City subway rider, I am constantly exposed to public health posters. More often than not these feature a photo of a wholesome-looking teen whose sober expression is meant to convey hindsight regret at having taken up drugs, dropped out of school, or forgone condoms. They’re well-intended, but boring. I can’t imagine […]
The collection of 19th-century three-dimensional models of algebraic and differential equations at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris made a great impression on Surrealist artists. When German artist Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) saw a series of 19th Century wood, metal, wire, and plaster forms at the Institut Henri … Continue reading "Man Ray’s Mathematics Objects (1934-36)" The post Man Ray’s Mathematics Objects (1934-36) appeared first on Flashbak.
