More from African History Extra
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.
Among the corpus of terracotta figurines discovered in the Greco-Egyptian city of Alexandria dating back to the 2nd century BC is a fine clay vessel in the form of a Nubian priestess of Isis of Philae, who is depicted in a kneeling position while performing a Greek-type mortuary wine libation.
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There is no doubt that the audience the First Epistle of Peter (1 Peter) had in mind was suffering persecution. Whether it was from Nero before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE or during the reign of Domitian a decade or so afterward, the readers can find wisdom and encouragement in the pages […]
At the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, you can see these sculptured portraits of celebrities by French artist Honoré Daumier (February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879). Created between 1832 and 1835, Les Célébrités du Juste-Milieu (The Celebrities of the Golden Mean) terracotta look remarkably modern, an impression enhanced by some of the faces … Continue reading "Honoré Daumier, Portraits des Célébrités du Juste-Milieu" The post Honoré Daumier, Portraits des Célébrités du Juste-Milieu appeared first on Flashbak.
Tiberius Caesar had the unenviable task of succeeding his stepfather Augustus. He would always be a pale shadow of the charismatic founder of the Roman Empire. Tiberius’s time in power was also scarred by the influence of Sejanus, the prefect of the emperor’s Praetorian Guard. Sejanus used Tiberius’s insecurity and reticence to rule and […]