Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
A FEMALE APPROACH TO PEACEKEEPING
“A Female Approach to Peacekeeping”[i] by
New York Times reporter Doreen Carvajal illustrates the leaps and bounds taken
by women globally in peacekeeping operations especially in the West African
nation of Liberia currently headed by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf-an astute woman
who is known by the nickname “Iron Lady”.
According to the writer, women started pioneering in peacekeeping
missions during the Balkan Wars of the 90s and their numbers continue to
skyrocket. By the time the article was written in 2010, the Head of the U.N. Mission
in Liberia was Ellen Margrethe Loj of Denmark, a woman who was dedicated to the
preservation of peace and nation building in countries ravaged by wars. By then,
Nigeria and India were the leading contributors of women peacekeepers in the
world.
According to figures released by the U.N., women are edging
closer to men in peacekeeping missions. In the past five years alone, the
number of female police officers serving U.N. peacekeeping operations around
the world doubled with Liberia
and Darfur taking the lead. Of the 12,867 men
and women serving U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world as police
officers, women account for roughly 6% or stand at 833. Of the 1,159 peacekeepers from Nigeria currently in Liberia , 5% or 59 are women. The
need for the service of women in peacekeeping activities has gone global. Women
account for 14% of the 1,354 peacekeepers in Liberia .
Men peacekeepers tend to behave better when women
peacekeepers are present. Since women peacekeepers started arriving in Liberia , crimes
like armed robberies, rape of women and girls, child molestations, and other
types of startling transgressions have been considerably reduced with the help
of the locals. After a long day patrolling the dusty streets of Monrovia , Syalus Maharana, an Indian operations commander,
spends an hour of her time to mother her child in India by telling bedtime stories via
video conferencing.
Even though women peacekeepers suffer nostalgia and
depression during their tenure of duties overseas, to the locals they remain
intimidating and sober. The major endearing factor driving women to such
strenuous peacekeeping missions is the appealing financial opportunities offered
by the U.N.
Having marked the 100th anniversary of
International Women’s Day on March 8, the United Nations is intensifying its
recruitment efforts by finding more women for its global peacekeeping missions.
For many poor countries, contributing women peacekeepers to the U.N. global
peace efforts means added value in terms of moneymaking. As it already pledged,
the nation of Bangladesh
is expected to dispatch a new unit of women peacekeepers to the U.N. peace
initiatives. Thus, we learn from this story that women peacekeepers are as effective
and efficient as their male counterparts in global peacekeeping operations if not
profoundly more effective and that the demand for women peacekeepers will rise
in the future.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
International Organizations
Introduction
Globalization: Effects, Backlash, and Challenges
Globalization and Information Technology
Globalization and Income Inequalities
Cultural Dimensions of Globalization
Consequences of Globalization
Appendices
Index
Bibliography
Introduction
Since the end of the devastating World War II, the political, social, and
economic management of the world we live in has been tremendously altered with marvelous
global cooperation getting off the ground followed by scrupulous regional transformations
sprouting almost in every continent regardless of whether it is in Asia, Africa,
Europe, North and South America, and Australia. International nongovernmental
organizations (INGOs) include organizations like the International Committee of
the Red Cross} (ICRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also known as Doctors
Without Borders. On the other hand, intergovernmental organizations also known
as international governmental organizations (IGOs) include the United Nations
(UN), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council
of Europe (CoE), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the European Union
(EU). Intergovernmental military alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the
European Security and Defense Policy are exclusively for defense purposes and
often involve risky commitments. The Warsaw Treaty (1955-91) was a treaty of
mutual defense or in other words a treaty of friendship, cooperation, and
mutual assistance between the former member-states the Soviet Union, Poland, East
Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. International
corporations such as Coca Cola and Toyota
are referred to as multinational corporations (MNCs). [[i]]
The
first documented multinational corporation in modern history was the Dutch East
India Company that was established in 1602 to carry out 21-year colonial
activities in Asia . Also known as Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
or VOC in Dutch, it was arguably
the world’s first mega-corporation and was reputed to have transported
approximately a million Europeans to Asia ultimately leading to the
establishment of permanent settlements with Java in Indonesia becoming the first
station in 1603. Statistically, DOV is presumed to have utilized 4,785 ships
for its seafaring missions and reportedly accumulated a net income of 2.5
million tons of commercial Asian goods that were in the end traded in European
markets for significant profit. To deter
Dutch monopoly of trade in Asia, the English (later British) followed suit by
instituting a formidable ocean trade constituting 2,690 ships formed
exclusively to perform trade with the East Indies though it eventually became
one restricted to trading with the Indian subcontinent and China .
The need for formidable and invincible alliances and alleviation of nuclear deterrence
were the major factors behind the proliferation of regional and international
organizations while the formation of multinational corporations evolved as a
result of the profusion of capitalism in the western hemisphere and leanings
toward democratic governance which hitherto predisposed humans to search for
the virtues of liberty and justice. “The global political system has been
undergoing both integrative trends, brought about by increases in communication
and trade, and disintegrative trends, such as weapons proliferation, global
environmental deterioration, and ethnic conflict.” [[ii]] Major wars, such as World War I, World War
II, and the Cold War brought about noteworthy changes in hypothetical explanations
of world political affairs with the emergence of realism, liberalism, and constructivism
followed by novel critiques of radicalism and feminism culminating in relative
theatrical gains in thoughts and actions among hegemons, emerging powers, and
nation-states.
International Organizations (IOs)
The hard work and dedication of responsible IOs operating in many parts of
the world may not be denied as select numbers have been in the forefront of
alleviating disease, hunger, and other forms of social sufferings found in the
most deprived parts of the world. A good example is the internationally
renowned organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) that was awarded the Nobel
Prize in 1999 in recognition of its members' continuous effort to provide
medical care in acute crises, as well as raising international awareness of
potential humanitarian disasters. [[iii]]
There have been several documented cases of environmental degradation by MNCs
as happened in Liberia a few years ago where Firestone was found to have
created extensive environmental degradation and to have allowed its local
employees live in squalid conditions. Seldom, MNCs have been accused of practicing
multifarious forms of exploitation, manipulate child labor, and cause
environmental degradation in regions governed by corrupt regimes where laws
are lax and ineffective. [[iv]] As
long as MNCs abide by the internationally recognized environmental standards
management set forth by ISO 14000, there shouldn’t be any problem for MNCs
operating from far a field in developing countries. Another negative argument
by some writers or scholars is that MNCs drastically changes the infrastructure
of host countries and at the same time alter the culture and tradition of the
locals they encounter. Besides the cultural and environmental erosion created
by these foreign-based international institutions, a global effort can be
effected to put a cap on further degradation of cultures, traditions, and the
environment not only for the present but for posterity.
“The IMF, World Bank and the other international development banks have one
thing in common; they are public sector institutions, with no requirement to
turn a profit.” [[v]]
Globalization: Effects, Backlash, and
Challenges
Globalization
is the collective integration of political, economical, and cultural efforts
across the globe. It emphasizes and incorporates trade,
technology, health, Culture, environment, migration, investment, banking, and money issues,
development, women and globalization, international law and organizations, energy, human rights, global education, and global
media. While globalization has been applauded in
different regions as a strong allocator of resources, distrust and indecision
to grasp its benefits has left many lagging behind in the field of economic
globalization. The consequences of off-shoring and outsourcing has had
detrimental effects on the dwindling North American job market. The net loss of
U.S. exports means the net
loss of U.S.
jobs. NAFTA and economic globalization have compromised long-term growth both
in Mexico and in the United States .
[[vi]]
In many regions of the world especially in North America , there is cause for small-businesses to
celebrate because of the added advantages of globalization. Increased
production, enhanced communication, quicker movement of goods, and services as
a result of better transportation and the internet commerce have resulted in
unparalleled opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses. "Globalization and the Internet
have created unprecedented opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses
in Canada "
[[vii]]
Globalization and Information Technology
A clear picture of how globalization and information technology seem to
transform the world has best been noted by Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, where in his
discussion with Jaithirth “Jerry” Rao, owner of the Indian accounting firm
MphasiS, at the Leela Palace Hotel, the respected author states “…anything that
can be digitized can be outsourced to either the smartest or the cheapest
producer, or both.” [[viii]]
Today’s globalization is not yesterday’s globalization. The current trend in
globalization and information technology is one of leaps and bounds-a
phenomenon noted since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Berlin
Wall.
Globalization and Income Inequalities
Attributing globalization to the downfall of the poor is outrageously a
misguided notion. With the exception of a few global leaders with inadequate,
unconvincing, ineffective, and unsatisfactory beliefs toward globalization, the
rest of the world remains convinced that globalization does more good than harm
to the poor. Those leaders opposed to globalization have the tendency to
suppress the four components that are harbinger for growth and development:
economic integration, technology, political engagement, and personal contacts. Trade,
direct foreign investments, capital inflows and outflows, and net factor income
are determining factors in economic integration. Table 1 shows the
globalization index for 2005. International phone traffic, international travel
and tourism, and cross border capital transfers, such as bank loans, securities
or aid, and remittances, which are defined as transfers of money by workers to
their home countries, are defined as personal contacts. [[ix]] The
use of the internet, the number of available hosts, and secure internet servers
define technology. Both technology transfers and personal contacts drastically
reduce income inequalities within nations. Political engagement refers to
membership in international organizations, the number of diplomatic missions a
nation may have, and the number of diplomatic responsibilities or engagements
for any given nation within the broader U.N. Security Council. As shown in Table 2, the Heshmati index
places greater weight on technology than Kearny .
The larger PC1 figures represent aggressive globalization and also represent
the first three components of globalization: economic integration, personal
contacts, and integration.
Cultural Dimensions of Globalization
Despite globalization integrating capital, technology, and information
across national borders, tension exists between the globalization system and
ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community. [[x]] Despite
the surfacing of threats from the combined forces of resistance, undoubtedly
globalization will go beyond the current novel innovations of world wide web,
internet, e-commerce, PayPal, microchips, and fiber optic cable because the
propensity of forces that are for globalization outnumber those that are against
its propagation.
Consequences of Globalization
A stunning 1.1 billion of the world’s population live below the poverty line,
which is equivalent to US$1. Table 3 defines data on poverty by region with
Sub-Saharan Africa taking the lead while countries in the western hemisphere
remain excluded due to their realization of considerable wealth and
consumerism.
Appendices
Index
Bibliography
Table 1
Source: Kearny
(2005), from “Measuring Globalization,” Page 55
Table 2
Table 3
2001 Poverty Statistics, using poverty line of $1 (1993)
Total
HCI Poverty Headcount
Number
Number Index
(HCI)
Poverty
(millions)
(millions)
(percent)
gap*
Sub-Saharan Africa
524
241
46
20
Middle East and North Africa
222
4
2
0.5
Latin America and the Caribbean
499
50
10
3
*Poverty gap gives the
aggregate income shortfall as a percentage of aggregate consumption.
Source: World
Bank (2006)
Table 4
Source: Dagdeviren et al. (2001)
MANSA MUSA
A great king ruled Mali from 1312
to 1337 and his name was Mansa Musa. Crowned “Mansa”-meaning “king of Kings”-
Mansa Musa was the grand-nephew of Sundiata. A Muslim himself, Mansa Musa
embarked on the greatest Islamic pilgrimage by caravan ever recorded in history
between the years 1324-1325 in a journey spanning thousands of miles through
the stretch of the massive and expansive Sahara
desert. Reputedly the most lavish pilgrimage in the world, Mansa Musa’s
entourage carried 100 camel-loads of gold, each weighing 300 pounds; 500
slaves, each carrying a 4-lb. gold staff; thousands of his subjects; as well as
his senior wife, with her 500 attendants.
According to Arab historian Al-Umari,
Mansa Musa and his retinue gave out so much gold such that the value of gold in
Egypt
drastically fell rendering the Egyptian economy in decline for many years.
Al-Umari further states that Mansa Musa had to borrow from well-wishers at
usurious interest rates for his return journey to Mali . In return, Mansa Musa brought
back with him an Arabic library, religious scholars, and most importantly the
renowned Muslim architect al-Sahili who built him a majestic royal palace and
two great mosques at Gao and Timbuktu .
In the aftermath of Mansa Musa’s travel to Mecca
and Cairo , the Kingdom Mali became a center for
commerce, education, and trade followed by diplomatic exchanges with Morocco and
other Islamic nations. Mali
enjoyed remarkable peace, stability, and profound prosperity for the
forty-seven years between the time of his grandfather’s brother, Sundiata, and
his accession to the throne. Mansa Musa ruled the Kingdom of Mali
According to E.W. Bovill, author of The Golden Trade of
Moors (1958), Mansa Musa’s kingdom was "remarkable both for its extent
and for its wealth and a striking example of the capacity of the Negro for
political organization". [ii]
THE LION PRINCE SUNDIATA
In the first half of
the thirteenth century, a notable king by the name Sumaoro Kante of the Ghana
Empire, ruled over the populous Mandinka tribe of Mali against their wishes. The
Ghana Empire or the Wagadou Empire lasted from c. 790 until 1235 of the Common
Era. The Mandinka remained in a state of bondage and helplessness until a powerful
prince by the name Sundiata returned from exile thus becoming the undisputed
celebrated hero of the Malinke people of West Africa .
Known for his courage and unmatched vigor in battle, the Lion Prince as he was
called, Sundiata, remained remarkable in his pursuit of leadership even while
away from home in exile. By forging judicious alliances with local rulers,
Sundiata assembled a large army comprising mostly cavalry and by 1235 his
sphere of influence encompassed the modern states of Mali ,
Mauritania , Senegal , Gambia ,
Guinea-Bissau , Guinea , and Sierra Leone .
After overthrowing
the Kingdom of Ghana West Africa . Often,
caravans as many as twenty-five thousand camels heavily-loaded with
miscellaneous cargo traversed the trade routes. The cities of Gao, Timbuktu , Jenne, and Niani
became important trading centers populated by indigenous people and merchants in
pursuit of the gold trade. Under Sundiata , Mali immensely profited from the trans-Sahara
trade such that it benefited far more than Ghana did in the past. Malian
rulers practiced Islam and provided security, accommodation, and luxuries to
Muslim travelers from further up north. Sundiata reigned from 1230 to 1255 of
the Common Era. In terms of sphere of influence, the Mali
kingdom was the second largest kingdom in size in Africa (1.1 million sq km),
with the Kingdom of
Songhai
THE TRAVELS OF IBN BATTUTA
The history of
generosity to foreigners in Africa goes along
way. In 1331, Ibn Battuta, a learned Moroccan traveler, Islamic jurist and scholar,
during a visit to Mogadishu ,
was accorded the best form of hospitality by being fed, clothed, and
entertained for free. Perhaps, had he paid visit to any European land, he would
either have been held captive as a slave indefinitely or he would have been
killed right away. In his famous Rihla or travels, Ibn Battuta reported, “we
stayed there for three days, food being brought to us three times a day,
following their custom. On the fourth day, which was a Friday, the qadi and
students and one of the sheikh’s viziers came to me, bringing a set of robes,
these [official] robes of theirs consist of a silk wrapper which one ties round
his waist in place of drawers (for they have no acquaintance with these), a
tunic of Egyptian linen with an embroidered border, a furred mantle of
Jerusalem stuff, and an Egyptian turban with an embroidered edge. They also
brought robes for my companions suitable to their position. We went to the
congregational mosque and made our prayers behind the maqsura [private
box for the sultan]. When the sheikh came out of the maqsura I saluted
him along with the qadi; he said a word of greeting, spoke in their tongue with
the qadi, and then said in Arabic “you are heartily welcome, and you
have honored our land and given us pleasure.” [i]
Ibn Battuta’s hosts never turned out to be the apes, beasts,
and baboons recorded in many obnoxious European accounts of Africa .
Instead, he found people who were resilient, affectionate, modern, and
perceptive of travelers’ needs, punctilious, and above all religious and not
blasphemous as the Europeans would have us believe. Ibn Battuta was a guest to
a Somali sheikh (Islamic scholar) and a qadi (magistrate) both of who
observed all the values, creeds, and customs of Islamic way of life especially
in reference to etiquettes relating to hosting guests or visitors. Even before
disembarking ship, Ibn Battuta and his companions or crew, were accorded a high
degree of respect on board ship. Ibn Battuta was accorded the respect reserved
for a doctor of the law. He became a guest of the sheikh and not the guest of
an ordinary man or woman. Born in Tangiers ,
Morocco
In reference to past African political organizations, contemporary
scholars and writers often use the terms stateless society and segmentary
society. Far from the truth, Africans enjoyed elaborate hierarchy of
officials and bureaucratic apparatus in the management of their daily affairs. Between
the years 800-1500 C.E., great kingdoms, empires, and city-states flourished in
sub-Saharan Africa with scrupulous trade routes traversing the massive Sahara
desert culminating in the profusion of immense wealth to West Africa, North
Africa, Middle East, and Europe in what came
known as the trans-Sahara trade routes. Whether in the coastal plains or in the
lush hinterlands, Africans executed complex and organized central governments
ruled by powerful kings with administrative divisions overseen by prominent
figures representing the head of state.
Long before the birth of Islam, a mighty kingdom existed in
Ghana (not related to the modern state of Ghana). Even before the Islamic Hijra
in 622 C.E. (Common Era), as many as twenty-two kings ruled Ghana . As
reported by Al-Bakri, a mid-eleventh century Spanish-Cordovan traveler, the seat
of the Kingdom of
Ghana
To maintain order in the kingdom and protect the city and
the state from external aggression and to safeguard the trade routes from marauding
hooligans and highway robbers, the Kingdom
of Ghana Niger , Gambia ,
and Senegal
rivers contained the largest deposits of gold. The demand for economic
development and dwindling resources in the eastern hemisphere lured merchants
in the Mediterranean basin and the Islamic world to the vast resources that was
available in the kingdom
of Ghana Arabia brought in horses, cloth,
manufactured wares, and salt-a crucial commodity that was in short supply in
the tropics. Besides Koumbi-Saleh, other prominent trading towns were Timbuktu in present-day Mali , Gao, Jenne, and Niani. Never
at time has the history of the African continent been contrasting as European
explorers of the past envisaged. Instead, Africa
enjoys a history full of intricate governance, distinct civilization, elaborate
terra-cotta craftsmanship, magnificent trade routes and abundance of wealth,
and endless stories.
[i] H.A.R. Gibb, trans. The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D.
1325-1354, 4 vols. Cambridge
[ii] Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler, Traditions
and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, Volume 1: From the Beginning
to 1500, The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New
York, NY 10020, 388-89.
Friday, October 14, 2016
AFRICA: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONTINENT BY JOHN READER
I. The book
begins with the topic “Founding Factors” which describes the initial geological
formation of the African continent.
A.
The book, Africa:
a Biography of the Continent was written by John Reader, a white
Anglo-Saxon male who is a journalist by profession and son of a London Taxi
driver.
B.
The book is divided into eight parts and contains
fifty-five chapters dispersed over seven hundred pages.
C.
The first chapter deals with the prehistory, geological
formations, and fauna and flora of the continent.
D.
The author borrows leaf from Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species published in
1859 to highlight the closeness of humans to chimpanzees in terms of DNA.
II. Chapter seven begins with the
discovery of Lucy who belongs to the taxon
Australopithecus
afarensis and discovered in the Afar region of Ethiopia .
A.
He explores the archaeological works of Mary Leakey and
the discovery of footprints at Laetoli in Tanzania fossilized beneath showers
of volcanic ash.
B.
He makes a comparison of the archaeological discoveries
made in East Turkana in Kenya, those found in the sub-Saharan basin east of the
Congo basin, and across the savanna woodlands of Central Africa to the arid
southern borders of the Kalahari.
C.
In defining human quest for water, the author notes
“the water content of a healthy 65 kg human is nearly 50 liters-enough to fill
150 Coca-Cola cans.”
D.
In 1984, German anthropologist Günter Brauer, in his
publication “Afro-European sapiens hypothesis”, noted that anatomically modern
humans from Africa were ancestral to all
non-African populations and their modern descendants.
III. Part III of the book explains how
modern humans first migrated from Africa , about
100,000 years ago.
A.
Researchers studying the ecology and behavior of the
Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest in Eastern Zaire
stumbled upon striking similarities in food gathering and social behavior among
the Mbuti bands and groups of chimpanzees in the Gombe forest.
B.
Population limitations have been defining factors among
human and animal populations since time immemorial.
C.
Climate played a major role and a significant factor in
the history of the human species though not a primary causative factor in the evolution of new species.
D.
The earliest-known centrally organized food production
system was established along the Nile 15,000
years ago-long before the Pharaohs.
IV. Part IV deals with the history of
African civilizations beginning with the hierarchies
of Egyptian Pharaohs and their
influence and exploitation of sub-Saharan
A.
The Periplus of the Erythraen Sea
B.
The rise of the Aksumite kingdom in the fourth and the
fifth centuries in the Horn of Africa and the development of Africa’s only
indigenous written Ge’ez script give thrust for the development of a literate
civilization that traded with Egypt ,
the eastern Mediterranean, and Arabia .
C.
“Cities without Citadels” is in reference to the
historical civilizations that thrived in the Niger delta.
D.
The stone walls of Zimbabwe, built by indigenous
peoples between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries AD, are stone-walled
enclosures that number 300 scattered all over Zimbabwe though the oldest and
the largest, Great Zimbabwe, derived from the Shona language dzimba dzemabwe meaning “houses of
stone”, is given greater historical preference by historians, anthropologists,
and archaeologists alike.
V. Part V of the book unleashes a
wide-ranging historical view of European influence of
Africa, slavery and slave trade, and the
“Scramble for Africa ”.
A.
According to the book, the Portuguese were the first to
infiltrate Africa in search of slaves though
they were preceded by the Arabs and the Chinese.
B.
The pioneering voyage of Vasco da Gama opened a path
for Portuguese consolidation of Africa .
C.
Without thinking the wider implications and long-term
consequences, African slave traders sold their brothers, their cousins and their
neighbors making them prosperous entrepreneurs instantly.
D.
The craving for firearms by African chiefs created a
torturous litany of devastation upon the African continent.
VI. King
Leopold II of Belgium was
the architect of the “Scramble for Africa ” in
1884.
A.
European imperial ambition of Africa progressed with
David Livingstone’s discovery of Lake Victoria and his criss-crossing of Africa in 1841 and 1873 respectively and the dispatching
of Henry Morton Stanley by the New York
Herald to search for the missing Livingstone.
B.
In the Berlin
Conference of 1884, no African was invited as a participant or as observer.
C.
This conference divided Africa
along ethnic, cultural, and social units.
D.
The Berlin Conference created bitter resistance and
rebellion by Africans to European colonialism and imperial rule.
VII. The creation
of educational institutions by the colonialists saw the emergence of African
elites who fought for the
self-determination of their people.
A.
The Second World II signaled the end of colonialism thus
becoming the forerunner for African independence.
B.
The October 1960 United Nations General Assembly
resolution declared that “unpreparedness should not be a pretext for delaying
independence” for Africa .
C.
By 1965 the number of independent states in Africa had risen to thirty-eight with another seven added
in the ten years to 1975.
D.
The winds of history have seen Africa
undergo disastrous civil wars and harrowing experiences that continue to
afflict the continent to this day.
BOOK REVIEWS: COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS
Summarized herein in the form of an
essay is a review of two books written by two distinguished authors of European
origin. The books, Eternal Egypt: the
Civilization of Egypt from Earliest Times to Conquest by Alexander the Great[i] by
Frenchman Pierre Montet translated from the original French by Doreen Weightman
and Africa: a Biography of the Continent[ii] by Anglo-Saxon, John Reader.
In his book, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, John Reader, eulogizes the
prevalence of domesticated plants and animals, technological innovation, the
establishment of villages and increasing level of social interdependence in the
now empty and waterless Sahara desert even before the pyramids were built
(Reader, p. 151). On the other hand, he articulately and meritoriously adduces
evidences regarding the cultivation of food-crops such as wheat, barley, peas,
and lentils along the Nile River despite these crops being cultivated earlier some
9,000 years ago in the “fertile crescent” of the Near East in reference to “the
land between the two rivers”, formerly in the ancient nation of Mesopotamia and
currently in the modern state of Iraq. Thus, cultivation of indigenous African
plants did not begin in Egypt
but rather in the south, an indication of the ancient nation of Nubia .
Nubia , a vast land
straddling the Nile valley to the south of Egypt
was once a colony of Egypt .
Both authors unanimously confirm the colonization of Nubia
by Egypt .
Pierre Montet further explicates how Nubians had their own form of arts and
crafts and at the same time borrowed Egyptian artistic traditions (Montet, p.
118).[iii]
Rich in natural resources, Nubia was, for over 1,000 years, a major
supplier of gold, ivory, timber, animal products, and slaves to Egypt until the
emergence of powerful Nubian rulers who instituted a centralized authority that
would have severe repercussions on the dwindling pharaonic empires. The arrival
of powerful invading Assyrian armies wielding weapons of iron[iv]
eventually led to the collapse of the once powerful Cushitic kingdom in Nubia . Both
authors acknowledge the majesty of the civilization that thrived in Meroe . “Yet the Kingdom
of Meroe can be given credit for having carried Egyptian civilization further
south than the pharaohs themselves had ever succeeded in doing”, says so Pierre
Montet [v]
while John Reader concludes its downfall accordingly: “Meroe was effectively an
expression of Egyptian civilization rooted in what the pharaohs had called the
land of punt-indigenous black Africa.” [vi]
The absence of genuine
documentation, as Montet claims, is convincing evidence that Egyptians did not
reach the confluence of the two Niles .
Perhaps, by the two Niles , the author is referring
to the two tributaries the Blue Nile originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and the White Nile which originates in Lake Victoria and is at the confluence of the Bahr
al-Ghazal and Bahr al-Jabel Rivers.
At least the two authors agree on
the name “punt” to which they separately refer to as “the land of the God”
(Montet, p. 120) and “God’s land” (Reader, p. 196). On the contrary, the
authors fail to agree on the exact location of punt in our modern world map. Pierre
Montet suggestively assumes the location of punt to have been in the Bay of Hafun
figuratively pointing it to the south of Cape Guardafui Africa
and Arabia Felix respectively.
Pierre Montet, despite employing
persuasive historical and scientific research methodologies gained from his many
years of distinguished career as an Egyptologist and his accumulated experience
during work at the German Archaeological Institute of Berlin, fails to garner
convincing consensus to uncovering the validity of the Land of Punt Sudan .”[vii] Several
African tribes and states lay claim to the historical Cush kingdom.
Most notably, Somalis, Amhara, Tigre , Nubians, Oromo,
and Sudanese-Arabs place profound hereditary and historical inclination to the
Cushitic kingdom of old. Currently, in the modern state of Somalia, there is a
region known as Puntland located on the eastern corner of Somalia bordering the
Red Sea and closest the Gulf of Aden where frankincense and myrrh -the two most
prominent products sought after by ancient Egyptian pharaohs abundantly grow in
the wild to this day.
Whichever claim is true; our
reliance on historical inscriptions found in the tombs and pyramids of Nubia and Egypt and information gathered from
archeological excavations should be enough to serve as concrete and compelling
evidence for the moment simply for educational purposes until novel exposures
reveal otherwise in the future. What amuses the skeptical reader is the
paragraph in John Reader’s book that states, “the concept of the Nile as a
corridor through which the civilizing influence were conveyed to sub-Saharan
Africa is the basis of an essentially Eurocentric interpretation of African
history, implying that Africans were incapable of developing their own versions
of civilization. It has an appealing simplicity, but is contradicted by the
evidence.”[viii]
(Reader, p.195).
In one way one or the other, the author himself seems not to
the point as regards whether Africans were civilized or not. The judge who
could arbitrate on the flimsy and much-debated issue of who-was-who in African
civilization is the infant and tender baby archeology whose distinct brushes
and micro-blades have failed to go beyond the borders of America , North Africa, and Europe .
John Reader reports that, according to the high official Henu, the expedition
was undertaken on behalf of Montuhotep III c.1975 BC. On the other hand, Pierre
Montet states that the ships were built in Chaldea and that they “sailed down
the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, went round the enormous Arabian Peninsula
and eventually reached the land
of Punt Red Sea
coast. (Reader p. 196)
[i] Pierre Montet, Eternal Egypt: The Civilization of Egypt from Earliest
Times to Conquest by Alexander the Great, 5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane, London
[ii] John Reader, Africa: A Biography of
the Continent, Alfred A. Knopf, New
York
[iii] Ibid. (Montet, p. 118)
[iv] Ibid. (Reader 197)
[v] Ibid. (Montet, p. 120)
[vi] Ibid (Reader p. 199)
[vii] Ibid (Reader, p. 196)
[viii] Ibid (Reader p. 195)
[ix] Ibid (Monetet p. 124)
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