Methodologies
In order to fully understand and synthesize the current state of any culture, one must first seek to understand their past. It is the central tenet of history. We must gain an intellectual grasp of what has already been in order to understand what is and what is to come. However, this is not easy (or even possible) in all situations. The African continent before the 1500's, for instance, has few recorded documents. Therefore, historians must find other ways to understand the lives and values of the various regions of Africa before that time in order to fully understand the roots of Africa and its people as a whole. And while this is certainly no easy task, there are indeed various ways of doing so. To get a cross section of some of these methods, it may be beneficial to look at three in particular; oral tradition, secondary sources, and physical geology. Using these three methodologies as our guideline, we can further understand how history is gathered and garnered not only without the help of written documents in early Africa, but throughout the world. Oral tradition is, at first glance, perhaps the methodology of the three that has the least scientific backing. After all, oral tradition i
[speaking of African tribesmen] Men of the greatest stature, who are pirates, inhabit the whole coast and at each place have set up chiefs. These, of course, have their pros and cons. " In this document we see a merchant speaking of the East African Coast as a sort of guide to other merchants as to what to expect there. The premise is that scientists can study the geography of a place to determine what the living conditions a culture would have had to endure were at the time of their occupation of a given location. We can learn about Africa before 1500. " provide vital information into the fall of Kush that historians would otherwise be devoid of. A second methodology quite worthy of study is physical geography. Though historians had very little to work with written document-wise before 1500 in terms of synthesizing a complete historical view of Africa, we find that various other methodologies may work as well or better. This poem lends historians many clues into Kush's independence and eventual fall. One cannot be quick to judge a culture based on what other cultures have written about it. Therefore, the methodology of physical geography is quite useful both for scientists and historians. , but also the types of cultural diffusion that may have been taking place with the said culture as a result of trading. Using a secondary source such as "Periplus.
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Acceptance Essays
