African History非洲歷史

王勣/譯

Africa is home to the first humans and this gives a new meaning to its nickname the motherland. The continent has the longest history. A huge part of Africas earliest history has been lost， which is typical for early humans due to the relatively short time for which writing has existed.

非洲是首批人類的家園，這賦予它的別稱——“母親之地”新的內涵。這塊大陸擁有最悠久的歷史。非洲早期歷史的很大部分已經無考，對于早期人類而言這是常有的情況，因為文字記錄出現時間相對較短。

Africans are the most diverse people in the world. Perhaps this has a connection with the fact that they are the earliest humans （founder effect1）， and it has been proven that humans adapt to the different environments they find themselves in over time as they migrate. This accounts for the many different skin tones of Africans， and the thousands of different cultures and languages spread all across the continent.

非洲人包含世界上最多樣化的民族。這或許與非洲出現最早的人類這個事實有關（始祖效應）。有證據表明，人類在遷徙過程中，隨著時間的推移，適應了身處的不同環境。這就解釋了為什么非洲人膚色深淺不一，以及為什么會有成千上萬種不同的文化和語言遍布整個非洲大陸。

Before the arrival of the Europeans， Africans had already travelled to other parts of the world in various “human migration” waves， as archaic humans spreading Acheulean technology2， as behaviorally modern humans （BMH） in the stone age spreading tool use， and around 1000 BCE to 1500 AD not as slaves as many wrongly believe but as respected members of society. Discov-eries such as Memnon3 in the Trojan war， the Ivory Bangle Lady4， the Beachy Head Lady5， and many other findings prove this fact while giving us an insight into the way of life of much earlier societies.

在歐洲人到來之前，非洲人已經在各種“人類遷徙”浪潮中前往世界其他地方，他們或是傳播阿舍利技術的遠古人，或是石器時代傳播工具使用的、行為上的現代人，或是公元前1000年到公元1500年左右受人尊重的社會成員——而非為許多人所誤以為的奴隸。特洛伊戰爭中的門農、象牙手鐲女尸、比奇角女尸等發現，還有其他不少考古發現證實了這一點，也讓我們了解到各種更早期社會形態下的生活方式。

Ancient Africans were pioneers of early civilisation. There is evidence that early African societies excelled in fields such as engineering， mathematics， writing even navigation.

古非洲人是早期文明的先驅者。據考證，早期非洲社會在工程、數學、寫作，甚至航海等領域成就卓越。

Some notable great African civilisations such as the Great Benin Empire， Ancient Egypt， Empire of Mali， Empire of Songhai， the Nri Kingdom， the Garamantes， Kanem-Bornu Empire， Kingdom of Luba， Kingdom of Makuria， the Land of Punt and so many other great African civilisations had a highly organised society that was developed， excelled in commerce and flourished in culture.

一些赫赫有名的偉大非洲文明，例如貝寧大帝國、古埃及、馬里帝國、桑海帝國、恩里王國、加拉曼特人、卡嫩-博爾努帝國、盧巴王國、馬庫里亞王國、蓬特國，還有許多其他偉大的非洲文明，都擁有高度組織的發達社會，商業繁榮，文化興盛。

Precolonial African civilisations had highly evolved political and leadership systems that supported their various complex and developed societies， such as the Ibinda system of the Kalenji people of Kenya， the confederacy system of the Kwararafa people， the bureaucratic federal republic system of the Ashanti Empire， the hegemony system of the Songhai Empire， the Gada system of the Oromo， the hereditary theocracy of the Fatimid Caliphate， Monarchical system of the Mossi kingdoms， the theocratic system of the Nri kingdom. The monarchical system， however， seems to be the more prominent leadership style for most African societies.

殖民前的非洲文明演繹出高度發達的政治和領導體系，這些體系支撐著各種復雜而發達的社會運轉。例如，肯尼亞卡倫金人的伊賓達制度、夸拉拉法人的聯邦制度、阿散蒂帝國的官僚聯邦共和制度、桑海帝國的霸權制度、奧羅莫人的加達制度、法蒂瑪哈里發國的世襲神權制度、莫西王國的君主制度和恩里王國的神權制度。然而，君主制度似乎是大多數非洲社會形態中更為突出的領導方式。

These ancient African civilisations invented and originated their ways of doing things， many of which parallel independent developments around the world. Sadly， Africa is denied credit for most of her contributions. There is clear evidence of sophisticated African cultures from as far back as many thousands of years ago. For instance， there are about 15 ancient African writing styles that predate even Latin. As far back as 82，000 years ago， Africans had already invented abstract arts and painting. Algorithms which have become an inevitable part of computing today had its roots in Africa. Africans domesticated over 2，000 different types of food， some of which today is consumed globally. Africans built the earliest seafaring vessels and so many other achievements. There were powerful kingdoms and many centres of learning in Africa， such as the University of Sankore.

這些古老的非洲文明發明創造了他們的做事方式，其中許多方式是與世界各地的獨立發展并行的。遺憾的是，非洲的多數貢獻未能得到應有的承認。有清晰的證據表明，早在幾千年前，就存在著發達的非洲文化。例如，有大約15種古老的非洲書寫方式，甚至早于拉丁文的出現。早在82，000年前，非洲人就已經創造了抽象的藝術和繪畫。如今已經成為計算領域不可或缺的算法，起源于非洲。非洲人馴化了2000多種不同類型的食物，其中一些至今仍在全球范圍內被食用。非洲人建造了最早的航海船只，實現許多其他成就。非洲擁有強大的王國和眾多學術中心，例如桑科雷大學。

The only part of African history known to most people has to do with the arrival of the Europeans in Africa. To many， it is almost as if Africa had no history up until that time. The European age of discovery in the 15th century heralded their exploration of Africa. This marked a turning point in African history. The transatlantic slave trade is notoriously the highlight of this encounter.

對大多數人來說，他們所了解的非洲歷史，僅僅涉及歐洲人抵達非洲的部分。在許多人看來，非洲在那之前好像幾乎沒有歷史。15世紀歐洲大發現時代宣告了歐洲人對非洲的探索。這是非洲歷史的一個轉折點。跨大西洋的奴隸貿易成為非洲人與歐洲人相遇中臭名昭著的高點。

Before the slave trade became full-blown， Europeans traded goods with Africans， commodities like textiles， gold， farm produce， ivory， salt， palm oil， were exchanged.

在奴隸貿易興盛之前，歐洲人與非洲人進行商品交易，交換紡織品、黃金、農產品、象牙、鹽、棕櫚油等商品。

The Portuguese were the first to officially ship African slaves overseas when they exported about 235 Africans from present-day Senegal around 1444. The Portuguese were also the first to venture deep into sub-Saharan Africa and later joined by Britain， France， and of lesser influence other European countries like Spain， Germany， Netherlands， Belgium and Italy.

葡萄牙人是第一個正式將非洲奴隸運往海外的國家，他們大約在1444年，從現今非洲的塞內加爾運出了大約235名非洲人。葡萄牙人還最早深入非洲撒哈拉以南地區探險，后來英國、法國以及影響力較小的其他歐洲國家（例如西班牙、德國、荷蘭、比利時和意大利）也參與其中。

The abundance of the rich natural resources of Africa soon led to avarice6 on the part of the Europeans， and this resulted in a mad scramble for7 Africas resources， including her people. The late 15th century all through to the 19th century saw the exploitation of Africa by European powers. During this period， between 11 and 15 million Africans were shipped overseas and sold into slavery.

非洲富饒的自然資源很快引起歐洲人的覬覦，他們瘋狂地掠奪非洲的資源，包括非洲的人口。15世紀末直到19世紀見證了歐洲列強對非洲的掠奪。這一時期，有1100萬至1500萬非洲人被運往海外販賣為奴。

Africans and their way of life suffered significant damage. The Europeans imposed their lifestyle and religious beliefs on the African people， traditional African institutions were dismantled or severely weakened， and European proxies8 set up in its place.

非洲人及其生活方式遭受嚴重破壞。歐洲人把他們的生活方式和宗教信仰強加給非洲人民。非洲傳統制度或分崩離析，或被極大削弱，取而代之的是代表歐洲的各種制度。

Between 1500 and 1900 an estimated 5.6 million people， mostly Africans， died in wars relating purely to conflicts between European states and African states. The violent attempts to either feed the lucrative triangular Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Sahara slave trades with captives or to seize Africas trade markets for Europe led to instability for refugees and displaced persons.

從1500年到1900年之間，估計有560萬人在戰爭中喪生，其中大部分是非洲人，這些戰爭純粹是歐非國家之間的沖突導致的。這些暴力行為，要么是為了維持利潤豐厚的跨大西洋和跨撒哈拉的三角奴隸貿易而捕捉人口，要么是為歐洲搶奪非洲的貿易市場，結果造成難民漂泊不定和人民流離失所。

The Berlin conference of 1884/85 strongly reaffirmed European colonisation of Africa and gave it some form of legal backing. This encouraged the European powers to strengthen their already established ties and effectively kill off any remaining existing form of African autonomy and self-governance. It wasnt until the mid-20th century that Africa began to regain back her autonomy.

1884—1885年的柏林會議強力重申了歐洲對非洲的殖民，并為其提供了某種形式的法律背書。這鼓動歐洲列強加強他們在非洲已經建立的聯系，并且實際上抹殺掉非洲任何殘存的自治、自管方式。直到20世紀中葉，非洲才開始重新獲得自治權。

The effect of centuries of European dominance over Africa has resulted in the birth of new cultures which is a mix of both European and African culture. There have been pockets of wars9 all over the continent since the Europeans left; this is as a result of the actions they took during colonisation. For instance， existing land boundaries were scrapped and new ones created， people of different ethnicity and culture were forcefully merged to become one people， strange and foreign cultures were introduced， century-old traditional institutions that kept the people in check10 was scrapped for new foreign ones， etc. All these and many similar such effects led to disagreements and ultimately wars after the Europeans relinquished power. Over the years these wars have metamorph-osed into a much more complex and complicated problem.

歐洲統治非洲長達幾個世紀，其影響是產生了混合歐洲與非洲風格的新文化。自從歐洲人撤離以后，整個非洲大陸上的局部沖突就綿延不斷，這是歐洲人殖民統治期間的所作所為帶來的惡果。例如，廢除現有的土地邊界，劃分新的邊界；強行將不同種族、文化的民族合為一個；引入陌生的域外文化；廢除沿用數百年的維持非洲人民秩序的傳統制度，取而代之的是新的外來制度；等等。所有這些以及許多類似的做法，在歐洲人放棄統治權力后，使得非洲內部產生分歧，最終引發了戰爭。多年來，這些戰爭已經演變成更加復雜棘手的問題。

Not many people know that colonial governments were heavily funded by taxation of African locals. 35% to 45% of government revenue was used to pay for military units by the UK， and the French to suppress independence and democratic movements. The excess focus of spending government revenue on the military during the colonial occupation became a problem for many African countries after independence.

知道殖民政府的大量資金來自對非洲當地人的征稅的人不多。政府收入的35%到45%用于供養英法軍隊以鎮壓獨立和民主運動。在殖民占領期間，政府過度的軍費開支成為許多非洲國家獨立后面臨的難題。

Today most of the conflicts have ceased， some African nations are beginning to put their houses in order， and the continent is gradually taking its place in the committee of nations. However， Africa is yet to shake off11 the effect of colonialism fully.

如今大多數沖突偃旗息鼓了，一些非洲國家開始重建家園，非洲大陸逐漸在國際社會中占據一席之地。然而，非洲尚需完全擺脫殖民主義的影響。

（譯者單位：西湖大學）

1始祖效應，是指在生物演化的過程中，由少數個體建立的族群后來雖然壯大，但其個體之間的基因差異甚小。? 2 阿舍利技術，起源于東非，在法國圣阿舍利遺址發現了原始人使用的手斧，這一技術因此得名。

3希臘神話中的埃塞俄比亞國王，曾參與特洛伊戰爭。? 4英國約克郡出土的女尸，她的陪葬品有象牙手鐲等貴重物品，頭骨特征表明她具有北非血統。? 5英國東蘇塞克斯郡比奇角出土的女尸，據稱，她的頭骨形狀顯示她擁有撒哈拉以南非洲血統。

6 avarice（對錢財等的）貪得無厭。? 7 scramble for多方爭奪。

8 proxy代理（人）。? 9 pockets of wars局部戰爭，零星戰爭。

10 keep... in check控制，抑制。? 11 shake off 擺脫（束縛、不良影響等）。