The Prospective Civilization of Africa [pp. 171-191]

THE PROSPECTIVE CIVILIZATION OF AFRICA.
T seems at first sight a strange paradox that the quarter of
the globe which was the cradle of civilization should now
lag so far behind its fellows as to raise the question with many
whether it will ever be civilized at all. Four thousand years
ago-seven thousand, according to some-an empire was developed in the north-eastern corner of the peninsula which set an
example to the whole world of orderly government, complex
social organization, manufacturing industry, and progress in
many of the arts-an example which for several centuries was
only followed at a humble distance by the most advanced nations
of Europe and Asia. Foremost among all the peoples of the
earth, the Egyptians established a centralized and strong government over a wide extent of country, created an architecture
remarkable for stability and grandeur, discovered the importance
of the division of labor, invented metallurgy, glass-blowing,
ship-building, statuary, hieroglyphic writing, literature of various
kinds, and a mystic and profound theosophy. For centuries, if
not millenia, while Europe was plunged in the profound darkness of extreme barbarism, cave-dwelling races with difficulty
maintaining their struggle for existence against the beasts of the
field, and in Asia civilization was just emerging into the light of
day in the rich valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates, there
was in Egypt a well-ordered monarchy, laws, arts, education,
trade, a luxurious court, a complex hierarchy, rich landed proprietors, a good system of agriculture, considerable engineering
skill, and some knowledge of astronomy and medicine. Later
on, but before the era of the Greek Olympiads-when light, we
are told, first dawns on Europe-a second civilizing influence
made itself a home upon the African coast, and Carthage, the