History

Created by Colette Slaats

This section is about the history in southern Africa, which is extremely rich considering that Africa is thought to be where humans originated. These artifacts will go over pre, during, and post colonization, showing important people, time periods and artifacts. including a collage of cave paintings and a replica of some beads, showing pre colonization, a video about cecil rhodes, a colonist, showing during colonization, and a song about Nelson Mandela, showing post colonization.

Cave Paintings Collage

As Africa is thought to be where humans originated from, there are many signs of early humans. For example, many australopithecines, which are upright walking creatures that are human's early ancestors. These cave paintings were found in Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, and Botswana and are predominatly from the paleolithic period.

Pictures from The British Museum.

Ostrich Egg Beads

These paper replica of ostrich egg beads that are more than 50,000 years old, and thought to be the oldest fully manufactural ornaments. They have been found throughout eastern and southern Africa. These beads can be used to figure out whether an ancient group of people were herders or hunter-gathers because of the different sizes and can even be used to informally date archeological sites. for example, an archeologist, Leon Jacobson, found that in Nambia, beads found in hunter-gatherer sites were smaller than those in herder sites, this study was confirmed with other studies in western southern Africa.

Sources from the Conversation and the Smithsonian Museum.

Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes was a British colonizer in the 19th century. He became rich from his diamond mines in Africa and for a long time controlled the industry. Even after his death, he is still harming southern Africa, his gravesite impeding on local culture and religion. Click on the video to watch.

Video is from africanews

Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)" by Hugh Masekela

Bring back Nelson Mandela

Bring him back home to Soweto

I want to see him walking down the streets

Of South Africa (Tomorrow)

Bring back Nelson Mandela

Bring him back home to Soweto

I want to see him walking hand in hand

With Winnie Mandela (No more Pollsmoor)

To the right is the chorus of this song by Hugh Masekela, about Nelson Mandela. Mandela was the first Black president of South Africa, after being imprisoned. He played a huge role in ending apartheid and won a nobel peace prize for his efforts. This song was made before his presidency, and was asking for his freedom.

Sources are Genius and Britannica.