A Graceless coup

[Montegriffo]

The Bantu were literally nearly wiped out by the Zulu. The land was practically vacant when the settlers showed up.

Bantu is a language group. The Nguni were Bantu speakers who were an agricultural iron age people who migrated from the north around 2000 years ago. Thought to have come originally from Egypt. Zulus are Nguni people who replaced the stoneage hunter gatherer Bushman people who were the original inhabitants.
The Portugese destroyed the Bantu trade in the early 17th century and started a series of wars which left the Empire in a state of collapse. A new state called the Rozwi kicked the Portugese out but were in turn forced north by Dutch settlers in the 18th and early 19th century. By the time Rhodes arrived in the 1880s the Bantu empire had been weakened by 200 years of fighting Europeans.

[Speaker to Animals]

Yeah, somewhere back in time Africa must have been a place of noble savages. Somewhere..

[Montegriffo]

The ruins of great-Zimbabwe, built by AFRICANS.



The Benin bronzes, such advanced metalwork Europeans didn't believe they could have been made by Africans.

[Speaker to Animals]

I am sure it was fucking fantastic, Monty.

[heydaralon]

To all the Mugabe haters: The man is trying his best.

I'd love to see you all hyperinflate a currency. Not as easy as it looks is it?

[TheReal_ND]

The ruins of great-Zimbabwe, built by AFRICANS.

French

[Montegriffo]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=benin ... rq0oX0YsJM:

From 13th to 16th century. Metalwork to rival anything outside Europe in that era.

[heydaralon]

because Africans are obviously incapable of getting their shit together

Yup, that's what I thought you were saying.
Ghana managed to get their shit together after independance. Africans are perfectly capable of self rule when they aren't fucked over by despotic warlords who hand the land to their soldier buddies in order to secure power for themselves.
Read up on the Bantu empire, they had a large successful trading system before Europeans turned up and stole their land and resources.

I'd like to point out Monte that your success story Ghana is often credited to Jerry Rawlings who absolutely was military. Yowerei Musevini of Uganda another arguable success story was also from the military. Also Paul Kagame, a brutal but fairly effective Tutsi leader of Rwanda is also ex military. Just food for thought. A case could be made that the only successful African countries atm (graded on a curve of course) are ruled by military dudes.

[Montegriffo]

The ruins of great-Zimbabwe, built by AFRICANS.

French

900 year old African kingdom. Check it out....

It is estimated that the central ruins and surrounding valley supported a Shona population of 10,000 to 20,000. With an economy based on cattle husbandry, crop cultivation, and the trade of gold on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Great Zimbabwe was the heart of a thriving trading empire from the 11th to the 15th centuries. The word zimbabwe, the country’s namesake, is a Shona (Bantu) word meaning “stone houses.”

https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Zimbabwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe
http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/9 ... index.html

[TheReal_ND]

Probably was pretty impressive until the Zulu wrecked them.