In 2014, a Congolese man in the tiny village of Kasulo, near the town of Kolwezi in Southern Congo was digging a hole in his backyard for the construction of an outdoor toilet. About 8 feet deep, his shovel struck a slab of a strange grey rock.
Curious about the rock, the villager broke off a little piece & took the sample to a Lebanese mineral trader in Kolwezi. The trader informed the villager that the rock sample was Heterogenite, the unrefined ore from which Cobalt is extracted.
Oct 6 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
All the revisionism of the Haitian Revolution stems from the fact that many people simply can't deal with the reality that a white army was defeated in war by non-white people. Centuries of propaganda has convinced white people of their own invincibility & righteousness
This goes back to what I said earlier about Europeans erasing the last thousand years of the Roman Empire because they were unceremoniously defeated by Ottoman Muslims. They want to preserve the image of the glorious Roman Empire felled by equally valiant Germanic whites.
Sep 22 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
In the 15th century, Britain's most lucrative industry was wool (and polishing French dick). The problem with wool is that it shrunk every time it was washed, so people wouldn't wash wool clothing, causing it to stink. Only poor Europeans wore wool. The Wealthy wore cotton & silk
The Cotton & Silk trade was dominated by Muslims. Europeans were locked out of the most lucrative industry of the period. Spaniards "discovering" cotton in the Americas was a major economic breakthrough for Europe. Spain swiftly enslaved Native Americans to grow more cotton
Sep 6 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The Haitian Revolution is by far the most consequential event in the history of Black people on both sides of the Atlantic. Haiti singlehandedly struck a fatal blow to the Transatlantic slave trade. If not for Haiti, slavery would've lasted another 200 years
The Haiti knocked France out of the slave trade. In the decade before the Haitian Revolution, France was importing an average of 21,000 enslaved Africans per year. After the Haitian Revolution, that number dropped to 6000 per year. A 71% drop.
Aug 9 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
There's an ancient Egyptian papyrus from 2276 BC in which the Pharaoh Pepi II sends an expedition up the Nile into Central Africa. The Egyptians are believed to have reached the source of the white Nile in what is now Uganda.
The Egyptian expedition encountered dwarves whom they believed to be the Egyptian Dwarf God Bes. They also believed this was the land of spirits from Egyptian mythology
Jul 26 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
A thread on my all-time favorite books on Black/African history
Precolonial Black Africa - Cheikh Anta Diop
A History Of Upper Guinea Coast - Walter Rodney
The Destruction of Black Civilization - Chancellor Williams
The Black Jacobins - CLR James
Africa and Africans in the Makings of the Atlantic World, 1400 -1800 - John Thornton
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics, and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity - Koen Bosteon & Inge Brinkman
Capitalism and Slavery - Eric Williams
Jul 10 • 30 tweets • 6 min read
Part 1 of my thread on the abolition of slavery by Britain. Part 1 covers the history of Abolitionism from 1791 to the slave trade abolition act of 1807.
Part 2 will cover 1807 to the abolition of slavery in 1833.
Part 3 will cover 1833 to the Berlin conference.
The Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804) was the largest & most successful attempt by enslaved Africans to overthrow their captors, free themselves from enslavement & establish self-rule in the era of Transatlantic Slavery, & sounded the death-knell for the institution.
Jul 6 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The movie Oppenheimer will be releasing soon, I'm sure, to critical acclaim. Just a reminder that to secure the Uranium for the bomb, America went on a bloody rampage in Congo that would permanently destabilize that country & ultimately claim the lives of over 100,000 Congolese..
...culminating in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the installation of the tyrant Mobutu & the permanent occupation of Congo by U.N "peacekeeping" forces. Congo won't be mentioned in the movie, which celebrates American genius triumphing over the forces of evil...
Jul 4 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
I'm doing a series of threads on the role & treatment of women in Ancient societies. I'm going to cover the Ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians, Nubians, Persians , Romans, Assyrians, ancient Arabs, Celts, Germanic people, West Africans & Bantu.
I'll start with the Greeks
Ancient Greeks (make the Taliban look like simps)
The only women allowed in public workers, prostitutes, priestesses, beggars & slaves. All other women were only allowed in public on special religious festivities or to draw water from a well
Jun 29 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
This was the average Western European city in the early 20th century. Most European commoners lived in shanty towns like this, while a tiny elite lived in castles & mansions. Why didn't European commoners build mansions for themselves since they're obviously superior? https://t.co/V50fPCPpZX
Why did they choose to live in shacks & shanty towns where they had to dump buckets of sewage onto the streets daily because they had no plumbing? They had to wait for their nations to go plunder the world & use the wealth to hire training professionals to build homes for them.
Jun 28 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
During the scramble for Africa, Spain didn't get any territory because one of the criteria to get a piece of Africa was that you must have the military capability to seize & defend territory from the African natives. Other Europeans countries didn't think Spain was up to the task
They were afraid that Spain would be militarily humiliated in Africa, bringing shame to Europe & shattering the myth of White superiority, as would later happen to Italy in Ethiopia after they tried to claim their colonial prize.
May 15 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Westerners say Greece & Rome are the birthplace of Western civilization. They love bragging about all the good things they inherited from the Greeks & Romans. They want you to believe they only inherited the good stuff, like philosophy, science, architecture, democracy etc...
They didn't inherit any of the bad like fascism, racism, colonialism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc.. And all the good things originated with the Greeks & Romans, & were unique to them only. The bad things, nah, those weren't unique to Greeks & Romans, all ancient cultures had those
May 14 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Imagine a thousand years from now, someone makes a movie portraying the nazis a heroic defenders of civilization & the Soviets as a bloodthirsty barbaric horde. That's this movie. In reality, the Persians were the good guys of the ancient world & the Greeks were the villains
The Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus, Darius & Xersxes was by far the most progressive society of the era. The Persians did more than any other society to advance the well-being & freedom for people in antiquity. Certainly far more than the Ancient Greeks.
Apr 23 • 25 tweets • 12 min read
What if I told you Western Civilization is actually Islamic civilization?
A thread on how Arab Muslims combined the Far East & Mediterranean ideas to create Western civilization
In 256 AD, Persian Emperor Shapur of the Sassanid Empire captured the Roman city of Antioch, along with two Roman legions. Shapur carried the Roman & Greek prisoners back to Iran & forced them to build a city to house themselves
Both sides of this Cleopatra debate are disingenuous. Cleopatra wasn't Black, but this painting they keep pushing as Cleopatra is also bullshit. No one questions the provenance & authenticity of this painting, even though it doesn't match any contemporary description of Cleopatra
Apr 21 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The Vikings lost most of their battles against organized armies. In 884 AD, Vikings raided the city of Seville, Spain, under Muslim rule. They were confronted by the Moors & almost got wiped out. The Moors stomped them so bad, they never again set foot on the Iberian Peninsula
Vikings only inspired fear amongst defenseless civilians. Of course, they seemed brave & heroic raiding monasteries & villagers. The Vikings just got one legendary victory against the English army in 1016 AD . That one battle continues to carry Viking legacy to this day.
Apr 18 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Traditional architecture my ass. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans couldn't even build simple brick houses for the next 500 years. All the Gothic architecture & Cathedrals they brag about, the learned from Muslims during the crusades.
Europe-
>No history whatsoever
> Romans discovers them living in shit covered holes in the ground
>Romans attempt to civilize them, but fail
>Destroy Roman Empire and doesn't know what to do with Greco-Roman knowledge.
>Return to barbarism
>Cope by calling "Dark Ages"
>Get invaded by Moors
>Moors reintroduce classical Greco-Roman knowledge
>Cope by calling "Renaissance"
>Sail around the globe with Moorish maps & navigation technology to plunder just like Barbarian ancestors.
>Cope by calling it "Age of discovery"
Mar 21 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
In 1730, Ayuba Diallo, a Fulani prince from Senegal was on his way home after selling 2 Mandinka slaves to an English slave ship, he was captured by a rival Mandinka faction, returned to the coast & sold to the same slave ship, which transported him Maryland & sold at an auction
While working in a tobacco plantation in Annapolis, Maryland, Diallo attempted to escape but was captured & imprisoned. At the jailhouse, Diallo encountered another enslaved African from Gambia who spoke Wolof & was able to communicate to the judge his reason for escaping.
Mar 2 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
After the abolition of slavery in Brazil, more formally enslaved Afro-Brazilians returned to Africa than freedmen returned to Liberia & Sierra Leone combined. Their history is less well-known, less documented than the history of Liberia & Sierra Leone.
Between 1860 & 1890, an estimated 50,000 Afro-Brazillians settled across West & Central Africa, primarily in Angola, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana & Benin, where they played pivotal role in establishing cultural & commercial centers in cities such as Luanda, Lagos, Lome, Porto Novo, Accra
Feb 17 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
By what criteria is Ethiopia considered a failure? The Ethiopian Empire was one of the most successful & long-lived nations in all of history. Lasting over 600 years. The two Italian invasions are actually what led to its demise.
Haiti was isolated from international commerce. Blockaded & forced to pay $22 billion in reparations to France. Bombed 19 different times by the U.S. Navy. Invaded twice & occupied for over 20 years by the U.S., who also stole Haiti's entire gold reserves
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