You raise a very good point: over the course of history, different peoples, even different civilizations rise and fall.
Two thousand years ago, my own Germanic ancestors were barbarians living beyond the limites of the Roman Empire.
One thousand years ago they had advanced (Dark Ages notwithstanding) but High Medieval Europe was relatively backward compared with the Islamic world.
A little over two hundred years ago, as you point out, the United Kingdom underwent the Industrial Revolution.
So with regard to Africa, time will tell. In today’s world, the idea of Nairobi or Dar es-Salaam eclipsing New York to become a global center of finance sounds absurd. Will it still sound absurd in a thousand years? I suppose a millennium will tell!
