Kemet as Black African Civilization and Multiracial Society
We should educate people in fighting the bigotry of racism… The first vector of ignorance that spreads racism today is unfortunately the historiography about Africa, especially about Ancient Egyptian civilization. The constant willing of denying the fact that Ancient Egypt was a Black African civilization is without any doubt part of vicious racism from the inheritance of the legacy of different invasions and conquests in Africa…
Look at this map! This is what was the Ancient Egyptian Empire under Thutmoses III. In fact, the Egyptian Empire was even more vast than what is known nowadays, including most of territories of the Mediterranean Europe, North Africa and far in the Southern Africa where trade roads linked most of the continent to Egypt. Although the ethnic and racial diversity of their empire; Ancient Egyptians were Black Africans who used to called themselves Kemet people, which means Black people.
Pretending that the name of «Kemet» refers to the colour of the land of Ancient Egypt, not to that of its people, is not convincing. Because the essential of Kemet territory was made of desert. The colour of the sand of that disert was not black. Yes, the inundations of the Nile river used to make the lands in its riversides or riverbanks black, which allowed their fertilization for agriculture. Yet the territories of Kemet couldn’t be reduced to the Nile riverside and riverbank lands. The Nile river made the same inundations in Nubia lands too. Yet Nubia doesn’t mean «black land». Nubia means «land of gold», a name given by Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans. Neither Kemet people, nor their brothers and sisters of the Kush kingdom called this territory «Nubia». Because Kemet wasn’t limited to what is called today «Ancient Egypt». Kemet was in fact what is today called «Africa», the entire continent.
The original name of Africa as continent is Kemet, which means «Ethiopia» in Ancient Greek language: the «black land» in the sense of «the land of the Black people». «Kemet» means «Ethiopia», which refers to the colour «black» of inhabitants, no matter such blackness is lighter or darker. A Black African is a Black African no matter the variety of their «blackness»! A White European is a White European no matter the variety of their «whiteness». A Scandinavian isn’t more «White European» than a Mediterranean because of the difference in their «whiteness»… Although the variety of «European cultures» from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean See; all Europeans consider the Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman cultures as part of their collective heritage. Why all Africans cannot consider the Kemet culture as part of their collective heritage although the diversity of African cultures, which have far more common origins, patterns, features, etc. than other ones across the world?
So pretending that Kemet people would call their country «Black land» only because of the Nile riverside or riverbank lands after inundations while the majority of the territories of their country was made of the sand of desert and the stones of granite, which are not black, is insulting the intelligence of people who built pyramids. The name “Egypt” was given by Ancient Greeks and become very popular during the Ptolemaic dynasty. It comes from the Aegean See with other ones like «Memphis», «Thebes», etc. It means the «country in the South of Aegean See».
By the way, why it is not told to people worldwide that the original statues representing King TutAnkhAmun found in his tomb clearly show that he was a Black African? Why all of details of the King are documented, except the one that is intrinsically linked to his person, family and nation?
The statues above represent the real look of Kemet people from the foundation of Kemet to 341 BC. The first two ones are the representations of the King TutAnkhAmun from his funeral objects; and the last one is the Governor Mitry (or Mitri) from his funeral objects. Here you have the real look of Black Africans of Kemet before different waves of invasions from Hyksos, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs…
What people should understand is the fact that Kemet Art had different codes. The first ones are those of the Sacred Art and Sacred Architecture that you can find in temples and pyramids. Such Sacred codes are the same you find across many African traditions. They are essentially marked by geometric forms. So the cubism trends in African art is part of these sacred codes. Most of representations of Pharaohs in temples and pyramids are part of the Sacred Art and Architecture.
If you want to know how indigenous Pharaohs and ordinary folks looked like in Kemet from its origins to 341 BC; don’t look at the Sacred Art, which is a subliminal symbolism. Look at the Non-sacred Art of Kemet, which is very realistic in representing people and objects like they were in their everyday life. The above statues are the perfect examples of the non sacred art of Kemet, which intended to replicate the everyday life of people like it was before their death. You can validate that they represent Black Africans, who were the indigenous people of Kemet before the different and successive waves of invasions. Mitry lived many millennia before the birth of Tutankhamun… Niankh-Pepi lived during the 6th dynasty.
Current North Africa population is the outcome of different waves of invasions and migrations like is the current population of Americas. Indigenous people (Black Africans and Berbers) are no longer the majority. Berbers in Kemet were called « Libyans ». They were nomadic indigenous people living essentially in the current territory of Libya and Algeria.
Current Coptic Egyptians are in their majority the descent of Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans during the Ptolemaic and Roman Empire rules after 341 BC. The Coptic language and culture are the «creolization» of the Kemet culture. In fact, Kemet with Ancient Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans; and Ancient China with Mongols; they are among the few exceptions where invaders and conquerors considered the culture of the country they conquered as superior to their own one and adopted it as part of civilization transfert. The Coptic culture and language are part of such «creolization» in Kemet during the Ptolemaic and Roman Empire period.
Arabs were a very minority nomadic tribe in the Arabic peninsula. It is only with the Islam expansion and conquests after the 7th century that they have occupied the North Africa, including Egypt. The current modern «arabization» of Egypt is the outcome of such Islamic expansion and conquests. Let be clear; we just expose historic facts without any value judgment on such facts. Our unique aim is to educate people in fighting the prejudice of anti-Black racism; not in rising bigotry against the Arab culture, which is now part of African heritage like is the Coptic one.
We can’t continue to hide the truth about the fact that DNA and genetic materials out of Africa in some Ancient Egyptian mummies and other human remain relics are from successive invasions from Hyksos, which invasions lasted 108 years before the 18th dynasty; from Persian invasion that ended the Pharaonic civilization in 341 BC; from the Greek era during the Ptolemaic dynasty until 30 BC; from the Roman conquest until the collapsing of Constantinople; and more recently from the Islamic, Ottoman and Arab conquests, not only of Egypt but of the entire North, East and West Africa.
Here is the timeline of invasions and conquests of our Ancestors’ Kemet:
- 1638 BCE – 1530 BCE: Hyksos invasion and conquest
- 669 BCE – Assyrians from Mesopotamia conquer and rule Egypt.
- 525 BCE – Persian conquest.
- 332 BCE – Alexander the Great, of ancient Macedonia, conquers Egypt, founds Alexandria. A Macedonian dynasty rules until 31 BC.
- 31 BCE – Egypt comes under Roman rule; Queen Cleopatra commits suicide after Octavian’s army defeats her forces.
- 33 CE – Christianity comes to Egypt, and by 4th century has largely displaced Egyptian religion.
- 642 – Arab conquest of Egypt.
- 969 – Cairo established as capital.
- 1250 – 1517 – Mameluke (slave soldier) rule, characterised by great prosperity and well-ordered civic institutions.
- 1517 – Egypt absorbed into the Turkish Ottoman empire.
- 1798 – Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces invade but are repelled by the British and the Turks in 1801.
- 1805 – Ottoman Albanian commander Muhammad Ali establishes dynasty that goes on to reign until 1953, although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire.
Maurice was an Ancient Egyptian who was General under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. This is another factual evidence showing that even under the Roman invasion of Ancient Egypt; the original indigenous people of the Pharaonic Egypt were Black Africans. We emphasize this to end racist negation around Black African origins of the Pharaonic Egypt… Moorish people are in fact Black Africans…
People should understand that the current population of Egypt and all of the North of Africa is like the current population of Americas. Like the current population of Americas is made of the majority of the descent of European conquistadors, colonialists and immigrants; the current population of Egypt and North Africa is made of the descent of different invaders and conquerors. Indigenous First Nations of Americas are now minorities. Denying that the origin of the pharaonic Kemet is Black African is like denying the Maya and Inca ancient cultures and heritages to their Ancestors and attributing them to conquistadors, colonialists and immigrants who successively settled in Latin America.
The Pharaonic Egypt was made of indigenous Black Africans who had Libyans (Berbers) as African indigenous neighbors. At that time, Ancient Egyptians considered Persians, Assyrians and Bedouins (Ancestors of Arabs) as hostile foreigners. They had friendly relationships with Ancient Greeks and Hittites (current Turkey).
Kemet (Ancient Egypt) and Nubia were all the same Black African civilization with all of other ones in the Black Africa from Ethiopia, East Africa, West Africa, Congo, Angola to South Africa throughout the continent. There is a cultural continuity in all Black African cultures and civilization with Kemet, which you will not find with the Mesopotamian ones. You will find the same Principles, Values and Traditions such as MAAT (Justice) in most of African cultures that are not the same with the Mesopotamian ones.
If you want to know how Ramesses II looked like, you may refer to Emperor Haile Selassie; if you want to know how Hatshepsut look like, look at the Queen Njinga Mbadi; Ancient Egyptians are Black Africans like you can find them everywhere in the continent and diaspora in the past and today.
The history of Egypt is made of 2470 years (from 108 years for Hyksos plus 2362 years after the collapsing in 342 BC) of invasions and conquests of Africa since the collapsing of the Pharaonic Egypt, which invasions and conquests have been shaping genetic materials, family trees and the cultural appropriation of Ancient Egypt civilization by everyone, except those whose the word «Kemet» refers to as native and indigenous people who founded this civilization… We don’t have to show up any proof of who we are to anyone to know who we are even if we have been systematically dehumanized for almost the last half millenium…
If you find DNA and some genetic materials of people out of Africa in some Ancient Egyptian mummies or human remain relics; that is just a strong evidence showing truth about how vast and multiracial was the Ancient Egyptian Empire founded by our ancestors, who weren’t racist folks and bigots. They married with their neighbours coming as far as from Europe and Asia. One of the features of the painting from Ancient Egyptians was their detailed representation of the colour of skin of the characters of people in their paintings. They clearly showed the difference of the black skin from the white one. Yet all of Pharaohs and the majority of Egyptians within the ancient paintings are represented with black skin. When someone was of the white skin; they clearly showed it; like the case of some Pharaohs’ and dignitaries’ spouses who were often married by alliances with foreign nations from Asia and Europe.
It won’t be a surprise you find DNA and genetic materials in Ancient Egyptian mummies from Ancient China, Ancient Australia or Latin America where Ancient Egyptians used to trade with people there… However such finding about genetic materials doesn’t question the matter fact evidence, which is: the Ancient Egyptian culture and civilization were Black African ones! Even before the invasion of Hyksos; Ancient Egyptians were already in contact with Ancient Greeks.
Racial diversity of ancient people is a fact that preceded the Pharaonic Egypt. There is more and more emerging scientific evidence showing that the first native and indigenous European populations from Homo Sapiens Sapiens in Europe were Black people who came from Africa.
The first migrating waves of Homo Sapiens Sapiens to settle out of Africa from the Middle East to Europe were Black people. All of human settlements of Homo Sapiens Sapiens before 6000 BC from Anatolia in Turkey to Europe were made by Black people. The genetic mutations that led to the white skin of Homo Sapiens Sapiens developed within these Black people who settled out of Africa not only in the Middle East and Europe; but also across the planet. Such mutations were the outcome of climate change from the last Ice Age.
The Whitening of skin and other physiological features of Europeans, Asians and Native Americans are just genetic mutations of Black African Homo Sapiens Sapiens who migrated out of Africa to settle the entire planet. The entire foundation of the human civilization of Homo Sapiens Sapiens as we know it today was already developed before the genetic mutations that led to the whitening of the skin of the populations of Homo Sapiens Sapiens that migrated and settled out of Africa.
Many use Bible and other holy scriptures as reference to understand the Ancient Egypt societal complexity. Joseph story like many other ones in the Bible should be interpreted as lessons of Wisdom for the mankind, like other spiritual, religious or tradition messages do. Most of these stories are allegories and parabolic accounts of the human existential experience. When the Bible talks about slavery in Egypt; don’t take it literally as an historic account of events that happened… Otherwise you can commit genocide against innocent people by interpreting literally some religious messages in the Torah, Bible, Koran or any other spiritual or religious scriptures…
However there is no doubt that the ancestors of the Jewish people were fully citizens of the Ancient Egyptian Empire. Most of the current territories of the Middle East were part of the Ancient Egyptian Empire when Tuthmoses III defeated his enemies who occupied those lands. Before the invasion of Hyksos who came from the current territories of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India; the Near Middle East territories were already part of Ancient Egypt zone of influence used as buffer for defense purposes. Hyksos were not the indigenous population of those territories… They settled there after Ahmose I defeated their King Apophis I in the Delta region of Nile where they settled after invading Egypt… Most of Hyksos settled permanently with indigenous people in the Near Middle East after their irreversible defeat by Thutmoses III who integrated them in the Egyptian Empire. What people should understand is the fact that the Roman Empire territories were just the vestiges of the territories of the Ancient Egyptian Empire like the Islamic states conquests in 8th – 11th centuries were the vestiges of the Roman Empire territories…
Europe before its romanization by Julius Caesar was not very different of other villages in the world, which some used to qualify as sauvage and barbaric. It is even ironic that Ancient Romans used to call all Europeans out of Italy as barbaric savages, except Ancient Greeks. Ancient Romans never used this qualification of « barbaric savage » against Black people in Africa, that they used to respect as simply foreigners from Ancient Egypt…
The Ancient Rome was at its beginning a mob village near Etruscan cities, which were made of Ancient Egyptian colonies that developed trade roads from Minoan cities (also Ancient Egyptian colonies) across the Mediterranean Europe… For many historians, the Etruscan civilization is a mystery! Yet when you link Etruscan cities to the Minoan ones and to the Ancient Egypt; you solve the mystery!
Ancient Romans used to spread looting across their neighboring Etruscan cities to get women, foods and wealth. Beyond the spoils of war; Rome became civilized by the Etruscan culture. However although such civilizational transfert; the Ancient Roman culture, even under its apogee as the most powerful empire of its time, didn’t abandon its foundational features: the murder and looting patterns of an organized mob. Montesquieu well explains this issue in his writing about the collapsing of Rome.
Contrary to our ancestors whose the foundational principles were summarized in MAAT; the Roman Empire was founded on a fratricidal murder act! This difference of cultures is very fundamental in understanding the difference in the military doctrines, strategies, tactics and operations between the Ancient Egyptian Empire and the Ancient Rome Empire.
The use of military means in the Ancient Egyptian Empire was the last recourse as a self-defense right to neutralize either a proven intention of attack or the materialization of such intention. Soft power, allegiances, diplomacy and trade were central in gaining and maintaining cohesion within the Ancient Egyptian Empire. The Ancient China used a similar strategy.
In contrary, in Ancient Rome from its kingdom, republic era to its empire; the use of military and war means was essentially for offensive attacks and violent conquest to control lands and other nations’ resources. For Ancient Romans, the aim of war was simply the plundering of the enemy by bringing back home the spoils of war. The reason why it was essential for Roman Generals to bring back the defeated enemy alive as part of such spoils of war to Rome. As consequence, Rome often used to turn its own allies into enemies to justify their looting and conquest when Generals or Emperors needed such spoils of war… The vicious part of such patterns made war and blood the main fuel of the Roman Empire…
This foundational difference between the two cultures is the main reason why the Ancient Egyptian Empire lasted more than 5 milleniums before collapsing while the Ancient Roman one did just 5 centuries.
Another fundamental difference between Kemet Empire and the Roman Empire is about the practice of slavery. Contrary to the Roman Empire and to Ancient Greece; Kemet (Ancient Egypt) didn’t depend on slavery for its economy and state functioning.
«Roman slaves labored in the mines and in the empire’s many farms and potteries. The state’s public works were largely completed and maintained by slaves. Also, the government’s state bureaucracy depended very much on educated slaves to keep the administration of the empire running. Even key institutions like the state’s mints or the distribution of the corn dole to poor Romans depended on slaves.» (The Roman Empire, https://roman-empire.net/society/roman-slaves/).
Slavery in Ancient Rome and Greece (especially in Sparta) was a foundational and societal institution. That has never been the case in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) and across many states of Africa, which were the direct continuum and heir of Kemet heritage. Kemet and its African heir states in Africa used to free its slaves for integrating them as free citizens of the society. Many accounts of slavery and its abuses as part of societal institution in Kemet are false or just allegorical…
Those of some African states before the 15th century that practiced slavery as an institution were those under islamisation influence in the Middle Age. African states before colonisation that weren’t under islamisation influence often didn’t practice slavery as an institution…
From agriculture, which was the foundation of the Kemet economy, the building of temples and pyramids to the administration, which were the cornerstone of the state working; the Kemet society relayed on free people driven by MAAT for its societal architecture. Ancient Greek pundits like Herodotus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others were inspired by the Kemet societal concepts and architecture to develop their own societal concepts…
The reason why Kemet succeeded to build and maintain a multi millennia stable civilization was because its societal architecture was built on MAAT concept (Justice) and Freedom. If it was built on slavery and injustice; it would have collapsed like the Roman Empire after just 5 centuries of emergence and development…
Humanity needs to go back to its roots for finding inspiration to enlighten the path to a more enduring future. Ask yourself how many centuries ahead our current era will last? Such question could be very absurd for those whose the human existence is just a mere random fact limited to the pursuit of satisfying basic desires…
The current global modern dominant culture today is shaped by the inheritance of the Ancient Roman one. If we are not aware of the « original flaws » that feature our modern world; its future may not escape the consequences of those flaws that made the Ancient Rome collapsing like a castle built on sand without a strong foundation…
By the way, this doesn’t mean that the Ancient Roman culture didn’t have positive aspects. I am a great admirer of the Ancient Roman culture. The paradox is that Ancient Romans had a strong sense of the rule of law; they built a very efficient institutional architecture of governance based on meritocracy. Few other nations at that time could match the engineering skills and efficiency Ancient Romans developed. All of these features and more others that made the greatness of the Ancient Rome couldn’t resist the test of time because of its foundational roots’ flaws: a mob city where murder and looting were part of its DNA!
The Egyptian Empire was totally different of all other empires that have been developed in the human civilization history. Ancient Egypt like Ancient China was not an expansionist empire imposing its fist by violence and terror against people and territories under its conquest. Governed in everyday life as well as at the societal level by the principles and philosophy of MAAT; the pharaonic Egypt used violence for legitimate defense purposes. The Ancient Egyptian Empire was driven by self defense and trade purposes. The soft power of its civilization was combined to the military, diplomacy and trade to maintain peace, harmony and prosperity on the land of Kemet. Allegiance, diplomacy and trade were the main policing tools of the Ancient Egyptian Empire while the military power was the last recourse tool against any external aggression or proven intentions and menaces of aggression.
Kemet wasn’t not a «perfect» human experience of nation building experiment. Our Ancestors were aware of limits and imperfections from the human nature. It is exactly because our Ancestors were aware of the human nature imperfections and limits that they made MAAT Principles, Values and Traitions as the founding societal and civilizational cornerstone to bring Justice and Harmony in the human society. MAAT was at the core of human condition experience in shaping our Ancestors’ nation building experiment.
Since the rule of Thutmoses III, children of the dignitaries from all territories of the Egyptian Empire and those of states or kingdoms that made allegiances to Egypt had had to be educated in the house of the Pharaoh in Egypt and even to be married with Egyptians… This included territories from the Middle East to the Mediterranean Europe and even far in the Southern Africa…
So it is not impossible that the stories of some of the biblical characters such as Moses and Joseph were inspired by real historic people who existed in Egypt. However this doesn’t mean that such stories are not allegorical or parabolic, even it they were inspired by historic people who may have existed… The aim of the Bible is not to be an historiography manual. It is to use human existential experience to teach Wisdom to the mankind…
Don’t oppose history, science with the Bible… All of them are different tools about the mankind existential experience, knowledge and wisdom… All of them meet on some points about Ancient Egypt: it was a Black African culture and civilization with a multiracial society whose the majority was Black African.
To better understand the genetics in the Ancient Egypt; you should consider the genetics during the Roman Empire. People from Sudan to England and from Armenia to Morocco and Spain were all Roman citizens within the Ancient Roman Empire. This made an unprecedented mixing and crossbreeding of genetics. However such mixing doesn’t change the matter factual evidence, which makes the Ancient Roman civilization a European one.
The Mongol invasion of China doesn’t make the Chinese culture and civilization a Mongol one… Yet you will find many ancient and current Chinese people, even Indians, with Mongol genetic materials… It doesn’t mean that Chinese and Indian cultures were Mongol ones in the past because of Mongol invasions that spread the Mongol genetics among native and indigenous populations in the past in China and India…
The Islamic conquest of Europe before the 11th century doesn’t make the European cultures and their civilization the Arab or Islamic ones. European colonization of Americas doesn’t make the pre-columbian or native cultures European ones!
Why people tend to deny the fact that the Ancient Egyptian civilization was a Black African one? No doubt such pattern is a vicious legacy of racism within the historiography that has been dehumanizing Black people…
This illustration on ostrich eggshell from Nubia simply shows that the building of pyramids in Nubia preceded the building of pyramids in Egypt. The Nubian civilization preceded and created the Egyptian civilization! Scientific evidence shows that human settlements in Nubian and Southern Africa preceded the development of human settlement in Egypt; the ancestors of Ancient Egyptians came from the South of Nubia… The Egyptian civilization is the derivative of the Nubian one! Ancient Egyptians used to consider the lands in the deep South where is the source of the Nile as the birthplace of their gods and ancestors! This is an historic fact! Prometheus surely did steal fire 🔥 and knowledge from gods in the South of the Nile.
Because of the Roman Empire, the Islamic conquest and crusaders; you will find genetics from Middle Easterners in nowadays European population. That doesn’t mean that Europe cultures are from the Middle East. Of course European cultures too have been influenced by others, like all other human cultures.
Another very important point: remember that the mankind species Homo sapiens sapiens comes from Africa and developed the human civilization as we know it today in Africa before settling in Anatolia and elsewhere. So don’t spread fake news motivated by racism to deny scientific evidence!
No matter who you are, where you have been born and who have been your ancestors; as long as you are part of the Homo sapiens sapiens; you are an African, no matter the colour of your skin! Being racist is the most idiotic bigotry!
Our Ancestors’ nation building experiment wasn’t a perfect one. They were aware of the limits and imperfections of the human condition and nature. This is why they made MAAT Principles, Values and Traditions at the core of their founding and civilizational framework to shape the human existential experience throughout the rising of their nation building experiment. The outcome was a lasting, stable, peaceful and prosperous multi millennia nation building experiment that has been at the heart of the rising of the mankind civilization as we know it today. As long as African nations won’t root their modernization on our Ancestors’ heritage and legacy; their nation building experiments will be total failures… Post colonial state national building experiments in Africa reflect such failures, which still fuel anti-Black racism. We need to overcome such failures to combat such racism.
