為什么非洲沒(méi)有發(fā)展出可以與亞洲和歐洲文明相媲美的先進(jìn)文明?

Henrey Bradley
Because the Earth wobbled, but I'll get back to that after briefly explaining why this question made me roll my eyes and tut like I’d been served pale milky tea.
Let us get one thing straight, Africa actually produced some of the greatest, most sophisticated and longest-lived civilisations, in all of human history, Ancient Egypt and Carthage, comfortably stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantheon of the greatest civilisations throughout history.
Carthage, 814 BC–146 BC, North Africa.
For seven centuries the North African city-state of Carthage controlled a vast mercantile empire that dominated the Mediterranean, stretching from Spain and Portugal, across North Africa, and encompassed most of the islands of the Mediterranean, and many other satellite states.
Carthage would eventually become the largest metropolis in the entire world during the fourth century BC. This supposedly unsophisticated civilisation controlled the best navy in the world for centuries and built the most incredible port of the ancient world. Meanwhile, Rome was but a regional backwater city, founded by two boys who had to resort to suckling on the tit of a stray dog.

讓我們弄清楚一件事，非洲實(shí)際上產(chǎn)生了一些最偉大的，最復(fù)雜的，最長(zhǎng)壽的文明，在整個(gè)人類歷史上——古埃及和迦太基，舒適地肩并肩地站在歷史上最偉大的文明的萬(wàn)神殿之上。
迦太基，公元前814年-公元前146年，北非。
七個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，北非城邦迦太基控制著一個(gè)龐大的商業(yè)帝國(guó)，這個(gè)帝國(guó)統(tǒng)治著地中海，從西班牙到葡萄牙，橫跨北非，并包圍了地中海的大部分島嶼和許多其他衛(wèi)星國(guó)。迦太基最終在公元前4世紀(jì)成為世界上最大的城市。這個(gè)被（提問(wèn)者）認(rèn)為是不發(fā)達(dá)的文明控制了世界上最好的海軍數(shù)個(gè)世紀(jì)，建造了古代世界上最不可思議的港口。
與此同時(shí)，羅馬只是一個(gè)落后的地方城市，是兩個(gè)男孩建立的，他們不得不靠吃流浪狗的奶水為生。

Now, rather than continue prattling on about Carthage, and writing for hours about the wonders of the various Egyptian civilisations that thrived for more than three thousand years, leaving Africa as the home of some of the finest and most breathtaking monuments ever produced by our species, throughout our entire history.
Instead, I'm going to highlight one of the craziest cycles on earth, that handicapped Africa, causing the continent to fall behind Europe.
The Earth’s wobble, a 23,000-year cycle that has worked like clockwork for more than 9 million years.
Between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago, the orbital cycle of Earth tilted favourably for North Africa once again, leaning towards the sun, resulting in increased humidity and rainfall drawn in from the Atlantic, leading to extreme monsoons across the Sahara desert region, this climate change lasted ten thousand years, we call this the - African humid period.

現(xiàn)在，與其繼續(xù)喋喋不休地談?wù)撳忍?、用長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)小時(shí)的文字去記錄埃及文明的奇跡，這些文明繁榮了3000多年，讓非洲成為我們?nèi)祟愒谡麄€(gè)歷史中創(chuàng)造的一些最精美、最令人驚嘆的紀(jì)念碑的家園，相反，我更愿意強(qiáng)調(diào)地球上最瘋狂的周期之一，正是它阻礙了非洲，導(dǎo)致非洲大陸落后于歐洲——地球的擺動(dòng)，一個(gè)23000年的周期，像時(shí)鐘一樣工作了900多萬(wàn)年。
在15000到5000年前，地球的軌道周期再次向北非傾斜，向太陽(yáng)傾斜，導(dǎo)致從大西洋吸收的濕度和降雨增加，導(dǎo)致了撒哈拉沙漠地區(qū)的極端季風(fēng)，這種氣候變化持續(xù)了一萬(wàn)年，我們稱之為非洲濕潤(rùn)期。

North Africa and the massive Sahara desert were once green and lush for thousands of years, freshwater lakes the size of the British isles, and torrid immense rivers fed grasslands and forests. Imagine if Europe turned from today's river networks, lakes, and fertile agricultural lands, into an arid desert of mountain-like sand dunes, an inhospitable wasteland. Well, that is exactly what happened to most of the north of Africa.
Until roughly 5,000BC the whole of North of Africa had been a fertile paradise of grasslands and forests for ten thousand years, this area supported widespread human populations, settlements and agriculture.
The people of this region gave birth to the early Egyptian civilisation and likely interacted, influenced and outright settled around the Mediterranean. This area in the north of Africa was a major human population centre, and today, more cave paintings and neolithic artwork are found in the Sahara than maybe anywhere else on earth, in fact, some say the Sahara desert is perhaps the largest art museum in the world.
Deep in the Libyan Sahara desert, far from freshwater and settlements, there is a Cave full of paintings of people swimming, fracking swimming, in an area so parched it makes my mouth dry thinking about it.

數(shù)千年來(lái)，北非和廣袤的撒哈拉沙漠一直郁郁蔥蔥，淡水湖有不列顛群島那么大，炙熱的大河滋養(yǎng)著草原和森林。想象一下，如果歐洲從今天的河網(wǎng)、湖泊和肥沃的農(nóng)業(yè)土地，變成像高聳沙丘一樣的干旱沙漠，一個(gè)不適合居住的荒地。這正是發(fā)生在非洲北部大部分地區(qū)的事情。
直到大約公元前5000年，整個(gè)北非地區(qū)在一萬(wàn)年的時(shí)間里一直是草原和森林的肥沃天堂，這一地區(qū)養(yǎng)活了大片人類、定居點(diǎn)和農(nóng)業(yè)。這一地區(qū)的人民孕育了早期埃及文明，并可能與地中海周圍的人互動(dòng)、影響和定居。這個(gè)位于非洲北部的地區(qū)曾是一個(gè)主要的人口中心，今天，在撒哈拉沙漠發(fā)現(xiàn)的洞穴壁畫和新石器時(shí)代藝術(shù)品可能比地球上任何地方都多，事實(shí)上，有些人說(shuō)撒哈拉沙漠可能是世界上最大的藝術(shù)博物館。在利比亞的撒哈拉沙漠深處，遠(yuǎn)離淡水和定居點(diǎn)，有一個(gè)山洞，里面滿是人們游泳的繪畫，這個(gè)地方太干燥了，我一想到它就口干。

Had the Sahara remained one of the most fertile and populated regions on earth, had the Earth’s wobble not handicapped Africa, then Eyqpt and Carthage would have been joined by a thriving patchwork of civilisations across time, spawned from an unrecognisable North Africa that would have dominated the Mediterranean to this day.
The oldest intact boat ever found was unearthed in the Sahara, people were sailing from the Sahara at least 8,000 years ago, this fact coupled with the prehistoric artwork we know of, and the countless yet to be discovered archaeological sites beneath the sands, boggle the mind.
Even with this bonkers handicap, Carthage still dominated the Mediterranean for hundreds of years, bullying Rome at sea and on land, invading Italy and laying waste to multiple Roman armies, ancient Egyptian monuments remain wonders of the world, and for unknown centuries North African agriculture supplied and sustained Europe.

如果撒哈拉沙漠仍然是地球上最肥沃和人口最稠密的地區(qū)之一，如果地球的抖動(dòng)沒(méi)有妨礙非洲，那么埃及和迦太基就會(huì)被不同時(shí)期的繁榮文明拼湊在一起，產(chǎn)生于一個(gè)（今天）無(wú)法辨認(rèn)的北非，而這個(gè)北非直到今天仍然將統(tǒng)治著地中海。
迄今為止發(fā)現(xiàn)的最古老完整的船是在撒哈拉沙漠出土的，人們?cè)谥辽?000年前就從撒哈拉出發(fā)了，這一事實(shí)，加上我們所知道的史前藝術(shù)品，以及無(wú)數(shù)尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)的沙灘下的考古遺址，都令人難以置信。
即使有這么瘋狂的障礙，迦太基仍然統(tǒng)治了地中海數(shù)百年，在海上和陸地上欺凌羅馬，入侵意大利，摧毀了多個(gè)羅馬軍隊(duì)，古埃及遺跡仍然是世界奇跡，在未知的幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里，北非的農(nóng)業(yè)一直供應(yīng)和支撐著歐洲。

Henrey Bradley
So, it appears many people do not concider Carthage and the Ancient Egyptian civilisations along the Nile, to be really African.
The people of these regions were African, trying to form an argument based on the presumed colour of their skin is ludicrous.
It's like saying the people of Northern Europe are whiter than those in Southern Europe, therefore the Southern Europeans are not really Europeans… Bonkers logic.

似乎很多人并不認(rèn)為迦太基和尼羅河沿岸的古埃及文明是真正的非洲文明。
這些地區(qū)的人都是非洲人，試圖以假定的膚色來(lái)形成一個(gè)論點(diǎn)是可笑的。
這就好比說(shuō)北歐人比南歐人更白，因此南歐人不是真正的歐洲人……瘋狂的邏輯。

Gregory Garland
A good start. But Sub-Saharan Africa had sophisticated cultures as well, starting with ancient Ethiopia, a rival to pharaonic Egypt as noted repeatedly in the Bible. More recently, there was the series of West African empires—-Ghana, Mali, and Songhay—-literate Islamic societies with university-like institutions. Under Samory Toure, a West African force held out against late 19th century French armies, losing ultimately because of the superiority of European arms. Similarly, it was superiority of arms that defeated the Zulus in South Africa, and even then, Zulu generalship won several key battles against Afrikaner and British forces. In the end, gunpowder and Gatling guns made the difference, much as earlier versions of firearms had done in the Americas.

撒哈拉以南的非洲也有復(fù)雜的文化，從古埃塞俄比亞開(kāi)始，它是法老埃及的對(duì)手，正如《圣經(jīng)》中反復(fù)提到的那樣。之后，西非還出現(xiàn)了一系列帝國(guó)——加納、馬里和桑?！形幕囊了固m社會(huì)，擁有類似大學(xué)的機(jī)構(gòu)。在薩莫里·杜爾(Samory Toure)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，一支西非軍隊(duì)與19世紀(jì)晚期的法國(guó)軍隊(duì)作戰(zhàn)，但最終因歐洲軍隊(duì)的優(yōu)勢(shì)而失敗。
同樣，是武器優(yōu)勢(shì)打敗了南非的祖魯人，即使在那時(shí)，祖魯將軍也贏得了幾場(chǎng)對(duì)抗阿非利卡人（南非白人）和英國(guó)軍隊(duì)的關(guān)鍵戰(zhàn)役。
最終，火藥和加特林槍改變了局面，就像早期的槍支在美洲所起的作用一樣。

Jeff
Sigh. Like how Egypt was for thousands of years ahead of most of the rest of the world?
Like when the great African general Hannibal invaded and ransacked Italy for 18 years?
Like the wealthiest man of all time, Mansa Musa?
The creation of one of the Medi World’s greatest centers of learning in Timbuktu?
Explorers like Ibn Battuta, who traveled three times as far as Marco Polo and actually wrote his own account, unlike the illiterate merchant from Venice?
Or ship pilots who regularly traveled to India, and who Vasco da Gama relied on to get to India himself?
Perhaps others will point out Sudan had more pyramids than Egypt, or the Great Zimbabwe fortress that the modern nation bases itself on, or the almost eight centuries African Musli... governed Spain, or the defeat of European knights during the Crusades by African as well as Arab forces, or the existence of a literary tradition in Ethiopia going back thousands of years. I’m exhausted from re-answering this ignorant and endlessly repeated false premise. Does no one check for similar questions?
Europe has had a few good centuries these last five hundred years, but history goes back farther than that.
Civilizations rise and fall, and as the Good Book itself tells us, it is pride that precedes such a fall.

（非洲沒(méi)有發(fā)達(dá)的文明？）
比如，埃及比世界上其他地方領(lǐng)先了幾千年；
比如，非洲將軍漢尼拔入侵并洗劫意大利長(zhǎng)達(dá)18年；
比如，史上最富有的人曼莎·穆薩（Mansa Musa）；
比如，中世紀(jì)世界最偉大的學(xué)習(xí)中心之一在廷巴克圖；
再比如，伊本·白圖泰（ Ibn Battuta）這樣的探險(xiǎn)家，他旅行的距離是馬可·波羅的三倍，而且他自己寫了自己的故事，不像（馬可波羅）是來(lái)自威尼斯的文盲商人；
也許其他人會(huì)指出，蘇丹擁有的金字塔比埃及還多，或者是現(xiàn)代國(guó)家立足的大津巴布韋要塞，或者是非洲穆斯林統(tǒng)治了西班牙近8個(gè)世紀(jì)，或者是非洲和阿拉伯軍隊(duì)在十字軍東征軍中擊敗了歐洲騎士，或者埃塞俄比亞文學(xué)傳統(tǒng)的存在可以追溯到幾千年前。我已經(jīng)厭倦了重復(fù)這個(gè)無(wú)知的、不斷重復(fù)的錯(cuò)誤前提。就沒(méi)有人檢查一下類似的問(wèn)題嗎?
在過(guò)去的500年里，歐洲經(jīng)歷了幾個(gè)美好世紀(jì)，但歷史可以追溯到更早的時(shí)候。
文明有起有落，正如《圣經(jīng)》告訴我們的那樣，驕傲是文明衰落的先兆。

p.s. I’m adding a few personal photos from a trek up to Kaduna Nigeria a couple of years ago to show some of the lesser known relics littering the land. These aren’t intended to showcase any great civilization but they do show how common even small scale ruins are within West Africa. Most of these are known to locals and a few archeologists but not to the greater public. The point is there is much people outside of the continent don’t know:
We’ll start with a well known example of terra cotta pottery made by the Nok people (we’re in the Nok village for this trip, an area settled, farmed, and producing iron tools and complex art for over 2000 years, and still going strong today):

補(bǔ)充：我在這里添加了幾張幾年前徒步前往尼日利亞卡杜納的個(gè)人照片，展示了一些不太為人所知的遺跡。這些并不是為了展示任何偉大的文明，但它們確實(shí)表明，在西非，即使是小規(guī)模的廢墟也很常見(jiàn)。其中大多數(shù)都為當(dāng)?shù)厝撕蜕贁?shù)考古學(xué)家所知，而不是為更多的公眾所知。關(guān)鍵是，非洲大陸以外的很多人都不知道:
我們將從一個(gè)眾所周知的、由諾克人（the Nok people）制作的陶土陶器的例子開(kāi)始(我們這次旅行是在諾克村，這是一個(gè)有超過(guò)2000年歷史的定居、農(nóng)業(yè)和生產(chǎn)鐵器和復(fù)雜藝術(shù)的地區(qū)，直到今天仍然很強(qiáng)大):
（注：相關(guān)內(nèi)容和圖片略）
同樣，這并不是一個(gè)偉大的隱藏文明的證據(jù)，而是人們參與復(fù)雜社會(huì)的證據(jù)——有人工制品，勞動(dòng)分工，技術(shù)專長(zhǎng)和其他方面的社會(huì)活動(dòng)。這不是不尋常的，也不是罕見(jiàn)的:這是那種很容易被那些希望用開(kāi)放的思想和心靈去探索的人發(fā)現(xiàn)的東西。它確實(shí)顯示了古老的文化是如何在非洲存在和延續(xù)的。

Norris Igbineweka
Please look up ‘Benin Kingdom’. Sometimes it is good to be perceptive of the fact that there are things that you know that you don't know and things that you don't know, that you don't know. It would have been been better to ask the question ‘were there any civilised kingdoms in Africa?’ And then let others educate you. It's called humility for the world around. Accepting that you or I may not know everything or our awareness may be skewed by limited info i.e. through skewed media or skewed conversations.

請(qǐng)查找“貝寧王國(guó)”。有時(shí)候，感知到有些事情你知道，有些事情你不知道，這是好事。
如果提問(wèn)者問(wèn)的是“非洲有文明王國(guó)嗎?”然后讓別人來(lái)教育你，這叫謙虛。
接受你或我可能不知道的一切，或者我們的意識(shí)可能被有限的信息扭曲。

José Mena
I like to point to a region that, when people think of Africa, doesn’t get mentioned very often, East Africa. When people think of the history of this region they usually point out to Nubia (Sudan) or Aksum (Abyssinia/Ethiopia), but I want to talk about other areas that form this region: Somalia, the Swahili Coast (the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique) and the island of Madagascar. These territories were filled with kingdoms, republics and city states that were quite wealthy and developed through out antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, all thanks to their participation in the lucrative Indian Ocean trade, which went from Egypt all the way to China.
Somalia.Sadly when people think of Somalia today they only point out it’s piracy problem, and the chaos caused by the civil war, and when they think on the era before colonialism they simply dismiss it as some tribal backwater, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Before the 19th century, more specifically before the scramble for Africa, Somalia experienced and enjoined the rise and fall of multiple polities.

我想指出一個(gè)地區(qū)，當(dāng)人們想到非洲時(shí)，并不經(jīng)常被提到——東非。當(dāng)人們想到這個(gè)地區(qū)的歷史時(shí)，他們通常會(huì)指出努比亞(蘇丹)或阿克蘇姆(阿比西尼亞/埃塞俄比亞)，但我想談?wù)勥@個(gè)地區(qū)的其他地區(qū):索馬里、斯瓦希里海岸(肯尼亞、坦桑尼亞和莫桑比克的海岸)和馬達(dá)加斯加島。這些領(lǐng)土上布滿了王國(guó)、共和國(guó)和城邦，它們?cè)诠糯?、中世紀(jì)和近代早期都非常富裕和發(fā)達(dá)，這都要?dú)w功于它們參與了從埃及一路到中國(guó)的、利潤(rùn)豐厚的印度洋貿(mào)易。
索馬里
可悲的是，當(dāng)人們想到今天的索馬里時(shí)，他們只會(huì)指出海盜問(wèn)題和內(nèi)戰(zhàn)造成的混亂，而當(dāng)他們想到殖民主義之前的時(shí)代時(shí)，他們只是簡(jiǎn)單地將其視為部落的閉塞之地，但這確實(shí)是事實(shí)。在19世紀(jì)之前，更具體地說(shuō)，在爭(zhēng)奪非洲之前，索馬里經(jīng)歷了多次政治興衰。

1. The Kingdom of Punt: Punt was a trade partner of ancient Egypt believed by Egyptologists to have been situated in Somalia. The first records about the presence of Punt’s products goes as far back as the Egyptian fourth dynasty (2613-2498 B.C.). Meaning there was a civilization in Africa other than Egypt that was far older than the Greeks and Romans. The products of Punt included gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory, and wild animals. Plenty of this items were considered valuable luxuries by the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Babylonians. Records of Egyptian trade expeditions to Punt end at New Kingdom period (1550-1077 B.C.).
2. The northern Barbara city-states: Various Hellenic texts describe the city-states of Mosylon, Opone, Mundus, Isis, Malao, Avalites, Essina, Nikon and Sarapion, all of them situated in the horn of Africa.
Ptolemy's Geographia mentions Sarapion as a trade harbor encountered by sailing south along the Indian Ocean trade routes. Sarapion was located in modern day Mogadishu.
All of these ports developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from Ptolemaic Egypt, Ancient Greece, Phoenicia, Parthian Persia, Saba, the Nabataean Kingdom, and the Roman Empire.
3. The Sultanate of Mogadishu and the Ajuran Sultanate: Established in the 9th century A.D. Mogadishu was a trading power notable for it’s domination of the regional gold trade and minting it’s own currency allowing it to establish an economical hegemony over the other states of the horn. Archaeological excavations have recovered Chinese coins dating back to the Song dynasty.
In the 13th century the city came under the control, and became the capital of the Ajuran Sultanate. This was probably the strongest and wealthiest of all the Somali states, with it’s trade enterprise going as far as Barcelona and Beijing.

1. 邦特王國(guó):邦特是古埃及的貿(mào)易伙伴，埃及學(xué)家認(rèn)為它位于索馬里。關(guān)于邦特產(chǎn)品存在的最早記錄可以追溯到埃及第四王朝(公元前2613-2498年)。這意味著在非洲，除了埃及，還有一種文明比希臘和羅馬的文明要古老得多。龐特的產(chǎn)品包括黃金、芳香樹(shù)脂、黑檀木、象牙和野生動(dòng)物。古埃及人、腓尼基人、邁錫尼人和巴比倫人都認(rèn)為這些物品是有價(jià)值的奢侈品。從埃及到普特的貿(mào)易遠(yuǎn)征記錄，直到新王國(guó)時(shí)期(公元前1550-1077年)才結(jié)束。
2. 北部芭芭拉城邦:各種希臘文獻(xiàn)描述了Mosylon、Opone、Mundus、Isis、Malao、Avalites、Essina、Nikon和Sarapion的城邦，它們都位于非洲之角（注：今索馬里一帶）。
托勒密的地理書中提到Sarapion是沿印度洋貿(mào)易路線向南航行時(shí)遇到的一個(gè)貿(mào)易港口。Sarapion位于今天的摩加迪沙（索馬里首都）。
所有這些港口都形成了一個(gè)利潤(rùn)豐厚的貿(mào)易網(wǎng)絡(luò)，連接著來(lái)自托勒密埃及、古希臘、腓尼基、帕提亞波斯、薩巴、納巴泰王國(guó)和羅馬帝國(guó)的商人。
3. 摩加迪沙的蘇丹國(guó)和Ajuran蘇丹國(guó):建立于公元9世紀(jì)，摩加迪沙是一個(gè)貿(mào)易大國(guó)，因其在地區(qū)黃金貿(mào)易中的統(tǒng)治地位和鑄造自己的貨幣而聞名，這使得它能夠建立對(duì)其他非洲國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)霸權(quán)?？脊虐l(fā)掘發(fā)現(xiàn)了中國(guó)宋朝的錢幣。在13世紀(jì)，這座城市被控制，成為Ajuran蘇丹國(guó)的首都。這可能是索馬里所有國(guó)家中最強(qiáng)大和最富有的，它的貿(mào)易企業(yè)遠(yuǎn)至巴塞羅那和北京。
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The Ajurans also minted their own currency, with pieces found as far as Persia. Mogadishu became the richest city in Africa. The Ajurans didn’t rely on trade alone however, as unlike previous Somali states, they controlled land in the interior of the horn which worked as a source of agriculture.
Of course this wealth brought them into conflict with other ambitious states, particularly the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese would try numerous unsuccessful attacks against Mogadishu, repealed thanks to cooperation between the Somalis and the Ottomans.
The Ajurans would eventually decline and collapse in the late 17th century A.D. to internal dissent, paving the way for other Somali states that would last until the scramble for Africa in 1881 A.D.
Unlike Somalia, the countries that from this region barely get mentioned today, with only small things like Zanzibar (Tanzania) being the birthplace of Freddie Mercury. But the history of this region, while scarce, goes far back into antiquity. This region was known as Azania by the Greeks and Romans and there’s archaeological evidence of Hindu settlements from the 2nd century A.D.

Ajuran人還鑄造了自己的貨幣，甚至在波斯也能找到。摩加迪沙成為非洲最富有的城市。然而，與之前的索馬里國(guó)家不同，Ajuran人并不僅僅依靠貿(mào)易，他們控制著”牛角”內(nèi)部（注：索馬里地區(qū)從地圖上看像一個(gè)犄角）的土地，這些土地是農(nóng)業(yè)的來(lái)源。
當(dāng)然，這些財(cái)富使他們與其他野心勃勃的國(guó)家發(fā)生沖突，尤其是葡萄牙帝國(guó)。葡萄牙人試圖對(duì)摩加迪沙進(jìn)行多次不成功的攻擊，但由于索馬里人和奧斯曼人的合作而被中止。
Ajuran人最終在公元17世紀(jì)晚期因內(nèi)部異議而衰落和崩潰，為其他索馬里國(guó)家鋪平了道路，直到公元1881年?duì)帄Z非洲。

Unlike Somalia, the countries that from this region barely get mentioned today, with only small things like Zanzibar (Tanzania) being the birthplace of Freddie Mercury. But the history of this region, while scarce, goes far back into antiquity. This region was known as Azania by the Greeks and Romans and there’s archaeological evidence of Hindu settlements from the 2nd century A.D.
1. The City of Rhapta:
Though the account only mentions ivory and tortoise shell as the only goods in Rhapta, others speculate that the port also traded cinnamon and cassia bark.
2. The Kilwa Sultanate: This Kingdom started with the founding of the city of Kilwa, a Persian colony founded in the 10th century A.D. The city came to challenge the trade dominance of Mogadishu and later the Ajuran Sultanate, by taking control of the city of Sofala, mogadishu’s source of gold and ivory, thanks to it being the door to trade with the inland city of Great Zimbabwe.
By the 15th century A.D. Kilwa had become the overlord of the entire Swahili coast, controlling cities as far south as Inhambane and as far north as Mombasa, and islands like Zanzibar and Grand Comore. Kilwa’s exports included gold, copper, iron, incense, myrrh, slaves, ebony, vinegar, etc…

斯瓦希里海岸
（注：位于馬達(dá)加斯加島左上方非洲大陸沿海一帶）與索馬里不同，這個(gè)地區(qū)的國(guó)家如今很少被提及，只有像桑給巴爾(坦桑尼亞)偶爾提及——這樣的小國(guó)是弗雷迪·墨丘利（Freddie Mercury）的出生地。但是這個(gè)地區(qū)的歷史，雖然不多，卻可以追溯到古代。這個(gè)地區(qū)被希臘人和羅馬人稱為阿扎尼亞，從公元2世紀(jì)開(kāi)始就有印度人定居的考古證據(jù)。
（注：佛萊迪·摩克瑞（Freddie Mercury，1946年-1991年），出生于坦桑尼亞桑給巴爾島，帕西人，英國(guó)男歌手、音樂(lè)家，搖滾樂(lè)隊(duì)皇后樂(lè)隊(duì)（Queen）的主唱。）
1. Rhapta之城
雖然記述中只提到象牙和龜殼是Rhapta唯一的商品，但其他人猜測(cè)，該港口也交易肉桂和桂皮。
2. Kilwa蘇丹國(guó)
這個(gè)王國(guó)開(kāi)始于Kilwa城的建立，這是公元10世紀(jì)波斯殖民地的建立。摩加迪沙控制了索法拉市，而這里是摩加迪沙黃金和象牙的來(lái)源，因?yàn)樗桥c內(nèi)陸城市大津巴布韋貿(mào)易的門戶，也因此挑戰(zhàn)了摩加迪沙以及后來(lái)Ajuran蘇丹國(guó)的貿(mào)易主導(dǎo)地位。

By the 15th century A.D. Kilwa had become the overlord of the entire Swahili coast, controlling cities as far south as Inhambane and as far north as Mombasa, and islands like Zanzibar and Grand Comore. Kilwa’s exports included gold, copper, iron, incense, myrrh, slaves, ebony, vinegar, etc…
Sadly this prosperity would not last as this wealth attracted the attention of the Portuguese. The Portuguese wanted access to the Indian Ocean trade but they had nothing to trade except muskets and cannons, and the Reconquista had left the mentality that the only way to deal with Musli... states was from a position of power so they were hesitant to trade away these two advantages. So they entered the trade as pirates and conquerors. The city of Mombasa would be sacked twice in 1498 A.D and 1528 A.D. In 1502 A.D. they would use their menacing fleet to extract tribute from Kilwa. The cities of Malandi and Sofala soon became Portuguese allies and later vassals. In 1505 A.D. Portugal would attack Kilwa, depose it’s ruler and install it’s own puppet vassal. Portuguese rule was disastrous for the economies of the Swahili coast as they would implement mercantilist restrictions forbidding all but Portuguese ships to carry trade putting Swahili merchants out of business. This lead to violent revolts that devastated the city and marked the end of the Sultanate. Kilwa never recovered and the city still in ruins to this day.
The other cities and islands of the Swahili coast would continue to trade hands between the Portuguese Empire and the Imamate of Oman, with some brief bouts of independence like the Sultanate of Zanzibar in 1856 A.D. until they all eventually fell into the hands of the British and the Germans during the scramble for Africa.

到公元15世紀(jì)，Kilwa成為整個(gè)斯瓦希里海岸的霸主，南至伊尼揚(yáng)巴內(nèi)（注：莫桑比克境內(nèi)），北至蒙巴薩（注：肯尼亞），還有桑給巴爾和大科摩羅等島嶼。Kilwa的出口包括黃金、銅、鐵、熏香、沒(méi)藥、奴隸、烏木、醋等。
不幸的是，這種繁榮并沒(méi)有持續(xù)下去，因?yàn)檫@些財(cái)富吸引了葡萄牙人的注意。葡萄牙人想要進(jìn)入印度洋進(jìn)行貿(mào)易，但除了步槍和大炮外，他們沒(méi)有什么可交易的，“收復(fù)失地運(yùn)動(dòng)”留下了這樣的心態(tài):與穆斯林國(guó)家打交道的唯一方式就是從實(shí)力的角度出發(fā)，所以他們不愿放棄這兩個(gè)優(yōu)勢(shì)。所以他們以海盜和征服者的身份進(jìn)入這一領(lǐng)域。
（注：收復(fù)失地運(yùn)動(dòng)（西班牙語(yǔ)：Reconquista），又稱再征服運(yùn)動(dòng)、列康吉斯達(dá)運(yùn)動(dòng)，是公元718至1492年間，西班牙人反對(duì)阿拉伯人占領(lǐng)，收復(fù)失地的運(yùn)動(dòng)。從 718年的科法敦加戰(zhàn)役開(kāi)始，到1492年格拉納達(dá)戰(zhàn)役結(jié)束，共經(jīng)歷了8個(gè)世紀(jì)。 在西班牙語(yǔ)和葡萄牙語(yǔ)中，“Reconquista”一詞有“重新征服”的意思。）
蒙巴薩城在1498年被洗劫了兩次。公元1502年，他們利用自己的艦隊(duì)向Kilwa進(jìn)貢。馬蘭蒂和索法拉城很快成為葡萄牙的盟友，后來(lái)又成為葡萄牙的附屬國(guó)。公元1505年，葡萄牙攻打Kilwa，廢黜了它的統(tǒng)治者，建立了自己的傀儡附庸國(guó)。葡萄牙的統(tǒng)治對(duì)斯瓦希里海岸的經(jīng)濟(jì)是災(zāi)難性的，因?yàn)樗麄儗?shí)施重商主義限制，禁止除葡萄牙船只以外的所有船只進(jìn)行貿(mào)易，這讓斯瓦希里商人失去了生意。這導(dǎo)致了暴力起義，摧毀了這座城市，標(biāo)志著蘇丹國(guó)的結(jié)束。Kilwa至今仍是一片廢墟。
斯瓦希里海岸的其他城市和島嶼將繼續(xù)在葡萄牙帝國(guó)和阿曼的伊瑪目(Imamate of Oman)之間進(jìn)行貿(mào)易，并經(jīng)歷了一些短暫的獨(dú)立，比如公元1856年桑給巴爾(Zanzibar)的蘇丹國(guó)，直到他們最終在爭(zhēng)奪非洲的過(guò)程中落入英國(guó)人和德國(guó)人手中。