Page 80 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 13

MY AFRIKA

In 1961 a British archaeologist, not a Terra Nullius. Consequently,
found the ruins of Husuni Kubwa, the terra nullius law was altered to
the royal palace of the Tanzanian include land inhabited by savages
city of Kilwa. It had over a hundred and uncivilized people.
rooms, including a reception hall, Again, very quickly the colonial
galleries, courtyards, terraces and an power found it difficult to prove
octagonal swimming pool. that Africa was a land of savages
Gedi in the coast of Kenya. and uncivilized people. Instead
The Bamilike structures of the they found, as demonstrated above,
“Gedi, near the coast of Kenya, Cameroon are of mind-blowing queendoms and kingdoms with
is one of the East African ghost architectural delicateness and beauty. great palaces and highly developed
towns. Its ruins, dating from the The Bamum and Shomum scripts political and social norms.
fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, of the Cameroon are similar to At this stage, the colonial power
include the city walls, the palace, those of Ethiopia. There are over have to destroy any sign of civiliza-
private houses, the Great Mosque, 7000 ancient Bamum manuscripts tion.
seven smaller mosques, and three and the Bamum Palace is still per- From then on, the colonial power
pillar tombs. fectly preserved.” Robin Walter spent a lot of energy to destroy and
The ruined mosque in the Kenyan burn African historical buildings and
city of Gedi had a water purifier As historical sources described monuments, slaughtered the African
made of limestone for recycling above the continent was full of elite of engineers, scientists, crafts-
water. monuments. Where are they? men, writers, philosophers, etc.

The palace in the Kenyan city of The sad truth is that Europeans There is a museum in Paris with 18
Gedi contains evidence of piped invaders have destroyed most of 000 human heads of people killed
water controlled by taps. In addition them either as punitive actions or by the French colonial troops and
it had bathrooms and indoor toilets. under the scramble for Africa ‘Terra missionaries. It’s called “Musée
A visitor in 1331 AD considered Nullius’ law. d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris”.
the Tanzanian city of Kilwa to be Among the heads are the ones of
of world class. He wrote that it was During the scramble for Africa by African kings, kings’ families, african
the “principal city on the coast the Europeans, the main way to prove engineers, writers, army officers,
greater part of whose inhabitants that a land was qualified for col- spiritual leaders, but also ordinary
are Zanj of very black complexion.” onization or take over was ‘Terra men, women, children that the
Later on he says that: “Kilwa is one Nullius”, a Latin expression deriving french found unusual, exotic enough
of the most beautiful and well-con- from Roman law meaning “land or interesting to kill to enrich their
structed cities in the world. The belonging to no one”, which is used Museum of natural history where
whole of it is elegantly built.” in international law to describe ter- they display mainly animals skulls to
Bling culture existed in early Tanza- ritory which has never been subject represent bio-diversity and evolu-
nia. A Portuguese chronicler of the to the sovereignty of any state, or tion.
sixteenth century wrote that: “They over which any prior sovereign has France was not alone in the euro-
are finely clad in many rich garments of expressly or implicitly relinquished pean competition to behead the
gold and silk and cotton, and the women sovereignty. Sovereignty over terri- maximum of variety of exotic peo-
as well; also with much gold and silver tory which is terra nullius may be ac- ple. The skulls and heads of many
chains and bracelets, which they wear on quired through occupation” http:// Africans still could be found in
their legs and arms, and many jewelled en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_nullius museums and unusual places around
earrings in their ears”. Many islands were acquired that way Europe.
when it was possible to slaughter the
small population and easily prove Another consequence of the Terra
that the land was empty before the Nullius law defined as a land inhab-
arrival of colonial powers. ited by savages, lead to the capture
of Africans to display in zoos and

But very soon, the colonial pow- public events around Europe, in
ers were in difficulty to find “land primitive conditions, to demonstrate
belonging to no one”. Africa was the inferiority and barbarism of the

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