By Hassan Saadallah
The resentment with which African Americans received the CT scan image of the King Tutankhamen mummy as displayed by the National Geographic was not surprising. African Americans consider the ancient Egyptian civilisation as a 'black' African one, established at the hands of Africans given that it was created in Africa thousands of years before Egypt was conquered by armies from the north and east. They have gone as far as to consider themselves an extension of such a civilisation which they boast of belonging to in the American society.
The suggested features of the young king are easily recognisable as 'Egyptian', and possessing similar features to those carried by members of the 18th and 19th dynasties, Abdu Hassaan, a tour guide, told The Egyptian Gazette. However, African Americans are convinced that the ancient Egyptian civilisation was built by 'black' Africans and having developed alongside many other African civilisations spread throughout the continent.
African Americans are convinced that the ancient Egyptian civilisation was established by the Nubians, who happen to be their cousins. "African Americans pay frequent visits to Nubia and mix with the people there, offering them help prompted by the kinship they enjoy," said Hassaan.
Some American researchers find a relationship between African Americans and Nubians, basing this conclusion particularly on the similarity of facial features, particularly the nose. They link this connection to the kings of the 25th dynasty who had a dark complexion.
However, according to historical accounts, Pharaohs mostly lived in Upper Egypt where the hot temperature affected their skin, making it dark in colour, but not black.
Commenting on this, Dr Handouqa Ibrahim, a professor of history at the African Research Institute, said that many books have talked about the African 'black' origin of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. Antadiop, a famous African intellect, is considered a staunch zealot of this theory which he expounds in his book 'The Negro Origin of the Egyptian Civilisation'. He based his book on the testimony of certain historians, such as Herodotus, who referred to the Egyptians as 'black people'.
Yet Dr Ibrahim refutes these claims, noting that tracing the development of the Egyptian civilisation from the stone-age reveals that non-Egyptian elements had little influence on it. At the time when the Egyptian civilisation was at its prime, most African cultures were still primitive. "Why did these civilisations not develop if the black people were really the builders of the ancient Egyptian civilisation?" said Dr Ibrahim in an interview with The Gazette.
The Egyptian civilisation had an impact on peoples of the African continent on both the cultural and doctrinal level. The Egyptians spread their belief about immortality and resurrection to neighbouring parts of the continent, particularly Libya and Ethiopia, said Dr Handouqa. Egypt also had strong relations with inhabitants of West Africa, basing this on the discovery of a pottery chard there which is very similar to pottery used in Egypt at its time of manufacture. Egypt also enjoyed trading relations with its neighbours, reliant on them for numerous raw materials. But this does not mean that the ancient Egyptians were 'black people', he noted.
