I've heard it all now!

[sasguru]

This is only partly true. The correct version should now read;

"In the UK we were once a backwater island on the outskirts of Europe inhabited by unspohisticated barbarians kept afloat by arrivals from the colonies in the Southern Sea's."

Mailman

Hmmm didn't England's Golden Age occur just after all the convicts were deported? And doesn't her decline coincide with their return?

[Gold Dalek]

What the feck are you talking about? Them darkies (including those darkies in the middle east and asia) had civilisations a heck of a lot more advanced than them whities in Europe in the same historical period.

BTW, I hear the brownshirts are looking for new recruits too

Mailman

Exactly!!! why did China, India,Middle East all advance?.. but not sub-saharan Africa

Why can nothing be discussed without some nazi comment?

[Pondlife]

This is only partly true. The correct version should now read;

"In the UK we were once a backwater island on the outskirts of Europe inhabited by unspohisticated barbarians kept afloat by arrivals from the colonies in the Southern Sea's."

Mailman

That would be hobbits and bar staff would it?

[Gold Dalek]

Hmmm didn't England's Golden Age occur just after all the convicts were deported? And doesn't her decline coincide with their return?

Englands decline can be acurately traced to giving women the vote

[snaw]

Exactly!!! why did China, India,Middle East all advance?.. but not sub-saharan Africa

Why can nothing be discussed without some nazi comment?

Discuss away, it's when people start making links with 'superior' genetics that the nazi comment will get raised.

As for an answer, who knows - civiliations rise and fall. Some never get started, we don't really know much about sub-saharan African history to assume that it's all hunter gatherer but even if it was does it make them genetically inferior? If Europe had been isolated from the rest of the world would we have been as advanced as we are now - most likely not, our big advances are built on initial steps made in other civilisations.

If the romans hadn't come along, if the chinese hadn't invented the press, if the arabs hadn't stored the classics of the antiquities, if Genghis Khan hadn't imposed peace throught asia, if Columbus hadn't discovered America (Or maybe that was the Cinese ...), if the reformation hadn't happened ...

[sasguru]

Exactly!!! why did China, India,Middle East all advance?.. but not sub-saharan Africa

Why can nothing be discussed without some nazi comment?

There were actually some pretty successful civilisations in sub-saharan Africa. Ancient Mali was one. And don't forget a British army at the height of its power was soundly beaten by the Zulus (who, it is true, outnumbered them substantially - but then again we don't mention that we needed to outnumber the Germans to beat them e.g. el Alamein!).

[Gold Dalek]

Discuss away, it's when people start making links with 'superior' genetics that the nazi comment will get raised.

As for an answer, who knows - civiliations rise and fall. Some never get started, we don't really know much about sub-saharan African history to assume that it's all hunter gatherer but even if it was does it make them genetically inferior? If Europe had been isolated from the rest of the world would we have been as advanced as we are now - most likely not, our big advances are built on initial steps made in other civilisations.

If the romans hadn't come along, if the chinese hadn't invented the press, if the arabs hadn't stored the classics of the antiquities, if Genghis Khan hadn't imposed peace throught asia, if Columbus hadn't discovered America (Or maybe that was the Cinese ...), if the reformation hadn't happened ...

If you subscribe to Darwinian Theory then genetics must enter into it...

I can recognise the advances made by China, India. Egypt, the civilisations of Central and South America, Arab civilisation before being stifled by religion, Roman, Norse, Germanic, Britannic,etc but nothing for sub-Saharan Africa.

As I alluded to in the original post .. those that walked out advanced - those that stayed appear not to have- I suppose it's too un-PC to make that observation and the knee-jerk reactions suggest that people are unwilling to discuss further. Or is the problem that world history is white –centric?

[Gold Dalek]

There were actually some pretty successful civilisations in sub-saharan Africa. Ancient Mali was one. And don't forget a British army at the height of its power was soundly beaten by the Zulus (who, it is true, outnumbered them substantially - but then again we don't mention that we needed to outnumber the Germans to beat them e.g. el Alamein!).

Ancient Mali was a feudal system on a localised scale - but was it a great civilisation, if so what made it great? How did it compare with 14th century Europe? What was its legacy?

Military defeats in battle are part and parcel of warfare.. what really matter is who won the war. The Zulu nation was eventually subjugated when spear armed warriors faced with rifle and cannon accepted the inevitable, same with the N.American Indians and Custer.. eventually forced onto the reservations despite winning at Big Horn

[Davros]

Ancient Mali was a feudal system on a localised scale - but was it a great civilisation, if so what made it great? How did it compare with 14th century Europe? What was its legacy?

Military defeats in battle are part and parcel of warfare.. what really matter is who won the war. The Zulu nation was eventually subjected when spear armed warriors faced with rifle and cannon accepted the inevitable, same with the N.American Indians and Custer.. eventually forced onto the reservations despite winning at Big Horn

subjugated

A word which given the course of this conversation has fascinating roots in the history of Roman Africa in its conflicts with King Jugurtha of Numidia.

[Gold Dalek]

subjugated

A word which given the course of this conversation has fascinating roots in the history of Roman Africa in its conflicts with King Jugurtha of Numidia.

You're making that up