Hamitic hypothesis is a proposition, theory or assumption that postulate that any development so far in Africa as a result of external influence. For an instance, the evolution of states in Nigeria was attached to a series of influences of migrants from the East or the West. Africa, unfortunately, found itself at the receiving end.
As stated by Fadeiye, Europeans seek an external source of origin for any high cultural, technological, or any political achievement or any historical movement in Africa. This was first postulated by A.P Newton, a late professor of Imperial History at the University of London.
That is to say, history only begins when men take to writing. Hamitic hypothesis is now part of African historiography, though later refuted in the 1950s and up till today, African scholars never stop to state the well established African culture before the coming of the Europeans who shattered the heritage of Africa with the slave trade, colonisation and lastly the parasitic capitalism that is unfit for African society.
The evolution of state in Hausaland was majorly attached to the advent of one prince from Baghdad, Bayyajida, who married the queen of Daura and subsequently changed the institution of governance from matrilineal to patrilineal form. And the internal evolution of state in Hausa land attached to the Wangara traders from the Songhai empire was not well known like that of Bayyajida, the Hamitic stuff.
AdvertisementThe Yoruba was that of a man called Oduduwa who migrated from Makkah, Saudi Arabia to Ile-Ife. All sorts of these legends were used to state the aspect of state evolution in Nigeria.
Lastly, as stated by Agbo, David Livingstone’s discovery of Nyasa land (Malawi) in 1859 marked the official beginning of Malawi history, while there were many Africans living in the area prior to the coming of Livingstone.
The Hamitic assumption has placed Africa and Africans to a subservient level when it comes to questions of development, technology, the standard of living and all sorts of progressiveness.
Cite this article as: T.O. Faforiji. (April 14, 2021). Hamitic Hypothesis: an Unfortunate Part of African Historiography. Tadexprof. Retrieved from https://www.tadexprof.com/2021/04/Hamitic Hypothesis an Unfortunately Part of African Historiography.html
