Name:S07691    Student ID：Zheng Juan
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Seku Conde
Minzu University of China
2007-2008 Academic Year
 

Africa —— one continent, many culture
 
Abstract：
The vast continent of Africa is so rich and diverse in it's culture with it not only changing from one country to another but within an individual country many different cultures can be found.
⑴The cradle of ancient civilization [1]
 
African is the remote cradle of ancient civilization and ancient times is highly civilized continent, which made a great contribute to the world civilization. The Egypt culture is the most representative at that time that has influence on Europe and west Asian. The brilliant artistic achievements, such as construction , paintings and sculptures and majestic  pyramids , Sphinx, the temple of Luxor still stood in the  edge of Nile river. These  are   wonder in the architectural history and is also  the excellence wisdom.
2. The oldest civilizations of ancient Africa left a large number of heritages.
There are 830 world heritages in the world , which own 108 in the African [2]. Except the famous pyramid , the most attract are Abomey palace , Lalibela churches  in Ethiopia and circular arena  in Tunisia.
In this article , I will introduce the general ideas about the ancient famous architectures, how these famous architectures have effect on African economic, and what aspects African culture has affected world culture. I will use examples and analogy methods to illustrate my topic. There are many ancient architectures  in the African. I will take example such as pyramid, Sahala desert, sphinx, Karnak temple, Abu • Xinbo temple, because these can stand for the spirit of African culture and the great wisdom of African people. Because of these constructions, many tourists come here to visit every year, which bring a prompt effect on African economic. So, it is necessary to learn more about African culture.
Key words:  Northern Africa , world culture heritage, influence , protection
 
Ⅰ.Introduction
African culture is very huge and profound, including architecture culture, language culture, cuisine culture, and art culture and so on. It need us to inquiry and research. These famous architectures display mystery atmosphere of ancient African and people`s great wisdom  and strength. They attract many tourists  to come  here every year. As a result, here, we only talk about African  construction culture that is unique and classical ,such as Egypt, Karnak temple, Carthage Ruins, Abu • Xinbaile temple.
 
Ⅱ general ideas
2.1 Egypt pyramid
In Egypt, there were many culture representative such as pyramid.
Martin Bernal  from Cornell university in American  released  many of works《Black Athena》[3] in 1987. In this Books, he demonstrated and infer that Greek Aegean civilization of the European civilization origined from Nile, the middle section of the Pharaoh civilization
From 4000 BC to 333 BC，pharaohs  leave many A tremendous Material  heritage，but also pass on Their cultural and spiritual heritage from generations  to  generations。
Nowadays，Majestic  pyramid, great Karnak temple, Carthage Ruins, Abu • Xinbo temple stand on the  ground  in the  African，all of  which shows that the ancient Egyptians have extraordinary architectural wisdom.
In Egypt，The magnificent stone buildings，Amazing works of art，The ancient text，which is a bright pearl in the African culture。African   people are proud of  it。It is famous for pyramid in Egypt。The ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs  and their queens. The pharaohs were buried in pyramids of many different shapes and sizes from before the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom
There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt. The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu. It is known as the 'Great Pyramid'.
Among the pyramid，there  was a  famous  pyramid  which was Giza，including  Khufu pyramid(second generation of Pharaoh)，[4] Kafu Le  pyramid(fourth generation of Pharaoh)，Bangladesh  pyramid (sixth generation Pharaoh).
Khufu pyramid, also known as the Abu Si-pyramid, built in 2760 BC, is the largest pyramid in the history, and  it is  the one of the seven wonders of the world. The tower was 146.5 meters high, with wind and rain erosion thousands of years of, it is 138 meters high. Around the bottom edge is 220 meters long every edge.. The whole pyramid built on a huge rock, covering about 52,900 square meters, the volume of about 2.6 million cubic meters. Outer stones is  about 115,000, an average of 2.5 tons per weight and the biggest one weighing about 16 tons.
The second pyramid at Giza  that made by Kafu Le, which  locate  in the center. It is smaller than the Khufu pyramid, but its artistic  style and precision engineering design can match  with Khufu pyramid . But because it built on a higher ground of platform, it looks like magnificent. The basement is about 215.7 meters,  the height is 143.6 meters. They made up  with the  limestone and granite masonry  and  its  subsidiary  building  is much spectacular. [5]
The third pyramid made by Bangladesh Caughley lied in south. It is the smallest one , but very delicate. The bottom edge of 108.7 meters long, 66.5 meters high. This three Giza pyramids have been stolen, which the treasure has lost. But they embody the ancient Egyptian`s superb engineering technology. Every day, it attracts thousands of tourists.
After the fourth dynasty, although the other pharaohs built many pyramids, the scale and quality are not the same as  the  prior  pyramids. After the sixth dynasty, with the ancient Kingdom of the pharaohs power split ,the Egyptian people stolen body of the pharaoh from the pyramid, so,the pharaoh of Egypt would no longer to construct the pyramid, and they cut a secret grave In the mountains.[5]
2.2. Karnak Temple
Karnak  temple  lies in  the  east of  Nile .The giant stone of Karnak  temple was carvings treaty  about solving  war  through  peaceful means  in the human history which signed between the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Rameses  and the ancient Hittites  over 3,200 years ago. Although Ramesses II ruled Egypt empire powerfully, But he is still willing to be peace through the signing of peace treaty. This is because the ancient Egyptians advocated peace and did not advocate through force to resolve disputes. Pharaonic era of the "owners" cultural impact from to generation. The signing of this treaty made Egypt became the first Israeli reconciliation with the Arab countries. It is one of  the  most  Spectacular ancient  architectures. people believe  that  all  thoughts  lost in  this place. It is the oldest temple, which was made up three parts.
Around it, there are many  little  temples. On  both sides of the row is the  St. sheep, mixed with some boards wrapped in gold or silver Surface, sparkling. The temple built in B C 14 , it is famous for the huge scale, which is  the  biggest  temple  supporting with pole. Its area   is beyond half Of Manhattan.   There is atmosphere of  mysterious and  Suppress  in the  temple.  Spirit feel suppress under the weight of  material. However, this suppress is the beginning of the cult, and this is the base of creation. [6]
In the temple, there are many painting and carving.  It shows Egypt`s tales and scenes of  living. 
2.3.  Carthage Ruins
Tunisia is also a  ancient civilization  city.  Carthage  stands for  their culture. It lies in  northeast of Tunisia  from  17km, which list in culture  heritage  of world.  People  can  feel  its  charming of  that time  through  remnant  wall, opera and  Stones. According to records, Carthage Ruins was built in  BC 9. at that time, the nation  became stronger and  stronger  that is the center of politics, economics and  business.  Carthage Ruins  included  Bath place  and   gym  that is made in AD 145—162。[7]
    In  the  residents, it contented  sculpture  and painting  that displayed  the  acknowledge  of  people.  Carthage  city  was  the  same  as  other Roma cities, which  had  opera and  arena.  Its areas were very  huge  that  accommodate  50000 audiences.  After  destroying,. This  place  became a  construction ruins.
    The Carthaginians lived in the great city of Carthage, which was located on the northern coast of Africa. The Carthaginians had two huge connected harbors located in the Gulf of Tunis. Carthage was located on a peninsula, and the two harbors were connected by a channel going into Carthage. One of the harbors was located within the city walls and could harbor over one hundred military ships.
The legend says that Carthage was founded by Dido, the daughter of the king of Tyre. Tyre was another great Phoenician city. Carthage, originally a trading post, was established around the 9th century BC. Through the years Carthage and its people formed a great empire. Carthage does not have much to show for it’s power and prestige though. What little fine arts Carthage had were replicas of Greek or Egyptian art. Their script was very limited, and shows their lack of record taking. Carthage was known by their army which was almost always at war with the Greeks and Romans. The Punic Wars show the power of the young Carthaginian army. They Blasted through Spain in 264 BC in the first Punic War, lead by Hasdrubal and his young son Hannibal. [...]

If you want to read the full article, you need to ask for permission from Sekou ( ). If you have the permission, you can login now.