They're currently leapfrogging again, skipping the Industrial Revolution and going more or less directly from the primary economic sector (agriculture) to the tertiary one (services) thanks to tech import.
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2024
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A while ago, I read a really fascinating article about how a lot of Africa's infrastructure is higher-tech on average (though less extensive currently) than many developed countries', because they've been putting in the 'new' stuff from the start, instead of having to tear up all the old landlines etc and replace it. Like how London was innovative in making gas lights, but because of that, ended up keeping them 'til the 1950s, when everyone else had swapped to electric.
The spread of technology is a fascinating thing!
I lived in Togo for 2 years and I noticed this. My go-to example was music: they skipped records, 8 tracks, cassette tapes, cds, and everyone went straight to having music on their phone.
In second-world countries like mine, we didn't skip technologies much but avoided format wars and just ended up with the winner:
- ~~Betamax~~ VHS
- ~~MiniDisc~~ USB flash storage, SD cards
- ~~iTunes~~ YouTube and pirated MP3s
- ~~HD DVD~~ Blu-ray − just kidding, piracy again for most
- ~~Game consoles~~ PC because it's cheaper to stay up-to-date with hardware and games (not everyone though)
If tech moves too fast, people get annoyed. Up until 2008, one could use just about any old TV, perhaps with a UHF-VHF converter and a PAL-decoding mod for SECAM sets. Now that they need a new digital tuner every few years because wireless and video tech is evolving fast and we're no longer staying behind, they keep complaining.
When I was in Benin there was quite a flourishing market in CDs (this was in 2002)
Similar with banking and mobile internet for much of Africa. Why get a landline when mobile exists. Much of less developed asia, too.
Explanation: This is in reference to the fact that much of Sub-Saharan Africa lacks a distinctive Bronze Age. Due to the spread of bloomeries, there is a 'leap' from Neo and Chalcolithic societies to Iron Age societies. Intermediate step? Fuck 'em!
I'm not 100% sure that isn't some Euro-centric BS going on there!
This is informative for those that care: https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Africa
Idk about that but the idea that civilizations progressed through specific ages is somewhat of a myth. They just used the metals they had access to.
It takes one Wololo to convince you otherwise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age#Africa
Not sure what you find Eurocentric about this meme.
That article states that there were Bronze Age developments across Africa. So I still don't see what that meme is suggesting beyond some sort of crude attempt too paint Africa as not having the same historical developments as the rest of the world. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong?!
As the wiki article linked notes, most places in Africa didn't have a sustained bronze age. This isn't some 'crude attempt' or anything, it's recognition that technological development is not always linear. Africa came out swinging on iron bloomeries before just about anyone else. The invention and spread of the bloomery in Africa meant that they never went through a sustained period, like Europe or China, where iron was hard to refine and work, but bronze could still be handled by more primitive furnaces.
Bronze is just not worth it, except for decorative purposes and the like, if you can smelt iron.
Not quite how I read it but I'm happy you've taught me something about African metallurgy and history
What is up with that article? The first several paragraphs only talk about Libya, lol. Was it written by the publicity department of Libya?
WTF is Wikiversity?