Abzolute Afrika
Abzolute Afrika is a collection unlike any other. With so many facts and historical events forgotten as time goes by, Abzolute Afrika aims to promote and highlight some of the most unique and definitive facts that have shaped African & Caribbean culture over the years.
Nat Turner led one of the biggest slave rebellions in history in August 1831, in Southampton County, Virginia. The rebellion lasted 4 days as they went from house to house killing any slave owners and freeing other slaves.
The Ivory Coast has the biggest church in the world. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, built in 1990, is 158m high and also has an area of 30,000m².
Eliud Kipochoge is the first athlete to run a marathon in under 2 hours. The 34-year old Kenyan completed the race in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.
Many Jamaicans are descendants of the Akan Tribe in Ghana. The Jamaican Flag is in commemoration of the Ashanti Empire (Modern Day Ghana).
The prophet Muhammad and his first followers migrated to Abyssinia (Modern Day Ethiopia). 'King Armah,' of the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia allowed them refugee status, as well as the right to practice Islam in the land.
'Vibranium', in Black Panther is based on the real life mineral 'Coltan,' which serves the same function of creating an electro-transmissive charge. This is used in anything from mobiles to helicopters and is mainly located in DR Congo.
The Ghanaian tribe name 'Ashanti' means 'because of war'. 'Esa' = war 'Nti' = because of. The Ashanti people, now based in modern day Ghana, are direct descendants of warlords.
'Dambe' is a Hausa martial art native to West Africa. It's traditionally practised by men, to prepare them for war.
The Dahomey Amazons were a legendary military unit in what is now modern-day Benin. Their team consisted of only females. They were also known as 'Mino' - meaning 'our mothers', in the native language of Fon.
Christianity was in Africa well before the European Crusades. Orthodox Christianity has been practiced in Ethiopia & Egypt since 330AD.
It took one Somali sub clan to derail an entire US operation. The Habr Gadir Clan shot down 2 US helicopters. This is what became notoriously known as 'Black Hawk Down,' in popular culture.
Queen Amina (1533-1610) was the leader of the Hausa tribe in Zazzau (modern day Nigeria). Her military tactics and operations allowed Zazzau to occupy more territory than ever before, making her a well known military figure in African history.
Equatorial Guinea are the only Spanish speaking country in Africa. This officially makes them Hispanic.
Ella Little-Collins was Malcolm X's half-sister. She was an educated businesswoman in an era of misogynism and racism. She converted to Islam before her brother and paid for his Hajj visit when he decided to convert.
In 2005, Kanye West made a song called 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone'. This was homage to the vast amounts of diamonds being mined, mainly by children, in Sierra Leone. This caused tensions and eventually led to the Sierra Leonean Civil War (1991-2002).
The King of Pan-Africanism | Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, in his home nation of Jamaica, on July 15th 1914. It was the biggest black movement in history, with over 6 million members in 40 different countries.
Howard Gayle, Liverpool's first ever black footballer, turned down an MBE (Member of the British Empire) Honour in 2016. He said that it would "be a betrayal to all of the Africans who lost their lives, or have suffered as a result of empire."
Haiti is in commemoration of the Taino word 'ayiti', meaning land of the mountains. After the Haitian Revolution in 1804, the Afro-Haitian people paid tribute to the indigenious people of the land.
The Igbo Landing | Upon arrival to the US Coast, a slave ship full of Igbo slaves rebelled and drowned their captives. Some say the Igbo rebels then walked into the water and committed suicide whilst singing praise to God.
Samuel L. Jackson recently traced his ancestry and discovered that he is a descendant of the Benga people of Gabon. He became a naturalized citizen of Gabon as a result of this.
During the Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804, Haiti managed to defeat the armies of the British, Spanish and the French.
Thomas Sankara was the former President of Burkina Faso and led their Marxist Revolution in 1983. He outlawed FGM & forced marriage. He also redistributed land to workers, planted 10 million trees & vaccinated 2 million kids; before he was assassinated in 1987.
"Ubuntu" is a Zulu philosophy which translates to "I am because we are". Humanism was a key philosophy in Southern Africa.
Benin is widely recognised as the home of Voodoo. It is often practised across West Africa and in certain parts of the world, however, in Benin, Voodoo is a way of life since it is officially recognised as a religion.
When Malcolm X served a 10 year sentence in prison, he memorised every word and definition in the English dictionary.
Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian Revolutionary and Prime Minister, inspired the launch of the African Cup of Nations. The first tournament was held in 1957, a year before the first European equivalent.
The Ancient Egyptians managed to build the Pyramids facing north in ~2500 BC by following the alignment of the stars as they rotated in the night sky.
Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria before it was moved to Abuja, is the country's largest and most populous city. It has been repeatedly dubbed as "Africa's Big Apple," in reference to New York City.
The Pygmy people native to Central African regions have an average male height of 4'11 and female height of 4'2.
Ota Benga was a Mbuti (now modern day DR Congo) pygmy man who was captured by slave traders in the early 1900s, decades after slavery was supposedly abolished. He was brought to the USA and was featured in a human zoo in the Bronx, causing widespread outrage.
Queen Pokou or 'Abla Pokou', was the first queen and founder of the Baoule tribe primarily located in Ivory Coast. As a result of a disagreement with the Ashanti Empire (Ghana) she and her group migrated to Ivory Coast and are now the largest ethnic group in the country.
The richest man ever to live was the Emperor of Mali, Mansa Musa. His net worth was over $400bn, this was a result of trading gold.
The name 'Jamaica' comes from the Twi language, which Ghanaian slaves from the Akan tribe spoke. "Gyama" = Perhaps, "Yaka" = We have remained. GyamaYaka was eventually shortened to Jamaica when the Ghanaians realised they were staying permanently.
The flag of Barbados has two bands of ultramarine and one gold band in the middle, these represent the ocean and the sand respectively. The broken trident in the middle is symbolic of their break away from the British Empire.
Ancient Egypt was known as 'Kemet', which translates to 'black land'. The name was derived from the skin colour of the Nile Valley people.
In October 2010, former Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi formally apologised on behalf of the Arabs, who partook in the historical enslavement and trafficking of Africans across North Africa and the Middle East.
John Edmonstone, a freed black slave from Guyana, taught Charles Darwin about taxidermy whilst he was a student at Edinburgh University. This skill was used during Darwin's voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in 1831 and helped him form the basis of the theory of Evolution.
Edna Adan Ismail is known as the "Muslim Mother Teresa", for her philanthropic work and activism throughout Somalia and Somaliland. She campaigned against FGM and also built a hospital in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.