
In the realms of gold: exploring Africa’s rich history - antigizmo
https://spectator.us/realms-gold-africas-rich-history/
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Ftuuky
When one of the chapters was posted here [0] I got really interested in the
book but this review convinced me it's not going to be a big dense book. I'm
going to buy it.

[0][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18447923](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18447923)

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beat
I've been reading about political geography, and it's really made me rethink
African history, and the history of other non-Europe/non-US regions as well.
For example, why didn't Egypt ever grow its empire? Wood, or the lack thereof.
There are very few trees along the Egyptian part of the Nile, so they never
became a seafaring power the way the Greeks and Romans did.

The remarks in this article about castles made of grass plays into it, too...
durable architecture tends to stick around long after the culture that built
it disappears, and it protects other, less durable artifacts like clothing and
tools.

~~~
dimitar
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_navy)
The Ancient Egyptians had both had a navy and an empire.

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beat
Indeed, right at the top of the article, it states they had to travel to
Lebanon to get wood suitable for military ships. This sort of thing makes
naval power costly, relative to having suitable trees growing right by your
ports.

That said, Egypt has always been a major regional power. Why? Geography. It
has the Nile delta, a great breadbasket. And it has control of one side of the
Red Sea, the natural seagoing trade route between the Mediterranean basin and
Asia. Egypt will always be important due to those two geographic features.

~~~
mcguire
The major difference between Egypt and the nearby powers of the bronze and
early iron ages was that it was surrounded by desert on two sides of the
heartland, the Nile valley. Few managed to invade successfully and the only
major threats were from Libya, Kush, and the Levant.

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billfruit
I hope it doesn't restrict itself to sub-saharan Africa and covers the history
of Carthage, Egypt and Roman Africa.I think the history of Egypt itself could
fill many, many volumes.

