There is much argument over the first civilization in Africa. Historians believe that it was the Egyptians with their praised pharaohs and elaborate pyramids. However, others use their knowledge to hypothesize that Nubians were the first civilization in Africa from 900 B.C. to 350 A.D. Early tribes of Africa include the Afar, Ashanti, and Bemba tribe1. The Afar was a cultural group that centered on a nomadic culture. They spent their early days in Africa tending to livestock and studying the Islamic religion. A similar cultural group, the Bemba, lived in rural villages with their extended families and worked as subsistent farmers. Irrespective of the sizeable population and significant amounts of hardships, the Bemba tribe collaborated amongst themselves to earn their living. The early civilizations and tribes used ivory from elephant trunks and ostrich eggs as medium of exchanges with those around them. Though the early people had hunted game and gathered wild vegetables, by 6000 B.C., the Sahara Desert was taking over the environment. Africans began to live on sheep, cattle, and fish and gather the wealth crops of wheat, barley, and millet (a type of grain). They also developed a major trading center, Timbuktu. Mansa Mussa, the King of Mali, used his power when traveling to Timbuktu, the sacred city, to develop the first university in the 1300s. The glamorous city and university were awed upon by all as they supposedly held masses of gold and other precious resources. Europeans first arrived in the mid-seventeenth century near the Cape of Good Hope, hoping to conquer power over the native tribes. Beginning in the seventh century with their Islamic beliefs, Arabs also immigrated to Africa as the most numerous immigrant group. At first the tribes worked their best to isolate the immigrants from their pureness of culture; however, with time the native tribes of Africa began to acknowledge the other cultures.

The population of African inhabitants has a wide assortment of languages. These include, but are not limited to, Afrikaans, Arabic, Luganda, Kiswahili, and Swahili. Due to the numerous tribes in Africa, there is more of an acceptance for tribal and diverse languages than in America. Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, originating from the Germanic language family. Africa is also strong in the Arabic language. Surprisingly, there is even one country, Equatorial Guinea, in Africa that was conquered by the Spanish in 1968 and continues to speak the Spanish language today.

As with other countries, nations, and continents around the world, Africa experienced a plethora of difficulties. Starting in the early 1900s, the apartheid began to spread throughout South Africa. These laws affected all areas of life by pursuing a “white-only” policy that created an early form of discrimination of Africans. Under these laws, natives and immigrants of Africa were classified as either white, African, or colored, based on appearance, social class, and heritage. The apartheid shows an early example of how a discriminatory mindset would later spread to the Americas and elsewhere around the world. The early people of Africa also experienced and continue to experience today a history of malnutrition and diseases, such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malaria, cholera, and measles.