The Origins of Civilization

What If the Victors Got It Wrong? Rethinking the Origins of Civilization

They say history is written by the victors—but what happens when the victors get it wrong? Or worse, what if they deliberately left things out? As someone who developed a love for history outside the classroom, I’ve often asked myself why so much of what I find fascinating about history—especially Black history—was nowhere to be found in my grade school textbooks. Where were the rich, complex African empires? The brilliant inventors, philosophers, and kings of color? Why was I taught that history began in Europe, reached its peak in America, and everything else was just background noise?

This question bothered me for years. So, as any curious amateur history buff would do, I googled it. And what I found shook the foundation of everything I’d learned. Turns out, civilization didn’t begin in Greece or Rome—it began in Africa. Long before Europe raised its first stone temple or the Americas saw their first settlers, African civilizations were thriving. Nubia, Kemet (Ancient Egypt), Carthage, Axum, Mali—all born of African soil. These weren’t just villages in the sand, they were vast, powerful societies rich in culture, science, architecture, and trade.

So why weren’t they in the books I studied as a child? Because when new civilizations rise, they often erase what came before, especially if the previous civilizations don’t fit the narrative they’re trying to tell. If your story starts with your own greatness, it’s inconvenient to admit that someone else beat you to it—and did it better. Especially if that someone doesn’t look like you. What we often call “history” is a version of the past filtered through politics, power, and pride. It’s less about what happened and more about who gets to tell the story.

The Pharaoh Taharqa
by AfricanAmericanStroy

Let’s be real: African history predates European and American history. But it’s been minimized, misrepresented, or outright ignored—not just in schoolbooks, but in archaeological circles, scientific communities, and yes, even churches. For decades, archaeologists downplayed or obscured African contributions to civilization. Evidence was buried, reinterpreted, or simply left out of the discussion. Why? Because acknowledging Africa as the cradle of civilization challenges deeply held beliefs about race, power, and identity.

But the truth is starting to come out. And it’s not just about fairness—it’s about accuracy. There is only one race: the human race. We all originated from the same place—Africa—and we’ve spread across the globe, adapting to our environments and developing unique cultures. That doesn’t make some of us more civilized than others; it makes all of us part of the same human story. And to know who we truly are, we must know where we truly come from.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the Bible itself is, in many ways, Black history. The lands mentioned—Ethiopia, Egypt, Cush—are African. Many of the people, too, were of African descent. Yet in popular portrayals, the people of the Bible have been systematically whitewashed. The stories we’ve heard have been filtered through centuries of cultural bias and colonial ideology. Reclaiming the truth isn’t just about race—it’s about restoring dignity, identity, and connection to millions of people who’ve been taught they came from nothing.

Print Set
by AfricanAmericanStroy

We live in an age where information is at our fingertips. We can no longer pretend we don’t know. And now that we do know, it’s time to correct the record. Not to rewrite history in favor of someone else, but to include the voices that were silenced, the civilizations that were ignored, and the truths that were buried. Telling the whole story enriches us all.

So let the victors have their version of the past. We’ll write a new one—rooted in truth, informed by all peoples, and shared by the entire human family. Because history isn't just about who won. It’s about who we really are.