One of the main controversies concerning the race of Ancient Egyptians
is determining whether or not to regard their history as "African
History" since Egypt is located in what is now Africa. Most ancient
historians do NOT discuss Egyptian history as African history, but
rather as isolated or, in later periods, in tandem with Near Eastern and
Mediterranean history. This is because Egypt was more or less cut off
from sub-Saharan or Western Africa for most of its existence. Instead,
Egyptians interacted most closely with Nubians and Near Eastern peoples.
This
is controversial because Egypt was the birthplace of civilization. Many
African-Americans find it Eurocentric that Egypt is lumped together
with Western History. Instead, they would argue Egypt be discussed as
uniquely African and civilization as an African, rather than a Western,
invention. There is basis for this argument as well. Egyptians were most
closely tied to Nubians (to their South) by means of trade and warfare.
Additionally, while Egyptians had no categorical concept of race, they
were most definitely not white and instead more closely resembled
Africans of today.
In all, it is a difficult concept. On the one
hand, anthropology and archaeology have historically been quite racist,
European inventions and thus it should not be surprising how ancient
historians regard Egypt today. But on the other hand, Egypt was very
much connected to the Near East and, at that time, there was in fact no
concept of "Africa" as a geographic space.
Hope this helps!!!
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