According to the records, Australia was first discovered by Dutch explorers in the early 17th century. So how did 1,000-year-old copper coins from a former African sultanate end up on a remote Australian beach?An Australian anthropologist, Ian McIntosh, is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, which began when five coins were found buried in sand by a soldier patrolling the Wessel Islands off the continent’s north coast in 1944, two years after Darwin was bombed by the Japanese.
Maurie Isenberg, who was manning a radar station on the uninhabited but strategically important islands, stored the coins in a tin, and on coming across them again in 1979, sent them to a museum.
They were identified as originating in the former sultanate of Kilwa, near present-day Tanzania, and dated to as far back as the 900s.
So far, so mysterious, for according to the history books the first outsider to set foot on Australian soil was a Dutchman, Willem Janszoon, who landed in present-day north Queensland in 1606 – more than 160 years before Captain James Cook arrived and claimed the continent for the British throne.
Dr McIntosh believes that the coins, which have apparently been gathering dust in the museum, could rewrite Australian history, indicating that the country was visited long before Europeans arrived.
[…]
Now a World Heritage ruin, Kilwa was once a flourishing trade port and in the 13th to 16th centuries had links to India. Its trade – in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian stoneware, Persian ceramics and Chinese porcelain – made it one of the most influential towns in East Africa.
To those of us who are well familiar with African history, this comes as no surprise.
Yes this is news (this is my first time hearing about these coins) but considering how far and wide Africans travelled at the time Europeans were still in the backwaters, it is not strange that they (at least their coins) reached Australia.
What I detest is this insistence on “discovery”, the indigenous people of Australia have been there for a while, neither Africans or Europeans (or people from the Middle East who have played roles in East African history) “discovered” Australia.
Emphasis mine.
Another no duh for Western academia
He is vengeance, he is the night, he is Batman. Kevin Conroy is back in Arkham Origins!
http://www.followingthenerd.com/ftn_news/he-is-vengeance-he-is-the-night-he-is-batman-kevin-conroy-is-back/
~Gorgeous image, but I still think Conroy is actually working on the 3rd chapter in the Arkham games, not this prequel.
(via batmansblackrose)
closet-racists like to claim that they’d be totally fine and dandy with traditionally white characters being portrayed by actors of color whilst they’re casually dismissing the prevalence of white-washing in hollywood. hate to break it to you, but that is NOT the typical response that actors of color receive, and if you can’t acknowledge that, then you’re only adding to the problem.
remember that time hunger games fans flipped their shit because rue, who IS actually black in the books, was rightfully cast as black in the film? apparently their rose-colored white-is-default glasses made their eyes gloss over that tidbit of info. (let’s not even get wholeheartedly into the fact that katniss was described as having olive skin and jet black hair but her casting call specifically asked for only white actresses…because non-whites could never be expected to have dark hair and tan skin amirite?!)
remember that time people actually boycotted thor because idris elba was in it? http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/12/16/racists-thor-idris-ebla-racism/
remember that time donald glover got hoards of letters calling him the n-word because there were rumors about him possibly being the new spiderman? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgko-xReFSs
or that time the film adaptation of avatar: the last airbender (a show with OBVIOUS asian inspiration) was almost an entirely caucasian cast except for the “bad guy”, who, in the cartoon is actually light-skinned? http://io9.com/5111680/avatar-casting-makes-fans-see-white
or remember that time all those fans said it was wrong to have angel coulby play the role of gwen in merlin because it wasn’t era-appropriate. because, ya know, being era-appropriate in a made-up story about magic is srs bsns.
so that’s why i don’t give a shit if you think i’m “overreacting” about jj abrams having a white actor play khan noonien singh. i’m not that surprised by it, since actors of color are routinely dismissed, but i still reserve the right to be pissed.
~I think about these tweets everyday. Every. Day. Like, there isn’t even space for people of color in your fucking IMAGINATION?
Batwing: you don’t dwell on the past. Batman: i do more than i like to. But i use it to fuel my actions. Not cloud my focus. #batwing #batman #dccomics #goodnight
Ran across a great book while doing research on racism in the environmental movement.
Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places
Each person interviewed talks about what they do outdoors and when/how they first became attracted to nature. They also discuss their views on (usually) being the only Black/Brown person in a “wild place” and on what they think keeps other people of color from experiencing the wild outdoors (variety of reasons given… poverty, too many responsibilities at home, not wanting to expose themselves to overt racism in small town America, etc.) .
The author of the book is Dudley Edmondson, a Black nature photographer/writer. So yeah.. the book has amazing photographs but also a great message: “Nature without question is for everyone.”
The purpose of the book is to encourage more Black people to discover nature and also for people to quit talking about what we don’t do. We (can) do everything!
I’m a nature enthusiast myself, and I’d love to not be the only Black person for miles and miles all the time. I cannot remember ever having any racist experiences on any of my little adventures… however, people in the book share some unfortunate stories. But, don’t let a fear of racist events stop you from enjoying nature. The land is a part of our culture! It is only in the last hundred years or so that Black people have become urbanized. Before this, we always had a relationship with nature. It’s time to reconnect!
~I’ve always bristled at any statement that starts with “You know Black people don’t…”
