It becomes clear fairly quickly that we don’t know Black history in America, but the truth runs deeper: we also don’t know African history. And both absences stem from the same reason—centuries of erasure. For generations, Africa’s past was deliberately misrepresented to support slavery, colonialism, and racial hierarchy. The narrative told in schools and on movie screens was that Africa produced “tribes” while Europe produced “civilizations.” But this was never true.

The reality is that Africa produced pharaohs, kingdoms, empires, and monumental architecture in multiple regions. The pharaohs of Egypt may dominate the popular imagination, but Egypt was not the only center of power on the continent. Nubia, Carthage, Aksum, Great Zimbabwe, the Swahili Coast, and the empires of West and Central Africa all stand as proof that Africa’s legacy is one of innovation and leadership. These civilizations were African in culture, leadership, and achievement—not European in disguise.

To recover this fuller picture, we must look both at the famous pharaohs and pyramids and at the other kingdoms that flourished alongside them. Africa’s civilizations developed along very different cultural, political, and architectural lines. They did not need pyramids or pharaohs to qualify as civilizations.

The institution of the pharaoh—divine kingship—began with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 BCE under Narmer (sometimes called Menes). Pharaohs ruled in successive dynasties for nearly three millennia, until Egypt was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra VII.

The pyramids became Egypt’s most iconic achievement:

The earliest pyramids date to the Old Kingdom (c. 2700–2200 BCE).

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara (c. 2630 BCE) was the first monumental pyramid.

The great pyramids of Giza—Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure—were built around 2600–2500 BCE.

Pyramid building continued into the Middle Kingdom (c. 2050–1650 BCE) and even the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BCE), though later pyramids were smaller and less durable.

By the Late Period (after 700 BCE), pharaohs no longer built pyramids but were buried in rock-cut tombs like those in the Valley of the Kings. Egypt’s great pyramid-building era thus spanned about a thousand years, from c. 2700–1700 BCE.

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© The Times of Israel (Blogs)