Читать книгу Children of Africa онлайн

8 страница из 20

Many long years ago the whole of the northern part of Africa was invaded by large numbers of fierce Arab tribes. They were very warlike and soon overran the whole country and settled down in it, and lived side by side with the original people of the country as their masters, but with whom they afterwards mingled. So the North Africans of to-day are, you see, a people of mixed race.

These hordes of conquering Arabs who overran the country were Mohammedans, and they forced their religion upon the people among whom they settled. Mohammedanism is therefore the chief religion of the north of Africa. Now these Berber tribes are very dark-skinned when compared with Europeans, but they do not belong to the black people. They are, in fact, classed along with the white races.

The true black people are the Negroes, and their home is in the middle part of Africa which stretches eastwards right across from the West Coast. They are the people with the black skins, the woolly heads, the thick lips, the flat noses, and the beautiful white teeth. It is they whose forefathers were bought as slaves and taken to America where we find their descendants to-day. They were a heathen people, and had many cruel customs, and some of them were cannibals. Mohammedanism has come upon them from the north and the east, and a great many of them now belong to that religion.