Are you interested in stories of cannibals and wild, beast-like people who once lived in the darkest regions of Africa? Have you ever wondered where those stories originated, and why they were so far from the truth?

This is a paper I wrote several years ago for a class called “European Representations of Africa.” It was my final paper, so it covered a lot of what we learned in the class. I just stumbled across it, and since I am fairly proud of my effort, I am posting it here. I’ve put the text of the introduction here, and the full paper is attached.

Throughout European history, Europeans have had definite views about their neighbors in Africa. The extent of contact between Europeans and Africans has changed over the centuries, and European attitudes about Africa and Africans have varied from positive to neutral to negative. At the same time, certain inaccurate images of Africa have persisted in the European mind and have filtered down through the generations, from Ancient Greece right up to the present day, despite the fact that ample resources have been available to correct them. These are the myths of Africa.

Ancient Greek knowledge of Africa was based mostly on hearsay and indirect sources, and as a result, the Greek image of Africa was rife with fantastic stories of monsters and strange people that were nothing like the Greeks themselves. To some extent this can be expected. The ancient writers had little access to reliable information, and what holes were left in travelers’ stories they had no problem filling with their own “facts.” The first extensive contact between Europeans and Africans came many centuries later with exploration of the West African coast by the Portuguese and others. With direct first-hand contact with Africans, Europeans should have been able to debunk the myths carried down from the ancients, yet the myths persisted. Some of this may have been because Europeans were not used to challenging the wisdom of ancient historians, but this only goes so far in explaining how the myths of Africa, most notably the myth of African inferiority, could have survived even up to the present day.

This paper will attempt to trace the origins of these myths and to explore the ways in which they have been modified over time to suit the needs of various Europeans throughout history, from the early explorers and traders, to the slave traders, travel writers, colonialists, and present day Europeans and Americans.

Myths of Africa