Whiteness Likes to Believe It Knows Everything — It Knows Shit
5 Times The Ignorance of Colonizers Has Hindered the World’s Progress
Agriculture
Native American tribes such as the Haudenosaunee (also known as Iroquois) had developed a sophisticated and sustainable method of agriculture, known as the “Three Sisters” system.
They planted corn, beans, and squash together in a way that allowed each crop to support the others’ growth. The cornstalks provided a structure for the beans to climb, the beans fixed nitrogen into the soil, and the broad leaves of the squash plants helped retain moisture in the soil.
European colonizers, unfamiliar with this type of intercropping, initially ignored these practices, leading to poor yields.
After observing the health and productivity of the Native American crops the colonizers began to adopt similar techniques.
Land Management
Indigenous Australians (and Indigenous people in Canada) have practiced firestick farming for thousands of years.
This process involves intentionally starting small fires to clear underbrush and stimulate the growth of certain plant species. The resulting mosaic of different plant communities also served to limit the spread of bushfires.
When British colonizers arrived in Australia, they misunderstood these practices as destructive rather than recognizing them as a sophisticated form of land management.
The lack of traditional fire management has been linked to the increase in catastrophic bushfires in Australia and Canada.
Medicine
The Khoisan people of South Africa have a long history of using the Sutherlandia frutescens plant (also known as cancer bush) for medicinal purposes, including boosting the immune system and treating fevers, chickenpox, and asthma.
When European colonizers first arrived, they often dismissed traditional African medicine as superstition or primitive.
It took centuries for the medicinal properties of Sutherlandia frutescens to be recognized by Western medicine, and it is now used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and cancer.
Architecture and City Planning
The Kingdom of Benin, located in what is now Nigeria, was renowned for its city planning and architecture. Its capital, Benin City, had a complex system of walls and streets, some of which were guarded by moats and defensive earthworks.
The city also boasted elaborate homes and royal palaces, decorated with intricate bronze plaques. When British colonizers arrived in the 19th century, they dismissed these structures as primitive.
Unable to appreciate the sophistication of the city’s design, the British plundered and razed Benin City in 1897, destroying much of its architectural heritage.
Astronomy
The Dogon people of Mali have an astronomical tradition that dates back hundreds of years. According to their tradition, they were visited by a race of beings from the star system Sirius, who gave them detailed knowledge about Sirius and its companion star, Sirius B, which is invisible to the naked eye.
This knowledge included the fact that Sirius B was a small, dense star with a 50-year orbit (in some literature the orbit is noted as 60 years), facts that were confirmed by Western science only in the 20th century.
…the dance ceremony known as the sigi. Operating among the Dogon is a mask society. After he is recognized as an adult, each male carves himself a mask that is worn during the funeral services, and for an elaborate dance, the dama, during which the men are on 12-foot stilts. The sigi happens only once every 60 years and marks the renewal of the generations. It also marks the rebirth of the white dwarf star near the star Sirius.
This dance goes back many centuries. However, Western astronomers had only discovered the star in 1928 and photo-graphed it in 1970. The Dogon taught that the sacred star orbited Sirius every 60 years. The astronomers discovered that they were correct.
French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen recorded this knowledge in the 1930s, but their reports were met with skepticism by Western astronomers until the 1970s.