Early African Language and Literature
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An Anansi story
While people who spoke these languages all made up stories and told them to their children, only a few groups of African people began to write these stories and ideas down on paper. Some of the stories Bantu people told were about a spider called Anansi.
In Egypt, people began writing very early, about 3000 BC, using hieroglyphs. They wrote stories, official inscriptions, and prayers. South of Egypt, in Aksum, people also began to write.
In the rest of North Africa, people began to write about 800 BC, when Phoenician invaders brought the alphabet with them. We don't have any long stories from ancient Carthage, but we do have inscriptions and tombstones.
When the Romans conquered North Africa, people there began to write in Greek and Latin. Some famous African writers from this time are Tertullian, Perpetua, Cyprian, and Augustine (who were all Christians).
And when the Arabs conquered North Africa, people continued to write - the most famous of these is Ibn Battuta, who came from Morocco and wrote a history of his travels in Africa and all over the world in the 1300's AD.
