A Brief Story on the History of Technology Innovations in Africa: Past, Present and Future

Discover new innovative talents and opportunities in the Africa technology industry and support the growth of this ancient but yet virgin technology empire.

The history of technology and technological innovations in Africa is a long one. This is not surprising really because Africa is said to be the cradle of human civilization. Yet, it is mind blowing the number of years that have passed between when our ancestors first crafted stone axes, up on till contemporary times when African countries are leading the world in the adoption of technology for certain tasks, such as mobile banking.

According to this introduction by Wikipedia on the "History of science and technology in Africa"

"Africa has the world's oldest record of human technological achievement: the oldest stone tools in the world have been found in eastern Africa, and later evidence for tool production by our hominin ancestors has been found across Sub-Saharan Africa..."

In this article therefore, we shall give a little overview of Africa’s technological progress since the earliest times and speculate the continent’s technological future.

The history of technology in Africa begins with the Stone Age, which started 2.5 million years ago and ended 5000 years ago. According to archaeologists, the earliest known evidence of the use of technology in Africa was at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania (East Africa), called the Oldowan industry. The site has artifacts of tools which were crafted from stones, such as axes and knives. With these stone tools, our ancestors made the leap onto the hunter-gatherer stage.

Although our ancestors could not completely offset the desertification of the Sahara which began in 5000 BC, they relocated onto other locations and founded rich agrarian societies across Africa. In this settled environment, iron working began and lead to the introduction of artworks, tools and weapons which aided the development of empires and states across Africa. Examples of such include the Egyptian Kingdom, the Carthage, Axum, Ghana, Kanem-Bornu, Songhai, Mali, among many others.

Technological development in Africa became static in Africa for a long time between 1500 and 1900. A key reason for this was slavery and colonialism which drained the continent of capable manpower.

Attempts to resuscitate the continent’s technological development since 1900 have been affected by inconsistency and the importation of foreign technology.

Presently, across Africa the pace of technological development is unequal. In areas such as communication technology, most African countries have developed sophisticated solutions, but were not home grown solutions either.

Yet in countries such as South Africa and Kenya, giant strides have been made technologically. Kenya for instance has been the global leader in the development of mobile money technology. Attempts to initiate this tech solution even in developed countries had never been successful until Kenya took the lead. Elsewhere in Nigeria, IT is being used to verify drugs and safeguard people’s health. In Botswana, technology is being contemplated as the main tool to tackle wildlife poaching. Presently also, one of the most noticeable trends in Africa’s tech development is the surge in android phone usage and internet accessibility.

Thus, it is clear that the technological development of Africa is not yet perfect; a lot of work and innovation remain unearthed and unexploited. But one thing remains clear: the continent has a lot of potentials. Its human and resource endowment is unquestionable. It is up to entrepreneurs and innovators to develop effective technological solutions to Africa's problems.

On NetworkAfrica, our aim is to help discover new innovative talents and opportunities in the Africa technology industry and to support the growth of this ancient but yet virgin technology empire. Join us on Twitter, Share our work on Facebook, submit your contributions to us.