problem is, is that virtually every other people/region on earth has had periods of advanced, enlightened civilization; the middle east is shit now, but during the dark ages they were world leaders of civilization and knowledge. china/japan/south asia have had periods where they were 3rd world backwaters, but also extensive period where they were the pinnacle of mankind. europe rose, then fell during the dark ages, then rose again, now is declining...even south america had period of highly advanced civilizations and architecture that boggles the mind to this day.
thing is...africa...a vast, enormous continent..has NEVER had a period where any of its people had even risen above iron age- level status. thats gotta say something.
First off excluding rome(it was mediterean based) even egypt,iraq and algeria were part of it. Europe never really got civlized until around the 1200's. And it took centuries to get it off the ground. The only thing it ever had going for it was trade. It's geography with loads of rivers and sea's made it ideal for trade, and competition. Europe was built on trade somethign only it's geography and position in the world would be good for.
Asia was pretty stable. They appear to have fallen to shit because the never had the industrial revolution. Europe got in the way of letting it spread properly. But now that European communism has got out of the way of india and china things are going back to where it should be.
African geography is shit, you simply don't know it if there's even a debate. Aside from south africa and the northern coast(mediterean) there econmies are shit. The land is mostly shit, there's not a lot of rivers etc. And it's fucking huge. You can't even grow rice in most of the continent, and roads din't exist until 100 years ago and recent politics got in the way.
