Black History Month - African Astronomy
October is Black History Month. Being a history of science nerd I shall celebrate this by sharing a few selected snippets about African science and mathematics. This week, some notes about aspects of African astronomy you probably didn’t know. The Dogons of Mali The Dogon people of Mali live on the western edge of the Sahara desert, and their oral traditions state that for thousands of years they have known that the Earth revolves round the sun, Jupiter has moons, Saturn has a ring, and that Sirius has a companion star (a fact not known in the West until 1862). It is thought they brought this knowledge with them as they migrated west from Egypt, keeping it hidden from outsiders until the 1950s. So sure were they about Sirius that they based their calendar on the 50 year orbit of Sirius B and Sirius A. The Stone Circle at Nabta Playa Contrary to popular belief Europeans weren’t the first to make predictions from astronomical observations. Further east of Mali at Nabta Playa