AFRICA
BY JULIAN M. MURCHISON
Th e long history of human evolution in Africa carries with
it a long history of pathogens (disease-causing agents) that
evolved alongside the human populations, especially in the
tropical environments that characterize most of the con-
tinent. Humans evolved both biologically and culturally in
response to the presence of diff erent diseases, in ways that
allowed resident populations to survive and even to fl ourish.
Many of the diseases that would later emerge as the cause
of major epidemics and pandemics in Africa and the rest of
the world seem to have existed and developed as endemic—
that is, more or less permanently established in a place or
among a population—during African prehistory. Th e pres-
ence of endemic diseases almost certainly helped determine
where groups of people came to reside in diff erent parts of
ancient Africa and played an important role in shaping their
lifestyles. Changes in culture and in the environment, espe-
cially associated with the domestication of plants and ani-
mals, probably contributed to the development of diseases
and the likelihood that these diseases would cause debilitat-
ing epidemics.
As in other parts of the world, epidemics and pandemics
in Africa have been associated most oft en with the relatively
high population densities supported by agriculture and do-
mesticated animals. In much of ancient Africa population
densities were low and not conducive to the development of
large-scale epidemics among humans. Nevertheless, histori-
cal and archaeological evidence indicates that in those areas
of the continent where agriculture and the accompanying
larger and denser human settlements arose in ancient times,
epidemics began to occur among the residents. For instance,
there is evidence that the kingdom of Axum (in the highlands
of what is today Ethiopia), which had dense urban settlements
two millennia ago, suff ered sporadic but serious epidemics of
various diseases, including smallpox.
Archaeologists and historians have identifi ed several
diseases that probably existed in Africa during the ancient
period, including smallpox, trypanosomiasis (any of several
blood-borne illnesses caused by infection with a certain mi-
croorganism), malaria, and schistosomiasis (a set of diseases
caused by parasitic infection with a particular worm). Th e
primary evidence for smallpox on the continent comes from
Egypt, where mummifi ed human remains have skin marks
that may indicate smallpox infection. Some written records
from Egypt also suggest possible smallpox outbreaks during
ancient times. While these pieces of evidence are subject to
interpretation and are not defi nitive, they are highly sug-
gestive of smallpox’s presence. If smallpox existed in Egypt,
there was almost certainly enough human contact to diff use
the disease to other parts of the continent. During subse-
quent periods smallpox appears to have spread from Africa
to neighboring areas of the world, such as the Arabian Pen-
insula. At the time of European contact residents of southern
Africa utilized a form of traditional smallpox prevention in-
volving inoculation with the smallpox virus. We do not know
how long this prevention was practiced or its origins, but it
is suggestive of the creative and eff ective ways that ancient
Africans might have responded to endemic diseases and to
the threat of epidemics.
One form of trypanosomiasis, oft en referred to as “sleep-
ing sickness,” also seems to have a long history in Africa. Th e
disease is transmitted by the tsetse fl y, and a variety of envi-
ronments on the African continent supported this fl y. Th ese
environments changed as humans cleared land for agricul-
ture and other endeavors. In humans sleeping sickness can be
fatal, and a closely related form of the disease can be fatal for
cattle and other animals. Th erefore the presence or absence
of the disease almost certainly helped determine the primary
sources of food and other materials that residents of the con-
tinent could rely on in any given region. Today the herding of
animals exists as a traditional lifestyle in those areas where
the environment was not historically conducive to tsetse fl ies
and trypanosomiasis.Traditional healer in anti-smallpox costume, Nigeria, West Africa;
smallpox epidemics arose sporadically in ancient times in Africa. (©
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System)820 pandemics and epidemics: Africa