Pre-colonial African Philosophy About Universe

Pre-colonial African philosophy believed that the universe was in order and that the order created a harmony. The people relied on the land for food and security. During the age of hunter gatherers they needed trees to produce fruit and needed the abundance of animals such as zebras and dicker or fish to be in abundance in the oceans. As Africans engaged in agricultural pursuits rain was even more important for survival for crop production and livestock breeding because livestock were a symbol of wealth. When it did not rain people believed that the human actions affected imbalance in nature.

The governing law was the law of moral and religious order. Africans always had a religious world view. The laws of nature were believed to be controlled by God who set in motion the rules that governed society regarding right and wrong. Africans generally believed that the there was a supreme God. The belief in a supreme God came out of the belief that humans have limitations and could not explain conception, birth, death, stars in the sky and meteorites.

The supreme God was believed to have created the universe but there has been no concrete explanation that has been passed down from generation to generation. It is however believed in some parts that creation is ongoing and the Supreme God is still creating the universe.

Moral order created customs and institutions in precolonial Africa. Mora order directed person to God interaction and person to person interactions. When a person breached the moral code there were consequences by God and the spirits. Among the Bantu the belief was that when someone took another life then another life had to be given as restitution in the form a human being. If a man killed a woman his family would have to give a young man to join that family and help till the land. It was because of such values in human life that murders were scarce. The penalty was seen as too high a price to pay.