AFRIKA
…the first day in living memory
For a thousand years Africa existed in harmony with the rest of the Earth. Each continent content in relative isolation managed its own affairs as best as each knew how. Out of touch and physically challenged by distance. Apart from minor interaction on coastlines, the world was a big place, no need to know there, much less go there! The continent was a kingdom of communities. We can safely assume that culture was instrumental in governance of the community while villages provided essential frameworks for social structure. One would be hard pressed to find another explanation for the order of settlements one finds across the globe in quite independent and isolated circumstances.
The Family institution is also a global feature though regional setups differ the unit is easily identifiable wherever you go. And there is no question that it is the genesis of procreation and the proliferation of society. While family organization can be considered the nucleus of society, the village is perhaps the basic frame of social order.
Culture unified kingdoms under linguistic borders within geographical (topologic) locations. These kingdoms were essentially extended family groupings that could trace their origins to a common ancestor. Communities were bound and bonded by common heritage, history and homage. In these circumstances leadership facilitated the common good and the regulation of community interaction. Social issues were managed through communal objectives. Though survival may have been an occupying engagement there is plenty of evidence to show that industry, enterprise, education and innovation were not neglected. This points to leadership and leadership development in living memory.
The fact that communities existed and some survived on the earth is evidence that through the engagement of the people the land yielded sufficient resources to sustain its inhabitants. Whether resources were best utilized or utilized economically is perhaps an interpretation of culture. The communities that failed did so for reasons other than external competition or influence. The communities that survived, therefore, had sufficiently mastered the environment.
Kingdoms structured loose association or conflict with other communities, but the order of the day was mainly isolation. All this was to change forever at the turn of the millennium. Three intrusions would distort the face of Africa and disperse the kingdoms therein: Slave Trade, the Missionary and Colonialism. In between would flow the trader.
THINKING
An (isolated) organization cannot continue to exist in its current form when intruded upon by forces beyond its control. It will disintegrate.