Born in BlacknessTraditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the "New World." Still, others point to the development of the scientific method or the spread of Judeo Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been