Eighteenth-century Europeans knew Africans had settled agriculture and metallurgy

Evidence

It was known two centuries ago that Negroes lived in settled, agriculture societies; that they cultivated a variety of crops, raised large herds of cattle, and planted groves of shade trees. It was known that they were highly skilled in the use of iron and copper, in the making of jewelry and pottery, and in the weaving of fine cotton textiles. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Directly contradicts the passage at 403’s denial of African history — this is Davis’s evidence against the racist historiography.
• DEFINE: Grounds what ‘African social order’ concretely meant before European denialism erased it.