Well, I lived in West Africa for many years, so I believe my opinion is based on fact. Let me address some of things you bring up:
- West Africa maybe huge, but it's not diverse. The entire western coast of Africa is one of the few places in the world where a major ocean runs on the east-west line and not on the north-south line. What this means geographically is that the coast has almost the same temperature and almost the same geography. Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, they all have almost identical landscape.
- West African warfare has always been with machetes. West Africans use bows and arrows, but the arrows are very small, and the bows have a different form from the european bows. The bows are smaller and lot more arched. The arrows have also been traditionally poisoned tipped.
- You can't fight a war using a canoe in a West African river. The vegetation is too thick for this to make any sense.
- Calvary? Are you kidding me? Horses are the worst form of transportation in a rain forest.
- Shields? No. Maybe light shields, but I'd find that a bit suprisng, because I've never seen any evidence of shield use in West Africa in all my travels. Think about it - what use is a shield? A shield is useful against sword-fighters or javelin throwsers, but it's pointless in very close range. And jungle warfare is either sneak-attack (like shooting poison arrows) or it's close range fighting
- Machetes have long been the weapon of choice in West Africa for as long as I know, there is a long tradition of sheath making, there are many rituals involving machetes. Now, IF you can prove that the weapon of choice for West Africans is not the machete, then back it up with links
- The people sold into slavery were from a wide variety of places, but usually from the rain forest. If you wish to read some anectdodes about this, then please read the book by Mungo Park
West Africa is a special interest of mine, so if you really feel that you are in posession of facts that are more accurate than mine, then please do back it up.
If I am wrong, I will gratefully admit it, because it will give me the opportunity to learn something new.
It most certainly is related. If the author of the article is questioning why one race dominates in a certain sport, then asking the follow up question of why that same race is noticeably absent from a different sport is related. We're talking about black people and why they do well at some sports; you could also talk about black people and why they seem not to do as well in others.
And a world class zimbabwean kung fu master could exist.
It has nothing to do with race. East Africans are of the same 'race' as West Africans. Your concept of 'race' has nothing to do with reality - you can't just take the color of peoples skin and group them all together. It's very superficial, and is totally unrelated to any biological reality.
- West Africa maybe huge, but it's not diverse. The entire western coast of Africa is one of the few places in the world where a major ocean runs on the east-west line and not on the north-south line. What this means geographically is that the coast has almost the same temperature and almost the same geography. Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, they all have almost identical landscape.
- West African warfare has always been with machetes. West Africans use bows and arrows, but the arrows are very small, and the bows have a different form from the european bows. The bows are smaller and lot more arched. The arrows have also been traditionally poisoned tipped.
- You can't fight a war using a canoe in a West African river. The vegetation is too thick for this to make any sense.
- Calvary? Are you kidding me? Horses are the worst form of transportation in a rain forest.
- Shields? No. Maybe light shields, but I'd find that a bit suprisng, because I've never seen any evidence of shield use in West Africa in all my travels. Think about it - what use is a shield? A shield is useful against sword-fighters or javelin throwsers, but it's pointless in very close range. And jungle warfare is either sneak-attack (like shooting poison arrows) or it's close range fighting
- Machetes have long been the weapon of choice in West Africa for as long as I know, there is a long tradition of sheath making, there are many rituals involving machetes. Now, IF you can prove that the weapon of choice for West Africans is not the machete, then back it up with links
- The people sold into slavery were from a wide variety of places, but usually from the rain forest. If you wish to read some anectdodes about this, then please read the book by Mungo Park
West Africa is a special interest of mine, so if you really feel that you are in posession of facts that are more accurate than mine, then please do back it up.
If I am wrong, I will gratefully admit it, because it will give me the opportunity to learn something new.