Why Was Africa Called the Dark Continent?為何非洲曾被稱為黑大陸？

安杰拉·湯普賽爾/文　施慧靜/譯

The most common answer to the question， “Why was Africa called the Dark Continent？” is that Europe did not know much about Africa until the 19th century. But that answer is misleading and disingenuous. Europeans had known quite a lot about Africa for at least 2，000 years， but European leaders began purposefully ignoring earlier sources of information to justify colonialism and anti-Blackness.

對于“為何非洲曾被稱為黑大陸？”這個(gè)問題，最老生常談的答案就是歐洲直到19世紀(jì)才對非洲有所了解。但這樣的回答是別有用心、顛倒黑白的。因?yàn)闅W洲至少在兩千年前就對非洲知之甚詳，而歐洲的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人卻開始佯裝不知，忽略早期信源，目的是為殖民主義和仇視黑人制造正當(dāng)理由。

At the same time， the campaign against enslavement and for paternalistic missionary work in Africa intensified Europeans racial ideas about African people in the 1800s. White people called Africa the Dark Continent because they wanted to legitimize the enslavement of Black people and exploitation of Africas resources.

同時(shí)在19世紀(jì)，反對奴役非洲與支持阿在非洲強(qiáng)行傳教的運(yùn)動(dòng)并轡而行，加劇了歐洲人對非洲人的種族偏見。白人稱非洲為黑大陸，不過是為了合法地奴役黑人、盤剝非洲資源。

Exploration： Creating blank spaces

探險(xiǎn)：制造未知區(qū)域

It is true that up until the 19th century， Europeans had little direct knowledge of Africa beyond the coast， but their maps were already filled with details about the continent. Initially， Europeans drew on the maps and reports created by earlier traders and explorers like the famed Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta， who traveled across the Sahara and along the North and East coasts of Africa in the 1300s.

19世紀(jì)以前，歐洲人對非洲除沿海地區(qū)以外的情況的確缺乏直接了解，不過他們的地圖卻已詳盡地勾勒出非洲大陸。歐洲人起初通過早期商人和探險(xiǎn)家創(chuàng)作的地圖、游記來了解非洲，其中包括大名鼎鼎的摩洛哥旅行家伊本·白圖泰，他于14世紀(jì)穿越撒哈拉沙漠，沿著非洲的北部和東部海岸旅行。

During the Enlightenment， however， Europeans developed new standards and tools for mapping， and since they werent sure precisely where the lakes， mountains， and cities of Africa were， they began erasing them from popular maps. Many scholarly maps still had more details， but due to the new standards， the European explorers—Burton， Livingstone， Speke， and Stanley—who went to Africa were credited with （newly） discovering the mountains， rivers， and kingdoms to which African people guided them.

然而在啟蒙運(yùn)動(dòng)中，歐洲人發(fā)明了新的工具和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來繪制地圖。因?yàn)閷Ψ侵薜某鞘?、山脈與湖泊位置缺乏準(zhǔn)確的認(rèn)識，他們于是著手將相關(guān)信息從當(dāng)時(shí)通用的地圖上抹去。很多學(xué)術(shù)地圖仍然標(biāo)注詳細(xì)，但是因?yàn)樾吕L圖標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的施行，伯頓、利文斯通、斯佩克和斯坦利這些以非洲人為向?qū)У臍W洲探險(xiǎn)家，還是被認(rèn)為（新）發(fā)現(xiàn)了非洲的王國、山脈和河流。

The maps these explorers created did add to what was known， but they also helped create the myth of the Dark Continent. The phrase itself was actually popularized by the British explorer Henry M. Stanley， who with an eye to boosting sales titled one of his accounts “Through the Dark Continent，” and another， “In Darkest Africa.” However， Stanley himself recalled that before he left on his mission， he had read over 130 books on Africa.

誠然，這些探險(xiǎn)家制作的地圖增進(jìn)了對非洲的了解，但同時(shí)也助生了“黑大陸”的錯(cuò)誤說辭。這個(gè)說法本身其實(shí)就是英國探險(xiǎn)家亨利·M. 斯坦利傳播開來的，他為了自己的游記能暢銷，便以此為作品命名，一本名為《穿過黑大陸》，另一本名為《在最黑的非洲》。然而，據(jù)斯坦利自己回憶，他在啟程探險(xiǎn)前就已經(jīng)閱讀了130多本關(guān)于非洲的書籍。

Imperialism and duality

帝國主義與二元對立

Imperialism was global in the hearts of western businessmen in the 19th century， but there were subtle differences between the imperialist demand for African resources compared to other parts of the world. That did not make it any less brutal.

19世紀(jì)，西方商人全心認(rèn)同帝國主義是波及全球的，但是與世界其他地方相比，帝國主義者對非洲資源的需求有著細(xì)微差別。但這并未讓其殘忍性有絲毫遜色。

Most empire-building begins with the recognition of trading and commercial benefits that could be accrued. In Africas case， the continent as a whole was being annexed to fulfill three purposes： the spirit of adventure （and the entitlement white Europeans felt towards Africa and its people and resources they could then claim and exploit）， the patronizing desire to “civilize the natives” （resulting in deliberate erasure of African history， achievements， and culture） and the hope of stamping out the trade of enslaved people. Writers such as H. Ryder Haggard， Joseph Conrad， and Rudyard Kipling fed into the romanticized and racist depiction of a place that required saving by strong （and white） men of adventure.

多數(shù)帝國的建立以確認(rèn)可增值的貿(mào)易與商業(yè)利益為始。對非洲而言，整塊大陸的侵占是為了滿足3個(gè)目標(biāo)：冒險(xiǎn)精神（歐洲白人覺得他們對非洲及其人民和資源享有權(quán)利，對此可以主張并予以利用），屈尊“教化原住民”的欲望（其結(jié)果是刻意抹去非洲的歷史、成就和文化），和希望廢除奴隸貿(mào)易。H. 賴德·哈格德、約瑟夫·康拉德和拉迪亞德·吉卜林等作家憑空臆想，以種族主義的筆觸將非洲描繪為一方需要強(qiáng)壯的（白人）冒險(xiǎn)家來拯救的土地。

An explicit duality was set up for these conquests： dark versus light and Africa versus West. Europeans decided the African climate invited mental prostration and physical disability. They imagined forests as implacable and filled with beasts; where crocodiles lay in wait， floating in sinister silence in the great rivers. Europeans believed danger， disease， and death were part of the uncharted reality and the exotic fantasy created in the minds of armchair explorers1. The idea of a hostile Nature and a disease-ridden environment as tinged with evil was perpetrated by fictional accounts by Joseph Conrad and W. Somerset Maugham.

這些征服體現(xiàn)出鮮明的二元對立：黑暗與光明，非洲與西方。歐洲人認(rèn)定，非洲的氣候環(huán)境導(dǎo)致了人的精神脆弱和身體缺陷。在他們的臆想中，非洲的叢林深不可測、野獸四伏，非洲的大河寂靜兇險(xiǎn)、鱷魚出沒。歐洲人認(rèn)為這片未知的真實(shí)世界包藏著危險(xiǎn)、疾病和死亡，也相信空談冒險(xiǎn)的作家筆下的異域幻想。約瑟夫·康拉德和W. 薩默塞特·毛姆妄加揣測，虛構(gòu)出窮山惡水、疾病肆虐、又透著一絲妖邪的非洲印象。

18th-century Black activists and missionaries

18世紀(jì)的黑人活動(dòng)家與傳教士

By the late 1700s， British 18th-century Black abolitionists were campaigning hard against the practice of enslavement in England. They published pamphlets describing the horrid brutality and inhumanity of enslavement on plantations.

到了18世紀(jì)末，英國的黑人廢奴主義者四處奔走、強(qiáng)烈反對英格蘭的奴隸制度。他們印刷散發(fā)小冊子，講述種植園奴隸遭受的慘無人道的對待。

Once the British Empire abolished enslavement in 1833， however， Black activists turned their efforts against the practice within Africa. In the colonies， the British were also frustrated that formerly enslaved people didnt want to keep working on plantations for very low wages. To retaliate， the British portrayed African men not as human， but as lazy idlers， criminals， or evil traders of enslaved people.

而自從英帝國于1833年廢除奴隸制后，黑人活動(dòng)家將努力的目標(biāo)轉(zhuǎn)到非洲內(nèi)部的奴隸制。英國殖民地的種植園也遭遇挫折，曾經(jīng)的奴隸不愿為微薄的工資干活，英國人為了報(bào)復(fù)，不把非洲人當(dāng)人看，將其描繪為游手好閑的懶漢、罪犯，甚至是邪惡的奴隸販子。

At the same time， missionaries began traveling to Africa. Their goal： to convert as many Africans as possible to Christianity—at the expense of existing African religion， customs， and culture. The cultural erasure perpetrated by these European Christian missionaries caused significant damage to generations， while also attempting to distance African people from their own environment—which in turn left it even more vulnerable to damage and exploitation by imperialist interests.

同一時(shí)期，傳教士開始前往非洲。他們的目標(biāo)是盡可能讓非洲人都皈依基督教，取代非洲現(xiàn)有的宗教、風(fēng)俗和文化。歐洲基督教傳教士推行的文化抹殺讓幾代非洲人歷經(jīng)浩劫，傳教士還試圖將非洲人與其生活環(huán)境隔絕，如此一來，非洲人更加經(jīng)不住帝國主義的傷害和盤剝。

When decades later the mission- aries still had few converts in many areas， they began saying that African peoples hearts were unreachable， “l(fā)ocked in darkness.” Rather than acknowledging why African people might not want their history， culture， and religion overridden by foreigners， the missionaries followed a familiar playbook： retaliation. They portrayed the African people as fundamentally “different” from westerners and closed off from the “saving light” of Christianity， further propagating inaccurate and deeply racist stereotypes about Africa and its people.

幾十年后，傳教士在眾多地區(qū)仍然擁躉甚少，于是他們便說基督教無法觸動(dòng)非洲人的靈魂，因?yàn)榉侵奕诵撵`“深陷于黑暗之中”。傳教士不愿承認(rèn)原因在于非洲人不愿外國人踐踏自己的歷史、文化和宗教，而是故技重施——打擊報(bào)復(fù)。在他們的說辭中，非洲人與西方人本質(zhì)上“不同”，與基督教的“拯救之光”絕緣，進(jìn)一步散布關(guān)于非洲及其人民的極具種族主義色彩的錯(cuò)誤論調(diào)。

The heart of darkness

黑暗的心

Africa was seen by the explorers as an erotically and psychologically powerful place of darkness， one that could only be cured by a direct application of Christianity and， of course， capitalism. Geographer Lucy Jarosz describes this stated and unstated belief clearly： Africa was seen as “a primeval， bestial， reptilian， or female entity to be tamed， enlightened， guided， opened， and pierced by white European males through western science， Christianity， civilization， commerce， and colonialism.”

歐洲探險(xiǎn)家把非洲看成放蕩而心硬的黑暗之地，而治愈的唯一良方就是直接施行基督教，當(dāng)然還有實(shí)行資本主義。地理學(xué)家露西·雅羅什清晰表達(dá)了對非洲的這種或明或暗的觀念：非洲被看成“一個(gè)原始的、獸欲的、卑鄙的，或雌性的個(gè)體，得靠歐洲白人男性來馴服、啟蒙、引導(dǎo)、打開和戳穿，需要通過西方科學(xué)、基督教、文明、商業(yè)和殖民主義來實(shí)現(xiàn)”。

In reality， African people had been achieving great things in a variety of fields for thousands of years—often before Europeans did. Ancient African cultures were responsible for developing entire mathematical systems， charting the sun and creating calendars， sailing to South America and Asia long before Europeans did， and developing tools and techniques that even surpassed Roman technology. Africa was even home to its own empires （notably， the Zulu）， as well as enormous libraries and universities in countries such as Mali.

事實(shí)卻是，幾千年來非洲人在諸多領(lǐng)域取得了輝煌的成就，而且往往先于歐洲。是古非洲文明發(fā)明出一套完整的數(shù)字系統(tǒng)，繪制太陽軌跡來制訂歷法。遠(yuǎn)在歐洲人揚(yáng)帆航海之前，非洲人就已經(jīng)抵達(dá)南美洲和亞洲。非洲人還發(fā)明出超越古羅馬的工具和技藝。非洲大地上也有自己的帝國（尤其值得稱道的是祖魯王國），非洲馬里等古國擁有規(guī)模浩大的圖書館和大學(xué)。

By the 1870s and 1880s， European traders， officials， and adventurers were going to Africa to plunder， exploit， and destroy its people and resources. Recent developments in weaponry gave these men enough military might to enslave African people and seize control of raw materials. A particularly severe example of this is King Leopolds Belgian Congo. When things escalated， Europeans took no accountability and blamed Black people instead. Africa， they said， was what supposedly brought out the savagery in man. That belief is patently false.

19世紀(jì)70年代至80年代，歐洲商人、官員和探險(xiǎn)家紛紛涌向非洲，他們掠奪、盤剝和危害非洲人民和資源。新的武器讓歐洲人具備足夠強(qiáng)大的武力奴役黑人和掠奪原材料。其中嚴(yán)重的例子當(dāng)屬比利時(shí)利奧波德二世治下的比屬剛果。情況升級惡化后，歐洲人推脫責(zé)任并責(zé)難黑人。他們聲稱，或許是非洲喚醒了人性中的野蠻殘忍。這種說辭顯然是一派胡言。

The myth today

今日謊言依舊

Many people know the Dark Continent is a racist phrase but dont fully understand why. Race does lie at the heart of this myth， but it is not just about skin color. Calling Africa the Dark Continent further codified the association between whiteness， purity， and intelligence and Blackness as a pollutant that made one subhuman. The myth of the Dark Continent referred to the inferiority that Europeans convinced themselves was endemic to Africa， to further their political and economic agenda. The idea that its lands were unknown came from disregarding centuries of pre-colonial history， contact， and travel across the continent.

很多人都知道“黑大陸”是種族主義的說法，但往往不明就里。種族問題確實(shí)是這個(gè)謊言的核心，但不僅在膚色這一層面。稱非洲為“黑大陸”進(jìn)一步規(guī)定白色與純潔、智慧相關(guān)，而黑色是污染物，是將人變成下等人。“黑大陸”的謊言，是歐洲人自己確信不疑的成見——認(rèn)為其根源于非洲本土的低劣性，以此繼續(xù)達(dá)成他們的政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)目的。對非洲大地一無所知的說法，是罔顧非洲殖民前的漫長歷史、人員交流以及跨越該大陸的旅行見聞。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)?；單位：上海工程技術(shù)大學(xué)）

1 armchair explorer指空談冒險(xiǎn)，并沒有親身經(jīng)歷的人。