The Cambridge Economic History of Europe: Trade and industry in the Middle Ages:
Most slaves, however, before the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 15th century were “whites” coming from the north and mixing with the very dark-skinned black and near black groups of people known as “Arabs” in Spain, North Africa and the Near East. Thus, from the peoples named “Slav” north of the Arabs came the word “slave” in western parlance. And thus, many Arabic speaking historians asserted up until the 14th century that the Arabs equated slave origins with fair skin or vice versa. One of these Arabic speakers, the Syrian , Al Dhahabi wrote in the 14th century “Red, in the speech of the people from the Hijaz, means fair-complexioned and this color is rare amongst the Arabs. This is the meaning of the saying, …a red man as if he is one of the slaves. The speaker meant that his color is like that of the slaves who were captured from the Christians of Syria, Rome and Persia.” See, Seyar al Nubala’a, Al Dhahabi of Damascus Syria, also cited on p. 55, The Unknown Arabs, 2002.read more
On 6 November 012, three states – Oregon, Washington and Colorado – are voting on whether to legalise the sale and recreational use of marijuana (in addition to the presidential election).read more
Israeli firm rolls out medical marijuana
By Yolande Knell
Jerusalem
Under armed guard, at a secret location in the hills of northern Israel, rows of cannabis plants in a large greenhouse give off a sweet, distinctive smell.read more
Halloween — what better time for pharmaceutical companies to create a new HIV test that doesn’t detect HIV but generates fear and profits? The Daily Mail (UK), Fox News and other agencies report that scientists at Imperial College in London have developed a new HIV test that is “10 times more sensitive and a fraction of the cost of current methods.” read more
‘Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labour’s rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man — and when white will embrace what is right.’read more
The youngest son of Jamaican reggae legend, Winston Hubert McIntosh, AKA Peter Tosh, Jawara McIntosh, chatted with Nigeria’s Vanguard Newspapers on his musical career and an insight of the Tosh’s family including the mysteries surrounding his father’s death. read more
The Chronicles of the Kigns of Britian. it was translated from the original Welch (originally Writen by Tysilio) by Peter Roberts. It was written in the early 1800s.read more
Rastafarian Views on Life, Politics and Social Issues
