Ibn Khaldun - the revolutionary historian

It´s always nice to talk about what scientific contributions that has been done by people from the African continent. I have earlier mentioned Edmond Albius, an African slave who invented a way to pollinate the vanilla in a more effective way, which really helped to launch the big vanilla industry.

But moving away from the natural science to social sciences, we find a man called Ibn Khaldun. He was born in 1332 in Tunis in North Africa and lived until 1406. His works has had a great impact on sociology, economics and history. He brougt forward new ideas such as that the environment can shape how people act. One of the reasons for this conclusion is his studies with the bedouins in the desert.

If you want to learn more about Ibn Khaldun, listen to this BBC radio show on Youtube in the clip below.