Are there historically significant contributions made by African scientists outside of the more known empires? (Islamic etc.)

by hummusforthought
A_Wooper

Sure, in the Akan region of West Africa the procedure of inoculating ones self against small pox was already known to the West Africans when Europeans arrived. A slave named Onesimus explained the procedure to Cotton Mather in the 18th century, this lead to Cotton spreading his knowledge of inoculation through the americas and making it safer for those in America to fight against small pox.

European travelers in the Great Lakes region of Africa (around Uganda) in the 19th century observed Caesarean sections performed on pregnant mothers on a regular basis. The area of laceration would be anesthetized with banana wine and herbal mixtures to make the mother's health safe. The origin and history if this is unknown, but due to the knowledge showed by the Africans Europeans believed the procedures had been used for a long time.

As well as that, 14 manuscripts from Timbuktu tell that those of the Mali empire generally had a Heliocentric view of the solar system, algorithms that accurately orientated Timbuktu to Mecca, records of meteor showers (like in 1583) and had diagrams of orbits and planets using complex mathematics. The Mali empire was comparable in both strength in knowledge in its heyday as many European nations at the time!

There is much more, this is all I have for now though! :)