Wonders of the African World

Episode 2

The Swahili Coast

The Swahili Coast, an 1,800-mile stretch of Kenyan and Tanzanian coastline, has been the site of cultural and commercial exchanges between East Africa and the outside world - particularly the Middle East, Asia, and Europe - since at least the 2nd century A.D.

Episode 3

The Slave Kingdoms

Historically, West Africa is associated with the slave, gold and ivory trades, perhaps most often the former. West Africa is also the place of origin of vodou, the only indigenous African religion to survive the trans-Atlantic slave trade and remain in practice in the Americas today. The historical roots of racial discrimination in the United States today can be traced back to North American slavery and the kidnapping of more than 20 million Africans.

Episode 4

The Holy Land

For over 3,000 years Ethiopia has been a land of mystery and fascination. The Greek poet Homer thought that the Ethiopians had been blessed by the gods, while the historians and dramatists who came after him described a people of immense piety who lived beside the fountain of the sun.

Episode 5

The Road to Timbuktu

It is perhaps surprising that a place as comparatively close to Europe as West Africa should remain more or less unknown long after the colonization of the Americas. Indeed, it was not until 1828 that the first European saw Timbuktu and lived to tell the tale.

Episode 6

Lost Cities of the South

When European settlers discovered ruins of great civilizations at Mapungubwe in South Africa and Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe (then the British colony Rhodesia), they concluded that these marvelous stone cities could not have been built by black Africans. In order to justify their oppression of the black majority population, the white imperialists created a grossly distorted history that denied African civilization and culture.