Africa's Great Civilizations

Season

2017

7.2

TV-PG

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes a fresh look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Origins

The host Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores what is considered to be the cradle of civilization where first modern humans emerged some 200,000 years ago, and covers African history from Mitochondrial Eve to the ancient Kingdom of Kush.

S1 • E2

The Cross and the Crescent

Around the 12th century, the Horn of Africa was not just the center of East African trade but also a place heavily influenced by both Islam and Christianity.

S1 • E3

Empires of Gold

Conflicts over trade routs through Sahara in the 11th century lead to the rise of new prosperous African empires - the Empire of Ghana, the Almoravid Empire, the Kingdom of Fez, the Empire of Mali and the Kingdom of Ife.

S1 • E4

Cities

The capitals of the precolonial kingdoms of Kilwa, Zimbabwe, Benin and Ethiopia prospered between the 14th and the 17th century thanks to gold and ivory trade, but Portuguese pirates, mercenaries and zealots brought an end to that.

S1 • E5

The Atlantic Age

The centuries-long trans-Atlantic slave trade brought terror to many and profit to some. One of the key states of the era was the Kingdom of Kongo, located in present-day Northern Angola, which eventually fell under Portuguese control.

S1 • E6

Commerce and the Clash of Civilizations

As nations like Ethiopia, Ghana, Zanzibar and South Africa begin their economic rise thanks to their natural resources, the late 19th century Scramble for Africa violently splits the continent into European colonies.