Africa: A Voyage of Discovery

Basil Davidson examines the cultures of early Africa. Much of this information is based on art and artifacts from pyramids, caves, and tombs from Egypt and Meroe in ancient Sudan, with an emphasis on Meroe.

Basil Davidson takes a look at three different African groups, the Nok, the Dogon, and the Pokat. While many regard these societies as primitive, Davidson points out the complexity of their lifestyles.

This episode traces the roots of the medieval gold trade - which reached from Africa to India, China, and Italy - and examines its influence on the African continent.

Basil Davidson tracks the prospering region of West Africa, burgeoning as a consequence of its wide-ranging trade achievements.

One of the more powerful influences on the development of Africa was exerted by the European missionary. This influence is discussed by Basil Davidson as being both good and bad.

After the 1880s, Europeans set about exploiting Africans in every conceivable way, forcing them to pay taxes, plant cash crops instead of food crops grown for survival, and work for low pay.

This episode charts the events that in 1957 resulted in independence for Ghana, the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve independence. And then it highlights similar uprisings against colonial rule.

Davidson looks at Africa in the aftermath of colonial rule, featuring Lagos as an example of a rapidly growing, postcolonial African city, struggling with crime, traffic, electric supply, and other problems.