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4 Episodes 2010 - 2012
Episode 1
60 mins
Dr Casely-Hayford travels to Ghana in West Africa, where a powerful kingdom once dominated the region. Asante was built on gold and slaves, which ensured its important place in an economy that linked three continents. He reveals how this sophisticated kingdom emerged from the unlikely environment of dense tropical forest and how it was held together by a shared sense of tradition and history - one deliberately molded by the kingdom's rulers.
Episode 2
60 mins
Dr Casely-Hayford travels to South Africa to explore the history of one of Africa's most famous kingdoms. Visiting some of the most evocative sites in Zulu history, he examines the origins of the Zulu in the 17th century, their expansion under controversial military leader King Shaka and their brutal encounters with the Boers and the British. He also searches for the secrets behind the Zulus' cultural power and legendary military strength, and why Zulu identity continues to endure.
Episode 3
60 mins
It is easy to think of Islamic North Africa as Arab rather than African, but the land that is now Morocco once lay at the center of a vast African kingdom that stretched from northern Spain to the heart of West Africa. It was created by African Berbers and ruled for centuries by two dynasties that created tremendous wealth, commissioned fabulous architecture and promoted sophisticated ideas. But Dr. Casely-Hayford reveals how the very forces that forged the kingdom ultimately helped to destroy its indigenous African identity.
Episode 4
60 mins
Casely-Hayford travels to Uganda to explore the rise and fall of two great kingdoms. For centuries Bunyoro was the region's dominant power, using history and mythology to make a claim on the land. But its position was challenged by the rapid rise of Buganda, a neighboring kingdom that had once been a collection of cultivators on the shores of Lake Victoria. Casely-Hayford goes in search of the fascinating reasons for the dramatic reversal of fortunes, and how one kingdom used the arrival of Europeans to its own advantage.