Lost Kingdoms of Africa

Nubia, in what is now northern Sudan, dominated a vast area of the eastern Sahara for thousands of years. Its people were described as barbarians and mercenaries, and yet Nubia has left us with some of the most spectacular monuments in the world.

When Emperor Haille Selassie was deposed by the Ethiopian military in 1974, an ancient kingdom came to an end. According to tradition, the imperial dynasty stretched back unbroken to 950BC and its origins had links to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Shrouded in mystery, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe rise from an unlikely spot in Africa's interior. Casely-Hayford traces an ancient gold-trading route inland from the eastern coast and explores the city that served as its source.

The magnificent Benin bronzes in the British Museum inspire Casely-Hayford to undertake a quest for their origin. The search takes him to modern-day Nigeria and Mali, where the art of fine metalworking has thrived for generations.

The Kingdom of Asante once reigned supreme in West Africa. It was a kingdom that became an empire. It played a pivotal role in commerce that linked three continents, and it was built on slaves and gold.

On the 22nd of January 1879, the British Army suffered one of the most humiliating defeats in its history. In just over three hours, over twelve hundred British troops, armed with state-of-the-art weapons, were annihilated by an African army equipped only with spears and shields.