History of Africa: City States and Civilisations

This is the second series of the History of Africa with Zeinab Badawi. A series based on a unique project, overseen by UNESCO known as the GHA: the General History of Africa - Africa's history, culture and heritage told by Africans themselves. Zeinab Badawi visits many countries in west, east, central and southern Africa, capturing key chapters in Africa's history, from the 8th to the 20th century.

In this second episode, we see how city states and kingdoms gave rise to rich and diverse civilisations, including some of the best known works of art on the continent: the Benin bronzes dating back to the 13th century. Zeinab Badawi travels to Nigeria where she is granted a rare interview with the King of the Benin kingdom in southern Nigeria. Zeinab meets the Queen Mother of Lagos, at her ancestral palace on Lagos Island where she relates the history of the Yoruba people. And she meets the former governor of Nigeria's central bank who has become Emir of Kano - one of northern Nigeria's Muslim city states.