AfricanLoft Launches Video Documentary on Africa History - Series 5 Playing

Update 05/20/2008
Series 5: History of Africa - The Bible and the Gun.

Series 5 of the African History video documentary discusses racism and slavery, and the influence of the early explorers and western religion on the continent.

An estimated 15 million Africans were taken from their homes to serve as slaves to Europeans. Africa was looked to for slave labor for a few reasons.

Davidson’s video showed a church with a prison underneath. Many of the Africans were waiting in captive underneath the church in the prison. At any given time, there were up to ten thousand slaves there. Many clergymen knew of the slave warehouse beneath their place of worship. Some even participated in the trade. According to Basil Davidson, “… racism grew out of slavery.”

After the initial atrocities of slavery, the European explorers arrived in Africa. They had the purpose of unblocking the rich geographical mysteries of the continent. One of the most famous explorers is David Livingston, an Englishman. He began his journey in Africa as a missionary, but had strong interests in exploring. His goal was to navigate and chart the Zambezi River. David Livingston was the first white man to set eyes on the beautiful Victoria Falls in 1855.

The missionaries did not have easy acceptance in Africa. Many died of disease contrary to the popular belief that tribes boiled missionaries in large pots over fires. Some missionaries used force to get converts. Some had people flogged or threatened flogging in order to convert them. The missionaries saw that some spiritual beliefs had to be destroyed before the Africans would believe any of the Christian doctrines. Missionaries generalized this and thought that they had to destroy all African spiritual beliefs and culture. Missionaries insulted the African traditions frequently, in an effort to instill the Christian ideas in Africans.

Davidson included a portion of a missionary video from the 1960’s. The juju, a person who is looked to much like a priest, is openly insulted and humiliated is the video. This hostility is much like the original method of destroying the old culture to replace it with the new ideas of Europe. The reaction of Africans is that some rejoice in renouncing their beliefs and some question their identity. To many missionaries, this mission of converting an inferior race is the climax of all Christian missions. It is sad that these people believed that they were doing the right thing.

Series 5 is in four parts.

View series: 1 , 2 3,
and 4.

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Update 04/18/2008
Series 4: History of Africa - The King and the City.

The video documentary of History of Africa continues. Series 4 explores the ways in which the African kingdoms functioned. The narrator, Basil Davidson visits Kano in Nigeria, where a king still holds court in his 15th century palace, presiding with his council over ancient rituals which continue to command the respect of the people.

Series 4 is in three parts. View series 1 , 2 and 3.

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Update 04/01/08.

Series 3: History of Africa - Caravan of Gold.

This five-part series is a continuation of series 1 and 2. Narrated by Basil Davidson, the series focuses on the role of gold and how it influenced medieval world trade in the early days of Africa. In several areas, especially along the Niger River, in Mali, Ashanti, Timbuktu trading city and among the Burbon Nomads, gold was the principal means of trade, and camel caravans brought back salt supplies from Jenne, Cairo, and Marrakech in exchange for gold. This gold found its way into Europe as well, to be used for the casting of European coins, and eventually to India and China.

Basil Davidson traces the routes of the medieval gold trade, which reached from African to India and China in the east, and westward to the city states of Italy. African ruler’s grew rich and powerful — the King of Ghana was described by an Arab traveler in AD 951 as the wealthiest of all kings on earth. It was the coming of the Portuguese in 1498 which heralded the end of the great African trade.”

Watch Series 3: History of Africa - Caravan of Gold.

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Series 2 “Mastering a Continent” is up playing here.

“Mastering a Continent” is the continuation of the History of Africa video documentary and it shows story of the African people over the centuries, and how they learn the skills that enabled them overcome huge difficulties imposed on them by their environment.

This is a story of how Africans master their continents - surviving under a climate of ferocious extremes.

“Mastering a Continent” a 5-part video documentation highlights three people: Pekot of Kenya (part 2&3), Suka of Nigeria (part 4) and Dogon of Mali (part 5).

Narrator: Basil Davidson. Credits: University of Lincoln, Keith Trnka and Kavita Vora.

View series 1 of the documentary: “Different but Equal”.