1 00:00:16,984 --> 00:00:18,884 host: no matter what we look like today, 2 00:00:18,953 --> 00:00:21,053 we're all directly descended 3 00:00:21,122 --> 00:00:24,823 from ancestors who evolved on the african continent. 4 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,695 the oldest human population emerged in africa. 5 00:00:30,898 --> 00:00:32,364 africa is the home of the world's 6 00:00:32,433 --> 00:00:34,533 most ancient civilizations. 7 00:00:35,970 --> 00:00:38,504 far too often, africa has been thought of 8 00:00:38,572 --> 00:00:40,706 as isolated and static, 9 00:00:40,775 --> 00:00:43,942 but nothing could be further from the truth. 10 00:00:44,011 --> 00:00:47,079 the roots of every family tree 11 00:00:47,148 --> 00:00:50,349 trace here to africa. 12 00:00:50,418 --> 00:00:53,318 and so does the history of civilization. 13 00:00:53,387 --> 00:00:55,988 in this series, we'll be going on a journey 14 00:00:56,057 --> 00:00:59,158 through 200,000 years of history. 15 00:01:00,995 --> 00:01:02,961 we'll explore great cities 16 00:01:03,030 --> 00:01:05,998 built along africa's extensive trade networks, 17 00:01:06,067 --> 00:01:08,667 discover art of unparalleled beauty 18 00:01:08,736 --> 00:01:11,136 and technical brilliance, 19 00:01:11,205 --> 00:01:13,038 and marvel at thousands of years 20 00:01:13,107 --> 00:01:15,107 of breathtaking architecture. 21 00:01:16,544 --> 00:01:18,877 driving all this were africans 22 00:01:18,946 --> 00:01:22,147 who prospered, created, and suffered 23 00:01:22,216 --> 00:01:24,316 through their rich, sometimes tragic, 24 00:01:24,385 --> 00:01:26,785 yet endlessly fascinating history. 25 00:01:28,856 --> 00:01:32,291 this is a seldom-told story of how africans, 26 00:01:32,359 --> 00:01:35,094 by shaping their own worlds, 27 00:01:35,162 --> 00:01:37,796 shaped the larger world as well. 28 00:02:11,952 --> 00:02:14,853 africa's great rift valley. 29 00:02:14,922 --> 00:02:18,757 this is where humanity's story most likely begins. 30 00:02:24,365 --> 00:02:27,900 homo sapiens, anatomically modern humans, 31 00:02:27,968 --> 00:02:31,236 have lived here for about 200,000 years. 32 00:02:34,275 --> 00:02:36,241 this great geological fault, 33 00:02:36,310 --> 00:02:39,078 stretching 3,000 miles through africa, 34 00:02:39,146 --> 00:02:41,213 from ethiopia to malawi, 35 00:02:41,282 --> 00:02:43,415 with its great lakes and savannahs 36 00:02:43,484 --> 00:02:45,050 full of animal life, 37 00:02:45,119 --> 00:02:48,187 gave our ancestors the perfect environment 38 00:02:48,255 --> 00:02:49,888 in which to evolve. 39 00:02:52,526 --> 00:02:56,328 man: the rift valley, it's like a crucible, 40 00:02:56,397 --> 00:02:58,430 like in a chemistry lab, 41 00:02:58,499 --> 00:03:01,400 where humans have been tested. 42 00:03:01,469 --> 00:03:04,069 because nature constantly tests 43 00:03:04,138 --> 00:03:06,238 different parts of the species. 44 00:03:06,307 --> 00:03:10,209 those who can fit the environment or the situation 45 00:03:10,277 --> 00:03:13,779 that is around survive and continue, 46 00:03:13,848 --> 00:03:17,316 and the others, you know, get replaced. 47 00:03:20,488 --> 00:03:23,255 [thunder] 48 00:03:23,324 --> 00:03:26,725 host: in 1997, the rains fell heavily 49 00:03:26,794 --> 00:03:30,129 in ethiopia's northern rift valley. 50 00:03:30,197 --> 00:03:32,698 layers of sediment dislodged, 51 00:03:32,766 --> 00:03:35,601 revealing an extraordinary find-- 52 00:03:35,669 --> 00:03:37,669 a human skull. 53 00:03:37,738 --> 00:03:40,806 it's one of the oldest homo sapien remains 54 00:03:40,875 --> 00:03:43,275 to be found anywhere in the world. 55 00:03:43,344 --> 00:03:47,746 scientists named the skull idaltu, meaning firstborn, 56 00:03:47,815 --> 00:03:50,082 and idaltu walked these valleys 57 00:03:50,151 --> 00:03:52,818 160,000 years ago. 58 00:03:52,887 --> 00:03:55,787 dr. berhane asfaw was one of the scientists 59 00:03:55,856 --> 00:03:57,322 who made the discovery. 60 00:03:57,391 --> 00:03:59,825 this is one of the few specimens 61 00:03:59,894 --> 00:04:04,329 that we found almost complete. 62 00:04:04,398 --> 00:04:07,399 the whole, the face and the brain case. 63 00:04:07,468 --> 00:04:10,702 and the most impressive thing about this is 64 00:04:10,771 --> 00:04:13,472 even at this early age, 65 00:04:13,541 --> 00:04:16,108 the face is modern homo sapien, 66 00:04:16,177 --> 00:04:18,443 the brain case is modern homo sapien, 67 00:04:18,512 --> 00:04:21,313 the shape from the back is a modern homo sapien. 68 00:04:21,382 --> 00:04:23,215 it's exactly us. 69 00:04:27,154 --> 00:04:30,189 host: the anatomy and age of idaltu's skull 70 00:04:30,257 --> 00:04:32,391 provided the strongest evidence yet 71 00:04:32,459 --> 00:04:34,726 that anatomically modern humans 72 00:04:34,795 --> 00:04:36,261 emerged in africa. 73 00:04:38,132 --> 00:04:39,831 man: each stage of the evolution 74 00:04:39,900 --> 00:04:41,800 toward modern humans, 75 00:04:41,869 --> 00:04:43,468 it takes place in africa. 76 00:04:43,537 --> 00:04:45,704 asfaw: when we found homo sapien idaltu, 77 00:04:45,773 --> 00:04:50,976 it's very important because it pushes the time far back. 78 00:04:51,045 --> 00:04:54,179 it means anatomically modern homo sapiens 79 00:04:54,248 --> 00:04:56,748 started walking on this planet 80 00:04:56,817 --> 00:04:59,551 much earlier than we thought, 81 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:01,820 and the interesting thing is 82 00:05:01,889 --> 00:05:06,825 at the same time, europe was packed with neanderthals, 83 00:05:06,894 --> 00:05:09,027 which are completely different from homo sapiens. 84 00:05:13,133 --> 00:05:16,602 host: one of africa's most respected paleoanthropologists 85 00:05:16,670 --> 00:05:18,604 is dr. richard leakey. 86 00:05:18,672 --> 00:05:21,740 he and his colleagues have made groundbreaking discoveries 87 00:05:21,809 --> 00:05:26,044 about how our species evolved on the african continent. 88 00:05:26,113 --> 00:05:30,215 i've come to meet him at his institute in nairobi, kenya. 89 00:05:30,284 --> 00:05:31,717 how do we know 90 00:05:31,785 --> 00:05:34,453 that the first human beings 91 00:05:34,521 --> 00:05:36,855 evolved on the african continent? 92 00:05:36,924 --> 00:05:39,424 the fossil evidence and the archaeological evidence 93 00:05:39,493 --> 00:05:41,960 that's come to light in the last 20, 30 years 94 00:05:42,029 --> 00:05:44,296 is very, very substantial, 95 00:05:44,365 --> 00:05:46,231 testable, and real. 96 00:05:46,300 --> 00:05:48,200 why do you think this idea 97 00:05:48,269 --> 00:05:50,502 was so disturbing in some quarters? 98 00:05:50,571 --> 00:05:53,205 historically, the science of paleoanthropology 99 00:05:53,274 --> 00:05:57,109 or anthropology came into existence at a time when 100 00:05:57,177 --> 00:05:59,645 we really knew very little. 101 00:05:59,713 --> 00:06:03,248 africans were considered primitive, heathen, who knows. 102 00:06:03,317 --> 00:06:08,920 and the origins of the subhuman status of africans 103 00:06:08,989 --> 00:06:10,689 begins, really, in the 18th century. 104 00:06:10,758 --> 00:06:12,457 in the enlightenment, ironically enough. 105 00:06:12,526 --> 00:06:15,427 they weren't really considered to be 106 00:06:15,496 --> 00:06:17,829 one of our species. 107 00:06:17,898 --> 00:06:20,365 host: continuing archaeological finds 108 00:06:20,434 --> 00:06:23,101 and now major scientific breakthroughs 109 00:06:23,170 --> 00:06:26,571 have confirmed that africa absolutely 110 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,241 was the cradle of humanity. 111 00:06:29,310 --> 00:06:31,410 man: it's like if we're exploring our past 112 00:06:31,478 --> 00:06:33,612 and looking at where our roots are sunk down, 113 00:06:33,681 --> 00:06:35,881 we'll find that they're the deepest in africa, 114 00:06:35,949 --> 00:06:38,216 and that's where we get most of our genetics. 115 00:06:40,287 --> 00:06:41,753 host: geneticists have identified 116 00:06:41,822 --> 00:06:45,223 an astonishing link to our earliest human relations 117 00:06:45,292 --> 00:06:47,426 through our dna. 118 00:06:47,494 --> 00:06:50,162 every living person shares a common direct 119 00:06:50,230 --> 00:06:51,997 maternal ancestor. 120 00:06:52,066 --> 00:06:55,367 she's known as mitochondrial eve. 121 00:06:55,436 --> 00:06:58,403 we believe that she was part of a small group of humans 122 00:06:58,472 --> 00:07:00,839 who lived in this region of africa 123 00:07:00,908 --> 00:07:03,742 around the time of the idaltu skull. 124 00:07:03,811 --> 00:07:07,412 man: our common ancestry through the mitochondrial eve 125 00:07:07,481 --> 00:07:10,048 means that our genetic differences 126 00:07:10,117 --> 00:07:11,917 are literally skin deep. 127 00:07:11,985 --> 00:07:14,920 that at the bottom, we are all 128 00:07:14,988 --> 00:07:17,222 descended from the same family. 129 00:07:17,291 --> 00:07:20,258 host: mitochondrial dna, found in our cells, 130 00:07:20,327 --> 00:07:23,362 is the genetic signature passed down through females 131 00:07:23,430 --> 00:07:24,963 from mother to child. 132 00:07:25,032 --> 00:07:27,666 what it means is that this was a woman, hypothetically, 133 00:07:27,735 --> 00:07:29,501 who lived 200,000 years ago, 134 00:07:29,570 --> 00:07:32,838 who had enough daughters in a continuous chain, 135 00:07:32,906 --> 00:07:36,007 straight back so that her mitochondrial dna survived. 136 00:07:36,076 --> 00:07:37,409 absolutely right. 137 00:07:39,980 --> 00:07:42,614 and all of us today, no matter what we look like, 138 00:07:42,683 --> 00:07:46,251 are descended from black ancestors? 139 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:47,586 yeah, that is exactly, 140 00:07:47,654 --> 00:07:48,920 that's what happened. 141 00:07:48,989 --> 00:07:51,523 all the humans, all the homo sapiens 142 00:07:51,592 --> 00:07:56,194 all over the world, be it yellow, white, black, 143 00:07:56,263 --> 00:07:59,231 we are descended from a common ancestor 144 00:07:59,299 --> 00:08:01,066 in africa. 145 00:08:01,135 --> 00:08:03,301 what would life for human beings 146 00:08:03,370 --> 00:08:06,972 200,000 years ago have been like in this valley? 147 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,074 200,000 years ago, i would imagine 148 00:08:09,143 --> 00:08:11,476 the groups were quite small. 149 00:08:11,545 --> 00:08:12,511 mm-hmm. 150 00:08:12,579 --> 00:08:15,280 the dangers around, we had predators, 151 00:08:15,349 --> 00:08:16,715 things like hyenas 152 00:08:16,784 --> 00:08:19,151 and groups of carnivores all around. 153 00:08:19,219 --> 00:08:20,419 mm-hmm. 154 00:08:20,487 --> 00:08:22,721 it's difficult for us to imagine 155 00:08:22,790 --> 00:08:26,391 prehistoric life or a world without 156 00:08:26,460 --> 00:08:30,228 any trappings of the things that have 157 00:08:30,297 --> 00:08:32,731 come to define humanness over the last 10,000 years, 158 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,367 and so, in the modern zeitgeist, 159 00:08:35,436 --> 00:08:36,601 the only thing that comes close 160 00:08:36,670 --> 00:08:38,737 is actually the post-apocalyptic 161 00:08:38,806 --> 00:08:40,539 zombie shows, for example. 162 00:08:42,342 --> 00:08:45,310 you have small bands of people 163 00:08:45,379 --> 00:08:47,679 roaming the landscape, working together, 164 00:08:47,748 --> 00:08:50,715 fighting off predators that are trying to eat them, 165 00:08:50,784 --> 00:08:54,286 and worried about the other groups of humans 166 00:08:54,354 --> 00:08:55,921 that they might bump into. 167 00:08:55,989 --> 00:08:57,456 so, there are a lot of interesting parallels 168 00:08:57,524 --> 00:08:59,925 that could be drawn. 169 00:08:59,993 --> 00:09:01,593 host: modern homo sapiens 170 00:09:01,662 --> 00:09:04,029 initially lived only in africa, 171 00:09:04,097 --> 00:09:06,364 slowly spreading across the continent 172 00:09:06,433 --> 00:09:08,767 over 120,000 years. 173 00:09:10,671 --> 00:09:13,171 but between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago, 174 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,841 they began successfully to populate 175 00:09:15,909 --> 00:09:17,342 the rest of the world. 176 00:09:20,047 --> 00:09:21,847 host: so, what happened 80,000 years ago? 177 00:09:21,915 --> 00:09:23,381 leakey: well, i wish we knew what happened, 178 00:09:23,450 --> 00:09:24,883 but there's no doubt at all 179 00:09:24,952 --> 00:09:26,451 that a very small population 180 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,220 somewhere in that time zone 181 00:09:28,288 --> 00:09:30,555 caught some adaptation that gave them a huge advantage. 182 00:09:30,624 --> 00:09:32,791 i have a feeling it might have been speech. 183 00:09:32,860 --> 00:09:34,259 i don't know what it was. 184 00:09:34,328 --> 00:09:36,428 but they spread very quickly out of africa. 185 00:09:36,497 --> 00:09:38,430 so, 80,000 years ago, 186 00:09:38,499 --> 00:09:41,199 the human community was black. 187 00:09:41,268 --> 00:09:43,869 wherever they were in the world. 188 00:09:43,937 --> 00:09:45,837 host: but when those early human beings 189 00:09:45,906 --> 00:09:47,606 migrated out of africa, 190 00:09:47,674 --> 00:09:49,841 they weren't traveling alone. 191 00:09:49,910 --> 00:09:52,978 they were carrying something within them. 192 00:09:53,046 --> 00:09:57,282 and that something had developed slowly, over millennia. 193 00:09:57,351 --> 00:09:59,017 it was culture. 194 00:09:59,086 --> 00:10:01,086 that culture would develop to include 195 00:10:01,154 --> 00:10:05,490 the greatest achievements of human creativity, 196 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,694 and it began here on the african continent. 197 00:10:13,534 --> 00:10:17,869 in 1991, archaeologist christopher henshilwood, 198 00:10:17,938 --> 00:10:20,305 exploring his grandfather's land, 199 00:10:20,374 --> 00:10:22,541 discovered the opening to a cave 200 00:10:22,609 --> 00:10:24,142 on a cliff face 201 00:10:24,211 --> 00:10:25,544 above the crashing waves 202 00:10:25,612 --> 00:10:29,781 where the atlantic and indian oceans collide. 203 00:10:29,850 --> 00:10:33,752 today, we call this the blombos cave. 204 00:10:33,820 --> 00:10:38,523 inside is evidence of over 140,000 years 205 00:10:38,592 --> 00:10:40,492 of human habitation, 206 00:10:40,561 --> 00:10:44,763 and signs of the first form of human creative expression. 207 00:10:44,831 --> 00:10:46,831 before this discovery, we thought 208 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:49,067 the earliest examples of artwork 209 00:10:49,136 --> 00:10:52,037 were found in the lascaux caves in france, 210 00:10:52,105 --> 00:10:55,273 dating back only 35,000 years ago. 211 00:10:55,342 --> 00:10:58,276 hawks: when people began making discoveries in southern africa, 212 00:10:58,345 --> 00:11:00,745 like at blombos cave, they realized 213 00:11:00,814 --> 00:11:04,249 that actually, this record of artistic production 214 00:11:04,318 --> 00:11:06,952 goes back much further than anyone guessed. 215 00:11:07,020 --> 00:11:09,921 in france, cave paintings 30,000 years old, 216 00:11:09,990 --> 00:11:11,790 35,000 at the oldest. 217 00:11:11,858 --> 00:11:13,525 in southern africa, we're talking about 218 00:11:13,594 --> 00:11:16,828 90,000, 100,000 years. 219 00:11:16,897 --> 00:11:20,398 woman: blombos cave is a relatively recent discovery, 220 00:11:20,467 --> 00:11:25,470 so, the more research we do in africa, 221 00:11:25,539 --> 00:11:29,574 and also the more dating we conduct, 222 00:11:29,643 --> 00:11:33,111 this will change people's minds of how 223 00:11:33,180 --> 00:11:35,080 we saw human history, 224 00:11:35,148 --> 00:11:37,549 and the evidence shows 225 00:11:37,618 --> 00:11:41,252 they were already assessing the cognitive behavior 226 00:11:41,321 --> 00:11:45,557 that we see as defining the modern human 227 00:11:45,626 --> 00:11:48,093 before they left africa. 228 00:11:48,161 --> 00:11:52,297 host: small ochre blocks found in the blombos cave 229 00:11:52,366 --> 00:11:54,633 completely changed how we understand 230 00:11:54,701 --> 00:11:58,003 the development of human creativitity. 231 00:11:58,071 --> 00:12:01,673 one of these blocks, covered in curious markings, 232 00:12:01,742 --> 00:12:06,044 is now housed in the iziko museum in cape town. 233 00:12:06,113 --> 00:12:08,947 woman: it's unique in terms of 234 00:12:09,016 --> 00:12:10,315 firstly where it was found 235 00:12:10,384 --> 00:12:11,850 and the date-- it's pretty old. 236 00:12:11,918 --> 00:12:13,818 77,000 years ago. mm. 237 00:12:13,887 --> 00:12:16,521 what is interesting is the etching. 238 00:12:16,590 --> 00:12:19,924 it's almost a hashed etching on the one edge, 239 00:12:19,993 --> 00:12:22,027 and that is done with purpose. 240 00:12:22,095 --> 00:12:23,895 i've often thought that if 241 00:12:23,964 --> 00:12:25,263 pigment was put on it, 242 00:12:25,332 --> 00:12:26,865 you could use it as a stamp, 243 00:12:26,933 --> 00:12:30,268 which to me screams artistic expression. 244 00:12:30,337 --> 00:12:31,770 mm-hmm. meaning. 245 00:12:31,838 --> 00:12:34,205 meaning. symbolic meaning. 246 00:12:34,274 --> 00:12:37,342 so, this would make it one of the earliest 247 00:12:37,411 --> 00:12:40,045 artistic artifacts that we have. 248 00:12:40,113 --> 00:12:43,448 this is a sign of a group of people who 249 00:12:43,517 --> 00:12:47,585 had managed to emerge above 250 00:12:47,654 --> 00:12:49,487 immediate concerns for food 251 00:12:49,556 --> 00:12:52,090 and basic human survival. 252 00:12:52,159 --> 00:12:54,993 that says something about africa and africans. 253 00:12:55,062 --> 00:12:56,895 i think so. it shows that 254 00:12:56,963 --> 00:13:00,999 these people were cognizant of their surroundings. 255 00:13:01,068 --> 00:13:03,835 they were socially aware. 256 00:13:03,904 --> 00:13:05,804 it shows the birthplace 257 00:13:05,872 --> 00:13:09,307 of a very rich cultural heritage 258 00:13:09,376 --> 00:13:13,111 that has in the past not been recognized. 259 00:13:13,180 --> 00:13:15,914 this is artwork. 260 00:13:15,982 --> 00:13:18,183 host: alongside the ochre block, 261 00:13:18,251 --> 00:13:19,784 a painting kit was found. 262 00:13:21,054 --> 00:13:23,655 that ochre block was not only decorated, 263 00:13:23,724 --> 00:13:27,425 it was ground down, mixed with water and minerals, 264 00:13:27,494 --> 00:13:29,994 and used as paint. 265 00:13:30,063 --> 00:13:34,199 lewis: once a group is into symbolic expression, 266 00:13:34,267 --> 00:13:36,367 whether it be via beads or 267 00:13:36,436 --> 00:13:39,504 using colorants to paint the body or to paint walls, 268 00:13:39,573 --> 00:13:42,373 that's gonna be another very important behavior 269 00:13:42,442 --> 00:13:46,111 to use for communicating complex sets of ideas 270 00:13:46,179 --> 00:13:49,914 about group identity and also to help transmit information 271 00:13:49,983 --> 00:13:52,784 to other members of your immediate group. 272 00:13:52,853 --> 00:13:55,854 host: much of this early art has perished with time, 273 00:13:55,922 --> 00:13:59,324 but cave art provides us with the only snapshots 274 00:13:59,392 --> 00:14:04,329 of how early human beings lived, hunted, and even loved. 275 00:14:04,397 --> 00:14:06,631 hawks: we just get the durable element, 276 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:08,366 but when you're painting your skin, 277 00:14:08,435 --> 00:14:10,568 when you're painting hides that you might be wearing, 278 00:14:10,637 --> 00:14:14,272 when you're using feathers and other kinds of 279 00:14:14,341 --> 00:14:17,442 really special objects but perishable objects, 280 00:14:17,511 --> 00:14:19,477 you know, when we look at societies today, 281 00:14:19,546 --> 00:14:21,412 they have this incredible range 282 00:14:21,481 --> 00:14:23,047 of things that would never survive 283 00:14:23,116 --> 00:14:24,482 in the archaeological record. 284 00:14:26,753 --> 00:14:28,753 host: deep in the libyan desert, 285 00:14:28,822 --> 00:14:31,289 in a remote cave at wadi sura, 286 00:14:31,358 --> 00:14:34,325 miles from any lush vegetation today, 287 00:14:34,394 --> 00:14:38,396 a stunning visual record reveals a quite surprising picture 288 00:14:38,465 --> 00:14:43,234 of daily life in the sahara 7,000 years ago. 289 00:14:43,303 --> 00:14:45,970 the walls of the cave teem with depictions 290 00:14:46,039 --> 00:14:49,040 of people swimming and animals grazing, 291 00:14:49,109 --> 00:14:52,610 glimpses into a long-lost landscape. 292 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:55,713 mire: you have the cave of swimmers. 293 00:14:55,782 --> 00:14:59,083 there you have your history recording, if you like, 294 00:14:59,152 --> 00:15:02,787 where we are getting an idea of 295 00:15:02,856 --> 00:15:05,990 a place where we today cannot even imagine 296 00:15:06,059 --> 00:15:07,725 any life surviving. 297 00:15:07,794 --> 00:15:12,263 we have lakes and the depictions of the swimmers 298 00:15:12,332 --> 00:15:18,736 and very abundant wildlife thriving in the sahara, 299 00:15:18,805 --> 00:15:22,874 a place now we know for sand dunes. 300 00:15:24,277 --> 00:15:26,177 host: however, the sahara was once 301 00:15:26,246 --> 00:15:28,413 a completely different environment, 302 00:15:28,481 --> 00:15:32,183 capable of sustaining these emerging human communities. 303 00:15:32,252 --> 00:15:34,786 today, the sahara is very barren and dry, 304 00:15:34,855 --> 00:15:36,654 but from rock art, we find that there are 305 00:15:36,723 --> 00:15:40,758 a lot of aquatic fauna, hippo, crocodile, giraffes. 306 00:15:40,827 --> 00:15:42,894 a very vibrant biodiversity. 307 00:15:42,963 --> 00:15:44,195 host: so, in this case, 308 00:15:44,264 --> 00:15:47,332 art verifies archaeological evidence. 309 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,667 yes. it tells us more about how 310 00:15:49,736 --> 00:15:50,902 the landscape has changed 311 00:15:50,971 --> 00:15:52,503 or how the environment has changed. 312 00:15:54,608 --> 00:15:56,074 abaka: over 10,000 years ago, 313 00:15:56,142 --> 00:15:59,377 the sahara was actually a green savannah. 314 00:15:59,446 --> 00:16:04,449 there were animals, fishes, lakes, rivers, 315 00:16:04,517 --> 00:16:07,285 and right across what is now the sahara, 316 00:16:07,354 --> 00:16:10,021 the environment was green. 317 00:16:10,090 --> 00:16:11,823 ehret: this was the kind of environment 318 00:16:11,892 --> 00:16:14,225 that attracts the great herbivores, 319 00:16:14,294 --> 00:16:16,961 the large herding animals. 320 00:16:17,030 --> 00:16:19,797 the hippopotamuses, rhinos. 321 00:16:19,866 --> 00:16:21,199 this would have been a time when those 322 00:16:21,268 --> 00:16:22,934 were the important animals. 323 00:16:23,003 --> 00:16:24,369 host: although early humans 324 00:16:24,437 --> 00:16:26,638 continued to be hunter-gatherers, 325 00:16:26,706 --> 00:16:29,974 over time, they began to cultivate plants, 326 00:16:30,043 --> 00:16:32,176 and around 10,000 years ago, 327 00:16:32,245 --> 00:16:34,646 across africa and the middle east, 328 00:16:34,714 --> 00:16:37,582 they began to breed animals as livestock 329 00:16:37,651 --> 00:16:39,450 and domesticate cattle. 330 00:16:39,519 --> 00:16:41,519 the sahara became this band 331 00:16:41,588 --> 00:16:44,689 where these people spread their livestock grazing. 332 00:16:44,758 --> 00:16:46,724 mire: everywhere across the sahara, 333 00:16:46,793 --> 00:16:50,595 you have vast scenes of paintings of these animals, 334 00:16:50,664 --> 00:16:54,832 but also, i think, it kind of also shows that 335 00:16:54,901 --> 00:17:00,305 this is them going towards the domestication of animals 336 00:17:00,373 --> 00:17:04,409 and settle in a sedentary society. 337 00:17:04,477 --> 00:17:08,246 hawks: when you look at africa, it's the cradle of mankind, but 338 00:17:08,315 --> 00:17:11,316 looking into the development of agriculture, 339 00:17:11,384 --> 00:17:13,985 it becomes a cradle of civilization. 340 00:17:14,054 --> 00:17:15,987 [man speaking native language] 341 00:17:16,056 --> 00:17:19,824 ehret: between 4,800 and 4,200 b.c., 342 00:17:19,893 --> 00:17:23,428 more than 1,000 years before the rise of ancient egypt, 343 00:17:23,496 --> 00:17:26,064 in the areas west of the nile, 344 00:17:26,132 --> 00:17:30,268 the first complex african society forms. 345 00:17:30,337 --> 00:17:33,671 it's not a settled society of towns, 346 00:17:33,740 --> 00:17:36,674 but it's people who raise great herds of cattle. 347 00:17:38,511 --> 00:17:41,846 host: for 3,000 years, these communities, 348 00:17:41,915 --> 00:17:43,514 and the world around them, 349 00:17:43,583 --> 00:17:45,717 continued to evolve. 350 00:17:45,785 --> 00:17:49,387 farming developed, and populations grew. 351 00:17:49,456 --> 00:17:51,856 but by 4,000 b.c., 352 00:17:51,925 --> 00:17:54,425 vast areas of the lush savannah 353 00:17:54,494 --> 00:17:57,128 had turned into desert. 354 00:17:57,197 --> 00:17:59,130 life for the people of the green sahara 355 00:17:59,199 --> 00:18:00,965 is brutally transformed. 356 00:18:01,034 --> 00:18:03,501 everything changes, 357 00:18:03,570 --> 00:18:05,937 setting civilization in africa 358 00:18:06,006 --> 00:18:08,306 on a radical, new path. 359 00:18:09,576 --> 00:18:12,643 woman: there was a slow change in climate, 360 00:18:12,712 --> 00:18:16,781 thus making traditional pastoral ways of life 361 00:18:16,850 --> 00:18:18,649 far more difficult for people. 362 00:18:21,521 --> 00:18:23,855 host: in the face of this climate change, 363 00:18:23,923 --> 00:18:27,825 the populations of the sahara dispersed. 364 00:18:27,894 --> 00:18:30,962 and many people migrated towards the fertile lands 365 00:18:31,031 --> 00:18:33,331 of the nile valley, 366 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,501 becoming the ancestors of both the egyptians 367 00:18:36,569 --> 00:18:37,935 and the nubians. 368 00:18:40,940 --> 00:18:43,374 abaka: the verdant valley of the nile 369 00:18:43,443 --> 00:18:46,944 was an attractive place for communities to settle. 370 00:18:47,013 --> 00:18:50,148 hawks: the nile is like this green river through the desert, 371 00:18:50,216 --> 00:18:54,118 and the regular floods create this incredible soil, 372 00:18:54,187 --> 00:18:57,522 so that once you have the domestication of plants, 373 00:18:57,590 --> 00:19:01,292 this becomes the breadbasket of the mediterranean basin, 374 00:19:01,361 --> 00:19:04,495 and you've got that happening 375 00:19:04,564 --> 00:19:08,499 as people are developing villages and states. 376 00:19:08,568 --> 00:19:11,836 ehret: there's pressures that arise as population grows 377 00:19:11,905 --> 00:19:15,339 that leads to foundation of more complex societies. 378 00:19:15,408 --> 00:19:17,909 bradshaw: the population becomes divided 379 00:19:17,977 --> 00:19:19,510 between the food-producing groups 380 00:19:19,579 --> 00:19:21,412 and the non-food-producing groups, 381 00:19:21,481 --> 00:19:23,748 and what we see with the non-food-producing groups 382 00:19:23,817 --> 00:19:26,851 is that they become artisans, professional builders, 383 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,720 so they have a surplus of food, 384 00:19:29,789 --> 00:19:31,289 and this is the point at which 385 00:19:31,357 --> 00:19:35,493 we start seeing things that we might call civilization. 386 00:19:35,562 --> 00:19:37,795 host: burial pits in the nile valley 387 00:19:37,864 --> 00:19:40,765 have been the source of rare and unique artifacts 388 00:19:40,834 --> 00:19:44,402 dating back more than 6,000 years. 389 00:19:44,471 --> 00:19:48,005 they show a rich, creative culture. 390 00:19:48,074 --> 00:19:51,943 these prestige items were crafted by artisans 391 00:19:52,011 --> 00:19:54,612 to be enjoyed by elites. 392 00:19:54,681 --> 00:19:55,813 host: how old is this? 393 00:19:55,882 --> 00:19:59,550 so, this dates about 3,600 b.c. 394 00:19:59,619 --> 00:20:02,887 really? this is 6,000 years ago. 395 00:20:02,956 --> 00:20:03,888 yeah. 396 00:20:03,957 --> 00:20:05,423 so, the brothers and sisters 397 00:20:05,492 --> 00:20:07,625 back in the nile valley 398 00:20:07,694 --> 00:20:10,061 were combing out their hair with an afro comb. 399 00:20:10,130 --> 00:20:14,565 yes. just like afro combs, these long, thick combs 400 00:20:14,634 --> 00:20:16,734 would've been perfect for african hair, 401 00:20:16,803 --> 00:20:18,703 and this is an item that would proclaim 402 00:20:18,771 --> 00:20:22,773 status and identity and make a statement. 403 00:20:22,842 --> 00:20:24,542 they're often found in the burial 404 00:20:24,611 --> 00:20:27,044 still in the hair, very prominently placed, 405 00:20:27,113 --> 00:20:29,981 so these symbols would've been visible. 406 00:20:30,049 --> 00:20:32,016 just the way black people wear them today. 407 00:20:32,085 --> 00:20:33,451 absolutely. 408 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,753 black people were combing their hair with afro combs. 409 00:20:35,822 --> 00:20:37,255 i thought we invented this in the sixties. 410 00:20:37,323 --> 00:20:38,623 [laughter] 411 00:20:38,691 --> 00:20:41,192 amazing. so, the burials at that date 412 00:20:41,261 --> 00:20:42,894 were pit burials. 413 00:20:42,962 --> 00:20:45,096 in the dry sand, often it preserves 414 00:20:45,165 --> 00:20:46,898 organic materials. 415 00:20:46,966 --> 00:20:48,533 we can actually do an archaeology 416 00:20:48,601 --> 00:20:50,334 of hairdos and hairstyles. 417 00:20:50,403 --> 00:20:51,602 oh, what kind of hairstyles? 418 00:20:51,671 --> 00:20:53,171 they've got all sorts. 419 00:20:53,239 --> 00:20:55,006 they've got the use of henna and fake hair 420 00:20:55,074 --> 00:20:56,774 and big bouffants. 421 00:20:56,843 --> 00:20:58,042 there's even a suggestion we've got 422 00:20:58,111 --> 00:20:59,610 some mohawks as well. 423 00:20:59,679 --> 00:21:01,045 that's astonishing. 424 00:21:01,114 --> 00:21:02,914 so, the people who made this were 425 00:21:02,982 --> 00:21:04,549 highly-skilled craftspeople. 426 00:21:04,617 --> 00:21:06,751 they were making beautiful pottery. 427 00:21:06,819 --> 00:21:09,053 very skilled at making stone vessels. 428 00:21:09,122 --> 00:21:11,455 all up and down the nile valley at this time 429 00:21:11,524 --> 00:21:14,358 you see groups creating very vibrant, 430 00:21:14,427 --> 00:21:17,762 personal culture that they would wear and display. 431 00:21:17,830 --> 00:21:19,096 mm-hmm. 432 00:21:19,165 --> 00:21:21,999 ehret: you get this coming in of people from the sahara, 433 00:21:22,068 --> 00:21:25,069 bringing ideas that even more complex, 434 00:21:25,138 --> 00:21:28,105 larger-scale institutions can be built, 435 00:21:28,174 --> 00:21:30,575 and then development of little, tiny kingdoms. 436 00:21:32,378 --> 00:21:34,145 man: different groups are uniting 437 00:21:34,214 --> 00:21:36,414 under powerful figures or perhaps 438 00:21:36,482 --> 00:21:39,116 local deities or fetishes or emblems, 439 00:21:39,185 --> 00:21:40,718 and then these groups consolidate. 440 00:21:40,787 --> 00:21:42,620 one is victorious over another. 441 00:21:42,689 --> 00:21:44,222 they get larger and larger 442 00:21:44,290 --> 00:21:45,523 and smaller in number. 443 00:21:48,061 --> 00:21:51,462 host: in 1988, archaeologists discovered a tomb 444 00:21:51,531 --> 00:21:56,534 at abydos, 300 miles south of cairo. 445 00:21:56,603 --> 00:21:58,336 the tomb is thought to contain 446 00:21:58,404 --> 00:22:00,605 one of egypt's earliest rulers, 447 00:22:00,673 --> 00:22:03,107 credited with consolidating the lands 448 00:22:03,176 --> 00:22:05,376 that would become ancient egypt. 449 00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:08,980 he's known as the scorpion king 450 00:22:09,048 --> 00:22:10,881 and is believed to have ruled at the end 451 00:22:10,950 --> 00:22:13,017 of the fourth millennium b.c. 452 00:22:17,190 --> 00:22:19,857 little is known about him or his reign, 453 00:22:19,926 --> 00:22:24,662 but his royal tomb housed 150 small ivory tags 454 00:22:24,731 --> 00:22:26,897 covered in carved symbols 455 00:22:26,966 --> 00:22:31,535 that helped to rewrite the history of civilization. 456 00:22:31,604 --> 00:22:36,140 these simple ivory tags revealed something astonishing. 457 00:22:36,209 --> 00:22:39,143 something that overturned what archaeologists believed 458 00:22:39,212 --> 00:22:42,046 about how our ancestors communicated. 459 00:22:42,115 --> 00:22:45,416 the symbols on these tags aren't artworks. 460 00:22:45,485 --> 00:22:49,086 they are in fact the world's first writing. 461 00:22:50,356 --> 00:22:52,490 man: egyptian writing as we know it, 462 00:22:52,558 --> 00:22:55,660 as in fully developed egyptian hieroglyphs, 463 00:22:55,728 --> 00:22:58,796 appear first around 3,250 b.c.e. 464 00:22:58,865 --> 00:23:01,065 and some of the earliest pieces 465 00:23:01,134 --> 00:23:05,202 are these little labels, these little ivory tags 466 00:23:05,271 --> 00:23:09,140 from tomb u-j at abydos. 467 00:23:09,208 --> 00:23:11,609 host: similar tags from this burial complex 468 00:23:11,678 --> 00:23:15,279 are now kept at the petrie museum in london. 469 00:23:15,348 --> 00:23:18,215 this is a formative stage of hieroglyphic writing. 470 00:23:18,284 --> 00:23:19,383 so, what does it say? 471 00:23:19,452 --> 00:23:20,751 it's been suggested that 472 00:23:20,820 --> 00:23:22,353 it might be a place name. 473 00:23:22,422 --> 00:23:24,422 this is a prestige item. 474 00:23:24,490 --> 00:23:25,756 and what was it used for? 475 00:23:25,825 --> 00:23:27,491 so, you can see there's a hole 476 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,060 just drilled through there, 477 00:23:29,128 --> 00:23:32,697 and that would have been tied to a box or a bag, 478 00:23:32,765 --> 00:23:35,266 indicating property. 479 00:23:35,335 --> 00:23:36,634 so, this would've said, 480 00:23:36,703 --> 00:23:38,569 "this property belongs to alice"? 481 00:23:38,638 --> 00:23:40,371 [laughter] it could've done, 482 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,173 or it could've said, "this material 483 00:23:42,241 --> 00:23:45,176 comes from this part of egypt." 484 00:23:45,244 --> 00:23:46,444 and do you have any idea 485 00:23:46,512 --> 00:23:48,979 what the function of this 486 00:23:49,048 --> 00:23:51,716 property identification system was? 487 00:23:51,784 --> 00:23:54,685 this object is only being used 488 00:23:54,754 --> 00:23:56,354 by the elite, by royalty, 489 00:23:56,422 --> 00:23:59,390 and it's about royal ownership of 490 00:23:59,459 --> 00:24:02,393 parts of egypt, parts of labor, 491 00:24:02,462 --> 00:24:05,796 over materials. 492 00:24:05,865 --> 00:24:07,264 host: we used to believe the first writing 493 00:24:07,333 --> 00:24:11,535 began in mesopotamia, modern-day iraq and syria. 494 00:24:11,604 --> 00:24:14,605 but these small tags proved that writing developed 495 00:24:14,674 --> 00:24:19,076 simultaneously and independently here in africa. 496 00:24:19,145 --> 00:24:21,245 as to which language is older, 497 00:24:21,314 --> 00:24:24,115 there's a huge debate that continues to rage. 498 00:24:24,183 --> 00:24:26,183 darnell: i think we can say that 499 00:24:26,252 --> 00:24:27,918 ancient egyptian writing 500 00:24:27,987 --> 00:24:31,756 develops independent of writing 501 00:24:31,824 --> 00:24:34,225 in ancient mesopotamia, 502 00:24:34,293 --> 00:24:36,460 and develops really almost at the same time, 503 00:24:36,529 --> 00:24:40,064 although this egyptian writing appears to be 504 00:24:40,133 --> 00:24:45,069 in some frequent use a little bit before 505 00:24:45,138 --> 00:24:49,373 we seem to get true, fully developed cuneiform. 506 00:24:50,777 --> 00:24:52,810 the concentration of resources 507 00:24:52,879 --> 00:24:55,579 led to a concentration of power, 508 00:24:55,648 --> 00:24:59,016 resulting in the first kings ruling over wide areas. 509 00:24:59,085 --> 00:25:01,218 maintaining that power 510 00:25:01,287 --> 00:25:04,088 required the ability to communicate, 511 00:25:04,157 --> 00:25:07,758 and maximizing the capacity to communicate 512 00:25:07,827 --> 00:25:10,327 led to the development of writing. 513 00:25:10,396 --> 00:25:13,597 abaka: and so, writing became a tool for organizing society. 514 00:25:13,666 --> 00:25:17,034 also became a tool for domination in that sense. 515 00:25:17,103 --> 00:25:20,204 it became a tool for ruling over people. 516 00:25:21,841 --> 00:25:23,140 host: the evolution of writing 517 00:25:23,209 --> 00:25:26,243 enabled egypt's rulers to maintain power 518 00:25:26,312 --> 00:25:29,513 and established a system of royal ascendancy. 519 00:25:29,582 --> 00:25:31,515 darnell: it looks as though tomb u-j, 520 00:25:31,584 --> 00:25:34,051 that has this earliest egyptian writing in it, 521 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:38,756 it's also the first tomb that can be followed 522 00:25:38,825 --> 00:25:41,091 in a line of development that leads us 523 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,561 right to the pyramids of the old kingdom. 524 00:25:43,629 --> 00:25:46,063 woman: from the first king of the first dynasty 525 00:25:46,132 --> 00:25:49,333 until the pyramids is a relatively short period of time. 526 00:25:49,402 --> 00:25:52,736 so you have the creation of an egyptian bureaucracy 527 00:25:52,805 --> 00:25:56,173 and within a few centuries, you have 528 00:25:56,242 --> 00:25:59,176 the construction of the pyramids. 529 00:25:59,245 --> 00:26:02,880 host: and the most spectacular pyramid of all 530 00:26:02,949 --> 00:26:06,083 is the great pyramid of giza. 531 00:26:06,152 --> 00:26:09,587 it's the most famous and the most iconic building 532 00:26:09,655 --> 00:26:11,322 in the entire world. 533 00:26:11,390 --> 00:26:13,757 a triumph of scientific innovation 534 00:26:13,826 --> 00:26:15,926 and artistic imagination. 535 00:26:15,995 --> 00:26:17,561 built for the pharaoh khufu, 536 00:26:17,630 --> 00:26:20,831 who came to the throne around 2,600 b.c. 537 00:26:20,900 --> 00:26:23,367 and ruled for about 27 years, 538 00:26:23,436 --> 00:26:27,204 the great pyramid took his entire reign to complete. 539 00:26:27,273 --> 00:26:32,977 the project required 2,300,000 stone blocks, 540 00:26:33,045 --> 00:26:37,781 each weighing an average of 2 1/2 tons. 541 00:26:37,850 --> 00:26:41,252 the pyramid would remain the tallest building on earth 542 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,021 for nearly 4,000 years. 543 00:26:44,090 --> 00:26:46,357 the great pyramid is an african construction, 544 00:26:46,425 --> 00:26:49,026 and we shouldn't forget that, and i find it fantastic 545 00:26:49,095 --> 00:26:53,130 to think about khufu and his courtiers sitting around 546 00:26:53,199 --> 00:26:54,865 and saying, "we're going to do something 547 00:26:54,934 --> 00:26:57,134 "that no one else has conceived of. 548 00:26:57,203 --> 00:27:00,638 let's make something bigger, more impressive." 549 00:27:00,706 --> 00:27:02,640 colleen darnell: with the ancient pyramids, we really see 550 00:27:02,708 --> 00:27:05,175 all of the strong suits of ancient egypt 551 00:27:05,244 --> 00:27:06,443 come to the fore. 552 00:27:06,512 --> 00:27:09,914 so you have their geological wealth of limestone 553 00:27:09,982 --> 00:27:12,917 and you also have the advanced egyptian mathematics 554 00:27:12,985 --> 00:27:14,652 and engineering skills 555 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,389 alongside this very large labor force. 556 00:27:18,457 --> 00:27:19,790 der manuelian: you don't pull that off with 557 00:27:19,859 --> 00:27:21,425 hebrew slaves and all of these myths 558 00:27:21,494 --> 00:27:23,494 that really have no basis in reality. 559 00:27:23,563 --> 00:27:25,930 the pyramids were built by egyptians. 560 00:27:25,998 --> 00:27:28,532 they were conscripted from all parts of the country. 561 00:27:28,601 --> 00:27:29,934 when the nile is in flood, 562 00:27:30,002 --> 00:27:31,602 that, of course, plays a role, too. 563 00:27:31,671 --> 00:27:33,637 colleen darnell: during those months, farmers could do 564 00:27:33,706 --> 00:27:35,739 very little with their fields, 565 00:27:35,808 --> 00:27:38,442 and they could be employed to build the pyramids, 566 00:27:38,511 --> 00:27:39,810 and that was also part of the ways 567 00:27:39,879 --> 00:27:43,213 that you could pay your taxes in ancient egypt. 568 00:27:46,252 --> 00:27:49,186 but while egypt would dominate northeastern africa, 569 00:27:49,255 --> 00:27:51,855 further south, on the banks of the nile 570 00:27:51,924 --> 00:27:53,791 in modern-day sudan, 571 00:27:53,859 --> 00:27:56,193 another center of power was growing. 572 00:27:58,164 --> 00:28:03,500 it was the capital of the ancient kingdom of kush--kerma. 573 00:28:05,071 --> 00:28:06,670 digging in the sudanese sand 574 00:28:06,739 --> 00:28:09,540 between 1913 and 1916, 575 00:28:09,609 --> 00:28:13,310 archaeologists led by harvard professor george reisner 576 00:28:13,379 --> 00:28:16,780 stumbled across a pit filled with human bones 577 00:28:16,849 --> 00:28:20,551 and the burial mound of one of the last kings of kerma. 578 00:28:20,620 --> 00:28:24,622 bradshaw: around 322 remains of humans were found 579 00:28:24,690 --> 00:28:27,858 in one elite burial in the eastern cemetery. 580 00:28:27,927 --> 00:28:32,596 this, of course, initially was thought to be human sacrifice. 581 00:28:32,665 --> 00:28:34,832 host: reisner estimated the bodies dated back 582 00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:36,834 to about 1,500 b.c., 583 00:28:36,902 --> 00:28:38,669 but evidence in other burial sites 584 00:28:38,738 --> 00:28:40,971 shows the practice of human sacrifice 585 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,207 dates back even further. 586 00:28:43,275 --> 00:28:44,375 bradshaw: death in kerma, 587 00:28:44,443 --> 00:28:45,809 particularly for the elite, 588 00:28:45,878 --> 00:28:48,412 seemed to be something of a spectacle. 589 00:28:48,481 --> 00:28:51,215 however, these may very well have been retainers 590 00:28:51,283 --> 00:28:52,750 who would have served the king in life 591 00:28:52,818 --> 00:28:54,785 and thus would serve him in death. 592 00:28:54,854 --> 00:28:57,554 even the idea that these were slaves 593 00:28:57,623 --> 00:28:59,990 captured in foreign wars and killed 594 00:29:00,059 --> 00:29:04,495 as a sort of triumphal act. 595 00:29:06,565 --> 00:29:08,666 host: the earliest settlement in kerma 596 00:29:08,734 --> 00:29:12,469 has been dated to 4,000 b.c. 597 00:29:12,538 --> 00:29:14,672 settlements in mesopotamia 598 00:29:14,740 --> 00:29:17,207 formed into the earliest cities. 599 00:29:17,276 --> 00:29:20,511 but recent archaeological finds show that kerma 600 00:29:20,579 --> 00:29:23,347 was developing into a complex society 601 00:29:23,416 --> 00:29:25,416 at the same time. 602 00:29:25,484 --> 00:29:28,585 by 2,500 b.c., it's estimated 603 00:29:28,654 --> 00:29:30,421 that the city's population 604 00:29:30,489 --> 00:29:33,290 had grown to over 10,000, 605 00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:35,092 and its power and wealth 606 00:29:35,161 --> 00:29:38,629 rivaled that of its northern neighbor egypt. 607 00:29:41,067 --> 00:29:44,034 today, little remains of what was once 608 00:29:44,103 --> 00:29:45,903 a magnificent planned city, 609 00:29:45,971 --> 00:29:48,005 built around monumental architecture 610 00:29:48,074 --> 00:29:50,507 as grand as that of early egypt. 611 00:29:50,576 --> 00:29:52,409 bradshaw: the archaeology of the city itself 612 00:29:52,478 --> 00:29:54,778 centered around what seems to be 613 00:29:54,847 --> 00:29:56,647 a vast structure. 614 00:29:56,716 --> 00:29:58,682 this is known as the deffufa. 615 00:29:58,751 --> 00:30:00,217 different scholars have different ideas 616 00:30:00,286 --> 00:30:01,452 about what it could be. 617 00:30:04,190 --> 00:30:05,789 in terms of mud brick architecture, 618 00:30:05,858 --> 00:30:07,591 it certainly seems to be the largest 619 00:30:07,660 --> 00:30:09,860 and earliest in africa. 620 00:30:09,929 --> 00:30:11,495 host: the nubian kingdom 621 00:30:11,564 --> 00:30:14,531 had its own distinct culture and religion 622 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,768 and was renowned for its deadly archers. 623 00:30:48,100 --> 00:30:50,200 host: for over 2,000 years, 624 00:30:50,269 --> 00:30:52,236 the kingdoms of kush and egypt 625 00:30:52,304 --> 00:30:53,971 prospered and grew 626 00:30:54,039 --> 00:30:56,039 as kindred civilizations 627 00:30:56,108 --> 00:30:58,575 at opposite ends of the nile valley. 628 00:30:58,644 --> 00:31:03,113 by 1,500 b.c., egypt was the world's greatest power, 629 00:31:03,182 --> 00:31:06,116 controlling trade routes to the middle east. 630 00:31:06,185 --> 00:31:09,353 but egypt's gateway to the precious resources 631 00:31:09,421 --> 00:31:12,456 of the interior of africa was kush. 632 00:31:13,926 --> 00:31:16,994 kush supplied luxury items such as gold 633 00:31:17,062 --> 00:31:20,297 to egypt's flourishing 18th dynasty. 634 00:31:20,366 --> 00:31:22,933 from tutankhamen's face mask 635 00:31:23,002 --> 00:31:26,370 to the trading expeditions led by hatshepsut 636 00:31:26,438 --> 00:31:29,907 and the wealth amassed by queen nefertiti, 637 00:31:29,975 --> 00:31:31,642 egyptian pharaohs required 638 00:31:31,710 --> 00:31:34,511 endless supplies of exotic goods 639 00:31:34,580 --> 00:31:37,748 to help their passage into the afterlife. 640 00:31:37,817 --> 00:31:40,751 it's difficult to imagine any people anywhere 641 00:31:40,820 --> 00:31:43,887 who resisted the finality of death more lavishly 642 00:31:43,956 --> 00:31:45,989 than did the egyptians. 643 00:31:46,058 --> 00:31:47,858 the king's sacred tomb 644 00:31:47,927 --> 00:31:50,861 would be filled with every conceivable luxury 645 00:31:50,930 --> 00:31:53,197 to accompany him through the afterlife. 646 00:31:55,434 --> 00:32:00,604 leopard skins, ostrich feathers, ivory, precious stones, 647 00:32:00,673 --> 00:32:04,241 and gold from nubia's bountifully laden mines. 648 00:32:04,310 --> 00:32:06,643 darnell: gold is the skin of the gods. 649 00:32:06,712 --> 00:32:09,413 the god is hot or this face of the sun 650 00:32:09,481 --> 00:32:11,348 is the woman's face en face 651 00:32:11,417 --> 00:32:15,352 with the cowl ears as gold. 652 00:32:15,421 --> 00:32:18,488 colleen darnell: it is a metal that never corrodes, 653 00:32:18,557 --> 00:32:22,259 and so they recognized this as being 654 00:32:22,328 --> 00:32:27,097 the perfect material for funerary goods. 655 00:32:27,166 --> 00:32:30,234 bradshaw: we see the royals being adorned with gold 656 00:32:30,302 --> 00:32:34,638 and we find from myriad, even lesser elite houses, 657 00:32:34,707 --> 00:32:36,139 we see gold objects. 658 00:32:36,208 --> 00:32:38,809 darnell: the gold mining regions of the eastern desert 659 00:32:38,878 --> 00:32:41,745 really force the ancient egyptians 660 00:32:41,814 --> 00:32:44,514 and the ancient nubians to continue 661 00:32:44,583 --> 00:32:47,517 the close associations they already culturally had. 662 00:32:47,586 --> 00:32:52,122 it's one of the reasons why egypt can't let go of nubia 663 00:32:52,191 --> 00:32:54,558 and it's one of the reasons nubia is 664 00:32:54,627 --> 00:32:57,961 both so attractive and potentially dangerous. 665 00:32:58,030 --> 00:33:00,330 the relationship between egypt and the kushite kingdom 666 00:33:00,399 --> 00:33:04,768 was one of intimacy, proximity, and bitter rivalry. 667 00:33:06,138 --> 00:33:08,672 the egyptians felt threatened by nubia 668 00:33:08,741 --> 00:33:11,408 and wanted to control the gold mines themselves. 669 00:33:12,645 --> 00:33:14,311 bradshaw: the kingdom of kerma and egypt 670 00:33:14,380 --> 00:33:15,812 seemed to have had what you might call 671 00:33:15,881 --> 00:33:17,681 a difficult relationship. 672 00:33:17,750 --> 00:33:20,284 at this point, the egyptians were writing of nubia 673 00:33:20,352 --> 00:33:23,287 as "vile kush," so we know there was certainly 674 00:33:23,355 --> 00:33:25,923 a lot of venom from the egyptian side. 675 00:33:25,991 --> 00:33:29,593 eventually, rivalry led to conflict, 676 00:33:29,662 --> 00:33:32,996 culminating in a war that would bring to an end 677 00:33:33,065 --> 00:33:37,334 15 centuries of independent kushite rule. 678 00:33:38,871 --> 00:33:40,737 hawks: every time you have civilizations 679 00:33:40,806 --> 00:33:41,939 develop in the world, 680 00:33:42,007 --> 00:33:44,641 what you have is warfare and bloodshed. 681 00:33:44,710 --> 00:33:47,811 because other people want the stuff that you've got. 682 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,114 and that becomes a part of the history of civilization. 683 00:33:51,183 --> 00:33:53,650 host: around 1,500 b.c., 684 00:33:53,719 --> 00:33:56,987 standing at the prow of a flotilla of ships, 685 00:33:57,056 --> 00:33:58,956 pharaoh thutmose i 686 00:33:59,024 --> 00:34:00,757 led his troops to war 687 00:34:00,826 --> 00:34:03,493 against the kushite kingdom. 688 00:34:03,562 --> 00:34:07,197 thutmose i, not born of royal blood, 689 00:34:07,266 --> 00:34:10,334 had served as a general to the previous pharaoh 690 00:34:10,402 --> 00:34:14,838 and earned a reputation as a formidable military strategist. 691 00:34:18,444 --> 00:34:22,312 for the egyptians, nubia was a very strategic location. 692 00:34:22,381 --> 00:34:24,514 bradshaw: what we see is thutmose is going 693 00:34:24,583 --> 00:34:27,150 very determinedly to the south. 694 00:34:27,219 --> 00:34:29,853 he sacks the city of kerma. 695 00:34:29,922 --> 00:34:33,123 to sack the capital city of this kingdom 696 00:34:33,192 --> 00:34:34,591 was truly a feat. 697 00:34:34,660 --> 00:34:38,061 the nubians were well-known warriors and fighters. 698 00:34:38,130 --> 00:34:40,230 there are stories of thousands 699 00:34:40,299 --> 00:34:42,332 of captured prisoners of war 700 00:34:42,401 --> 00:34:45,602 being executed in a variety of different ways. 701 00:34:45,671 --> 00:34:48,705 lest anyone doubt the finality of the conquest, 702 00:34:48,774 --> 00:34:52,376 thutmose strapped the body of the fallen nubian king 703 00:34:52,444 --> 00:34:54,811 to the front of his ship. 704 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,414 "egypt is the chief," he declared, 705 00:34:57,483 --> 00:35:01,952 "while peoples across the whole earth are her servants." 706 00:35:03,689 --> 00:35:06,757 colleen darnell: nubia became a second part of egypt. 707 00:35:06,825 --> 00:35:09,659 bradshaw: the 18th dynasty is really a period of time when 708 00:35:09,728 --> 00:35:12,729 the egyptian presence in nubia expands. 709 00:35:12,798 --> 00:35:15,766 host: for 400 years, the people of kush 710 00:35:15,834 --> 00:35:18,969 would struggle under and against egyptian rule 711 00:35:19,038 --> 00:35:21,638 while egypt plundered the kingdom's gold mines 712 00:35:21,707 --> 00:35:23,607 through annual tribute. 713 00:35:23,675 --> 00:35:26,209 kushite royal traditions survived, 714 00:35:26,278 --> 00:35:28,912 south of the regions that egypt ruled. 715 00:35:30,616 --> 00:35:32,983 darnell: all of nubia is incorporated 716 00:35:33,052 --> 00:35:36,787 into egypt more fully than ever before. 717 00:35:36,855 --> 00:35:39,990 nubia gets a shadow government 718 00:35:40,059 --> 00:35:41,792 that mirrors pharaonic egypt. 719 00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:44,061 you get a viceroy of kush, 720 00:35:44,129 --> 00:35:45,462 the king son of kush, 721 00:35:45,531 --> 00:35:49,966 who, like pharaoh, is in charge of all of nubia. 722 00:35:50,035 --> 00:35:52,302 host: the egyptians also brought along 723 00:35:52,371 --> 00:35:55,572 their culture and their gods. 724 00:35:55,641 --> 00:35:58,041 colleen darnell: we know that already in the 18th dynasty, 725 00:35:58,110 --> 00:36:00,677 the ancient egyptians were building temples in nubia 726 00:36:00,746 --> 00:36:02,913 to egyptian gods, but 727 00:36:02,981 --> 00:36:06,016 egyptians gods that had a local relevance 728 00:36:06,085 --> 00:36:07,717 for the nubians. 729 00:36:07,786 --> 00:36:13,390 host: amun, god of gods in egypt for 400 years. 730 00:36:13,459 --> 00:36:18,328 700 years later, the kushites made this all-powerful deity 731 00:36:18,397 --> 00:36:19,596 their own, 732 00:36:19,665 --> 00:36:21,264 incorporating him 733 00:36:21,333 --> 00:36:23,300 into their pantheon 734 00:36:23,368 --> 00:36:27,037 alongside their lion-headed god apedemak. 735 00:36:27,106 --> 00:36:31,007 the egyptians built an awe-inspiring temple to amun 736 00:36:31,076 --> 00:36:34,211 at the southernmost tip of their nubian empire 737 00:36:34,279 --> 00:36:37,347 at the holy site of jebel barkal. 738 00:36:37,416 --> 00:36:39,883 this would also become a sacred place 739 00:36:39,952 --> 00:36:41,751 for the kushites. 740 00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:44,087 man: for the ancient egyptians and the ancient kushites, 741 00:36:44,156 --> 00:36:46,490 this pinnacle symbolized a serpent 742 00:36:46,558 --> 00:36:48,492 that was a protective deity 743 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:49,993 on the crown of the pharaoh 744 00:36:50,062 --> 00:36:52,929 that spit fire and poison at the pharaoh's enemies. 745 00:36:52,998 --> 00:36:55,565 so, this is what gave jebel barkal 746 00:36:55,634 --> 00:36:59,636 its mystical association that led egyptians and kushites 747 00:36:59,705 --> 00:37:01,571 to build and rebuild and expand 748 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,074 their temples over the centuries. 749 00:37:04,143 --> 00:37:06,176 host: but after 1,100 b.c., 750 00:37:06,245 --> 00:37:09,045 parts of kush regained their independence, 751 00:37:09,114 --> 00:37:11,948 and by 750 b.c., egypt, 752 00:37:12,017 --> 00:37:14,684 following invasions by libyan tribes, 753 00:37:14,753 --> 00:37:17,821 was greatly diminished and fragmented. 754 00:37:17,890 --> 00:37:21,191 around 750 b.c., piye, 755 00:37:21,260 --> 00:37:23,126 a new kushite king, 756 00:37:23,195 --> 00:37:24,828 came to the throne. 757 00:37:24,897 --> 00:37:27,297 he was brilliant and ambitious, 758 00:37:27,366 --> 00:37:30,200 driven in part by his fervent worship 759 00:37:30,269 --> 00:37:32,769 of the god amun. 760 00:37:32,838 --> 00:37:36,106 emberling: he clearly made jebel barkal an important place. 761 00:37:36,175 --> 00:37:38,175 uh, he built a palace here, 762 00:37:38,243 --> 00:37:40,777 he very significantly expanded the temple, 763 00:37:40,846 --> 00:37:43,513 and, uh, barkal was very clearly the center 764 00:37:43,582 --> 00:37:46,516 of his symbolic assertion of kingship. 765 00:37:48,353 --> 00:37:51,688 host: piye turned his sights northward to egypt, 766 00:37:51,757 --> 00:37:55,091 portraying kush as the champion of amun. 767 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,961 darnell: nubia appears to see itself 768 00:37:58,030 --> 00:38:00,931 as the real egypt 769 00:38:00,999 --> 00:38:04,201 because they're the real worshippers 770 00:38:04,269 --> 00:38:06,169 of the egyptian gods. 771 00:38:06,238 --> 00:38:08,872 colleen darnell: it's remarkable that the nubians 772 00:38:08,941 --> 00:38:12,742 adopted egyptian culture and religion and civilization 773 00:38:12,811 --> 00:38:14,945 to the point that they believed 774 00:38:15,013 --> 00:38:18,081 that they were better egyptians than the egyptians who were 775 00:38:18,150 --> 00:38:19,950 currently in control of the nile valley. 776 00:38:20,018 --> 00:38:22,519 so, when piye invades egypt, 777 00:38:22,588 --> 00:38:26,656 he does so in the name of the god amun. 778 00:38:26,725 --> 00:38:30,994 piye essentially casts his invasion of egypt as a holy war, 779 00:38:31,063 --> 00:38:35,265 of the re-establishment of the proper worship of the god amun. 780 00:38:37,402 --> 00:38:39,736 at the head of a powerful army, 781 00:38:39,805 --> 00:38:43,073 piye set sail north down the nile, 782 00:38:43,141 --> 00:38:45,742 ready to invade the once impregnable 783 00:38:45,811 --> 00:38:47,277 empire of egypt. 784 00:38:47,346 --> 00:38:50,714 he ordered his men to purify themselves in the river. 785 00:38:50,782 --> 00:38:54,017 "i shall let egypt," he said, 786 00:38:54,086 --> 00:38:57,153 "taste the taste of my fingers." 787 00:38:59,524 --> 00:39:01,925 in a campaign that lasted nearly a year, 788 00:39:01,994 --> 00:39:06,763 piye's army conquered egypt as far north as the nile delta. 789 00:39:06,832 --> 00:39:11,368 triumphant, piye was crowned pharaoh of nubia and egypt 790 00:39:11,436 --> 00:39:16,039 and founder of the 25th dynasty of egypt's pharaohs. 791 00:39:16,108 --> 00:39:18,541 the kushites, once the conquered, 792 00:39:18,610 --> 00:39:20,477 now became the conquerors, 793 00:39:20,545 --> 00:39:24,581 reuniting fragmented egypt under their rule. 794 00:39:24,650 --> 00:39:27,484 colleen darnell: we can see the nubian conquest of egypt 795 00:39:27,552 --> 00:39:28,952 as both a holy war 796 00:39:29,021 --> 00:39:31,221 and a strategic expansion to the north, 797 00:39:31,290 --> 00:39:33,723 and obviously, it was a great prize 798 00:39:33,792 --> 00:39:36,192 to rule both egypt and nubia. 799 00:39:36,261 --> 00:39:37,894 ehret: they're ruling over an empire 800 00:39:37,963 --> 00:39:40,497 that runs from meroe down in the south, 801 00:39:40,565 --> 00:39:42,432 clear up to the delta, 802 00:39:42,501 --> 00:39:46,770 larger than any territory egypt itself ever ruled. 803 00:39:46,838 --> 00:39:49,439 darnell: in some ways, it can be seen as a turning of the tables 804 00:39:49,508 --> 00:39:51,908 that nubia, who's always the underdog, 805 00:39:51,977 --> 00:39:54,210 now has egypt as the underdog. 806 00:39:54,279 --> 00:39:58,248 it simply shows, i think, over and over again, 807 00:39:58,317 --> 00:40:00,817 how upper egypt and nubia 808 00:40:00,886 --> 00:40:05,922 are so closely associated, ideologically. 809 00:40:05,991 --> 00:40:09,292 host: this was the start of a new era in egypt 810 00:40:09,361 --> 00:40:11,828 which would see it ruled by a dynasty 811 00:40:11,897 --> 00:40:16,499 that historians call the black pharaohs of the nile, 812 00:40:16,568 --> 00:40:19,202 restoring prosperity and stability 813 00:40:19,271 --> 00:40:20,837 back to egypt. 814 00:40:27,446 --> 00:40:30,113 but across africa, in the lush forest 815 00:40:30,182 --> 00:40:33,016 of modern-day central african republic, 816 00:40:33,085 --> 00:40:35,685 new radical technological innovations 817 00:40:35,754 --> 00:40:39,022 were laying the foundation for other civilizations. 818 00:40:40,459 --> 00:40:44,661 sometime between 1,800 b.c. and 1,500 b.c., 819 00:40:44,730 --> 00:40:46,863 small communities of craftspeople 820 00:40:46,932 --> 00:40:51,835 gathered to stoke furnaces, intending to fire ceramic. 821 00:40:53,038 --> 00:40:55,872 but in the lateritic african soil, 822 00:40:55,941 --> 00:40:59,676 the craftsmen discovered a by-product--iron. 823 00:41:01,446 --> 00:41:03,580 iron is one of those inventions that 824 00:41:03,648 --> 00:41:05,682 actually has a tremendous impact. 825 00:41:05,751 --> 00:41:08,284 ehret: we suspect the first usages 826 00:41:08,353 --> 00:41:11,354 were for decoration, for ornamentation. 827 00:41:11,423 --> 00:41:13,623 but very quickly, people began to see, 828 00:41:13,692 --> 00:41:15,892 "oh, hey, we can shape this." 829 00:41:15,961 --> 00:41:17,994 woman: each metal has a certain quality-- 830 00:41:18,063 --> 00:41:20,096 iron for its strength, 831 00:41:20,165 --> 00:41:23,299 and the kind of tools that one can create with it. 832 00:41:23,368 --> 00:41:27,070 fourshey: in terms of converting economies 833 00:41:27,139 --> 00:41:29,739 from hunting and gathering to agriculture, 834 00:41:29,808 --> 00:41:32,976 iron began to be used particularly as currencies, 835 00:41:33,044 --> 00:41:35,912 but also in terms of agricultural production. 836 00:41:35,981 --> 00:41:38,815 host: we previously thought that iron had been discovered 837 00:41:38,884 --> 00:41:41,918 in turkey, around 1,500 b.c., 838 00:41:41,987 --> 00:41:45,088 but new evidence reveals that iron working emerged 839 00:41:45,157 --> 00:41:47,624 at the same time in africa. 840 00:41:47,692 --> 00:41:48,691 bradshaw: for a long time, 841 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,628 the idea that iron could be smelted 842 00:41:51,696 --> 00:41:55,165 in sub-saharan africa was completely dismissed. 843 00:41:55,233 --> 00:41:58,034 ehret: the new evidence is that iron working 844 00:41:58,103 --> 00:42:01,004 begins right in the heart of africa. 845 00:42:01,072 --> 00:42:03,840 we find dates of around 1,000 846 00:42:03,909 --> 00:42:06,109 in the lake chad area. 847 00:42:06,178 --> 00:42:09,546 900 as we get towards the middle of nigeria. 848 00:42:09,614 --> 00:42:12,582 700 b.c. to 500 b.c. over in mali. 849 00:42:12,651 --> 00:42:16,453 showing the spread of iron coming out of that area. 850 00:42:16,521 --> 00:42:19,355 fourshey: even with the kinds of technology that we have today, 851 00:42:19,424 --> 00:42:23,927 it's incredibly difficult to produce a smelt 852 00:42:23,995 --> 00:42:25,762 in the way that people would have, 853 00:42:25,831 --> 00:42:27,397 you know, 3,000 years ago. 854 00:42:27,466 --> 00:42:29,699 people talk about civilizations, 855 00:42:29,768 --> 00:42:31,768 and they think everything new and exciting 856 00:42:31,837 --> 00:42:34,070 begins in the civilization. 857 00:42:34,139 --> 00:42:36,339 turns out when you look at history, 858 00:42:36,408 --> 00:42:41,044 human beings create advanced new technologies 859 00:42:41,112 --> 00:42:42,545 out of their own experiences. 860 00:42:42,614 --> 00:42:43,913 they don't have to live 861 00:42:43,982 --> 00:42:45,181 in this kind of society 862 00:42:45,250 --> 00:42:46,549 or that kind of society. 863 00:42:48,186 --> 00:42:51,120 host: the iron working communities of central africa 864 00:42:51,189 --> 00:42:54,858 left little tangible evidence of their existence behind, 865 00:42:54,926 --> 00:42:57,594 but they did leave their technological legacy, 866 00:42:57,662 --> 00:43:00,597 together with the sophisticated artistic heritage 867 00:43:00,665 --> 00:43:03,032 unique to this part of africa. 868 00:43:05,537 --> 00:43:07,403 near the center of modern-day nigeria 869 00:43:07,472 --> 00:43:09,739 during the first millennium b.c., 870 00:43:09,808 --> 00:43:14,277 a remarkable artistic tradition of terracotta sculpture emerged. 871 00:43:14,346 --> 00:43:16,479 these pieces are highly sophisticated, 872 00:43:16,548 --> 00:43:19,983 intricately detailed, and technically accomplished. 873 00:43:20,051 --> 00:43:22,318 yet much of the culture from which they were created 874 00:43:22,387 --> 00:43:24,354 remains a mystery. 875 00:43:24,422 --> 00:43:27,457 they're known as the nok terracottas 876 00:43:27,526 --> 00:43:30,126 and they are sublime. 877 00:43:30,195 --> 00:43:34,764 in 1943, a farmer from a village called nok 878 00:43:34,833 --> 00:43:39,569 gave archaeologist bernard fagg the head of a scarecrow. 879 00:43:39,638 --> 00:43:42,272 on closer inspection, fagg estimated 880 00:43:42,340 --> 00:43:47,210 that the finely sculpted head dated back to around 900 b.c., 881 00:43:47,279 --> 00:43:48,978 making it, outside of egypt, 882 00:43:49,047 --> 00:43:52,448 the earliest sculptural art found in africa. 883 00:43:52,517 --> 00:43:57,020 they have this very elaborate hairstyles 884 00:43:57,088 --> 00:44:00,690 and every heavy jewelry around the neck. 885 00:44:00,759 --> 00:44:04,160 so, we assume it depicts people, 886 00:44:04,229 --> 00:44:07,931 maybe high ranking people, in ceremonial attire. 887 00:44:09,734 --> 00:44:12,035 preston blier: the current thinking is that it was probably 888 00:44:12,103 --> 00:44:14,437 traveling artists who were moving around 889 00:44:14,506 --> 00:44:16,839 creating these works for individuals. 890 00:44:16,908 --> 00:44:18,107 it could have been courts 891 00:44:18,176 --> 00:44:20,209 or distinctive religious traditions. 892 00:44:20,278 --> 00:44:22,078 that certainly makes a lot of sense 893 00:44:22,147 --> 00:44:28,084 simply because of the breadth of the distribution of these works. 894 00:44:28,153 --> 00:44:29,485 ehret: the height of the nok period 895 00:44:29,554 --> 00:44:31,888 is during the last thousand years b.c. 896 00:44:31,957 --> 00:44:33,356 this is the period in the archaeology 897 00:44:33,425 --> 00:44:36,092 we know the iron working is reaching this area. 898 00:44:39,497 --> 00:44:41,230 host: throughout central africa, 899 00:44:41,299 --> 00:44:43,600 new communities were taking shape. 900 00:44:43,668 --> 00:44:46,302 from 3,000 b.c., an incredible 901 00:44:46,371 --> 00:44:49,205 movement of people and technologies unfolded 902 00:44:49,274 --> 00:44:51,908 that would change the face of africa. 903 00:44:51,977 --> 00:44:55,278 it's known as the bantu migration. 904 00:44:55,347 --> 00:44:57,780 fourshey: the migration is particularly significant because 905 00:44:57,849 --> 00:45:03,119 about 2/3 of sub-saharan africa is populated by bantu speakers. 906 00:45:03,188 --> 00:45:08,491 by 1,000 b.c.e., bantu have entered into eastern africa 907 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,427 and societies like the swahili society that we know of 908 00:45:11,496 --> 00:45:14,831 and the zulu that we know in southern africa start to emerge. 909 00:45:16,401 --> 00:45:18,167 host: while the people of central africa were building 910 00:45:18,236 --> 00:45:20,937 new societies based on iron, 911 00:45:21,006 --> 00:45:23,272 this great technological advancement 912 00:45:23,341 --> 00:45:27,143 was also transforming the civilizations along the nile, 913 00:45:27,212 --> 00:45:30,880 and nowhere more so than in meroe. 914 00:45:30,949 --> 00:45:33,650 built on what was once a fertile green island 915 00:45:33,718 --> 00:45:35,652 on the banks of the nile, 916 00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:39,155 meroe by 500 b.c. had become 917 00:45:39,224 --> 00:45:43,359 the new capital of the independent kingdom of kush. 918 00:45:43,428 --> 00:45:46,896 woman: it was an area that supported agriculture, 919 00:45:46,965 --> 00:45:48,698 that had the royal city there. 920 00:45:48,767 --> 00:45:50,400 so, life was probably 921 00:45:50,468 --> 00:45:55,672 relatively comfortable for most of the population at meroe. 922 00:45:55,740 --> 00:45:58,574 host: the rulers of the third age of kush 923 00:45:58,643 --> 00:46:01,177 created a powerful kingdom, 924 00:46:01,246 --> 00:46:03,746 evidence of which can still be seen 925 00:46:03,815 --> 00:46:07,750 in their monumental legacy at meroe. 926 00:46:07,819 --> 00:46:09,719 these pyramids were burial chambers 927 00:46:09,788 --> 00:46:11,954 for the kings and queens of meroe. 928 00:46:12,023 --> 00:46:15,258 more than 100 dot the skyline on this island. 929 00:46:18,163 --> 00:46:20,029 the wealth of kush had been founded 930 00:46:20,098 --> 00:46:22,265 on its abundant reserves of gold, 931 00:46:22,333 --> 00:46:25,535 which it could trade with the ancient world. 932 00:46:25,603 --> 00:46:27,203 but there was another resource 933 00:46:27,272 --> 00:46:29,305 that would generate wealth for the state 934 00:46:29,374 --> 00:46:32,208 and would come to define meroe. 935 00:46:32,277 --> 00:46:33,743 yellin: it's long been known that meroe 936 00:46:33,812 --> 00:46:35,545 was an iron working center 937 00:46:35,613 --> 00:46:37,780 because there were these enormous slagheaps 938 00:46:37,849 --> 00:46:40,316 in their urban part of the town 939 00:46:40,385 --> 00:46:45,822 that was used for weapons, iron blades, iron spearheads. 940 00:46:45,890 --> 00:46:48,691 host: and those weapons would be needed to defend kush 941 00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,594 in the face of a new threat. 942 00:46:51,663 --> 00:46:55,364 in 31 b.c., cleopatra's egypt-- 943 00:46:55,433 --> 00:46:58,434 once the greatest empire in the mediterranean-- 944 00:46:58,503 --> 00:47:01,204 was defeated by the romans. 945 00:47:01,272 --> 00:47:03,005 the roman military machine 946 00:47:03,074 --> 00:47:05,842 was the most powerful in the ancient world, 947 00:47:05,910 --> 00:47:08,144 annexing territories from britain 948 00:47:08,213 --> 00:47:11,147 to the middle east and africa. 949 00:47:11,216 --> 00:47:14,751 now it turned its sights onto kush. 950 00:47:14,819 --> 00:47:16,652 yellin: one of the things the romans did 951 00:47:16,721 --> 00:47:19,422 is they pushed the southern boundary of egypt 952 00:47:19,491 --> 00:47:21,591 further into meroitic territory, 953 00:47:21,659 --> 00:47:24,193 and what we do know is that 954 00:47:24,262 --> 00:47:27,196 the meroites started to push back. 955 00:47:27,265 --> 00:47:29,065 host: halting this roman advance 956 00:47:29,134 --> 00:47:33,903 would call for strong and decisive leadership from meroe. 957 00:47:33,972 --> 00:47:37,039 one of the most unusual things about the kingdom of kush 958 00:47:37,108 --> 00:47:40,009 is the surprising number of queens that ruled. 959 00:47:40,078 --> 00:47:42,812 they were known as kandakes. 960 00:47:42,881 --> 00:47:44,514 yellin: in about 100 years, 961 00:47:44,582 --> 00:47:48,751 we have 4 of these tremendously powerful kandakes 962 00:47:48,820 --> 00:47:52,522 and they are terrifically effective. 963 00:47:52,590 --> 00:47:55,424 host: without doubt the most famous of those queens 964 00:47:55,493 --> 00:47:58,995 was a one-eyed warrior named amanirenas, 965 00:47:59,063 --> 00:48:01,430 who risked her life in battle 966 00:48:01,499 --> 00:48:03,099 to defend her kingdom 967 00:48:03,168 --> 00:48:07,136 and make sure that her people could live securely. 968 00:48:07,205 --> 00:48:11,307 amanirenas reigned from 40 b.c. to 10 b.c. 969 00:48:11,376 --> 00:48:13,509 said to have the figure of a man 970 00:48:13,578 --> 00:48:15,444 by the greek philosopher strabo, 971 00:48:15,513 --> 00:48:17,346 she had a fearsome reputation 972 00:48:17,415 --> 00:48:20,650 as a military leader and strategist. 973 00:48:20,718 --> 00:48:24,954 for 5 years, amanirenas led attacks into roman egypt, 974 00:48:25,023 --> 00:48:28,324 preventing the romans from invading kush. 975 00:48:28,393 --> 00:48:31,327 these battles were recorded in roman documents, 976 00:48:31,396 --> 00:48:34,797 but a firsthand account written by the kushites themselves 977 00:48:34,866 --> 00:48:38,434 was recorded in their own meroitic script. 978 00:48:38,503 --> 00:48:41,003 host: when does this stela date from? 979 00:48:41,072 --> 00:48:43,539 man: it dates from the second half 980 00:48:43,608 --> 00:48:45,541 of the first century b.c. 981 00:48:45,610 --> 00:48:48,744 so... during the reign of the queen amanirenas. 982 00:48:48,813 --> 00:48:50,179 in the case of meroitic, 983 00:48:50,248 --> 00:48:52,548 the writing system has been deciphered 984 00:48:52,617 --> 00:48:54,350 already a century ago, 985 00:48:54,419 --> 00:48:57,987 but it is the language that is a problem. 986 00:48:58,056 --> 00:49:00,089 so, why with all... 987 00:49:00,158 --> 00:49:01,757 computer technologies, 988 00:49:01,826 --> 00:49:06,262 why can't we crack the one african written script 989 00:49:06,331 --> 00:49:07,663 from the ancient world? 990 00:49:07,732 --> 00:49:09,599 it is a bit as if i was 991 00:49:09,667 --> 00:49:12,068 asking you as an english native speaker 992 00:49:12,136 --> 00:49:13,936 to read me a text in polish. 993 00:49:14,005 --> 00:49:16,305 you would be able to read it perfectly, 994 00:49:16,374 --> 00:49:17,340 but probably you won't 995 00:49:17,408 --> 00:49:18,608 be able to understand it, 996 00:49:18,676 --> 00:49:20,243 except place name and names. 997 00:49:20,311 --> 00:49:23,279 this is where we are with meroitic script. 998 00:49:23,348 --> 00:49:25,414 well, it's about a particular battle with the romans. 999 00:49:25,483 --> 00:49:28,017 exactly. so, this is giving us 1000 00:49:28,086 --> 00:49:30,019 the narrated version of the story 1001 00:49:30,088 --> 00:49:31,787 of the war against the romans. 1002 00:49:31,856 --> 00:49:33,789 unfortunately, we are not able yet 1003 00:49:33,858 --> 00:49:36,792 to see what they are saying. 1004 00:49:36,861 --> 00:49:39,095 host: amanirenas showed her utter disdain 1005 00:49:39,163 --> 00:49:41,864 for the roman emperor augustus caesar 1006 00:49:41,933 --> 00:49:45,801 by capturing his bronze bust during an attack on his forces 1007 00:49:45,870 --> 00:49:49,272 and placing it beneath the threshold of her grand temple 1008 00:49:49,340 --> 00:49:53,009 to be trodden under foot by all who entered. 1009 00:49:53,077 --> 00:49:54,510 so, all the people in the kingdom 1010 00:49:54,579 --> 00:49:56,412 are stepping over the great 1011 00:49:56,481 --> 00:49:57,847 caesar augustus, is that it? 1012 00:49:57,916 --> 00:50:01,017 man: yes. according to the archaeological evidence 1013 00:50:01,085 --> 00:50:04,120 we have, it's, uh, clear. 1014 00:50:04,188 --> 00:50:06,389 she brought back the head of augustus, 1015 00:50:06,457 --> 00:50:08,157 of his bronze statue. 1016 00:50:10,461 --> 00:50:12,828 host: despite the might of the roman empire, 1017 00:50:12,897 --> 00:50:15,665 amanirenas' clever military tactics 1018 00:50:15,733 --> 00:50:19,168 eventually brought both sides to the negotiating table, 1019 00:50:19,237 --> 00:50:21,270 where the formidable nubian queen 1020 00:50:21,339 --> 00:50:23,806 successfully brokered a peace treaty 1021 00:50:23,875 --> 00:50:26,409 with augustus caesar himself. 1022 00:50:26,477 --> 00:50:28,244 host: are you telling me 1023 00:50:28,313 --> 00:50:31,047 a one-eyed black woman 1024 00:50:31,115 --> 00:50:33,916 was able to defeat the most powerful army 1025 00:50:33,985 --> 00:50:37,820 on the face of the earth in 23 b.c., 1026 00:50:37,889 --> 00:50:39,588 here in the kingdom of kush? 1027 00:50:39,657 --> 00:50:42,124 yes. yeah, that's what happened. 1028 00:50:42,193 --> 00:50:45,528 host: amanirenas, the victorious african queen, 1029 00:50:45,596 --> 00:50:48,597 would ensure the independence of the kushite kingdom 1030 00:50:48,666 --> 00:50:50,666 and its splendid culture 1031 00:50:50,735 --> 00:50:54,003 for another 400 years. 1032 00:50:54,072 --> 00:50:57,506 human history was born on the african continent, 1033 00:50:57,575 --> 00:51:00,810 which makes africa the well spring from which 1034 00:51:00,878 --> 00:51:02,778 all of the world's history flows. 1035 00:51:05,183 --> 00:51:08,584 africa is the birthplace of art and music, 1036 00:51:08,653 --> 00:51:11,687 the first writing, agriculture, 1037 00:51:11,756 --> 00:51:14,056 and systems of laws. 1038 00:51:14,125 --> 00:51:18,961 africa gave us the blueprint for civilization itself. 1039 00:51:19,030 --> 00:51:21,597 these records speak to us across millennia 1040 00:51:21,666 --> 00:51:24,500 as profound refutations of the claim 1041 00:51:24,569 --> 00:51:26,702 that africans lacked a history 1042 00:51:26,771 --> 00:51:29,005 before europeans arrived. 1043 00:51:29,073 --> 00:51:31,340 this is the true history of africa, 1044 00:51:31,409 --> 00:51:33,509 and it's only just begun. 1045 00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:39,348 in the following centuries, the world's great religions, 1046 00:51:39,417 --> 00:51:41,317 christianity and islam, 1047 00:51:41,386 --> 00:51:44,120 molded in their infancy in africa, 1048 00:51:44,188 --> 00:51:47,957 would grow and transform the fate of the world. 1049 00:51:48,026 --> 00:51:50,026 great empires would prosper 1050 00:51:50,094 --> 00:51:52,695 and cultures would blossom as a result, 1051 00:51:52,764 --> 00:51:56,098 but they would also draw the continent into bloody conflict. 1052 00:52:01,738 --> 00:52:03,773 announcer: on "africa's great civilizations"... 1053 00:52:03,841 --> 00:52:04,507 dr. henry louis gates, jr.: an african kingdom becomes 1054 00:52:04,575 --> 00:52:05,641 one of the most powerful 1055 00:52:05,710 --> 00:52:08,411 and legendary empires in the ancient world, 1056 00:52:08,479 --> 00:52:11,347 on a level with rome and persia. 1057 00:52:11,416 --> 00:52:14,116 the historical course of this empire 1058 00:52:14,185 --> 00:52:15,818 is altered by the emergence 1059 00:52:15,887 --> 00:52:18,020 of two powerful forces, 1060 00:52:18,089 --> 00:52:19,588 christianity and islam, 1061 00:52:19,657 --> 00:52:22,091 and both have profound effects 1062 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:24,927 on the people of africa for millennia to come. 1063 00:52:24,996 --> 00:52:26,929 announcer: "africa's great civilizations," 1064 00:52:26,998 --> 00:52:29,799 coming up next only on pbs. 1065 00:52:34,178 --> 00:52:36,712 t and the 12th centuries a.d., 1066 00:52:36,781 --> 00:52:39,081 extraordinary events happened in africa, 1067 00:52:39,150 --> 00:52:41,917 events that transformed not just the history of the continent, 1068 00:52:41,986 --> 00:52:43,352 but the history of the world. 1069 00:52:51,395 --> 00:52:54,930 a great kingdom arose that grew into a powerful empire, 1070 00:52:54,999 --> 00:52:58,133 an empire that stretched all the way into arabia. 1071 00:53:01,939 --> 00:53:04,273 but the historical course of this empire, 1072 00:53:04,341 --> 00:53:06,075 and that of much of the continent, 1073 00:53:06,143 --> 00:53:08,043 would be altered by the emergence 1074 00:53:08,112 --> 00:53:11,113 of two powerful forces of global change-- 1075 00:53:12,817 --> 00:53:15,784 christianity and islam-- 1076 00:53:18,189 --> 00:53:19,188 both of which would have 1077 00:53:19,256 --> 00:53:21,490 profound effects on the people of africa. 1078 00:53:23,394 --> 00:53:25,794 offering new ways to worship god, 1079 00:53:25,863 --> 00:53:29,965 these great religions also provided ambitious people 1080 00:53:30,034 --> 00:53:33,168 the chance to increase power and influence, 1081 00:53:33,237 --> 00:53:35,971 drawing the continent into clashes, 1082 00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:38,140 in bloody conflicts. 1083 00:53:38,209 --> 00:53:41,677 yet from their beginnings, these two world religions 1084 00:53:41,745 --> 00:53:47,116 would be shaped by africans, spiritually and institutionally, 1085 00:53:47,184 --> 00:53:50,686 and both would deeply affect key aspects of african history 1086 00:53:50,754 --> 00:53:52,287 for millennia to come. 1087 00:54:04,959 --> 00:54:07,392 the horn of africa, where the red sea 1088 00:54:07,461 --> 00:54:09,661 meets the arabian sea. 1089 00:54:09,730 --> 00:54:12,097 here, a bridge of salt water 1090 00:54:12,166 --> 00:54:15,601 connects the african continent with the middle east. 1091 00:54:17,872 --> 00:54:20,405 the ancient egyptians sailed down this inlet 1092 00:54:20,474 --> 00:54:22,608 to trade with their southern neighbors 1093 00:54:22,676 --> 00:54:25,077 in the kingdoms of punt and kush. 1094 00:54:28,849 --> 00:54:33,152 greeks and romans, persians and byzantines would follow, 1095 00:54:33,220 --> 00:54:35,587 eager to acquire the luxury goods 1096 00:54:35,656 --> 00:54:39,625 that had fired the imagination of egyptian pharaohs. 1097 00:54:41,195 --> 00:54:43,495 africans and europeans have been trading 1098 00:54:43,564 --> 00:54:48,600 on the east coast of africa for at least 2,000 years. 1099 00:54:48,669 --> 00:54:52,871 this book, written in greek in the first century a.d. 1100 00:54:52,940 --> 00:54:56,475 and called "the periplus of the erythraean sea," 1101 00:54:56,544 --> 00:55:00,946 describes a key african port on the red sea, 1102 00:55:01,015 --> 00:55:03,248 and it's called adulis. 1103 00:55:05,319 --> 00:55:07,452 "the periplus of the erythraean sea" 1104 00:55:07,521 --> 00:55:09,188 is one of the most remarkable texts 1105 00:55:09,256 --> 00:55:11,190 surviving from the roman empire, 1106 00:55:11,258 --> 00:55:14,893 a tripadvisor guide written by an enterprising greek merchant. 1107 00:55:14,962 --> 00:55:17,095 it describes the ports and trading partners 1108 00:55:17,164 --> 00:55:20,499 he encountered along the red sea. 1109 00:55:20,568 --> 00:55:24,436 adulis was the maritime gateway to an african kingdom 1110 00:55:24,505 --> 00:55:26,405 that would become one of the most powerful 1111 00:55:26,473 --> 00:55:29,141 in the ancient world--axum. 1112 00:55:31,812 --> 00:55:35,547 the great persian religious leader mani described axum 1113 00:55:35,616 --> 00:55:37,816 as one of the 4 great empires, 1114 00:55:37,885 --> 00:55:42,287 a peer with rome, persia, and china. 1115 00:55:42,356 --> 00:55:45,857 at its height, it dominated the whole of the horn of africa 1116 00:55:45,926 --> 00:55:48,627 and stretched across the red sea 1117 00:55:48,696 --> 00:55:51,263 deep into southern arabia. 1118 00:55:51,332 --> 00:55:53,398 imports flowed into adulis. 1119 00:55:53,467 --> 00:55:55,067 copper and bronze goods, 1120 00:55:55,135 --> 00:55:58,670 silver, gold, olive oil, and wine, 1121 00:55:58,739 --> 00:56:02,507 with ivory, rhinoceros horn, and even turtle shell 1122 00:56:02,576 --> 00:56:04,576 going the other way. 1123 00:56:04,645 --> 00:56:08,146 this control over adulis makes axum rich, 1124 00:56:08,215 --> 00:56:11,650 providing a gateway between the interior of africa 1125 00:56:11,719 --> 00:56:14,653 and ports on the red sea and the indian ocean. 1126 00:56:16,590 --> 00:56:19,057 "the periplus" includes a colorful account 1127 00:56:19,126 --> 00:56:22,194 of one axumite king, zoskales, 1128 00:56:22,263 --> 00:56:25,564 who reigned in the middle of the first century a.d. 1129 00:56:25,633 --> 00:56:29,201 his greek trading partner describes him somewhat enviously 1130 00:56:29,270 --> 00:56:32,738 as miserly in his ways, but otherwise upright. 1131 00:56:35,676 --> 00:56:39,044 axum grew wealthy through stiff tariffs on trade 1132 00:56:39,113 --> 00:56:40,946 through its port at adulis, 1133 00:56:41,015 --> 00:56:44,950 while inland, fertile soil nourished by two rainy seasons 1134 00:56:45,019 --> 00:56:47,085 yielded bumper crops annually. 1135 00:56:49,523 --> 00:56:51,556 in the center of the city of axum, 1136 00:56:51,625 --> 00:56:54,393 once the capital of this stunning empire, 1137 00:56:54,461 --> 00:56:56,995 stand some of the most remarkable monuments 1138 00:56:57,064 --> 00:56:59,031 of the ancient world. 1139 00:56:59,099 --> 00:57:01,333 these large vertical phallic symbols 1140 00:57:01,402 --> 00:57:04,703 were erected in honor of the glory of the king. 1141 00:57:04,772 --> 00:57:07,005 under solid block of syenite, 1142 00:57:07,074 --> 00:57:10,208 the king's body was laid to rest. 1143 00:57:10,277 --> 00:57:14,413 this park is a memorial ground of a civilization. 1144 00:57:14,481 --> 00:57:17,783 over 100 steles, erected between 1145 00:57:17,851 --> 00:57:19,985 the third and fourth centuries a.d. 1146 00:57:20,054 --> 00:57:22,954 as grave markers for axum's elite. 1147 00:57:23,023 --> 00:57:26,091 they're taller than any other monoliths 1148 00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,660 crafted in the ancient world. 1149 00:57:28,729 --> 00:57:32,097 i asked dr. abebaw gela to explain to me 1150 00:57:32,166 --> 00:57:34,666 how architecture on this scale 1151 00:57:34,735 --> 00:57:36,501 could have been created back then. 1152 00:57:38,739 --> 00:57:40,372 abebaw, how in the world did they move 1153 00:57:40,441 --> 00:57:44,609 this huge slab here from another place? 1154 00:57:44,678 --> 00:57:47,145 they brought these stones from a distance 1155 00:57:47,214 --> 00:57:49,181 of 5 kilometers from the west. 1156 00:57:49,249 --> 00:57:50,248 as one big unit? 1157 00:57:50,317 --> 00:57:52,451 as one big unit. 1158 00:57:52,519 --> 00:57:57,022 host: this fragmented column, estimated to weigh 700 tons, 1159 00:57:57,091 --> 00:57:59,558 is one of the largest single pieces of stone 1160 00:57:59,626 --> 00:58:01,560 ever carved by sculptors. 1161 00:58:01,628 --> 00:58:05,130 scholars believe that it buckled as it was being erected. 1162 00:58:05,199 --> 00:58:06,832 the carving process, they 1163 00:58:06,900 --> 00:58:08,700 definitely used chiseling. 1164 00:58:08,769 --> 00:58:10,702 mm-hmm. so, err, they must have 1165 00:58:10,771 --> 00:58:12,471 used iron chisels. 1166 00:58:12,539 --> 00:58:15,707 so, the artwork took place right where it... 1167 00:58:15,776 --> 00:58:17,743 right here, yeah. ...would be erected. 1168 00:58:17,811 --> 00:58:19,811 so, the carving might have taken 1169 00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:21,680 probably 10 years, 9 years. 1170 00:58:21,749 --> 00:58:22,681 10 years? yeah. 1171 00:58:22,750 --> 00:58:23,682 how long did it take to move it 1172 00:58:23,751 --> 00:58:24,883 from the quarry? 1173 00:58:24,952 --> 00:58:27,085 probably they can drag it 1174 00:58:27,154 --> 00:58:29,154 a distance of 10 yards 1175 00:58:29,223 --> 00:58:31,156 or 15 yards a day. 1176 00:58:31,225 --> 00:58:32,991 that might have also taken them 1177 00:58:33,060 --> 00:58:34,726 about 3 years. 1178 00:58:34,795 --> 00:58:37,162 do we know for whom this stele was created? 1179 00:58:37,231 --> 00:58:39,364 we don't know certainly, 1180 00:58:39,433 --> 00:58:42,968 but if we see fragmentary historical sources, 1181 00:58:43,036 --> 00:58:45,337 and then some evidences from archaeological 1182 00:58:45,406 --> 00:58:46,772 excavations that are made at 1183 00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,074 different times in this area, 1184 00:58:49,143 --> 00:58:52,978 this stele seems to be made for 1185 00:58:53,046 --> 00:58:54,312 ella amida. 1186 00:58:54,381 --> 00:58:55,480 ella amida the first. 1187 00:58:55,549 --> 00:58:56,515 and when did he live? 1188 00:58:56,583 --> 00:59:01,186 the second half of the third century. 1189 00:59:01,255 --> 00:59:05,257 host: king ella amida-- also known as ousanas-- 1190 00:59:05,325 --> 00:59:08,059 ruled during the golden age of axum. 1191 00:59:08,128 --> 00:59:10,595 gold coins embossed with his face and name 1192 00:59:10,664 --> 00:59:14,699 and inscribed in greek were recently unearthed in india, 1193 00:59:14,768 --> 00:59:17,636 2,000 miles away. 1194 00:59:17,704 --> 00:59:20,439 we think that ousanas' son ezana, 1195 00:59:20,507 --> 00:59:23,575 who would become one of the most famous kings of axum, 1196 00:59:23,644 --> 00:59:27,112 was memorialized by the other great stele on this site. 1197 00:59:30,150 --> 00:59:34,719 a network of chambers lie buried beneath these towers. 1198 00:59:34,788 --> 00:59:35,887 abebaw, that's amazing. 1199 00:59:35,956 --> 00:59:37,255 look at those shafts of light. 1200 00:59:37,324 --> 00:59:38,390 yeah. 1201 00:59:40,127 --> 00:59:42,093 now, what was in the chambers on the right 1202 00:59:42,162 --> 00:59:43,261 as opposed to the chambers on the left? 1203 00:59:43,330 --> 00:59:45,997 these are tombs of kings. 1204 00:59:46,066 --> 00:59:47,332 so, on this side, they deposit 1205 00:59:47,401 --> 00:59:49,301 the body of the king, 1206 00:59:49,369 --> 00:59:52,704 and then on this side they deposit 1207 00:59:52,773 --> 00:59:55,173 the valuables of the kings. 1208 00:59:55,242 --> 00:59:57,209 ah, not like in egyptian pyramids 1209 00:59:57,277 --> 00:59:59,978 when they would bury the king with his possessions. 1210 01:00:00,047 --> 01:00:02,380 here they put the possessions here and the body there. 1211 01:00:02,449 --> 01:00:03,648 yeah, the body and the possessions 1212 01:00:03,717 --> 01:00:05,951 in different directions. 1213 01:00:07,821 --> 01:00:11,790 host: 90% of ancient axum remains unexcavated 1214 01:00:11,859 --> 01:00:13,959 beneath the city's modern buildings, 1215 01:00:14,027 --> 01:00:16,161 but sculptural reliefs on the stele 1216 01:00:16,230 --> 01:00:18,063 are signs of its grandeur. 1217 01:00:19,666 --> 01:00:21,600 woman: as you look up the stele, 1218 01:00:21,668 --> 01:00:25,570 you see story after story of windows. 1219 01:00:25,639 --> 01:00:29,975 there's even door frames with handles which you could open 1220 01:00:30,043 --> 01:00:31,610 if you had the right kind of power. 1221 01:00:33,881 --> 01:00:36,615 host: this was a city of 20,000 people. 1222 01:00:36,683 --> 01:00:39,351 at its heart stood a monumental palace 1223 01:00:39,419 --> 01:00:41,586 adorned with bronze statues, 1224 01:00:41,655 --> 01:00:44,356 and its grand processional ways were lined 1225 01:00:44,424 --> 01:00:46,558 with granite victory thrones. 1226 01:00:47,861 --> 01:00:50,495 axum's power was founded on its wealth, 1227 01:00:50,564 --> 01:00:52,597 and its wealth on the rich resources 1228 01:00:52,666 --> 01:00:55,901 of its unique position on the horn of africa. 1229 01:00:55,969 --> 01:00:58,670 but one of its many extraordinary resources 1230 01:00:58,739 --> 01:01:02,707 was paramount--frankincense. 1231 01:01:02,776 --> 01:01:06,978 woman: frankincense was an international commodity 1232 01:01:07,047 --> 01:01:10,282 and bought a lot of religious prestige 1233 01:01:10,350 --> 01:01:13,351 because incense has magical powers. 1234 01:01:13,420 --> 01:01:15,153 host: an aromatic gum resin 1235 01:01:15,222 --> 01:01:16,721 produced from the bark of a tree 1236 01:01:16,790 --> 01:01:19,491 that grows in the highlands of ethiopia, 1237 01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:22,160 somalia, and southern arabia, 1238 01:01:22,229 --> 01:01:25,864 frankincense was as valuable at the height of the roman empire, 1239 01:01:25,933 --> 01:01:28,700 pound for pound, as gold. 1240 01:01:28,769 --> 01:01:33,471 mire: it grows very high up, on a very harsh environment. 1241 01:01:33,540 --> 01:01:36,207 it's very hard to access it. 1242 01:01:36,276 --> 01:01:39,945 people will almost, um, go on a pilgrimage, if you like, 1243 01:01:40,013 --> 01:01:45,684 to get this as a very sought-after commodity. 1244 01:01:45,752 --> 01:01:48,987 this led to long-distance trade. 1245 01:01:51,625 --> 01:01:56,261 by the fifth century a.d., through expansive trade and war, 1246 01:01:56,330 --> 01:01:58,196 axum had established itself 1247 01:01:58,265 --> 01:02:00,899 as not just one of the great african empires, 1248 01:02:00,968 --> 01:02:04,369 but one of the great empires of the entire ancient world. 1249 01:02:05,806 --> 01:02:07,238 but the roots of this kingdom 1250 01:02:07,307 --> 01:02:10,342 lie in an equally remarkable civilization 1251 01:02:10,410 --> 01:02:12,310 that thrived in the horn of africa 1252 01:02:12,379 --> 01:02:15,380 1,000 years earlier. 1253 01:02:15,449 --> 01:02:19,184 a civilization associated with one of the old testament's 1254 01:02:19,252 --> 01:02:21,853 most iconic figures, 1255 01:02:21,922 --> 01:02:24,889 the legendarily beautiful queen of sheba. 1256 01:02:27,861 --> 01:02:29,594 30 miles north of axum, 1257 01:02:29,663 --> 01:02:32,697 dr. iris gerlach is excavating artifacts 1258 01:02:32,766 --> 01:02:36,368 from an ancient royal palace in a city called yeha. 1259 01:02:57,357 --> 01:03:00,992 host: yeha was the capital of the ancient kingdom of d'mt, 1260 01:03:01,061 --> 01:03:02,994 and this is thought to have been 1261 01:03:03,063 --> 01:03:05,463 the luxurious palace of its rulers. 1262 01:03:25,652 --> 01:03:28,486 host: the ruins suggest that d'mt shared a culture 1263 01:03:28,555 --> 01:03:30,922 with a neighboring kingdom called saba, 1264 01:03:30,991 --> 01:03:33,858 just across the red sea in southern arabia. 1265 01:03:59,186 --> 01:04:01,152 host: known in english as sheba, 1266 01:04:01,221 --> 01:04:04,856 the kingdom is famous for his legendary queen. 1267 01:04:04,925 --> 01:04:07,325 iris gerlach believes that sabaeans 1268 01:04:07,394 --> 01:04:10,228 bought their culture here from across the sea. 1269 01:04:25,946 --> 01:04:28,980 host: while some scholars see yeha as an offshoot of saba, 1270 01:04:29,049 --> 01:04:31,049 others argue that d'mt's kings 1271 01:04:31,118 --> 01:04:34,152 actually hired or imported sabaean architects 1272 01:04:34,221 --> 01:04:36,521 to build their palaces, and in fact 1273 01:04:36,590 --> 01:04:38,790 ruled saba at the time. 1274 01:04:38,859 --> 01:04:42,260 for centuries, these kingdoms had a symbiotic relationship, 1275 01:04:42,329 --> 01:04:44,929 sharing religious beliefs and culture. 1276 01:04:47,734 --> 01:04:50,735 near the palace stands one of the oldest stone structures 1277 01:04:50,804 --> 01:04:54,139 in africa, the great temple of the moon. 1278 01:04:54,207 --> 01:04:56,307 built in the fifth century b.c., 1279 01:04:56,376 --> 01:04:59,711 about the same time as the parthenon in ancient greece, 1280 01:04:59,780 --> 01:05:02,614 it's the most enduring testimony we have 1281 01:05:02,682 --> 01:05:06,484 of pre-christian beliefs in the horn of africa. 1282 01:05:06,553 --> 01:05:07,552 windmuller-luna: we know a little bit about 1283 01:05:07,621 --> 01:05:09,320 what happened in the temple of yeha 1284 01:05:09,389 --> 01:05:13,191 because of fragments of altars and inscriptions 1285 01:05:13,260 --> 01:05:16,094 that archaeologists have found in the temple. 1286 01:05:16,163 --> 01:05:19,931 these include small basins with carved-out tops that we believe 1287 01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:23,768 incense was burnt in, as well as 1288 01:05:23,837 --> 01:05:26,504 stylized carvings of ibexes, 1289 01:05:26,573 --> 01:05:29,941 which are a kind of horned animal. 1290 01:05:30,010 --> 01:05:33,645 host: these engravings of the crescent moon carved in stone 1291 01:05:33,713 --> 01:05:36,314 are symbols of the god almouqah. 1292 01:05:36,383 --> 01:05:39,017 the main inscription at the temple of the moon in yeha 1293 01:05:39,085 --> 01:05:42,253 does say it's dedicated to the god almouqah 1294 01:05:42,322 --> 01:05:46,491 who's the chief god of the kingdom of saba in yemen. 1295 01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:49,594 so, there obviously is a shared worship. 1296 01:05:52,999 --> 01:05:56,901 host: over time, the gods worshipped at yeha migrated, 1297 01:05:56,970 --> 01:05:59,304 becoming the gods worshipped in axum. 1298 01:06:04,144 --> 01:06:06,744 but in the early fourth century a.d., 1299 01:06:06,813 --> 01:06:09,614 axum itself was about to be transformed 1300 01:06:09,683 --> 01:06:12,417 by a revolutionary force sweeping through 1301 01:06:12,485 --> 01:06:15,253 much of the ancient world. 1302 01:06:15,322 --> 01:06:18,056 a new religion was fundamentally changing 1303 01:06:18,124 --> 01:06:21,192 established forms of worship throughout the northeast 1304 01:06:21,261 --> 01:06:23,695 of the african continent, and it was changing 1305 01:06:23,763 --> 01:06:25,897 the course of world history in the process. 1306 01:06:25,966 --> 01:06:28,867 the religion would be known as christianity. 1307 01:06:30,136 --> 01:06:33,137 today, there are some 500 million 1308 01:06:33,206 --> 01:06:36,841 practicing christians in africa, 1309 01:06:36,910 --> 01:06:38,643 and many of us would assume that 1310 01:06:38,712 --> 01:06:40,745 christianity came to the continent 1311 01:06:40,814 --> 01:06:43,748 with european colonialism. 1312 01:06:43,817 --> 01:06:46,050 nothing could be further from the truth. 1313 01:06:48,688 --> 01:06:51,623 christianity took root on the african continent 1314 01:06:51,691 --> 01:06:54,292 as quickly as it did in the middle east. 1315 01:07:03,303 --> 01:07:05,136 many people associate christianity in africa 1316 01:07:05,205 --> 01:07:07,038 with the arrival of european missionaries 1317 01:07:07,107 --> 01:07:08,539 in the 19th century. 1318 01:07:09,876 --> 01:07:13,244 but here in the northeastern corner of africa, 1319 01:07:13,313 --> 01:07:16,714 christianity is as ancient as it is anywhere in the world. 1320 01:07:16,783 --> 01:07:18,383 africa's in the foundations. 1321 01:07:19,686 --> 01:07:22,687 host: barely a decade after the time of jesus, 1322 01:07:22,756 --> 01:07:25,523 christian communities had established themselves 1323 01:07:25,592 --> 01:07:28,559 in alexandria in northern egypt. 1324 01:07:28,628 --> 01:07:31,796 man: alexandria was an economic focal point. 1325 01:07:31,865 --> 01:07:33,231 it was bustling. 1326 01:07:33,300 --> 01:07:36,267 a lot of the cultural and religious innovations 1327 01:07:36,336 --> 01:07:38,636 lived in these towns like alexandria 1328 01:07:38,705 --> 01:07:40,772 rather than in jerusalem. 1329 01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:43,841 host: christianity quickly gained a foothold in africa 1330 01:07:43,910 --> 01:07:47,078 and many of its doctrines would be formulated here. 1331 01:07:47,147 --> 01:07:49,013 [people singing in native language] 1332 01:07:58,391 --> 01:08:00,792 in many ways, africa in the mediterranean world 1333 01:08:00,860 --> 01:08:03,394 was incredibly important for theology. 1334 01:08:03,463 --> 01:08:06,497 so, the main theologians weren't sitting in rome. 1335 01:08:06,566 --> 01:08:07,865 the majority of them were either 1336 01:08:07,934 --> 01:08:12,403 sitting in alexandria or in tunisia or algeria. 1337 01:08:14,874 --> 01:08:16,708 host: it's also in northeast africa 1338 01:08:16,776 --> 01:08:20,678 that another christian tradition developed: monasticism. 1339 01:08:24,150 --> 01:08:26,317 in one of the world's oldest monasteries, 1340 01:08:26,386 --> 01:08:28,386 in egypt's eastern desert, 1341 01:08:28,455 --> 01:08:32,090 pilgrims still worship at the site of the cave 1342 01:08:32,158 --> 01:08:34,726 of the man many credit as the founder 1343 01:08:34,794 --> 01:08:37,962 of this global tradition-- saint anthony. 1344 01:08:45,305 --> 01:08:49,440 egypt is the cradle of monasticism in many ways. 1345 01:08:49,509 --> 01:08:52,677 the idea that you go into solitude 1346 01:08:52,746 --> 01:08:54,145 and that you stay there and that 1347 01:08:54,214 --> 01:08:57,882 you form your community around this experience, 1348 01:08:57,951 --> 01:08:59,650 this is a very early development 1349 01:08:59,719 --> 01:09:01,252 by these people who moved in the desert 1350 01:09:01,321 --> 01:09:05,490 and it is sort of a movement that wants to recapture 1351 01:09:05,558 --> 01:09:10,094 this early christian life of feeding the poor, 1352 01:09:10,163 --> 01:09:13,297 of being self-sufficient, of working to make 1353 01:09:13,366 --> 01:09:15,233 that part of christian life and not just this 1354 01:09:15,301 --> 01:09:19,037 educated learned liturgical christianity. 1355 01:09:19,105 --> 01:09:20,338 this comes from egypt. 1356 01:09:22,142 --> 01:09:24,342 woman: the monastery becomes a kind of 1357 01:09:24,411 --> 01:09:26,778 wellspring for teaching, 1358 01:09:26,846 --> 01:09:31,249 for thinking, for religious engagement, 1359 01:09:31,317 --> 01:09:35,753 but also for holding and preserving 1360 01:09:35,822 --> 01:09:37,555 the key tenets of the faith. 1361 01:09:39,325 --> 01:09:41,626 host: by the beginning of the fourth century, 1362 01:09:41,694 --> 01:09:45,363 the new faith had grown from a small, persecuted sect 1363 01:09:45,432 --> 01:09:47,799 to one of the most dominant religions 1364 01:09:47,867 --> 01:09:49,367 within the roman empire. 1365 01:09:52,605 --> 01:09:55,873 and now in what is today ethiopia, 1366 01:09:55,942 --> 01:09:58,543 the powerful kingdom of axum itself 1367 01:09:58,611 --> 01:10:02,080 was about to undergo a profound religious conversion. 1368 01:10:03,716 --> 01:10:06,350 and this momentous transformation began 1369 01:10:06,419 --> 01:10:09,220 not as it usually does, among the people, 1370 01:10:09,289 --> 01:10:12,590 but at the very apex of axum society, 1371 01:10:12,659 --> 01:10:14,292 because one of the first converts 1372 01:10:14,360 --> 01:10:18,129 in the entire kingdom would be the king. 1373 01:10:18,198 --> 01:10:21,299 king ezana would become one of the most celebrated leaders 1374 01:10:21,367 --> 01:10:24,869 in african history, not only for his imperial adventures 1375 01:10:24,938 --> 01:10:27,171 but because of a personal decision 1376 01:10:27,240 --> 01:10:29,974 that would change the course of ethiopia's history, 1377 01:10:30,043 --> 01:10:33,511 and in some ways the history of christianity itself. 1378 01:10:33,580 --> 01:10:37,014 gela: ezana became popular after his reign, 1379 01:10:37,083 --> 01:10:40,017 and most of the people in axum and other places, 1380 01:10:40,086 --> 01:10:43,621 they give ezana a special place in axumite history 1381 01:10:43,690 --> 01:10:47,191 because of his conversion to christianity. 1382 01:10:47,260 --> 01:10:49,560 host: in king ezana's conversion story, 1383 01:10:49,629 --> 01:10:52,230 history and myth collide. 1384 01:10:52,298 --> 01:10:59,270 so, the conversion of axum, we have a legend of two boys. 1385 01:11:01,174 --> 01:11:04,008 frumentius and edesius are their names. 1386 01:11:05,979 --> 01:11:07,879 they traveled with their father, 1387 01:11:07,947 --> 01:11:11,949 a christian merchant going down the red sea, 1388 01:11:12,018 --> 01:11:15,353 and they are subjected to piracy. 1389 01:11:15,421 --> 01:11:18,589 the father was killed and next we find these boys 1390 01:11:18,658 --> 01:11:21,826 in the court of axum, and they're taken in by the king 1391 01:11:21,895 --> 01:11:25,863 and they are the ones educating his son ezana. 1392 01:11:27,066 --> 01:11:28,533 host: according to one recounting, 1393 01:11:28,601 --> 01:11:29,967 frumentius and his brother 1394 01:11:30,036 --> 01:11:33,037 were syrian christians traveling back from india 1395 01:11:33,106 --> 01:11:35,373 in the early fourth century a.d. 1396 01:11:35,441 --> 01:11:36,974 his passion for his religion 1397 01:11:37,043 --> 01:11:39,143 was so compelling, the story goes, 1398 01:11:39,212 --> 01:11:41,846 that young king ezana decided to embrace 1399 01:11:41,915 --> 01:11:43,881 this new religion as his own. 1400 01:11:43,950 --> 01:11:47,785 in the story, we have a lot of truths embedded. 1401 01:11:47,854 --> 01:11:53,257 the first one being axum wasn't on the outskirts of the world. 1402 01:11:53,326 --> 01:11:55,526 it was right along the trade routes 1403 01:11:55,595 --> 01:11:58,829 toward india, toward oman. 1404 01:11:58,898 --> 01:12:02,300 so, the father who goes out to trade 1405 01:12:02,368 --> 01:12:06,204 reflects the connections that axum actually had. 1406 01:12:06,272 --> 01:12:07,939 host: no matter how it originated, 1407 01:12:08,007 --> 01:12:11,142 ezana's conversion is no myth. 1408 01:12:11,211 --> 01:12:14,879 these axumite coins reveal that a momentous change occurred 1409 01:12:14,948 --> 01:12:17,014 in the kingdom in the fourth century. 1410 01:12:19,852 --> 01:12:22,954 dr. abebaw gela explains. 1411 01:12:23,022 --> 01:12:27,558 these coins, more than their economic importance, 1412 01:12:27,627 --> 01:12:29,160 they tell a lot of history. 1413 01:12:30,763 --> 01:12:35,533 there are two kinds of religious symbols on axumite coins. 1414 01:12:35,602 --> 01:12:40,671 the earlier ones, they have a symbol of a crescent 1415 01:12:40,740 --> 01:12:42,707 and a disc. 1416 01:12:42,775 --> 01:12:48,312 so, the crescent, it symbolizes the moon god almouqah, 1417 01:12:48,381 --> 01:12:54,986 and then the disc symbolizes the sun god shamash. 1418 01:12:56,589 --> 01:12:58,623 host: these gods had been piously worshipped 1419 01:12:58,691 --> 01:13:00,324 in the great temple of yeha 1420 01:13:00,393 --> 01:13:03,227 and across the horn of africa and southern arabia 1421 01:13:03,296 --> 01:13:06,163 for over 1,000 years. 1422 01:13:06,232 --> 01:13:09,967 but during ezana's reign, around 350 a.d., 1423 01:13:10,036 --> 01:13:13,971 the design of axum's coinage dramatically changed, 1424 01:13:14,040 --> 01:13:16,440 becoming the first coins in the world 1425 01:13:16,509 --> 01:13:19,010 to bear a christian symbol. 1426 01:13:19,078 --> 01:13:23,014 gela: those coins of ezana that were minted after, err, 1427 01:13:23,082 --> 01:13:25,750 his conversion to christianity, 1428 01:13:25,818 --> 01:13:28,519 they have the symbol of the cross. 1429 01:13:28,588 --> 01:13:31,856 a coin is a very good medium to tell people also 1430 01:13:31,924 --> 01:13:33,157 that we are christians. 1431 01:13:34,894 --> 01:13:36,460 host: seeing the kingdom's religion 1432 01:13:36,529 --> 01:13:37,962 featured on its currency 1433 01:13:38,031 --> 01:13:41,999 shows us two things--the power of its spiritual belief 1434 01:13:42,068 --> 01:13:44,368 and its extensive commercial ties 1435 01:13:44,437 --> 01:13:46,771 with christendom. 1436 01:13:46,839 --> 01:13:50,007 the dominant european power at that time was rome, 1437 01:13:50,076 --> 01:13:52,543 whose emperor constantine had himself 1438 01:13:52,612 --> 01:13:56,747 converted to christianity in 325 a.d. 1439 01:13:56,816 --> 01:13:59,950 thornton: it's worth noting that king ezana accepted christianity 1440 01:14:00,019 --> 01:14:03,921 just really a few decades after constantine did. 1441 01:14:03,990 --> 01:14:05,523 he did a lot of business with 1442 01:14:05,591 --> 01:14:07,892 the eastern end of the roman empire. 1443 01:14:07,960 --> 01:14:11,062 it could very well be that his decision to become a christian 1444 01:14:11,130 --> 01:14:14,632 was connected to geopolitics of the day 1445 01:14:14,701 --> 01:14:16,634 or commercial politics of the day. 1446 01:14:18,838 --> 01:14:20,671 host: and just like constantine, 1447 01:14:20,740 --> 01:14:23,541 ezana had territorial ambitions. 1448 01:14:28,114 --> 01:14:29,980 in the middle of the fourth century, 1449 01:14:30,049 --> 01:14:34,118 axumite armies forged their way inland along the nile valley, 1450 01:14:34,187 --> 01:14:36,487 invading new territories and heading for 1451 01:14:36,556 --> 01:14:39,056 the great city of meroe, 1452 01:14:39,125 --> 01:14:43,194 the third and last capital of the ancient kingdom of kush. 1453 01:14:51,471 --> 01:14:54,672 for hundreds of years, the kings and queens of kush, 1454 01:14:54,741 --> 01:14:58,142 from their capital at meroe, had dominated the southern end 1455 01:14:58,211 --> 01:15:00,211 of nile valley civilization... 1456 01:15:02,448 --> 01:15:06,584 rich from trade and sharing religious beliefs and culture 1457 01:15:06,652 --> 01:15:09,854 with its millennia-old rival, egypt. 1458 01:15:20,967 --> 01:15:25,302 but by the fourth century, eclipsed by axum's rise, 1459 01:15:25,371 --> 01:15:27,438 kush was in decline. 1460 01:15:32,512 --> 01:15:34,645 it started when, uh, 1461 01:15:34,714 --> 01:15:39,116 axum appeared as a powerful, uh, kingdom, 1462 01:15:39,185 --> 01:15:42,753 and because meroe economy 1463 01:15:42,822 --> 01:15:45,689 was based on trade along the nile 1464 01:15:45,758 --> 01:15:47,091 to control all trade 1465 01:15:47,160 --> 01:15:49,660 and all the route coming from africa, 1466 01:15:49,729 --> 01:15:52,463 towards the red sea and with the mediterranean. 1467 01:15:52,532 --> 01:15:55,166 and then axum appeared 1468 01:15:55,234 --> 01:15:58,002 with its power control of these goods. 1469 01:16:01,007 --> 01:16:04,308 host: an inscription on a throne uncovered at meroe 1470 01:16:04,377 --> 01:16:06,377 describes an assault on the city 1471 01:16:06,446 --> 01:16:09,146 by king ezana's conquering army. 1472 01:16:09,215 --> 01:16:12,283 now in the remains of what are meroe's temples, 1473 01:16:12,351 --> 01:16:15,553 mahmoud bashir believes he's found physical evidence 1474 01:16:15,621 --> 01:16:19,290 of the violent destruction resulting from axum's attack. 1475 01:16:23,296 --> 01:16:24,628 all the evidence shows that 1476 01:16:24,697 --> 01:16:27,631 it's being destroyed and buried. 1477 01:16:27,700 --> 01:16:29,066 all the statues are smashed 1478 01:16:29,135 --> 01:16:30,734 into very small pieces. 1479 01:16:30,803 --> 01:16:32,636 so, we have a real evidence 1480 01:16:32,705 --> 01:16:35,072 for something happened there, 1481 01:16:35,141 --> 01:16:37,975 like people came, they destroyed everything 1482 01:16:38,044 --> 01:16:40,044 with the attack of ezana's. 1483 01:16:40,112 --> 01:16:42,513 axum conquers meroe. 1484 01:16:42,582 --> 01:16:45,349 king ezana, who, by this time is christian... 1485 01:16:45,418 --> 01:16:47,685 that's what i believe. 1486 01:16:47,753 --> 01:16:50,988 host: ezana died around 360 a.d. 1487 01:16:51,057 --> 01:16:54,925 over the next 150 years, the axumite empire, 1488 01:16:54,994 --> 01:16:58,529 extending from the horn of africa into southern arabia, 1489 01:16:58,598 --> 01:17:00,865 would become solidly christian. 1490 01:17:00,933 --> 01:17:03,834 in nubia, the successor to kush, 1491 01:17:03,903 --> 01:17:06,270 it would take another century for christianity 1492 01:17:06,339 --> 01:17:09,640 to establish itself through peaceful means. 1493 01:17:17,483 --> 01:17:21,585 here in khartoum at the national museum of sudan 1494 01:17:21,654 --> 01:17:24,021 is housed an extraordinary collection 1495 01:17:24,090 --> 01:17:25,856 of christian artworks. 1496 01:17:27,793 --> 01:17:31,729 in the sixth century, christian missionaries from constantinople 1497 01:17:31,797 --> 01:17:34,865 traveled up the nile and began the conversion 1498 01:17:34,934 --> 01:17:38,335 of the 3 nubian kingdoms that had arisen 1499 01:17:38,404 --> 01:17:40,871 after the fall of kush. 1500 01:17:40,940 --> 01:17:42,740 haustein: part of christianity has a lot to do 1501 01:17:42,808 --> 01:17:44,875 with establishing connections. 1502 01:17:44,944 --> 01:17:47,945 so, if you have missionaries coming from the north, 1503 01:17:48,014 --> 01:17:50,180 you're not just interested in the text they bring. 1504 01:17:50,249 --> 01:17:52,616 you want to do trade, you want to be able 1505 01:17:52,685 --> 01:17:54,785 to travel there yourself and have people 1506 01:17:54,854 --> 01:17:57,421 who will sponsor these travels. 1507 01:17:57,490 --> 01:18:01,025 you want to establish various connections. 1508 01:18:08,067 --> 01:18:11,802 host: the people of nubia readily embraced the new faith 1509 01:18:11,871 --> 01:18:13,938 and within a generation had created 1510 01:18:14,006 --> 01:18:17,641 a vibrant and distinctly nubian christian culture. 1511 01:18:20,947 --> 01:18:23,847 christianity thrived in the 3 nubian kingdoms 1512 01:18:23,916 --> 01:18:26,383 for almost 1,000 years. 1513 01:18:26,452 --> 01:18:29,887 dozens of these beautiful christian murals have survived. 1514 01:18:31,190 --> 01:18:34,825 this one depicts the virgin mary and the baby jesus 1515 01:18:34,894 --> 01:18:37,828 protecting the queen, whose name was martha. 1516 01:18:41,367 --> 01:18:45,202 curiously, queen martha is depicted as a brown woman, 1517 01:18:45,271 --> 01:18:47,938 while mary and jesus are white. 1518 01:18:50,977 --> 01:18:54,411 little was known of this medieval christian civilization 1519 01:18:54,480 --> 01:18:58,015 until archaeologists made an extraordinary discovery. 1520 01:19:04,557 --> 01:19:07,091 buried in the nubian desert were the remains 1521 01:19:07,159 --> 01:19:10,794 of a seventh-century christian cathedral in faras, 1522 01:19:10,863 --> 01:19:13,330 once the capital of the kingdom of nobatia. 1523 01:19:13,399 --> 01:19:15,366 the cathedral is now submerged 1524 01:19:15,434 --> 01:19:17,735 under the flood waters of lake nasser, 1525 01:19:17,803 --> 01:19:20,437 but this series of exquisite frescoes 1526 01:19:20,506 --> 01:19:25,109 created during the earliest era of christian nubia was saved. 1527 01:19:28,614 --> 01:19:30,514 haustein: this find of these frescoes 1528 01:19:30,583 --> 01:19:31,849 and the churches in faras 1529 01:19:31,917 --> 01:19:36,086 is significant because it's the only extant art 1530 01:19:36,155 --> 01:19:39,289 that we really have from this early nubian christianity... 1531 01:19:41,427 --> 01:19:45,529 and it dates back to the seventh and end of the sixth century, 1532 01:19:45,598 --> 01:19:47,564 so, very, very early art. 1533 01:19:54,774 --> 01:19:57,274 host: this nativity scene once covered 1534 01:19:57,343 --> 01:20:00,044 the eastern wall at faras cathedral. 1535 01:20:00,112 --> 01:20:02,846 it shows the virgin mary in repose 1536 01:20:02,915 --> 01:20:05,716 and crowned like a nubian princess. 1537 01:20:05,785 --> 01:20:09,953 watching over her are the archangels michael and gabriel. 1538 01:20:11,424 --> 01:20:14,191 in the crib, the infant jesus 1539 01:20:14,260 --> 01:20:17,828 lies warmed by the breath of the animals, 1540 01:20:17,897 --> 01:20:21,598 and in the corner stands a figure of a nubian king. 1541 01:20:23,269 --> 01:20:25,169 the christian kingdoms of nubia 1542 01:20:25,237 --> 01:20:28,238 would flourish along the southern reaches of the nile, 1543 01:20:28,307 --> 01:20:32,076 from these rich beginnings to the 15th century. 1544 01:20:36,582 --> 01:20:39,683 but just as christianity was taking root in nubia, 1545 01:20:39,752 --> 01:20:43,153 a new religion--islam-- was about to transform 1546 01:20:43,222 --> 01:20:45,155 the spiritual landscape of africa. 1547 01:20:45,224 --> 01:20:47,091 [man chanting prayer] 1548 01:20:50,730 --> 01:20:53,063 host: from the deserts and oases of arabia, 1549 01:20:53,132 --> 01:20:57,634 a conquering force powered by faith was on the move. 1550 01:20:57,703 --> 01:20:59,336 through the spread of islam, 1551 01:20:59,405 --> 01:21:02,573 they were about to transform the cultural and political 1552 01:21:02,641 --> 01:21:08,212 fabric of africa both above and below the desert. 1553 01:21:08,280 --> 01:21:11,582 this contact remains one of the most significant events 1554 01:21:11,650 --> 01:21:15,652 in the history of islam-- a first emigration of muslims, 1555 01:21:15,721 --> 01:21:18,789 not to medina but to africa. 1556 01:21:18,858 --> 01:21:20,424 so, here's muhammad sending 1557 01:21:20,493 --> 01:21:22,960 part of his family and some friends 1558 01:21:23,028 --> 01:21:25,863 to find refuge, um, with the christian king 1559 01:21:25,931 --> 01:21:28,298 because he's under pressure in mecca. 1560 01:21:28,367 --> 01:21:31,702 they were received by the emperor in axum, 1561 01:21:31,771 --> 01:21:34,905 and so, you have a very close relationship very early on. 1562 01:21:34,974 --> 01:21:36,640 and again, this goes to show 1563 01:21:36,709 --> 01:21:40,511 how much of a regional hegemon axum was. 1564 01:21:40,579 --> 01:21:44,915 host: soon after the prophet's death in 632 a.d., 1565 01:21:44,984 --> 01:21:50,687 islamic armies marched west out of arabia into north africa. 1566 01:21:50,756 --> 01:21:52,990 by 642, they had deposed 1567 01:21:53,058 --> 01:21:57,194 the unpopular byzantine rulers of egypt 1568 01:21:57,263 --> 01:22:00,197 and controlled the bread basket of the mediterranean. 1569 01:22:03,636 --> 01:22:04,768 man: a lot of people refer to them 1570 01:22:04,837 --> 01:22:05,969 as the muslim conquests. 1571 01:22:06,038 --> 01:22:08,172 i refer to them as the arab conquest. 1572 01:22:08,240 --> 01:22:11,742 there wasn't the establishment of a forced conversion 1573 01:22:11,811 --> 01:22:14,778 under a kind of military rule. 1574 01:22:14,847 --> 01:22:18,749 what was established was islamic rule of law. 1575 01:22:18,818 --> 01:22:22,085 conversion wasn't required amongst subject populations. 1576 01:22:29,461 --> 01:22:31,829 woman: islam comes to the african continent 1577 01:22:31,897 --> 01:22:36,433 pretty early, in places like the horn of africa. 1578 01:22:36,502 --> 01:22:40,637 it goes into egypt and in most places, it comes through trade. 1579 01:22:40,706 --> 01:22:43,140 you can't force anyone to believe in a religion. 1580 01:22:43,209 --> 01:22:46,443 it's sort of people have to adopt it and make it their own, 1581 01:22:46,512 --> 01:22:50,814 and that's really what happens with islam in africa 1582 01:22:50,883 --> 01:22:52,983 and the places that it truly takes root, 1583 01:22:53,052 --> 01:22:55,953 it's through people's own initiative 1584 01:22:56,021 --> 01:22:59,790 and their own valuing of this. 1585 01:22:59,859 --> 01:23:01,258 ware: what happens in north africa 1586 01:23:01,327 --> 01:23:06,897 is you have the establishment of a kind of islamic political rule 1587 01:23:06,966 --> 01:23:09,633 that isn't necessarily all that islamic, you know, for... 1588 01:23:09,702 --> 01:23:11,969 [laughs] from a religious standpoint, but you know, in... 1589 01:23:12,037 --> 01:23:15,372 in important parts of, uh, its history, 1590 01:23:15,441 --> 01:23:17,975 but is nonetheless, it's a rule by muslims. 1591 01:23:19,578 --> 01:23:22,312 host: from egypt, arab armies pushed west. 1592 01:23:22,381 --> 01:23:24,047 by the beginning of the eighth century, 1593 01:23:24,116 --> 01:23:26,183 they had taken control of all of 1594 01:23:26,252 --> 01:23:28,919 the christian provinces of byzantium, 1595 01:23:28,988 --> 01:23:34,157 across present-day libya, tunisia, algeria, and morocco. 1596 01:23:34,226 --> 01:23:38,462 then in the year 711, from their base in tangier, 1597 01:23:38,530 --> 01:23:43,600 the armies looked north towards a new frontier--europe. 1598 01:23:46,438 --> 01:23:48,505 at the mouth of the mediterranean, 1599 01:23:48,574 --> 01:23:51,475 12,000 soldiers assembled. 1600 01:23:51,543 --> 01:23:54,678 a vast invasion force from the african continent 1601 01:23:54,747 --> 01:23:57,714 seeking to conquer a european kingdom. 1602 01:23:57,783 --> 01:24:01,952 their leader, a warrior and brilliant military strategist, 1603 01:24:02,021 --> 01:24:04,688 would become a legend. 1604 01:24:04,757 --> 01:24:08,358 his name was tariq ibn ziyad. 1605 01:24:08,427 --> 01:24:10,494 it's said he was born a slave 1606 01:24:10,562 --> 01:24:14,598 but rose to become a fierce fighter and general. 1607 01:24:14,667 --> 01:24:17,067 so impressive were his military feats 1608 01:24:17,136 --> 01:24:20,437 in helping to capture the north african city of tangier 1609 01:24:20,506 --> 01:24:22,539 that he was made its governor. 1610 01:24:26,078 --> 01:24:27,744 but tariq wasn't an arab... 1611 01:24:31,016 --> 01:24:32,716 tariq was a berber. 1612 01:24:35,387 --> 01:24:37,821 man: the people known as berbers 1613 01:24:37,890 --> 01:24:42,426 are actually calling themselves in their own language amazigh. 1614 01:24:42,494 --> 01:24:46,763 it was the romans who actually coined the word berbers. 1615 01:24:49,134 --> 01:24:52,402 it started becoming a kind of a derogatory reference 1616 01:24:52,471 --> 01:24:55,205 to those people amongst the berber communities 1617 01:24:55,274 --> 01:24:58,342 who would not want to indulge with the romans 1618 01:24:58,410 --> 01:25:02,312 into doing business and being liable to them. 1619 01:25:03,849 --> 01:25:06,883 host: the berber people have inhabited north africa 1620 01:25:06,952 --> 01:25:10,954 from present-day morocco in the west to tunisia in the east 1621 01:25:11,023 --> 01:25:13,991 from at least the third millennium b.c. 1622 01:25:14,059 --> 01:25:16,860 during the centuries of roman and byzantine rule, 1623 01:25:16,929 --> 01:25:20,630 many berbers migrated away from the rich coastal cities. 1624 01:25:22,067 --> 01:25:25,068 inland, they resisted foreign colonial rule, 1625 01:25:25,137 --> 01:25:27,704 preserving over centuries their own 1626 01:25:27,773 --> 01:25:30,640 distinctive and diverse culture and traditions, 1627 01:25:30,709 --> 01:25:33,810 deeply rooted in the mountains and fertile plains 1628 01:25:33,879 --> 01:25:35,245 of north africa. 1629 01:25:35,314 --> 01:25:37,914 elazkem: berbers were tough fighters. 1630 01:25:37,983 --> 01:25:41,585 it comes from the toughness of their life at first. 1631 01:25:41,653 --> 01:25:45,789 it's also the difficulties in which they live. 1632 01:25:45,858 --> 01:25:49,359 the fact that they had actually to fight to live 1633 01:25:49,428 --> 01:25:52,829 made them actually excellent warriors. 1634 01:25:52,898 --> 01:25:55,399 host: though the berbers made a strong stand, 1635 01:25:55,467 --> 01:26:00,103 one by one their chiefdoms fell to the arab conquerors. 1636 01:26:03,575 --> 01:26:06,743 by the time tariq gathered his army in tangier, 1637 01:26:06,812 --> 01:26:10,313 thousands of berbers had not only converted to islam, 1638 01:26:10,382 --> 01:26:13,884 they had also joined its sweeping armies. 1639 01:26:13,952 --> 01:26:17,888 ware: there's a long history of african conquests 1640 01:26:17,956 --> 01:26:21,324 of southern europe, especially iberia. 1641 01:26:23,328 --> 01:26:25,495 we can see berbers playing a particular role 1642 01:26:25,564 --> 01:26:27,764 side-by-side with arabs as well. 1643 01:26:27,833 --> 01:26:31,868 host: on the 29th of april, in the year 711, 1644 01:26:31,937 --> 01:26:35,705 tariq's force set off from tangier. 1645 01:26:35,774 --> 01:26:39,009 just 9 miles separate africa and europe 1646 01:26:39,078 --> 01:26:40,710 at the mouth of the mediterranean, 1647 01:26:40,779 --> 01:26:42,946 and on a fine day from tangiers, 1648 01:26:43,015 --> 01:26:46,817 you can even see the place where tariq's army landed, 1649 01:26:46,885 --> 01:26:49,019 a great rock that marks the southernmost tip 1650 01:26:49,088 --> 01:26:51,588 of the iberian peninsula and the site 1651 01:26:51,657 --> 01:26:54,391 of a legendary african victory. 1652 01:26:54,460 --> 01:26:58,128 it was named jabal tariq after the conquering general. 1653 01:26:59,965 --> 01:27:03,133 we know it in english today as the rock of gibraltar. 1654 01:27:04,636 --> 01:27:08,638 from gibraltar, tariq advanced onto the iberian peninsula 1655 01:27:08,707 --> 01:27:12,409 at the head of a phalanx 5,000 strong. 1656 01:27:12,478 --> 01:27:14,711 one of his soldiers is said to have asked him, 1657 01:27:14,780 --> 01:27:16,880 "sir, when shall we return?" 1658 01:27:16,949 --> 01:27:20,016 he answered, "we haven't come here to return. 1659 01:27:20,085 --> 01:27:23,019 "either we shall conquer and establish ourselves, 1660 01:27:23,088 --> 01:27:24,554 or we shall perish." 1661 01:27:26,125 --> 01:27:30,627 reinforced by some 18,000 berber and arab soldiers, 1662 01:27:30,696 --> 01:27:32,996 the muslim armies of north africa 1663 01:27:33,065 --> 01:27:37,167 within a year had conquered most of present-day spain, 1664 01:27:37,236 --> 01:27:41,138 and established outposts as far as southern france. 1665 01:27:44,009 --> 01:27:48,678 recalled to damascus, tariq would be dead within 10 years. 1666 01:27:51,350 --> 01:27:53,083 but his conquests helped establish 1667 01:27:53,152 --> 01:27:56,887 a new islamic civilization stretching across 1668 01:27:56,955 --> 01:27:59,389 north africa and much of spain, 1669 01:27:59,458 --> 01:28:02,425 which would endure for over 800 years 1670 01:28:02,494 --> 01:28:07,264 and create a cultural bond between two continents. 1671 01:28:07,332 --> 01:28:09,799 so, instead of seeing them as we do now, 1672 01:28:09,868 --> 01:28:12,802 as the break between europe and africa, 1673 01:28:12,871 --> 01:28:15,605 during this period they were a bridge 1674 01:28:15,674 --> 01:28:18,642 between two very interconnected areas 1675 01:28:18,710 --> 01:28:21,611 where people traveled backwards and forwards as soldiers, 1676 01:28:21,680 --> 01:28:28,251 as political advisors, as craftsmen, architects, scholars. 1677 01:28:28,320 --> 01:28:31,154 so, enormous amount of movement between the two sides 1678 01:28:31,223 --> 01:28:32,589 of the straits of gibraltar. 1679 01:28:34,159 --> 01:28:37,827 host: the spread of islam across north africa and the middle east 1680 01:28:37,896 --> 01:28:41,498 had profound effects on other parts of africa. 1681 01:28:41,567 --> 01:28:44,734 trade to the east that had once passed through the red sea 1682 01:28:44,803 --> 01:28:48,371 now shifted north toward the new islamic centers of power 1683 01:28:48,440 --> 01:28:51,641 in damascus, baghdad, and the persian gulf. 1684 01:28:53,812 --> 01:28:58,315 christian axum became isolated and vulnerable to attack. 1685 01:28:58,383 --> 01:29:00,984 particularly vulnerable was the port of adulis, 1686 01:29:01,053 --> 01:29:03,253 the kingdom's economic lifeline. 1687 01:29:06,058 --> 01:29:08,658 with the rise of islam, 1688 01:29:08,727 --> 01:29:10,727 they locked their eyes on adulis 1689 01:29:10,796 --> 01:29:13,863 because of its economic importance. 1690 01:29:13,932 --> 01:29:17,200 they invaded adulis and then adulis was 1691 01:29:17,269 --> 01:29:20,670 totally burnt and destroyed in [indistinct]. 1692 01:29:20,739 --> 01:29:23,607 beginning from that time, axum started 1693 01:29:23,675 --> 01:29:25,809 a long period of decline. 1694 01:29:35,921 --> 01:29:39,723 host: but in the 11th century, a new dynasty would revive 1695 01:29:39,791 --> 01:29:43,727 the fortunes of ethiopia's once-great christian kingdom 1696 01:29:43,795 --> 01:29:45,996 and create one of the most spectacular 1697 01:29:46,064 --> 01:29:49,699 of all religious sites in africa and in the world-- 1698 01:29:50,902 --> 01:29:52,335 lalibela. 1699 01:29:52,404 --> 01:29:54,504 12 extraordinary churches 1700 01:29:54,573 --> 01:29:56,606 carved out of the living rock 1701 01:29:56,675 --> 01:29:58,908 in the ethiopian highlands. 1702 01:29:58,977 --> 01:30:02,312 one of the most extraordinary architectural achievements 1703 01:30:02,381 --> 01:30:04,681 that the world has ever seen. 1704 01:30:11,456 --> 01:30:14,924 the churches were built during the zagwe dynasty, 1705 01:30:14,993 --> 01:30:17,727 which arose from the ashes of axum, 1706 01:30:17,796 --> 01:30:19,729 reviving the red sea trade routes 1707 01:30:19,798 --> 01:30:21,331 in christian ethiopia. 1708 01:30:28,407 --> 01:30:31,608 built before many of the great cathedrals of europe, 1709 01:30:31,677 --> 01:30:35,045 they are an astonishing feat of construction, 1710 01:30:35,113 --> 01:30:37,614 design, and imagination. 1711 01:30:39,451 --> 01:30:43,553 being able to see this church buried in this block of stone, 1712 01:30:43,622 --> 01:30:47,724 it's a bit like michelangelo seeing david 1713 01:30:47,793 --> 01:30:49,993 buried in that block of marble. 1714 01:30:54,900 --> 01:30:57,600 the most celebrated king was lalibela, 1715 01:30:57,669 --> 01:31:00,603 and according to legend, he was instructed by god 1716 01:31:00,672 --> 01:31:04,374 to build a new jerusalem in ethiopia. 1717 01:31:04,443 --> 01:31:09,279 according to the saint's biography of king lalibela, 1718 01:31:09,348 --> 01:31:12,148 it was said that he had a vision, 1719 01:31:12,217 --> 01:31:15,785 and during that vision, he made a pact with god. 1720 01:31:15,854 --> 01:31:20,990 god told him that, if you build these churches i'm showing you, 1721 01:31:21,059 --> 01:31:23,660 i will make you king. 1722 01:31:23,729 --> 01:31:27,297 angels were said to have transmitted the plans to him 1723 01:31:27,366 --> 01:31:30,266 and to have assisted him night and day, 1724 01:31:30,335 --> 01:31:34,838 as he dug for 24 years to build all of these churches. 1725 01:31:37,876 --> 01:31:40,677 woman: lalibela is one of the very few 1726 01:31:40,746 --> 01:31:44,114 ethiopian kings who was ever made a saint. 1727 01:31:44,182 --> 01:31:47,917 king lalibela built these extraordinary cathedrals. 1728 01:31:47,986 --> 01:31:50,520 they had literature, they had all sort of things 1729 01:31:50,589 --> 01:31:52,422 that were happening during that period. 1730 01:31:52,491 --> 01:31:55,392 so, it was clearly a very vibrant time. 1731 01:31:58,830 --> 01:32:00,997 host: carved in the shape of a cross, 1732 01:32:01,066 --> 01:32:03,900 the church of st. george is the most celebrated 1733 01:32:03,969 --> 01:32:08,705 of all the magnificent buildings in lalibela's sacred complex. 1734 01:32:10,442 --> 01:32:13,743 but deeper within this complex is a church that contains 1735 01:32:13,812 --> 01:32:17,213 replicas of the tombs of christ and adam 1736 01:32:17,282 --> 01:32:20,717 and is considered the holiest part of lalibela. 1737 01:32:20,786 --> 01:32:23,219 it's the church of biete golgotha. 1738 01:32:25,724 --> 01:32:28,658 historian solomon getaneh is an expert 1739 01:32:28,727 --> 01:32:30,527 on the history of the churches. 1740 01:32:32,631 --> 01:32:35,932 [indistinct] lalibela, you see. 1741 01:32:36,001 --> 01:32:38,134 look at here. 1742 01:32:38,203 --> 01:32:39,202 oh, look at the altar. 1743 01:32:45,510 --> 01:32:47,110 oh, there's king lalibela. 1744 01:32:49,648 --> 01:32:51,414 and the holy virgin mary. 1745 01:32:53,718 --> 01:32:55,819 when they painted, they make-- 1746 01:32:55,887 --> 01:32:58,021 the head is big, the eye also is big. 1747 01:32:58,089 --> 01:32:59,422 yeah, the eyes. they've got to show the excellence 1748 01:32:59,491 --> 01:33:01,791 of the brain. 1749 01:33:01,860 --> 01:33:03,393 and he had insight. 1750 01:33:03,462 --> 01:33:05,228 exactly. 1751 01:33:05,297 --> 01:33:08,364 inside here, the same. lalibela also is buried. 1752 01:33:08,433 --> 01:33:10,433 so, it's the body of the king? exactly. 1753 01:33:10,502 --> 01:33:12,702 but it's in the holy [indistinct], 1754 01:33:12,771 --> 01:33:14,037 so, it's not allowed. 1755 01:33:17,075 --> 01:33:20,543 host: scholars believe that lalibela's complex of churches 1756 01:33:20,612 --> 01:33:24,247 was built as a symbolic representation of jerusalem. 1757 01:33:27,486 --> 01:33:30,620 belcher: the ethiopians became christians very early on 1758 01:33:30,689 --> 01:33:33,890 and within a couple of decades of that, 1759 01:33:33,959 --> 01:33:37,560 they had set up a monastery in the heart of jerusalem. 1760 01:33:37,629 --> 01:33:40,630 so, they had had a deep connection to it 1761 01:33:40,699 --> 01:33:43,933 and a journey to jerusalem is the longing 1762 01:33:44,002 --> 01:33:47,904 of any pious person in ethiopia. 1763 01:33:47,973 --> 01:33:49,205 every single thing in this 1764 01:33:49,274 --> 01:33:51,941 [indistinct] church is symbolized. 1765 01:33:52,010 --> 01:33:56,045 lalibela symbolizes everything to jerusalem. 1766 01:33:56,114 --> 01:33:57,514 golgotha is a place where 1767 01:33:57,582 --> 01:33:59,816 our lord jesus christ was buried... yes. 1768 01:33:59,885 --> 01:34:03,286 so, this place was called golgotha. 1769 01:34:03,355 --> 01:34:05,255 there are 12 pillars. 1770 01:34:05,323 --> 01:34:08,024 12 pillars. one for each... symbolizing-- 1771 01:34:08,093 --> 01:34:09,759 uh, apostle. exactly. 1772 01:34:11,663 --> 01:34:12,862 all of lalibela is 1773 01:34:12,931 --> 01:34:17,467 a 3-dimensional biblical allegory. 1774 01:34:17,536 --> 01:34:19,936 exactly. you can easily read it. 1775 01:34:23,408 --> 01:34:26,409 host: in fact, it's now thought that the churches at lalibela 1776 01:34:26,478 --> 01:34:29,512 were built between the seventh and 13th centuries... 1777 01:34:31,182 --> 01:34:35,118 and that some were originally palaces and even fortresses. 1778 01:34:35,186 --> 01:34:37,954 it was only later that they became churches, 1779 01:34:38,023 --> 01:34:41,291 which remain places of pilgrimage to this day. 1780 01:34:47,632 --> 01:34:49,599 windmuller-luna: these are not buildings in the sense 1781 01:34:49,668 --> 01:34:51,568 that you take bricks or stones 1782 01:34:51,636 --> 01:34:53,937 and put them one on top of the other. 1783 01:34:54,005 --> 01:34:56,906 these are massive sculptures 1784 01:34:56,975 --> 01:34:59,876 that have been carved out of living rock. 1785 01:34:59,945 --> 01:35:03,646 lalibela is like no other place on earth. 1786 01:35:03,715 --> 01:35:05,281 preston blier: you get a sense of the creation 1787 01:35:05,350 --> 01:35:10,820 of kind of an ideal paradisiacal setting 1788 01:35:10,889 --> 01:35:13,389 because it's hewn of living rock, 1789 01:35:13,458 --> 01:35:16,993 and much like other african architecture, 1790 01:35:17,062 --> 01:35:18,595 it is sculpture in its own right, 1791 01:35:18,663 --> 01:35:21,698 but sculpture one can walk into and move around, 1792 01:35:21,766 --> 01:35:24,367 and what is particularly remarkable there 1793 01:35:24,436 --> 01:35:27,270 is how one experiences religion 1794 01:35:27,339 --> 01:35:30,907 and the personal pilgrimages one has to take to get there 1795 01:35:30,976 --> 01:35:33,343 that are an essential part of this whole tradition. 1796 01:35:42,187 --> 01:35:44,921 host: 12 churches carved out of the ground. 1797 01:35:44,990 --> 01:35:48,658 each structure unique, each ingeniously designed, 1798 01:35:48,727 --> 01:35:52,128 and each chiseled by skilled artisans 1799 01:35:52,197 --> 01:35:53,963 from a master plan. 1800 01:35:57,636 --> 01:36:00,269 the churches of lalibela stand as more than 1801 01:36:00,338 --> 01:36:03,673 just a symbolic jerusalem on ethiopian soil. 1802 01:36:03,742 --> 01:36:06,809 this was a new jerusalem in africa. 1803 01:36:06,878 --> 01:36:08,678 [clanking] 1804 01:36:08,747 --> 01:36:12,448 120 miles from lalibela sits a sacred site 1805 01:36:12,517 --> 01:36:17,620 that binds the old testament to the heart of ethiopia's story-- 1806 01:36:17,689 --> 01:36:21,190 lake tana in the ethiopian highlands. 1807 01:36:21,259 --> 01:36:23,292 the source of the blue nile, 1808 01:36:23,361 --> 01:36:26,562 which for many conjures the sacred river gihon 1809 01:36:26,631 --> 01:36:28,998 that flowed out of the garden of eden. 1810 01:36:30,702 --> 01:36:35,004 on its islands nestle 20 ancient monasteries 1811 01:36:35,073 --> 01:36:38,207 dating from the eighth to the 18th centuries, 1812 01:36:38,276 --> 01:36:42,145 each one a paragon of ethiopian art. 1813 01:36:42,213 --> 01:36:44,180 lake tana is one of the most 1814 01:36:44,249 --> 01:36:47,183 important places for both the orthodox religion 1815 01:36:47,252 --> 01:36:50,019 and for orthodox art. 1816 01:36:50,088 --> 01:36:53,156 it's a location in which monasteries and churches 1817 01:36:53,224 --> 01:36:56,726 were able to really flourish and to remain protected, 1818 01:36:56,795 --> 01:36:59,362 even in moments of peril. 1819 01:36:59,431 --> 01:37:01,898 host: in churches and monasteries such as these, 1820 01:37:01,966 --> 01:37:04,233 the ethiopian orthodox church developed 1821 01:37:04,302 --> 01:37:08,137 its signature style of painting, still visible here today. 1822 01:37:10,075 --> 01:37:12,341 preston blier: there's that visual complexity, 1823 01:37:12,410 --> 01:37:16,279 the kind of sensual power that these works offer 1824 01:37:16,347 --> 01:37:18,514 that make you want to look very carefully. 1825 01:37:27,726 --> 01:37:30,793 this is a painting of saint mary. 1826 01:37:30,862 --> 01:37:32,061 mary is very important. 1827 01:37:32,130 --> 01:37:34,097 she's the mother of jesus christ. 1828 01:37:35,567 --> 01:37:40,303 like an intermediary between man and god. 1829 01:37:40,371 --> 01:37:42,472 so, uh, we respect mary. 1830 01:37:42,540 --> 01:37:44,974 you see these enormous staring eyes. 1831 01:37:45,043 --> 01:37:48,277 there's something about the one-on-one engagement 1832 01:37:48,346 --> 01:37:50,413 between the figures depicted both 1833 01:37:50,482 --> 01:37:52,348 in the murals and the manuscripts, 1834 01:37:52,417 --> 01:37:54,717 and a means to connect individually 1835 01:37:54,786 --> 01:37:56,819 with the worshipper. 1836 01:37:56,888 --> 01:38:01,057 what you can also see is this bold set of colors, 1837 01:38:01,126 --> 01:38:03,526 the rich reds, blues, and greens, 1838 01:38:03,595 --> 01:38:07,430 often with carefully delineated marks 1839 01:38:07,499 --> 01:38:10,500 that frame one particular element from another. 1840 01:38:13,338 --> 01:38:15,538 host: but according to ethiopian tradition, 1841 01:38:15,607 --> 01:38:19,108 a monastery on lake tana, tana kirkos, 1842 01:38:19,177 --> 01:38:22,311 once housed a different kind of treasure, 1843 01:38:22,380 --> 01:38:24,413 an object of immense power 1844 01:38:24,482 --> 01:38:26,149 that would shape the country's history 1845 01:38:26,217 --> 01:38:29,819 and its national identity to this day, 1846 01:38:29,888 --> 01:38:32,421 connecting ethiopia once again 1847 01:38:32,490 --> 01:38:36,159 to the queen of sheba-- the ark of the covenant. 1848 01:38:37,395 --> 01:38:39,929 at least since the tenth century a.d., 1849 01:38:39,998 --> 01:38:42,698 ethiopians have claimed that the original ark 1850 01:38:42,767 --> 01:38:45,134 containing moses' stone tablets 1851 01:38:45,203 --> 01:38:47,303 inscribed with the 10 commandments 1852 01:38:47,372 --> 01:38:50,473 has been housed in their country. 1853 01:38:50,542 --> 01:38:54,343 according to the national epic, the kebra nagast, 1854 01:38:54,412 --> 01:38:58,014 when the queen of sheba visited king solomon in jerusalem, 1855 01:38:58,082 --> 01:39:01,684 they conceived a son--menelik. 1856 01:39:01,753 --> 01:39:05,788 menelik years later, returning from a visit to meet his father, 1857 01:39:05,857 --> 01:39:08,224 brought the ark from the temple in jerusalem 1858 01:39:08,293 --> 01:39:10,126 to its new resting place. 1859 01:39:11,663 --> 01:39:14,664 in 1270 a.d., this powerful myth 1860 01:39:14,732 --> 01:39:17,166 was used to justify a violent coup 1861 01:39:17,235 --> 01:39:21,571 that bought a new dynasty to power in ethiopia. 1862 01:39:21,639 --> 01:39:23,439 when a ruling zagwe king 1863 01:39:23,508 --> 01:39:26,943 was overthrown by a rival--yekuno amlak-- 1864 01:39:27,011 --> 01:39:29,712 the new king drew on this mystical connection 1865 01:39:29,781 --> 01:39:32,148 to the bible to validate his claim. 1866 01:39:33,985 --> 01:39:36,752 the new king claimed direct descent 1867 01:39:36,821 --> 01:39:39,488 from king solomon and the queen of sheba 1868 01:39:39,557 --> 01:39:43,226 through their son menelik, who was born in ethiopia 1869 01:39:43,294 --> 01:39:45,728 after his mother's stay in jerusalem. 1870 01:39:45,797 --> 01:39:49,498 menelik was the legendary founder of the axumite dynasty. 1871 01:39:49,567 --> 01:39:52,735 by claiming this lineage, the king could argue 1872 01:39:52,804 --> 01:39:56,906 that his seizure of the throne was actually a restoration, 1873 01:39:56,975 --> 01:40:01,377 a restoration of the true line of ethiopian monarchs. 1874 01:40:01,446 --> 01:40:03,679 the solomonic dynasty, founded as 1875 01:40:03,748 --> 01:40:06,616 an extension of this extraordinary lineage, 1876 01:40:06,684 --> 01:40:10,052 descending from king solomon and the queen of sheba, 1877 01:40:10,121 --> 01:40:14,156 would rule ethiopia for the next 700 years. 1878 01:40:14,225 --> 01:40:17,693 they are claiming descent from a holy family. 1879 01:40:17,762 --> 01:40:18,728 host: mm-hmm. 1880 01:40:18,796 --> 01:40:22,798 christ was born from david's family. 1881 01:40:22,867 --> 01:40:25,167 so, this meant the dynasty 1882 01:40:25,236 --> 01:40:27,937 more legitimate, more acceptable. 1883 01:40:28,006 --> 01:40:30,973 the audacity is breathtaking to say 1884 01:40:31,042 --> 01:40:32,208 not only are we legitimate 1885 01:40:32,277 --> 01:40:34,677 but we are descended from king david 1886 01:40:34,746 --> 01:40:38,748 through solomon, fused blood lines 1887 01:40:38,816 --> 01:40:41,651 through our queen, our axumite queen... yeah. 1888 01:40:41,719 --> 01:40:44,820 and beyond that to god himself. 1889 01:40:44,889 --> 01:40:45,855 to god himself. 1890 01:40:45,924 --> 01:40:48,391 it's the ultimate genealogical chart. 1891 01:40:48,459 --> 01:40:49,592 [laughs] 1892 01:40:53,298 --> 01:40:56,565 belcher: it is an extraordinary way of legitimating 1893 01:40:56,634 --> 01:41:00,569 the kings of ethiopia by taking the power of the bible, 1894 01:41:00,638 --> 01:41:03,639 the power of the israelites, and accruing it to themselves. 1895 01:41:03,708 --> 01:41:06,943 it is probably the most powerful national myth 1896 01:41:07,011 --> 01:41:08,377 that has ever been invented. 1897 01:41:12,483 --> 01:41:14,583 host: to this day, the ark of the covenant 1898 01:41:14,652 --> 01:41:18,454 plays a profound role in the religious life of ethiopia. 1899 01:41:18,523 --> 01:41:21,023 every church hosts a tabot, 1900 01:41:21,092 --> 01:41:24,327 its own sacred replica of the ark. 1901 01:41:24,395 --> 01:41:26,529 belcher: in ethiopia, the ark of the covenant 1902 01:41:26,597 --> 01:41:31,367 is often called zion, or zeon, and this is where god lives. 1903 01:41:32,937 --> 01:41:36,339 each one of them is a sign that god is here, 1904 01:41:36,407 --> 01:41:39,342 god is dwelling with us and protecting us. 1905 01:41:42,580 --> 01:41:45,081 host: and ethiopians celebrate their deep-rooted connection 1906 01:41:45,149 --> 01:41:49,018 to the ark every year at the festival of timkat, 1907 01:41:49,087 --> 01:41:52,154 the ethiopian orthodox church's celebration 1908 01:41:52,223 --> 01:41:55,057 of the baptism of jesus in the river jordan. 1909 01:42:01,265 --> 01:42:03,132 [cheering] 1910 01:42:11,242 --> 01:42:13,342 host: over centuries, the deep roots 1911 01:42:13,411 --> 01:42:15,277 of ethiopian christianity 1912 01:42:15,346 --> 01:42:18,447 and its unique traditions would be a powerful 1913 01:42:18,516 --> 01:42:20,983 unifying force for the kingdom. 1914 01:42:21,052 --> 01:42:24,820 preston blier: the bond and the solidarity 1915 01:42:24,889 --> 01:42:29,158 of the ethiopian population framed around christianity 1916 01:42:29,227 --> 01:42:31,727 was something that gave them a real strength 1917 01:42:31,796 --> 01:42:35,965 and a real, um, sort of political hold on that area 1918 01:42:36,034 --> 01:42:39,001 that made this one of the only places in africa, 1919 01:42:39,070 --> 01:42:41,537 indeed the only place that never was colonized. 1920 01:42:42,740 --> 01:42:45,408 the whole sort of population of ethiopia 1921 01:42:45,476 --> 01:42:48,811 was able to come together to safeguard its traditions, 1922 01:42:48,880 --> 01:42:52,314 and certainly christianity plays an important role in that. 1923 01:42:57,722 --> 01:43:00,423 host: ethiopian christians still believe 1924 01:43:00,491 --> 01:43:04,260 that the ark of the covenant resides in ethiopia, 1925 01:43:04,328 --> 01:43:08,330 hidden from view in a small church in axum, 1926 01:43:08,399 --> 01:43:10,733 the city where one of the ancient world's 1927 01:43:10,802 --> 01:43:14,170 greatest civilizations was born. 1928 01:43:14,238 --> 01:43:15,604 the myth of the king's descent 1929 01:43:15,673 --> 01:43:18,140 from king solomon and the queen of sheba, 1930 01:43:18,209 --> 01:43:20,509 and the legendary presence of the ark of the covenant 1931 01:43:20,578 --> 01:43:23,212 here at st. mary's church in axum, 1932 01:43:23,281 --> 01:43:26,615 are the cornerstones of the ethiopian orthodox church. 1933 01:43:26,684 --> 01:43:30,519 these stories assert ethiopia's direct historical link 1934 01:43:30,588 --> 01:43:32,421 to the wider christian world, of course, 1935 01:43:32,490 --> 01:43:34,824 but also the nation's special duty 1936 01:43:34,892 --> 01:43:37,326 as guardian of the christian faith. 1937 01:43:41,399 --> 01:43:43,032 from their earliest days, 1938 01:43:43,101 --> 01:43:45,101 two of the world's great religions-- 1939 01:43:45,169 --> 01:43:49,305 christianity and islam-- put down roots in africa. 1940 01:43:49,373 --> 01:43:51,407 these revolutionary new faiths 1941 01:43:51,476 --> 01:43:54,076 not only transformed the history of africans, 1942 01:43:54,145 --> 01:43:58,881 they were shaped in turn by africans, 1943 01:43:58,950 --> 01:44:01,584 who created and bequeathed to the world 1944 01:44:01,652 --> 01:44:04,653 some of our most profound cultural legacies. 1945 01:44:09,694 --> 01:44:11,660 salaam alaikum. 1946 01:44:11,729 --> 01:44:15,498 connections forged by christianity and islam 1947 01:44:15,566 --> 01:44:19,034 would lead not only to the exchange of beliefs and ideas, 1948 01:44:19,103 --> 01:44:21,303 they would help lay the foundations 1949 01:44:21,372 --> 01:44:24,240 of new networks of commerce and trade 1950 01:44:24,308 --> 01:44:26,775 that would place africa and its riches 1951 01:44:26,844 --> 01:44:29,311 at the heart of the medieval world. 1952 01:44:32,015 --> 01:44:33,949 announcer: on "africa's great civilizations"... 1953 01:44:34,018 --> 01:44:34,683 dr. henry louis gates, jr.: the regions of north 1954 01:44:34,752 --> 01:44:35,851 and west africa undergo 1955 01:44:35,920 --> 01:44:38,020 a dramatic transformation. 1956 01:44:38,089 --> 01:44:41,524 great scholars write books that fill libraries. 1957 01:44:41,592 --> 01:44:46,595 wealth from trans-saharan trade grows on a spectacular scale. 1958 01:44:46,664 --> 01:44:49,932 african societies not only enjoy newfound wealth, 1959 01:44:50,001 --> 01:44:52,468 they encounter new conflicts with each other 1960 01:44:52,537 --> 01:44:54,770 and with the outside world. 1961 01:44:54,839 --> 01:44:57,106 announcer: "africa's great civilizations," 1962 01:44:57,175 --> 01:44:59,208 coming up next, only on pbs. 1963 01:45:10,854 --> 01:45:14,790 africa's great civilizations is available on blu-ray and dvd. 1964 01:45:14,859 --> 01:45:20,062 to order visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. 1965 01:45:20,131 --> 01:45:24,066 this series is also available for download from itunes.