• 4
    collected
  • 1999-10-25T04:00:00Z on PBS
  • 55m
  • 54m (1 episode)
  • United States
  • English
  • Documentary
Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovers an Africa most people never knew existed. In WONDERS OF THE AFRICAN WORLD WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES JR., Gates challenges the widespread Western view of Africa as the primitive "dark continent" civilized by white colonists. He shatters myths as he tells the true stories of proud lands filled with great civilizations, cities and centers of learning long before any Europeans set foot there.

6 episodes

Series Premiere

1999-10-25T04:00:00Z

1x01 Black Kingdoms of the Nile

Series Premiere

1x01 Black Kingdoms of the Nile

  • 1999-10-25T04:00:00Z54m

Gates embarks on an epic journey through Egypt and Sudan in search of ancient Nubia - an ancient African civilization which once rivaled Egypt.

1x02 The Swahili Coast

  • no air date52m

Gates travels along the palm-fringed coast of Kenya and Tanzania and on to the legendary island of Zanzibar.

1x03 The Slave Kingdoms

  • no air date54m

Gates travels through the old kingdoms of Asante and Dahomey in modern Ghana and Benin to unravel the real story of the slave trade.

1x04 The Holy Land

  • no air date52m

Gates' journey takes him to the rock-hewn churches, mountain monasteries and royal shrines; and on to Aksum, birthplace of an ancient civilization, and home, the Ethiopians believe, to the Lost Ark of the Covenant.

1x05 The Road to Timbuktu

  • no air date54m

Gates journeys through modern Mali, following ancient trade routes from the goldmines of the south to the legendary city in the shores of the Sahara desert, in search if the forgotten libraries of Timbuktu.

Season Finale

1x06 Lost Cities of the South

  • no air date52m

Gates explores a thousand-year-old African city kept from public view for seventy years, sings karaoke with Afrikaner holiday-makers, and heads for the medieval stone citadel of Great Zimbabwe.

Loading...