(dramatic music)
- How you doin'?
(dramatic music)
- I'm Henry Louis Gates Jr. and I'm the
Executive Producer and host of
Africa's Great Civilizations.
I've studied and taught African literature
but I've learned so much
more making this series.
- The fossil evidence and
the archeological evidence
that's come to light in
the last 20, 30 years
is very, very substantial.
- Maybe as much as three quarters
of what's in this film, I
didn't know five years ago.
This is stunning!
Stunningly beautiful
- It is, it is.
- [Henry] We've been
taught to think of Africa
as static, isolated, frozen
in time, no development.
There were trade networks all over Africa
refuting this myth that these people were
waiting on Stanley and Livingston
to show up and discover them.
- [Man In Black] If you look
at this map, it's right at the
center of a nexus of trade routes
that link it right across the continent.
There's not just a cont, it's beyond.
- Africa was always in contact
with the rest of the world.
This is one of the big surprises.
- Throughout most of the middle ages,
Europe was on the gold standard
and without African gold the whole
currency of Europe basically would fall.
- This was someone who had influence
not just within Africa but beyond
and it's a fantastically wealthy kingdom.
- Mansa Musa was the world's richest
human being ever, worth
400 billion dollars.
- This is what people
don't know about Africa
is there were these amazing cities
that were effervescent.
People were writing, creating things,
doing innovations in law, in trade.
- Africans were as
complex and as interesting
and brilliant as everybody else
in the history of the world.
(dramatic music)
