African history channel
The African history left out of the textbooks.
True stories of the people who shaped the continent: queens who out-negotiated empires, kings richer than anyone could count, revolutionaries, and the ordinary people who stood up to colonial rule.
Every episode
One figure. The whole story.
Menelik II of Ethiopia
The Day Africa Beat a European Army: Menelik II and the Battle of Adwa
While Europe carved up almost all of Africa, one emperor beat an invading European army so badly that his country stayed free.
Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho
The King Who Conquered With Mercy: Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho
Men who had killed and eaten his grandfather were brought before him. His advisers said kill them. He forgave them instead.
Jaja of Opobo
From Enslaved Boy to King: The Jaja of Opobo Story
He was sold into slavery at about twelve. He grew up to be a king so good at business that the British had to trick him onto a warship to stop him.
King Njoya
Writer, Inventor, Architect, King: The Remarkable King Njoya
An African king invented a whole writing system for his people, and it started with a dream.
Shaka Zulu
Shaka Zulu: The Man Behind the Legend
Shaka Zulu was mocked as a boy, named after a beetle, and grew up to build a kingdom. But much of what the world "knows" about him was written by men with books to sell.
King Leopold II
King Leopold’s Congo: The Horror Behind the Rubber
A European king once owned an African country as his private property: more than seventy times the size of his own kingdom, and he never once set foot in it.
Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere: He Gave Up Power Voluntarily. In 1985. In Africa.
He translated Shakespeare into Swahili while running a country. Then he did something almost no leader of his generation would do: he walked away from power.
Patrice Lumumba
The Speech That Got Patrice Lumumba Killed
On Congo's independence day in 1960, a young prime minister grabbed the microphone and said what no one in the room wanted to hear. Seven months later he was dead.
Wangari Maathai
The Woman Who Took On a President With Trees
When she heard she'd won the Nobel Peace Prize, she walked outside and planted a tree.
Yaa Asantewaa
Yaa Asantewaa: The 60-Year-Old Queen Who Went to War Over a Stool
In 1900, the British governor demanded to sit on the Golden Stool, the soul of the Asante nation. A grandmother in her sixties answered him with a war.
Mansa Musa
He Crashed an Economy by Being Too Generous: The Real Mansa Musa
In 1324, a king from West Africa rode into Cairo with so much gold that he crashed its price for years.
Thomas Sankara
Africa’s Most Honest President: The Untold Story of Thomas Sankara
He became president of one of the poorest countries in the world, and the first thing he did was sell the government's Mercedes.
Queen Nzinga
The Queen Portugal Couldn’t Break: The Story of Queen Nzinga
In 1622, the Portuguese governor offered her a mat on the floor. She sat on a human chair instead, and that was only the beginning.
About the channel
We tell the whole story.
Every episode follows one figure, from Queen Nzinga and Mansa Musa to Yaa Asantewaa, Thomas Sankara, Wangari Maathai and Julius Nyerere: the triumphs, the hard choices and the parts that are still argued about.
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