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A History of the World in 100 Objects

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A History of the World in 100 Objects: Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD): Sudanese slit drum

Neil MacGregor with a wooden drum from Sudan that Kitchener presented to Queen Victoria.

Neil MacGregor is looking at global power and economy in the 19th Century. Today he is with a drum from Sudan that Kitchener acquired for Queen Victoria.

The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London. This week Neil MacGregor, the Director of the Museum, is looking at Europe's engagement with the rest of the world during the 18th Century. 

Today he is with an object "freighted with layers of history, legend, global politics and race relations". It is an aboriginal shield from Australia, originally owned by one of the men to first set eyes on Europeans as they descended on Botany Bay nearly 250 years ago. This remarkably well-preserved object was brought to England by the explorer Captain Cook. What can this object tell us about the early encounter between two such different cultures? Phil Gordon, the aboriginal Heritage Officer at the Australian Museum in Sydney, and the historian Maria Nugent help tell the story. 

Producer: Anthony Denselow.

Sudanese slit drum

Factual: History

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells humanity's history through objects

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD)

Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD)

How industrialisation, mass politics and imperial ambitions changed the world.

Neil MacGregor uses five objects to highlight the world-wide consequences of shifts in the balance of economic, political and imperial power in the 19th century.

A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus

BBC Radio 4 - A History of the World in 100 Objects, Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD), Sudanese slit drumSearch BBC

Neil MacGregor is looking at global power and economy in the 19th Century.  Today he is with a drum from Sudan that Kitchener acquired for Queen Victoria.

Neil MacGregor's history of the world as told through things. Throughout this week he is examining the great shifts in the global economy and in imperial power in the 19th century. Today he is with a large wooden drum that the legendary Kitchener of Khartoum brought from Sudan for Queen Victoria, just after his army had killed 11000 Sudanese soldiers in battle. The drum takes Neil back to the extraordinary history that has played out along the Nile and to the great internal power struggles of the period. The writer Dominic Green and the broadcaster Zeinab Badawi reflect on the meaning of the drum and its place in Sudanese history. 

Producer: Anthony Denselow


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A History of the World in 100 Objects

Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD)

Sudanese slit drum

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