Africa's Great Civilisations

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Factual: History

Series 1

Henry Louis Gates Jr takes a new look at the history of Africa.

Henry Louis Gates Jr takes a new look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century.

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Henry Louis Gates Jr

Virginia Quinn

Graeme Hart

McGee Media

Inkwell Films

Kunhardt Films

Africa's Great Civilisations: Series 1: Episode 2: The Cross and the Crescent

The Cross and the Crescent

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Cross and the Crescent

BBC Four - Africa's Great Civilisations, Series 1, The Cross and the Crescent

A look at how the emergence of Christianity and Islam reshaped Africa over centuries.

Series exploring the history of Africa. Henry Louis Gates Jr explores how the emergence of Christianity and Islam reshaped Africa over centuries.

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to examine the continent's epic history. This episode charts the emergence of Christianity and Islam and examines how the two religions reshaped Africa between the first and the 12th centuries AD, as well as for centuries thereafter. 

Gates also recounts the strategic importance of the Horn of Africa - a meeting place between the Red and Arabian seas that has served as a vital trade corridor between Africa, the Middle East and Europe for millennia.

Africa's Great Civilisations: Series 1

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Africa's Great Civilisations

Series 1

Episode 2: The Cross and the Crescent

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