In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Nzinga Mbandi, who became queen of Ndongo in 1624. She is known for her diplomatic and military strategies in defending her kingdoms against the Portuguese, transforming them into successful commercial states.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Shaka Zulu. Before the ascendancy of King Shaka, Zulu referred to only one clan that recognized "Zulu" as its founding ancestor. After Shaka's mission of conquest and consolidation, the Zulu Empire’s population reached an estimated 250,000 and his state emerged as the largest in the history of Southern Africa.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Makeda, Queen of Sheba who ruled the Axumite kingdom for more than 50 years. She traveled to Jerusalem to witness the fabled wisdom of King Solomon and bore him a son named Menelik, the first Imperial ruler of Ethiopia.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Mansa Musa, the ninth ruler of the Mali Empire and considered the richest man to have ever lived. During his reign, the empire of Mali doubled in size, making it second in size only to that of the Mongol Empire at the time, and trade tripled.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Queen Amani. She’s remembered as having led her Kingdom’s army to fight back the Romans from 25 to 22 BC, halting their expansion into Kush. She captured three major Roman cities and brought back the bronze head of Augustus Caesar.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Leo Africanus. Born Al Hassan Ibn Muhammad Al Wazzan, he is best known for hisb book, Cosmographia et geographia de affrica (Cosmography and geography of Africa).

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Hatshepsut. Assuming the title King of Upper and Lower Egypt, she reigned Egypt as pharoah

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Muḥammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi. His book, Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala or The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, is generally considered to be the first written on the subject of algebra.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Queen Boudica, a Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe in England who led a rebellion against Roman occupation around 60 A.D.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Fibonacci. Traveling around the Mediterranean coast, Fibonacci met with many merchants, learning about their systems for doing arithmetic.