Before Europe built castles, Africa built empires.

In this episode, I take about the forgotten kingdoms of Mali, Benin, Great Zimbabwe, and Nubia — civilizations of gold, trade, art, and science that flourished long before colonization.

From the bronzes of Benin to the manuscripts of Timbuktu, from stone cities to shattered statues, this is a story of memory, erasure, and the truth beneath the dust.

The Kingdoms Europe Forgot reminds us that history didn’t start with conquest, it started with creation.

Sources & Key Facts

Mali Empire

• Founded by Sundiata Keita in the 13th century.

• Centered around Timbuktu and Sankore University, a hub of global scholarship.

• Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca (1324) caused a global gold price drop.

  • Sources: UNESCO, National Geographic, Britannica

Kingdom of Benin

• Flourished from the 11th to 19th centuries in modern Nigeria.

• Known for its Benin Bronzes, sophisticated metalwork, and complex governance.

• 1897 Punitive Expedition looted thousands of bronzes now held in Western museums.

  • Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, The British Museum, The Art Newspaper

Great Zimbabwe

• From the Shona phrase “dzimba dza mabwe” — “houses of stone.”

• Major trade center (11th–15th century) connected to Persia, India, and China.

• European colonizers denied African authorship for centuries.

  • Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, BBC World Histories

Nubia / Kingdom of Kush

• Located in modern-day Sudan; ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty (“Black Pharaohs”).

• Built more pyramids than Egypt and mastered early iron smelting.

• Rediscovered by Sudanese archaeologists reclaiming African history.

  • Sources: Smithsonian NMAA, National Geographic History

Erasure & Reclamation

• Colonial scholars redefined African empires as “tribes” or “myths.”

• Oral histories and modern African archaeology are restoring lost narratives.

  • Sources: V.Y. Mudimbe (The Invention of Africa), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Decolonising the Mind), The Conversation Africa