Today, the Songhai Empire is all but forgotten by history. But this medieval kingdom was once the most powerful force in Africa.

Find out how this civilization grew up on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, among some of the most extreme conditions that nature can throw at us. Discover how it grew and flourished, passing through a process known as the imperial cycle, and learn about what ultimately caused its sudden and dramatic collapse.

Credits:

Sound engineering by Thomas Ntinas

Voice Actors:

Jake Barrett-Mills
Rhy Brignell
Bryan Tshiobi
Pip Willett

Music by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100209
Artist: incompetech.com/

7. The Songhai Empire - Africa's Age of Gold

A history podcast looking at the collapse of a different civilization each episode. What did they have in common? Why did they fall? And what did it feel like to watch it happen?

History

Society & Culture

Far in the distance, three colossal shapes tower over the desert horizon…

In this episode, we travel to the Nile Valley, and tell the story of one of the most iconic cultures ever produced by humankind – the civilizations of ancient Egypt. I want to show how this series of related cultures grew up in the floodplains of their great river, and built some of the most enduring and recognizable structures in the world. And I want to tell the story of what happened to bring the age of the Pharaohs finally and cataclysmically to an end. 

Credits: 

Michael Hajiantonis
Nick Denton
Paul Casselle
Alexandra Boulton
Tom Marshall-Lee
Rhy Brignell
Peter Walters
Lachlan Lucas

Narrated and produced by Paul Cooper
Sound engineering by Alexey Sibikin
Readings in Arabic by Nassim El-Boujjoufi
Readings in reconstructed ancient Egyptian by Seqnenra (Mohammad Habib) and Doha Abd Allah Amin

18. Egypt - Fall of the Pharaohs

Buried beneath the city streets of the Tunisian capital of Tunis, an ancient city lies forgotten...

In this episode, we look at one of the most dramatic stories to come down to us from the ancient world: the rise and fall of the empire of Carthage. Find out how this city rose out of the Phoenician states of the Eastern Mediterranean, and set out on voyages of discovery and settlement that put them at the centre of the ancient world. And hear how the city of Carthage was destroyed, and its memory nearly wiped from the earth.

SOURCES: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sources-for-17-81369494?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Credits:

Written and produced by Paul Cooper
Sound engineering by Alexey Sibikin

Voice actors:

Michael Hajiantonis
Lachlan Lucas
Alexandra Boulton
Simon Jackson
Tom Marshall-Lee
Chris Harvey,
Nick Denton
Paul Casselle

17. Carthage - Empire Of The Phoenicians

In the lowlands of Burma lie the remains of thousands of crumbling temples...

In this episode, we tell one of the most colourful stories of civilizational survival: the story of the Bagan Empire of Myanmar. Find out how this kingdom rose up in the Irrawaddy river valley of central Myanmar, and built one of the most remarkable series of monuments to have survived from the medieval world. Discover what life was like for the people who lived there, and find out what happened to cause its sudden and complete collapse.

16. Bagan - City Of Temples

In the deserts of Jordan, a city lies hidden for centuries in a valley of rose-red stone...

In this episode, we look at one of the most peculiar stories of civilizational survival to come down to us from the ancient world, the story of the Nabataeans. Find out how these once humble traders rose to become masters of the desert sands, and to defy empires. And discover what happened to finally bring down the empire of Nabataea.

15. The Nabataeans - The Final Days Of Petra

On the rocky banks of South India's Tungabhadra River, an enormous ruined city lies crumbling...

In this episode, we look at the Vijayanagara Empire of Southern India, a civilization that has all but faded from memory in many parts of the world. 

Find out how this remarkable society rose up out of an age of conflict and fragmentation, how it built one of the largest and most impressive medieval cities in the world, and developed an identity that was both South Indian in nature, and global in its outlook. With readings in Sanskrit, and the sounds of traditional Carnatic music, find out what happened to bring the great stone temples of Vijayanagara crashing down in fire and flame.

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Credits:

Voice actors:

Peter Walters
Michael Hajiantonis
Kim Heron
Nick Denton
Paul Casselle

Sound engineering by Alexey Sibikin

Original music performed and composed by Aruna Sairam.

7. The Songhai Empire - Africa's Age of Gold

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