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

The world runs on Congolese minerals: cobalt, coltan, copper, yet the people who dig them out of the earth are living through one of the most devastating and underreported crises on the planet.

In this episode, I explore why the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been buried under global silence. From the legacy of colonisation to the modern tech industry’s demand for resources, I trace how a land rich in minerals became a centre of violence, exploitation, and suffering.

Millions displaced. Children working in dangerous mines. Entire communities caught between armed groups, corporations, and a world that depends on their labor but rarely speaks their names.

As an African, I feel a responsibility to talk about this — because silence protects the systems that harm the most vulnerable.
This episode is my attempt to break that silence.

Humanitarian Crisis:• Mercy Corps – The facts: The humanitarian crisis in the DRC
https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/drc-humanitarian-crisis

• UN OCHA – DRC Humanitarian Overview
https://www.unocha.org/democratic-republic-congo

• Amnesty International – Why the Democratic Republic of Congo is wracked by conflict
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2024/10/why-is-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-wracked-by-conflict/

Minerals & Child Labour:• Human Rights Watch – Child Labor and Human Rights Violations in DRC Mining
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/14/child-labor-and-human-rights-violations-mining-industry-democratic-republic-congo

• Save the Children – Cobalt mines, child labour and the green transition
https://www.savethechildren.net/stories/drc-cobalt-mines-child-labour-and-green-transition

• U.S. Treasury – Sanctions on entities linked to illegal mining in the DRC
https://cd.usembassy.gov/treasury-sanctions-entities-linked-to-violence-and-illegal-mining-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/

History & Context:• Panzi Foundation – War in Congo
https://panzifoundation.org/war-in-congo/

• World Bank – DRC Country Overview
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview

When the world sleeps, the empire sells escape.
From augmented reality to endless screens, this episode is about what we’ve lost: the art of dreaming for ourselves.
It’s a reflection on living beyond pixels, on gratitude, purpose, and waking up to what’s real.
The season closes with a promise: next, we remember where we came from.

Oil built our world and now it’s burning it.
In this episode, I trace how a single resource shaped empires, rewrote borders, and still fuels the wars and illusions of modern civilization.
From the first oil well to the towers of Dubai, from the deserts that turned to gold to the climate that’s collapsing beneath it this is the story of The Empire of Oil.
The fire we chose to feed.

Sources

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17444592

• https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-oil

• https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-01042r000300040005-6

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29146407

• https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm

• https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2016/12/07/petrodollars-and-the-global-economy

• https://www.insideclimatenews.org

• https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023

• https://www.un.org/en/climatechange

• https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/global-tracking-framework

• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-aramco-2023-profit-2024-03-10/

• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/exxon-climate-change-cover-up

• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/20/how-the-middle-east-became-rich-from-oil

• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/23/world/middleeast/gulf-workers.html

• https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics

From the first coal mines of Britain to the burning forests of the Amazon, this episode traces how the Industrial Revolution ignited a global addiction — to comfort, to growth, to fire itself. I unpack how empires of industry became empires of carbon, how the Paris Agreement became a promise on paper, and why climate change isn’t a tragedy of nature but a design of civilization.
A story of smoke, survival, and the price of progress.

• Our World in Data – CO₂ Emissions Since 1750:
  https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions
  

• International Energy Agency (IEA) – Historical Energy Data:

• Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845):

• Global Carbon Project (2023):
  https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/.

• Oxfam & Stockholm Environment Institute Report (2020) — Confronting Carbon Inequality
  https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/confronting-carbon-inequality-621052/
  

• UN OCHA – Pakistan Floods Situation Report (2022):
  https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/
  

• UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change):
  https://unfccc.int/climate-finance
  

• OECD 2023 Climate Finance Report:

• Friends of the Earth & The Guardian (2021–2023):

• Amnesty International – This Is What We Die For (2021 Update):
  https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/11/drc-cobalt-mining/
  

• The Guardian (2022) – “Lithium extraction in Chile’s Atacama desert drying up water supplies”:
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/07/lithium-chile-water-rights
  

• Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) – PRODES Deforestation Data 2023
  http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br
  

• Science (Lovejoy & Nobre, 2018):
  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat2340
  

• WWF Amazon Report (2022):

• UNFCCC – Paris Agreement Text (2015):
  https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement
  

• BBC News (2020) – “Which countries have ratified the Paris climate deal?”
  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297
  

• Global Carbon Budget (2023):

• International Energy Agency (IEA, 2023):

• World Bank – Groundswell Report II (2021):
  https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36248
  

• UNHCR – Global Trends: Forced Displacement 2023
  https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends
  

• Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine (2007)

• The Guardian (2022) – “Oil and gas companies plan expansion despite climate pledges.”

• Vanessa Nakate / Fridays for Future Africa:
  https://fridaysforfuture.org

Modern comfort promised us freedom, but it’s quietly destroying our bodies, our environment, and our independence.
In this episode, I explore “civilization sickness” : how inactivity, processed food, chemical agriculture, and corporate control have reshaped human health.
It’s not just what we eat. It’s what we’ve become.

Sources

• World Health Organization (WHO) — Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet (2024):
  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
  

• WHO – Noncommunicable Diseases (2023):
  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases

• WHO – Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Food Animals:
  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
  

• Nestlé Baby Formula Scandal:
  The Guardian — “Nestlé baby milk scandal has grown up but not gone away.” (2018)

• Nestlé Water Extraction in Pakistan:
  Business & Human Rights Resource Centre — “Audit report finds Nestlé Pakistan extracting and wasting water without any costs.” (2018)
  https://www.business-humanrights.org

• Coca-Cola in Chiapas, Mexico:
  Mexico News Daily — “San Cristóbal de las Casas: where Coca-Cola is easier to find than water.” (2022)
  https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/san-cristobal-de-las-casas-water-crisis

• Bayer / Monsanto Roundup Litigation:
  Reuters — “Bayer adds $13.7 billion to Roundup litigation reserves.” (July 2025)
  https://www.reuters.com
  

• U.S. EPA – CAFO Overview:
  https://www.epa.gov/npdes/animal-feeding-operations-afos
  

• Tyson Foods Pollution:
  The Guardian — “Tyson among top U.S. water polluters.” (2019)
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/12/tyson-foods-water-pollution-us-factories

• Smithfield Hog Farm Lawsuits:
  Reuters — “Smithfield reaches settlement in North Carolina hog farm nuisance suits.” (2020)
  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-smithfield-lawsuit-settlement-idUSKBN22V3AM

• EU Farm to Fork Strategy (European Commission, 2020):
  https://food.ec.europa.eu/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en
  

• Atrazine Ban (EU vs US):
  European Commission, 2003 – groundwater contamination; still permitted in U.S.

• Chlorpyrifos Ban (EU 2020; U.S. restrictions 2021):
  European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and U.S. EPA.

• Cochabamba Water War:
  BBC News — “Bolivians protest water privatization.” (2000)
  https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/714244.stm

• Mexico Soda Tax Outcomes:
  BMJ – “Beverage purchases declined after the implementation of Mexico’s sugary-drink tax.” (2016)
  https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6704

In this episode, I share the story behind my first race: the Graz Marathon. From running sick in a Flash costume to learning what real discipline feels like, this was more than a race. It was me against me.

Data is the new empire, and we are its subjects. In this episode, I explore how power has shifted from nations to algorithms, how free platforms turn users into products, and how governments and corporations are fighting to control what we see, think, and believe. The battlefield isn’t land anymore, it’s your mind.Instagram: @thelambsaucepod

Africa wasn’t freed, it was rebranded.

In this episode, I explore how colonialism never truly ended but evolved into new forms of control. From the CFA franc and foreign “aid” to corporate exploitation and cultural dependency, this episode exposes how power still flows out of Africa decades after independence. Through stories of leaders like Lumumba, Sankara, and Nkrumah, and reflections on Cameroon’s colonial legacy. I reveal how the empire never left, it just changed its name.Instagram: @thelambsaucepod

In the final part of my UK journey I visit Nottingham, London, and experience my first ever Premier League match. From exploring the historic caves, castle, and stadium of Nottingham to the overwhelming scale and grandeur of London, this episode ends with a dream come true at Villa Park. A story of travel, family, football, and gratitude: the perfect way to close this UK trilogy.