[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.48,0:00:28.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Africa" Theme Music and water splashing]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.86,0:00:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Africa" Theme Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.10,0:00:55.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just over 100 years ago, a wandering prospector,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.02,0:00:58.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a German by origin called Karl Mauch, searching for gold,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.40,0:01:03.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,came through these remote hills of a long trail,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.30,0:01:07.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and stumbled on this.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.02,0:01:11.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was the first white man ever to see it.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.08,0:01:14.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what he'd found, though he didn't know,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.82,0:01:19.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were the largest man-made structures in any part of old Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.18,0:01:23.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,south of the valley of the Nile.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.02,0:01:30.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: What were these mysterious ruins found so unexpectedly in the far interior of Africa?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.02,0:01:32.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,About the ancient history of the black peoples,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.60,0:01:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nothing was remembered in the outside world, or even known.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.14,0:01:39.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today, at last, we're beginning to learn.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.74,0:01:46.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know now that these great buildings stood at the heart of a powerful black kingdom.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.88,0:01:49.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Within these almost overwhelming walls,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.75,0:01:52.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the kings lived in royal seclusion.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.25,0:01:55.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Adding to their mystery, according to the nature of kings.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.77,0:02:00.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Invested with a religious, as well as a temporal power,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.02,0:02:06.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were believed to embody the whole welfare of their people.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.46,0:02:09.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: A stone-built city in the heart of Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.36,0:02:14.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet, the white people who first saw it were so blinded by their prejudices
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.02,0:02:19.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they could not believe the evidence of their own eyes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.32,0:02:23.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rather than face the possibility that Africans might have a history of their own,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.94,0:02:26.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they fabricated exotic explanations,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.99,0:02:31.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and imagined fantastic rites in honor of far away monarchs
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.02,0:02:35.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like King Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.80,0:02:45.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The famous German philosopher, Friedrich Hegel, set the tone.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.22,0:02:48.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though he'd never been to Africa, and knew nothing of its people,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.27,0:02:53.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this was his publicly expressed opinion in 1831:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.54,0:02:56.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: "This is the land where men are children.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.62,0:03:00.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A land lying beyond the daylight of self-conscious history,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.64,0:03:04.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and enveloped in the black cover of night.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.78,0:03:07.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At this point, let us forget Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.26,0:03:09.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not to mention it again.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.16,0:03:13.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For Africa is no historical part of the world."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.42,0:03:19.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: Hegel was not alone.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.78,0:03:22.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His views were echoed widely.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.17,0:03:27.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An English explorer who did know Africa, and had studied some of its customs and languages,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.24,0:03:30.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Richard Burton, had this to say:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.81,0:03:35.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: "The study of the negro is the study of man's rudimental mind.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.02,0:03:38.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He would appear rather a degeneracy from the civilized man
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.75,0:03:41.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than a savage rising to the first step,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.19,0:03:44.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were it not for his total incapacity for improvement.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.78,0:03:46.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He has not the ring of the true mettle.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.95,0:03:50.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no rich nature for education to cultivate.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.62,0:03:56.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He seems to belong to one of those childish races, never rising to man's estate,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.20,0:04:02.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who fall like worn-out links from the great chain of animated nature."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.12,0:04:04.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: Another famous explorer, Samuel Baker,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.28,0:04:08.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who passed through this very district in his search for the source of the Nile,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.58,0:04:10.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wrote in his memoirs:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.20,0:04:16.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: "Human nature viewed in its crudest state as seen amongst African savages
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.99,0:04:19.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is quite on the level of that of the brute,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.76,0:04:23.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not to be compared with the noble character of the dog.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.73,0:04:27.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is neither gratitude, pity, love, or self-denial.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.87,0:04:31.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No idea of duty, no religion, nothing but covetousness,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.57,0:04:40.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ingratitude, selfishness, and cruelty."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.08,0:04:43.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: In a manner which seems quite unforgivable today,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.20,0:04:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries preferred to forget what their forebears
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.12,0:04:52.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had known very well: that kingdoms flourished in West Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.82,0:05:00.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which were as sumptuous and well governed as any in medieval Europe itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.95,0:05:04.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What is more, the reports of traders and diplomats who visited these kingdoms
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.78,0:05:09.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,assumed no attitudes of racial superiority.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.14,0:05:18.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Racism, in fact, is a rather modern sickness.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.20,0:05:21.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nothing more clearly illustrates the change that was to come
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.65,0:05:26.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the European art of the renaissance, and earlier still.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.03,0:05:32.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.95,0:05:40.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,White and black take their place in these paintings with equal dignity.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.44,0:05:47.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's no hint here of what a later world was to call "human nature in its crudest state".
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.45,0:05:53.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this acceptance of equality between black and white had also been a keynote of the middle-ages.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.53,0:05:58.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Among the revered saints of central Europe was the black martyr, St. Maurice.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.69,0:06:05.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As we shall see, he's one of the heroes of this story.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.69,0:06:10.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What then was the cause of this enormous change in white attitudes
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.70,0:06:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from equality to racist prejudice?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.10,0:06:17.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History gives one dominating reply: the Atlantic trade in slaves.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.68,0:06:23.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Based in strong castles on the West African coast, the nations of Europe vied with each other
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.23,0:06:30.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the massive removal of millions of captured men and women.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.06,0:06:31.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their guns were not pointed at Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.96,0:06:36.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was seldom regarded as a source of danger, but out to sea.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.63,0:06:45.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ready to face rival ships, suddenly appearing over the horizon.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.32,0:06:50.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Africans, of course, have not been the only victims of racism and color prejudice.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.11,0:06:54.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if, as I believe, they suffered more acutely than the other peoples of the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.88,0:06:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the reason lies here.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:57.68,0:07:05.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For over 300 years, this magnificent coast was the scene of organized and systematic cruelty.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.23,0:07:14.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Year after year, black people were dragged from their homes
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.70,0:07:18.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the white man's world of misery and degradation.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.87,0:07:31.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.70,0:07:34.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were presented as less than human.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.09,0:07:37.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Objects for buying and selling, like cattle.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.17,0:07:41.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Against whom any act of violence and debasement was justified.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:44.40,0:07:51.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Wherever the slave trade spread its ruin, the stability and fabric of African life were destroyed.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.70,0:07:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But something else was also destroyed.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:53.70,0:08:03.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that was the mutual respect, which had previously existed between white and black.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.66,0:08:07.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But after all, the slave trade ended a long time ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.91,0:08:09.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Surely it's time to think again.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.70,0:08:15.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those old ideas about black inferiority were completely wrong, without foundation.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.87,0:08:21.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As it happens, modern science has given us a vast fund of new and reliable knowledge,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.87,0:08:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which shows that the black peoples do indeed have a history of their own
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.43,0:08:35.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as rich and strange, as long and sometimes surprising as any major branch of the human family.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.57,0:08:43.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.41,0:08:47.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: On the high plateau of Central Africa, in what is now modern Zimbabwe,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:47.87,0:08:50.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stand the Matopo hills.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.24,0:09:00.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.51,0:09:03.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Large numbers of leopards inhabit these rock formations,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.62,0:09:08.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which in their strange mystery and shape seem to take us back to the carvings
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.73,0:09:11.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of ancient African history.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.57,0:09:14.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.82,0:09:19.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To the people of this region, this unearthly landscape has always been a sacred place,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.63,0:09:26.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and still is to this day.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.60,0:09:38.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tucked away in this Matopo hills, there are messages from the very dawn of history.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.69,0:09:41.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the Inswatugi cave.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:41.23,0:09:46.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the many rock shelters in the Matopos that were decorated by the people who lived here
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.65,0:09:48.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in ancient times.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:48.82,0:09:57.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.20,0:10:02.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These truly marvelous rock paintings were inspired by motives that we don't know.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.54,0:10:06.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Probably it was a variety of motives, as with all great art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.57,0:10:11.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those distant peoples who faced the wild wilderness of primeval Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.23,0:10:17.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,must surely have felt the need for psychological and spiritual reassurance,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.69,0:10:21.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as well as for magic to safeguard their cattle.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.09,0:10:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And their artists, so long ago, clearly loved to portray the animals they knew.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.60,0:10:33.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: The land was ideally suited by its climate for man and beast to prosper.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.54,0:10:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even today, perhaps 3 or 4,000 years later,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.82,0:10:47.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's easy to recognize diker, kudu, antelope, and giraffe.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.82,0:10:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The arid wilderness of the great Sahara, 3,000 miles to the north,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.46,0:10:55.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could hardly be in greater contrast.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.70,0:11:02.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet here in the 1950s, even more surprising evidence was found of early African history.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.60,0:11:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:07.60,0:11:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today, the place belongs to the creatures of the desert.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:10.65,0:11:17.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lizards, scorpions, and snakes that can survive the searing temperatures of this thirsty land.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:17.07,0:11:23.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the driest and most desolate regions on Earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:23.45,0:11:27.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Water is the rarest and most precious commodity,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:27.53,0:11:31.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yet even here it must once have flowed in abundance.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:32.03,0:11:38.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:11:38.42,0:11:43.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The revelation of these rock paintings in the Tassali mountaints of the Algerian Sahara
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.91,0:11:47.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just 30 years ago astonished the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:47.50,0:11:59.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.33,0:12:03.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whole communities of people, who are obviously African in origin,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:03.47,0:12:08.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had created marvelous galleries of ancient art depicting most vividly
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.87,0:12:16.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the life of the Green Sahara, as it was once have been.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.07,0:12:20.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,First we see hunting folk, and the animals they lived among.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:20.91,0:12:30.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The clearest proof that this region of the Sahara long ago teemed with wild game.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.08,0:12:34.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The earliest paintings may be 7 or 8,000 years old.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.75,0:12:41.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But not all the people who inhabited this huge region were nomadic hunters.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:41.76,0:12:43.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This horse, complete with saddle and bridal,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:43.90,0:12:50.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,points to the development of transport systems and traders.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:50.07,0:13:03.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this ox-drawn plow, to the planting and growing of crops.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.54,0:13:08.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whether for war or sport, elaborate chariots came into use.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:08.21,0:13:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While the clothing of these people bears a striking resemblance to the tunics of ancient Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:15.09,0:13:22.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The evidence of these paintings suggests a continuous community of peoples living right across the Sahara
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.86,0:13:32.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the Atlantic to the valley of the Nile.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.18,0:13:34.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then, some four and a half thousand years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:34.53,0:13:39.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the climate began to undergo a disastrous change.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:39.99,0:13:44.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gradually, the Sahara lost its rainfall, its animal life,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:44.99,0:13:47.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and finally its people.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:47.60,0:13:55.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Singing in a foreign language]
Dialogue: 0,0:13:55.63,0:13:58.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Abandoning their increasingly arid pastures,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:58.90,0:14:03.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more and more people from the Sahara had to join their foreigners,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.26,0:14:08.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and follow the trails in search of a secure supply of water.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:08.28,0:14:13.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some headed for the tropical rainforests which lay to the south and west.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:13.01,0:14:21.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Others moved east towards the valley of the river Nile.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:21.51,0:14:23.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fed by Africa's greatest lake,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:23.84,0:14:30.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Nile runs north for over 4,000 miles before reaching its outflow in the Mediterranean sea.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:30.64,0:14:36.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's the longest river on Earth, and no river anywhere pushes on so relentlessly through
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.54,0:14:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mile after mile of vast and rainless desert regions, after it's been joined by the blue Nile
Dialogue: 0,0:14:42.62,0:14:47.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tumbling down from the mountain plateau of Ethiopia.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.12,0:14:55.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[People talking]
Dialogue: 0,0:14:55.68,0:14:58.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the Nile is more than a great river.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:58.20,0:15:05.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a whole library of the history we're looking for.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:05.68,0:15:10.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the earliest times of human settlement along the river some 10,000 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:10.84,0:15:15.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Nile was the giver of life to ancient communities who came to its banks,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:15.88,0:15:24.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and found on fertile soil that was enriched unfailingly year by year by the flood of silt.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:24.22,0:15:29.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those early people were among the ancestors of the Egyptians and the Sudanese of today.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:29.86,0:15:33.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Others may have come from the Middle East.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:33.01,0:15:38.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the archaeological evidence combines to show that the main lines of incoming migration
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.87,0:15:41.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were from the southwest and the west.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:41.87,0:15:47.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, from the African communities of the Sahara.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:47.34,0:15:54.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:15:54.51,0:16:00.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,5,000 years ago, this homeland had already become the scene of a civilization
Dialogue: 0,0:16:00.80,0:16:05.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in many ways unmatched anywhere else in the ancient world.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.06,0:16:08.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.67,0:16:10.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is where we have to begin.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:10.76,0:16:12.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:12.71,0:16:19.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the African land that was the gift of the God of the Nile.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:19.51,0:16:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's easy enough to believe within these corridors, built to a gigantic scale,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:24.56,0:16:29.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and yet wonderfully proportioned, that you've entered a world sprung complete from the
Dialogue: 0,0:16:29.34,0:16:32.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lap of the gods.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:32.51,0:16:37.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Egypt of the pharaohs was the greatest, and the oldest, and the most inventive of all
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.90,0:16:40.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the high civilizations of antiquity.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:40.73,0:16:43.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it flourished for 3,000 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:43.14,0:16:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It set a pattern and example for people near and far.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:47.21,0:16:52.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But where were its roots? Its origins? Its starting point?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:52.21,0:16:57.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of us have believed, or have been taught that the glories of the pharaohs
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.26,0:17:01.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could never have been created by African people or African ideas,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:01.95,0:17:10.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it's been said Africans could never have built a high civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.26,0:17:12.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: Here reigned, for dynasty after dynasty,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:12.40,0:17:15.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the kings who wore the double crown.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:15.43,0:17:18.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The combined crown of Upper-Egypt, and of the Delta.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:18.80,0:17:26.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what had they to do with Africa?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.59,0:17:30.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How could this grand hierarchy of gods and spirits have anything in common with
Dialogue: 0,0:17:30.68,0:17:41.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the superstitious mumblings of the black peoples of Inner-Africa?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:41.92,0:17:50.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Wandering among the treasures of the Cairo museum,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:50.51,0:17:57.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's easy to think of the Egypt of the pharaohs as a civilization complete within itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:57.81,0:18:01.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,owing little or nothing to outside influences from whatever source,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:01.72,0:18:10.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,entirely its own creation.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:10.46,0:18:14.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I imagine that most visitors conclude as they listen to their guides,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:14.43,0:18:18.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a statue such as this of the young king Tutankhamen,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:18.70,0:18:21.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may have turned very black in the course of centuries,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:21.92,0:18:26.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but could not have been a black man in the first place.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:26.67,0:18:29.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a view which is now increasingly under-challenged,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:29.34,0:18:33.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not least from African historians and archaeologists.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:33.24,0:18:37.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the more outspoken of these is professor Cheikh Anta Diop of Senegal,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:37.59,0:18:42.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who has made a special study of the origins of the people of ancient Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:42.79,0:19:31.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:31.97,0:19:36.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: That particular painting, however, is a rare exception.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:36.26,0:19:42.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only one, as far as I know, that so clearly makes the professor's point.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:42.68,0:19:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the most part, the ancient Egyptians had themselves portrayed as reddish-pink.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:48.62,0:19:52.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, of course, they intermarried with Asians,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:52.34,0:19:54.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even more with other Africans.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:54.26,0:19:58.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many of their noble-ladies were Nubians, and lovingly portrayed as such.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:58.100,0:20:01.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This painting comes from the tomb of Hemaka,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:01.57,0:20:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,clearly a black lady, with a handmaiden behind her, just as surely white.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:09.42,0:20:15.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:15.64,0:20:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It followed that the royal children were often black as well,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:19.56,0:20:27.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as was King Senusret, seen here wearing the white crown of Upper-Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:27.06,0:20:31.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or this pharaoh of unknown name, but obviously of high prestige in his time,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:31.84,0:20:40.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and just as clearly African.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:40.67,0:20:45.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Elephantine island, in the Nile, marked the border between Egypt and Nubia,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:45.68,0:20:50.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was a place of great sanctity in ancient times.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:50.88,0:20:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Among the travelers who came here were the earliest European historians, the Greeks.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:56.22,0:21:00.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Men like Herodotus, brought up as he was in the classical tradition,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:00.29,0:21:14.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which regarded the various races of the known world as different, but equal.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:14.34,0:21:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Greeks knew Egypt well, and firmly believed that the original Egyptians were black people,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:20.68,0:21:26.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who had come from the South to settle the land of the Nile.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:26.32,0:21:29.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Herodotus himself got no further than this.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:29.55,0:21:38.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was prevented by the first cataract from traveling further South.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:38.17,0:21:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so he never saw the huge temple, which Ramses II chose to build here at Abu Simbel,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:45.00,0:21:50.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,further south into Inner-Africa than any other great monument built by
Dialogue: 0,0:21:50.08,0:21:53.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the pharaohs to celebrate their power.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:53.76,0:21:59.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A few years ago, with immense ingenuity, the entire structure was lifted to a new site,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:59.12,0:22:04.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,above the artificial lake, which has drowned all the sites of the most ancient kingdoms that
Dialogue: 0,0:22:04.67,0:22:11.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,flourished here in Nubia, even before the first of the pharaohs.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:11.46,0:22:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But why should he have built this great temple so far to the South?
Dialogue: 0,0:22:15.54,0:22:19.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps because his queen, Nefertari, was herself a Nubian.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:19.74,0:22:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And also because these were the people, the people of the south,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:23.64,0:22:28.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whom he wanted to impress with evidence of the prisoners he had taken in far-away Seria
Dialogue: 0,0:22:28.95,0:22:31.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Asia Minor.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:31.82,0:22:38.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:38.66,0:22:43.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even mighty temples, like this one, have to be seen against the background origins of
Dialogue: 0,0:22:43.80,0:22:46.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ancient Egyptian civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:46.36,0:22:49.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And those origins, in the light of modern science,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:49.03,0:22:51.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were above all African.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:51.74,0:22:58.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No matter what ideas or customs the pharaohs may have found in the Asian lands they conquered,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:58.01,0:23:00.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Egypt's beginnings were in the South.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:00.94,0:23:05.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this Inner-Africa, which the ancient Egyptians called the land of the Gods,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:05.89,0:23:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the African Gods whom they revered as their guardian spirits.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:10.65,0:23:22.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: The time came when Egyptian conquests ended.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:22.04,0:23:26.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,400 years later, it was the turn of the kings of the South, of Nubia,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:26.31,0:23:36.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who now marched North to subdue the power of Egypt itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:36.51,0:23:41.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here is the most famous of those mighty kings of the South,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:41.56,0:23:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,recognized by the peoples of that time, the 7th century BC, as among the masters of the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.34,0:23:52.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This one, as it happens, received a favorable mention in the bible,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:52.76,0:23:55.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the book of kings, as the emperor of Kush,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:55.67,0:24:04.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of all Egypt, whose name was Taharqa.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:04.92,0:24:18.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Africa" Theme Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.96,0:24:23.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: By 650 BC, the Nubian kings who had subdued Egypt,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:23.18,0:24:26.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were ready to withdraw to the South, to Napata,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:26.92,0:24:36.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then to a new capital in their kingdom of Kush at Meroe.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:36.04,0:24:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there we must follow them if we are to understand the history of this Inner-Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:40.78,0:24:46.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which exercised so strong an early influence on ancient Egyptian civilization,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:46.05,0:24:49.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and which later was to reflect that influence.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:49.59,0:24:56.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:56.34,0:25:04.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The city of Meroe was situated 1,000 miles south of the old Egyptian frontier, far into Inner-Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:04.47,0:25:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:12.15,0:25:14.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I never come here without a sense of wonder,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:14.67,0:25:17.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for right ahead and in the midst of this pitiless desert,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:17.98,0:25:22.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there stands one of Africa's great historical surprises.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:22.89,0:25:30.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:25:30.26,0:25:34.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The remnants of a lost civilization, standing across the skyline
Dialogue: 0,0:25:34.50,0:25:38.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though shipwrecked on the sands of time.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:38.42,0:25:44.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:25:44.59,0:25:48.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are the pyramid tombs of the kings and queens of Meroe,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:48.45,0:25:53.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who reigned and were buried here through more than 6 centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:53.25,0:26:01.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:26:01.34,0:26:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Long ruined by tomb robbers and by time,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:04.40,0:26:09.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the pyramids are being restored, and even reconstructed.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:09.70,0:26:24.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Talking in a foreign language]
Dialogue: 0,0:26:24.32,0:26:27.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meroitic civilization still presents many puzzles.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:27.92,0:26:30.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One is that the monarchs of Kush built their pyramid tombs
Dialogue: 0,0:26:30.92,0:26:37.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,long after such monuments had ceased to be raised in Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:37.86,0:26:44.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Partly because the pyramids of Meroe are neither as old, nor as massive as those of Egypt,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:44.17,0:26:54.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's been assumed that all this was a mere provincial copy of that greater civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:54.81,0:26:57.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, it was far more than a copy.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:57.20,0:27:06.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The similarities are there, but other aspects of Meroitic culture are found nowhere else.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:06.49,0:27:11.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Another intriguing question is the relationship between the ancient people of Meroe,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:11.66,0:27:23.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kings, queens and citizens, and the modern Nubians who live in this region today.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:23.36,0:27:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can still see their stylized portraits in stone,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:27.58,0:27:30.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but what did they really look like?
Dialogue: 0,0:27:30.32,0:27:34.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I asked Dr. Ali Osmon of the University of Khartoum.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:34.65,0:27:36.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Obviously they look like me, of course.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:36.22,0:27:37.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm a Nubian.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:37.42,0:27:42.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Um, very much the Nubians of today are the Nubians of yesterday.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:42.95,0:27:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've got to understand that rather carefully,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:45.87,0:27:53.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the Nubian culture actually have not yet been very much explored, the Nubians from within.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:53.24,0:27:58.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I, the Nubian, what I do and how I behave, won't have changed that much from what
Dialogue: 0,0:27:58.61,0:28:03.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the individual Nubians would have done.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:03.28,0:28:10.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the influence that were common on us as Nubiens started as early as we could
Dialogue: 0,0:28:10.78,0:28:15.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Egyptian coming down to the Muslim had an influence.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:15.76,0:28:17.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Have been changing.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:17.53,0:28:19.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That does not mean that the Nubien have changed.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:19.23,0:28:27.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: But this identity has had to survive many foreign incursions,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:27.20,0:28:29.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even conquests.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:29.44,0:28:35.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At one time, Meroe fell before the invading armies of Axum,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:35.86,0:28:42.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,another ancient kingdom, high in the mountains of what is now Ethiopia.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:42.32,0:28:47.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In more recent times, the Turks and the British have sent in their armies of occupation.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:47.28,0:28:53.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most lasting of all has been the influence of Islam.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:53.06,0:28:58.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But through all these changes, the Nubians have done more than retain their identity.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:58.45,0:29:01.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just as they absolved influences from elsewhere,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:01.17,0:29:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so they too have had a deep cultural impact on their neighbors.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:13.25,0:29:15.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They build now as they've always built.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:15.72,0:29:18.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In all probability, just as the people of Meroe built,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:18.62,0:29:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with an old, effort saving rhythm.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:21.73,0:29:28.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Constructing mud walls to defy the scorching heat of the Nubian summer.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:28.95,0:29:35.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:35.58,0:29:39.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their beds are no different from those of their ancient ancestors,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:39.15,0:29:43.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like this one in Khartoum museum, with a pattern of headrest,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:43.53,0:29:50.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is much the same here, and right across Africa, as those of 5,000 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:50.94,0:29:56.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Speaking in a foreign language]
Dialogue: 0,0:29:56.23,0:29:59.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the traditional clan marks, cut into this Nubian's face,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:59.66,0:30:06.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can be seen exactly reproduced on a stone relief, which decorates one of the pyramids,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:06.20,0:30:16.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just a couple of miles away.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.15,0:30:21.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's been said that Meroe was the Birmingham of ancient Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:21.35,0:30:24.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that wasn't altogether a flight of fancy.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:24.28,0:30:29.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the people of Meroe had a very extensive iron making industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:29.16,0:30:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just consider this enormous pile of industrial waste--of slag.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:32.90,0:30:40.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It proves that among the major activities of the people of this flourishing city was to smelt iron.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:40.74,0:30:46.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here is a bit of the residue.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:46.03,0:30:49.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: A few yards away stood the great temple of Amon, Meroitic,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:49.74,0:30:55.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,although dedicated to a very Egyptian God.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:55.51,0:30:57.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And somewhere in the sand, if I can find it,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:57.85,0:31:03.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's another remarkable fragment of Inner-African originality.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:03.77,0:31:06.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here it is. A stone inscribed with a fully-operative script
Dialogue: 0,0:31:06.90,0:31:13.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was invented for the African language of Meroe in the 3rd or 2nd century BC.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:13.93,0:31:18.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,23 signs for letters, and a word divider.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:18.65,0:31:24.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the earliest alphabetical ways of writing invented anywhere in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:24.28,0:31:27.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And still a puzzle for modern scholarship.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:27.52,0:31:33.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:31:33.90,0:31:36.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In wealthy houses surrounding the temple were found
Dialogue: 0,0:31:36.16,0:31:40.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of the comforts and enjoyments of Meroitic life.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:40.30,0:31:54.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The style of these pots is uniquely Nubian, and repeated nowhere else in the Nile valley.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:54.60,0:31:57.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Half a day's journey from Meroe by modern transport,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:57.82,0:32:01.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a little further into the sand and rock of the Butana desert,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:01.43,0:32:05.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there stands another complex of stone buildings.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:05.43,0:32:12.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This time dedicated to the Gods of Kush, and not to the Gods of Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:12.18,0:32:14.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nowadays, this place is called Musawarat.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:14.92,0:32:22.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:22.04,0:32:26.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Strange hints remain among the ruins, like this old lion in the sand.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:26.86,0:32:29.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what were these buildings for?
Dialogue: 0,0:32:29.70,0:32:34.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps the kings of ancient Kush strolled beneath these colonnades.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:34.37,0:32:38.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Historians have offered this or that explanation.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:38.81,0:32:44.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My own is that the principle function of this unexampled and powerful building,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:44.01,0:32:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made it unique in the ancient world.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:46.34,0:32:52.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This function, I think, was for the taming and training of the great African elephant.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.22,0:32:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That seems to be the best explanation of the remarkable stone ramps, which occur here, like this one,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:59.22,0:33:04.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that one over there, and another long one going over there.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:04.90,0:33:08.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: We can accept that the taming of the African elephant,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:08.09,0:33:11.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bigger and more difficult to handle than its Indian cousin,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:11.26,0:33:15.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had become a speciality of the Kushites of Meroe.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:15.98,0:33:20.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With their skills, they converted this, the greatest of Africa's wild animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:20.15,0:33:26.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the military tank of the ancient world.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:26.62,0:33:30.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Hannibal of Carthage invaded Roman Italy across the Alps,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:30.51,0:33:34.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he had 38 war elephants in his army.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.30,0:33:43.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The skills of the elephant trainers of Musawarat may well have contributed to that legendary feat.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:43.26,0:33:48.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These temple walls provide a surprising reminder of much greener times,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:48.67,0:33:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with abundant pastures for domestic grazing.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:52.00,0:33:56.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All that has vanished, as the desert advanced from the Sahara,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:56.12,0:33:59.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the civilization of Meroe disappeared.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:59.79,0:34:08.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today, away from the banks of the Nile, only nomads can survive.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:08.42,0:34:11.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This well has never been known to run dry.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:11.96,0:34:16.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The scene is exactly as it was when I first came here some 30 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:16.14,0:34:29.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I doubt if it's changed very much in a thousand years.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:29.67,0:34:34.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Proud and self-sufficient, these people seem untouched by the modern world.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:34.06,0:34:38.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's rare to see a single mass-produced item among their belongings,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.70,0:34:41.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or anything made of plastic.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:41.63,0:34:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's as if they share a determination to rely on nothing but themselves and their animals.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:49.00,0:34:54.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Visiting Europeans have usually made the mistake of judging the degree of civilization
Dialogue: 0,0:34:54.24,0:34:58.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,among different peoples by the number of their possessions.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:58.55,0:35:16.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Talking in a foreign language]
Dialogue: 0,0:35:16.22,0:35:22.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ancient traditions of these nomads reach back to the very beginnings of history.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:22.46,0:35:32.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Talking in a foreign language]
Dialogue: 0,0:35:32.26,0:35:34.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And should they still remember their ancient Gods,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:34.73,0:35:40.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,those too are still here, not yet swallowed up by the encroaching sand.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:40.14,0:35:46.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here at Naga, there's an even more remarkable mixture of local and imported influences.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:46.11,0:35:55.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,King Natakamani triumphs over his prisoners in a very Egyptian style.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:55.52,0:35:58.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The python, on the other hand, was an Inner-African religious symbol,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:58.82,0:36:08.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,regarded in many lands down to this day as a figure of spiritual power.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.40,0:36:12.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this representation of the lion God looks quite Indian,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:12.65,0:36:20.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with his 3 heads and 4 arms, but he too is uniquely Meroitic.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:20.71,0:36:24.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The kingdom of Kush collapsed in the 4th century AD.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:24.34,0:36:30.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But evidence has recently come to light that some of its people migrated across the planes of Kordofan
Dialogue: 0,0:36:30.40,0:36:33.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,towards the Nuba Hills.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:33.19,0:37:03.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music]
Dialogue: 0,0:37:03.19,0:37:07.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Less influenced by Islam than the Nubians along the Nile,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:07.29,0:37:11.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the people of this region have become of considerable interest to historians,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:11.60,0:37:16.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they may be closer in their way of life to the Nubians of old.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.41,0:37:30.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Whistle blowing and chattering]
Dialogue: 0,0:37:30.65,0:37:36.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As it happened, we chanced on a special day among these Nuba people, a bit like a cup final.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:36.89,0:37:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is Africa as it can still be found away from tourists, motor cars, and big cities,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:42.20,0:37:51.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,celebrating in its own fashion.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:51.06,0:37:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A number of cultural links have been found to suggest that these people
Dialogue: 0,0:37:54.68,0:38:00.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may well share a common heritage with distant ancestors who lived in the time of the
Dialogue: 0,0:38:00.52,0:38:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kings and queens of Kush.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:05.22,0:38:10.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Village teams, each wearing its own distinctive color, have gathered from a wide area
Dialogue: 0,0:38:10.80,0:38:14.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to take part in one of the oldest of all sporting events,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:14.47,0:38:22.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also a passion among the Nuba, wrestling.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:22.30,0:38:26.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So intricate are the rules governing not only the contest itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:26.31,0:38:31.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also exactly who may wrestle with whom on the basis of family relationships,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:31.34,0:38:37.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it's almost impossible for a visitor to follow all the moves.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:37.55,0:38:43.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But for the historian, there's another close relationship between the Nuba wrestling of today,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:43.29,0:38:47.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that of ancient times.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:47.46,0:38:54.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dating from around 2,500 BC, these vivid paintings have been copied from an Egyptian tomb
Dialogue: 0,0:38:54.20,0:38:57.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at Beni Hasan.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:57.51,0:39:11.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Clapping and whistles blowing]
Dialogue: 0,0:39:11.45,0:39:25.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Chanting]
Dialogue: 0,0:39:25.97,0:39:30.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: Increasingly, it seems that these people can indeed trace their past
Dialogue: 0,0:39:30.17,0:39:34.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,back to civilizations in antiquity.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:34.92,0:39:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And their ancient sport provides one more small piece of evidence of a continuous
Dialogue: 0,0:39:38.84,0:39:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,social tradition that's lasted for centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:48.12,0:39:52.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet these are the very people whom the 19th century explorer, Samuel Baker,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:52.17,0:40:00.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,described as human nature in its crudest state, not to be compared with the noble character of the dog.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:00.74,0:40:21.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Cheering and clapping]
Dialogue: 0,0:40:21.34,0:40:23.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After the contest comes the celebration.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:23.92,0:40:30.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Clapping and singing]
Dialogue: 0,0:40:30.100,0:40:33.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of these Nuba girls may well be Muslim,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:33.17,0:40:38.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's no part of their tradition to hide their faces behind veils.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:38.92,0:40:41.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have a pride and place within society,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:41.38,0:40:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in line with the customs of old Nubia,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:43.38,0:41:03.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even of Meroe itself, whose rulers were often women.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:03.23,0:41:07.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In another part of the Nuba hills, just a few miles to the southeast,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:07.74,0:41:13.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the teachings of Islam have made no headway at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:13.21,0:41:21.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The people of these villages have quite consciously chosen to reject either Western or Islamic dress.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:21.92,0:41:26.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Free spirits under an African sky, young girls dance as much for their own pleasure
Dialogue: 0,0:41:26.64,0:41:33.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as for the spectators, breathing life into these astonishingly similar images of Nubian dancing girls,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:33.98,0:41:43.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,performing for the pharaohs 5,000 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:43.64,0:41:48.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Famed for their grace and beauty, they had an honored place in the life of ancient Egypt.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:48.97,0:42:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Music and chanting]
Dialogue: 0,0:42:13.50,0:42:16.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That the one should still be regarded as primitive,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:16.14,0:42:19.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the other as part of the world's cultural heritage,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:19.01,0:42:25.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reflects on the ignorance and prejudice of the modern world.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:25.68,0:42:27.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And not at all on them.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:34.30,0:42:42.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Shouting in unison]
Dialogue: 0,0:42:42.48,0:42:46.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On the day that i visited Meroe, a pyramid was being rebuilt.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:46.60,0:42:49.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not to the aid of bulldozers and cranes,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:49.03,0:43:05.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but by the traditional techniques used in their original construction.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:05.72,0:43:11.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As each great shaft of masonry was hauled up the ramp and pushed into place,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:11.12,0:43:18.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for me, the continuity of African history was brought directly alive.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:18.50,0:43:23.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Egypt of the pharaohs did not spring whole and complete from its own local genius.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:23.94,0:43:35.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It owed much to Inner-Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:35.56,0:43:38.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the years ahead, more evidence will surely come to light,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:38.67,0:43:42.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which would emphasize that it's to the whole of the Nile that we must look,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:42.87,0:43:48.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to lands lying far in the interior, for the source and origin of these great civilizations
Dialogue: 0,0:43:48.56,0:43:52.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that have flourished along its banks.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:52.80,0:43:59.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The last of these pyramid tombs was completed around AD 340.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:59.41,0:44:01.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then came a time of change.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:01.25,0:44:04.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meroe disappeared, and after the middle of the 6th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:04.71,0:44:08.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this old civilization underwent another transformation,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:08.72,0:44:12.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one that brings us closer to our own world.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:12.72,0:44:17.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the north, Christianity spread south into the lands of Nubia.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:17.52,0:44:27.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was once the far famed monastery of St. Simeon, near Aswan.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:27.97,0:44:37.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The faded frescos on the chapel roof can only hint at its past magnificence.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:37.51,0:44:41.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the 1960s, by a stroke of great good fortune,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:41.10,0:44:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the full glory of medieval Nubian painting was suddenly revealed.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:51.34,0:44:59.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The story behind the finding, and the saving, of these wonderful mural paintings is almost a miracle.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:59.01,0:45:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the waters of Lake Nasser rose to engulf the old Christian Nubian city of Faras,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:04.60,0:45:10.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,archaeologists managed to dig down to the level of the long-buried walls of its cathedral,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:10.88,0:45:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,founded in AD 707.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:13.72,0:45:19.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And pulling away the dry sand, they saw what nobody had seen for centuries,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:19.55,0:45:23.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these paintings, and removed them in the nick of time.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:23.35,0:45:32.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now safely in Khartoum museum, they glow once again with their distant message of art and piety.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:32.93,0:45:44.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Chanting]
Dialogue: 0,0:45:44.94,0:45:50.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: The Christian civilization of Nubia was one of wealth and comfort.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:50.08,0:45:53.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A visitor in the 10th century, Ibn Selim Al-Aswani,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:53.69,0:45:57.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,described the city of Soba, one of Christian Nubia's three capitals,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:57.77,0:46:03.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as having fine buildings, spacious houses, churches with much gold,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:03.19,0:46:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cool, delightful gardens.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:07.00,0:46:15.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He might well have added priceless works of ecclesiastical art.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:15.14,0:46:17.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Splendidly preserved by the dry sand,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:17.72,0:46:22.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these figures take us directly to the heart of Nubian Christianity.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:22.60,0:46:28.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here is the nativity scene, with the virgin and the archangel Gabriel,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:28.19,0:46:32.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,portrayed in the conventional style, and unnatural skin color,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:32.26,0:46:36.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Byzantine church, from which, of course, the Nubians took their beliefs.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:36.83,0:46:43.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Over here are the three kings of orient, riding to Bethlehem, one of them clearly an African,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:43.64,0:46:59.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and down here is a Nubian princess looking, I must say, very much like the Nubians look today.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:59.19,0:47:01.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: These are portraits of Nubian bishops.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:01.99,0:47:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,25 of them were listed in Fara's cathedral as having succeeded one another
Dialogue: 0,0:47:06.63,0:47:12.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the 8th to the 11th centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:12.02,0:47:14.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The line might have stretched right up to the present day,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:14.57,0:47:20.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so settled and secure did Christian Nubia appear.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:20.10,0:47:31.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it was not to be.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:31.29,0:47:34.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This monastery did not simply fall into decay,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:34.18,0:47:38.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was sacked by the Saracens in the year 1172.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:38.100,0:47:44.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The origins of that disaster lay not with the Christian Nubians, who'd been at peace for centuries
Dialogue: 0,0:47:44.35,0:47:47.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with their Muslim neighbors to the north.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:47.18,0:47:54.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The origins lay in Europe.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:54.48,0:47:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first of the great crusades whose purpose was to recapture the holy places from the Muslims
Dialogue: 0,0:47:59.60,0:48:04.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,set out in the year 1096.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:04.22,0:48:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many knights fought for God's purposes.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:06.15,0:48:13.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many others fought for those of Mormon.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:13.76,0:48:19.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As one crusade followed another, those first high purposes became corrupt.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:19.52,0:48:30.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The holy cause turned into a reckless rush for loot.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:30.35,0:48:33.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Very soon they provoked a massive reaction.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:33.72,0:48:41.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The holy war of Islam was launched under a brilliant Saracen general, Saladin.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:41.79,0:48:46.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From his great citadel in Cairo, Saladin set out to crush not only the European invaders,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:46.76,0:48:54.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also, and this is something that a later world forgot, their African allies in the south.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:54.93,0:49:00.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Historians have moments of bubbling excitement when they find proofs of something
Dialogue: 0,0:49:00.18,0:49:01.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they'd only guessed to be true.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:01.94,0:49:08.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I almost jumped for joy when I first saw this small wooden plaque from Nubia.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:08.66,0:49:11.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For it's a unique proof of something that I'd guessed
Dialogue: 0,0:49:11.69,0:49:18.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Christian Nubians of 7 or 8 centuries ago also took part in the old wars of religion,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:18.23,0:49:21.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the crusades against conquering Islam.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:21.33,0:49:28.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here you see a crusader from Nubia with his cross wearing chainmail and his sturdy steed,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:28.44,0:49:38.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just as we in Europe can still see portrayals of our own crusaders.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:38.61,0:49:41.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: In this old film taken half a century ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:41.27,0:49:47.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nubian horsemen can still be seen in their chainmail.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:47.16,0:49:50.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The black crusaders of 800 years ago must have looked very similar
Dialogue: 0,0:49:50.86,0:49:58.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as they gathered at fortified monasteries before setting out on that disastrous venture.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:58.07,0:50:06.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Safe within his mighty Cairo citadel, Saladin was waiting to annihilate them.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:06.02,0:50:09.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there came an end to Christianity in these lands.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:09.03,0:50:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An eclipse, so final and complete, that the world forgot, almost 'til now,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:13.25,0:50:16.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Christian Nubia had ever existed.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:16.52,0:50:22.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet, distant echoes of that long lost epic can still be caught on the winds of history,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:22.59,0:50:27.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in unexpected places.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:27.19,0:50:32.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Bells tolling]
Dialogue: 0,0:50:32.84,0:50:37.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: The cathedral of Magdeburg, a famous capital of medieval Germany.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:37.44,0:50:45.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From here, in the year 1228, the German emperor Frederich led out his knights on the 6th crusade.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:45.32,0:50:52.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And a few years later, a new statue was raised to the patron saint of Magdeburg, St. Maurice.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:52.92,0:51:03.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Astonishingly, but beyond question, an entirely black St. Maurice.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:03.96,0:51:07.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Until then, the many statues of St. Maurice around western Europe
Dialogue: 0,0:51:07.14,0:51:15.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had invariably shown this military saint as white.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:15.08,0:51:19.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But here at Magdeburg, St. Maurice suddenly became black.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:19.55,0:51:23.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unmistakably to my mind, the black knight of Christian Nubia,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:23.52,0:51:27.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Christ's warrior from the distant south.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:27.39,0:51:30.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So here his noble figure stands to this day.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:30.43,0:51:35.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Certainly the most important, perhaps the most moving sculpture
Dialogue: 0,0:51:35.07,0:51:38.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of an African in all the history of European art.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:38.63,0:51:43.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was created and set up in this great German cathedral
Dialogue: 0,0:51:43.19,0:51:48.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to honor the fame and virtue of an African friend and ally,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:48.69,0:52:04.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,different in face and form, but just as surely equal in dignity and human worth.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:04.73,0:52:08.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Africa" Theme Music]