Africa A Voyage of Discovery - Caravans of Gold HD - Basil Davidson Basil Davidson's third episode of his 'Africa A Voyage of Discovery' series, Davidson looks at gold and its role in Africa. Gold was not only a raw material which represented wealth in Africa. Those who had gold were ranked based on the amount of it they had. It served as a status symbol for many of the leaders, in the past and in the present. Gold was used as jewelry and many wore it with great pride. The kings garnered much of the gold, and displayed it with great pride. The trading of gold was what Africa's economy was based on. Mali became a center for this type of trade. This was due to the gold pockets found around West Africa. The video showed many metal workers turning the gold into jewellery and other such items, to help display individual wealth as mentioned before. In West Africa, the King of Ghana was thought to be the richest King in the world, according to ancient scholars who traveled the lands of Africa. Basil Davidson's seminal documentary series 'Africa' challenges the long held beliefs like the opinion of David Hume that Africa had 'no ingenious manufactures among them, no arts, no sciences'. The series presents a pan-African conception of history from the origins of Egypt and Nubia to the liberation movements that Basil was familiar with, and newly independent nations in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Basil Davidson was an acclaimed writer on the subject of African history having written more than 30 books on the subject before he died in 2010. His works are required reading in many African, British and US universities & is often used as the framework for many Black history courses worldwide. Basil Davidson's Africa A Voyage of Discovery series premiered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 20th October 1983, with a wonderful reception hosted by the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the UN The Africa A Voyage of Discovery series was shot and edited over a 2 year period beginning in 1981. During this period the accompanying book The Story of Africa was also written by Basil Davidson.

• published: 07 Mar 2014
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