Ghana: Did you mean...?

Timbuktu (Timbuctoo) is a city in Mali, West Africa which was an important trade centre of the Mali Empire which flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries CE. The city, founded c. 1100 CE, gained wealth from access to and control of...

The camel caravans which crossed the great dunes of the Sahara desert began in antiquity but reached their golden period from the 9th century CE onwards. In their heyday caravans consisted of thousands of camels travelling from North Africa...

Mansa Musa I was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa from 1312 to 1337. Controlling territories rich in gold and copper, and monopolising trade between the north and interior of the continent, Mali grew extremely wealthy. Mansa Musa...

Adisthana - the decorative raised platform on which a temple is built. Alasa kanya - a decorative female figure. Amalaka - a large fluted stone disc placed on top of a Nagara tower taking its form from the amla or myrobalan fruit native...

Did you know that the Ghana king would automatically keep any gold nugget extracted that weighed between 25 grams and half a kilo? This video is all about the lucrative gold trade of ancient and medieval West Africa. West Africa was...

Artist's impression of a royal procession in the medieval Ghana Empire. Created by Amplitude Studios for the video game Humankind.

The ancient and medieval Mediterranean might have been a bustling stage of ever-changing empires but, across the inhospitable barrier of the Sahara Desert, West Africans were equally busy building up and toppling down their own kingdoms and...

An Akfrefena, a type of Ashanti state sword, with a sharkskin and antelope hide scabbard. Steel blade, with wooden handle, decorated with gold leaf. Ghana. 19th Century CE. 70 cm (27.4 in) x 7.5 cm (2.9 in). (Courtesy of the British Museum)

The Portuguese Empire was established from the 15th century and eventually stretched from the Americas to Japan. Very often a string of coastal trading centres with defensive fortifications, there were larger territorial colonies like Brazil...

Hindu architecture evolved over the centuries from simple rock-cut cave shrines to massive and ornate temples which spread across the Indian sub-continent and beyond, forming a canonical style which is still adhered to today in modern Hindu...