Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Millions of years ago, Africa was the cradle of humanity.

But the continent's deep and rich history has long been downplayed in Western narratives. Zainab Badawi spoke to Danny Bird about her new book

which seeks to explore the continent's story through the eyes and voices of Africans themselves.

From the ancient civilizations of Egypt, to the overlooked

deeds of some of Africa's great men and women, to the transatlantic slave trade and the

independence of nations in modern times. You've written an epic, ambitious and rich history

of Africa, spanning a vast sweep of cultures, regions, personalities and centuries. But before we get

into some of those aspects, can I ask you if you sort out any particular stories or narratives

in preparation for this book? And was there anything that surprised you along the way?

So when I set about writing this book, it wasn't so much that I was looking for an angle. The angle found me. And by that,

I mean that I was embarked on a journey around Africa, in fact, to make a television

history series. And I spoke to dozens and dozens of historians, archaeologists and anthropologists right across the continent.

And without exception, every single one of these academics was so generous with their time.

I had to tear myself away from them on every occasion.

They just would have sat talking to me about their particular subject until the cows came home.

And so I thought to myself, these people are really hungry for a stage, a global stage, even.

They wanted to relate their history to outsiders.

And therefore, I decided to write a history book about Africa, written from the African perspective. And that really is the key angle. So in a way,

although it says an African history of Africa by Zainab Bedawi, truly I see myself

more as a kind of intercessor between the reader and these marvellous African scholars

and intellectuals.

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