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

Recent years have seen a renewed focus on the impact that the transatlantic slave trade had on Africa's cultures and peoples.

Yet as Luke Pepperer's new book, Motherland highlights, the continent's story is much more diverse and multifaceted than that.

Matt Elton caught up with Luke to hear more about these stories,

from female-led societies to the long history of the rap battle.

Luke, thank you so much for being with us today.

We're here to talk about your new book, Motherland.

Before we go any further, I wanted to talk about the subtitle,

which is a journey through 500,000 years of African history and identity.

Was that prospect not enormously daunting when you started?

Hey, Rat. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.

It's such a pleasure to be here.

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