ShmoopTube

Today we're going to tell you all about this Aksum—sorry we mean awesome place called Aksum. At least, it was Aksum (and awesome) about 2000...

Today we're learning about the Serengeti, or as you may know it, the setting of The Lion King. Get ready for lions, wildebeests, and tourists....

Today we'll learn about how people hated taxes so much that they were willing to change religions just to avoid them. And as a result, Aksum became...

Home to the biggest river, the biggest desert, and some of the biggest land animals in the world, Africa is so much more than what most media would...

Stop everything and check this video out. This guy from Carthage named Hannibal used battle elephants. Battle. Elephants. Carthage has a pretty ric...

Today's lesson: Nubia. Remember not to call it Egypt Jr. to its face...it's kind of a sensitive issue.

Today we're going to learn about decentralized societies like Jenne-Jeno who lived without any power hierarchy in their city. Je-no kings, Je-no pr...

Old Ghana is gone, but we're still gonna teach you about it.

Today we're learning about the Bantu Migration. The moral of the story here? Eat healthy yams and one day, you too could spread your dialect around...

We're sure you all know about the Sahara Desert. It's so hot right now. Today we'll learn about the Sahara, and the Tuareg people who live there.&#...

We're not going to make another "denial" joke. Nope. Not going to happen. This video is just about the Nile. Not denial. 

Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world. But the real question here is: if Victoria Falls and no one is around to hear it, did she rea...

Today we're going to learn about how salt can build a city, and bananas can build an army. Seriously. Take a look.

Hakunamatata may be a wonderful phrase, but did you know it's actually a real word in Swahili? And since Swahili is the official language of four c...

Today we'll learn about how West Africa wasn't disconnected from the rest of the world, like many people seem to think. Seriously. It's not on isla...

Back in the day in West Africa, you could trade salt for gold. Yes, you read that right. Gold. Where's a time machine when you need one?

Despite the name, the Kingdom of Dahomey was not full of friendly people. Unless you were a slave trader...in which case, yes, they could have been...

Today we're going to learn about the Kingdom of Kongo, where any attempts to farm on a large scale were brutally halted by the menacing...tsetse fl...

No jokes today, Shmoopers, slavery is a terrible thing. Notice we said is. Check out this video to learn more.

Caliphates came and went in northern Africa, but only one was cali-fated to rule it. Let's see what happened.