In the history and story of Africa is the history and story of human civilisation, and yet little of the continent’s early and modern story is widely known. Award-winning broadcaster and SOAS president Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight in her seminal book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, which takes readers from the origins of our species, through ancient civilisations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. She tells Areeba Hamid, joint executive director of Greenpeace UK and the first woman and first person of colour to lead the organisation, about travelling to 30 countries in Africa, the people she spoke to, and why it’s essential the history of Africa is told through the voices of Africans themselves.
