
The Golden Rhinoceros
Histories of the African Middle Ages
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Narrated by:
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Michael Page
About this listen
A leading historian reconstructs the forgotten history of medieval Africa.
From the birth of Islam in the seventh century to the voyages of European exploration in the 15th, Africa was at the center of a vibrant exchange of goods and ideas. It was an African golden age in which places like Ghana, Nubia, and Zimbabwe became the crossroads of civilizations, and where African royals, thinkers, and artists played celebrated roles in the globalized world of the Middle Ages. The Golden Rhinoceros brings this unsung era marvelously to life, taking listeners from the Sahara and the Nile River Valley to the Ethiopian highlands and Southern Africa.
Drawing on fragmented written sources as well as his many years of experience as an archaeologist, François-Xavier Fauvelle painstakingly reconstructs an African past that is too often denied its place in history - but no longer. He looks at ruined cities found in the mangrove, exquisite pieces of art, rare artifacts like the golden rhinoceros of Mapungubwe, ancient maps, and accounts left by geographers and travelers - remarkable discoveries that shed critical light on political and architectural achievements, trade, religious beliefs, diplomatic episodes, and individual lives.
©2018 Princeton University Press: original French edition copyright 2013 by Alma éditeur, Paris (P)2020 TantorFeatured Article: Travel to the Middle Ages with These Audiobooks and Podcasts
The Medieval Era, the tumultuous centuries from the fall of the Roman Empire to the advent of the Enlightenment, is one of the most alluring and intriguing periods of human history. Ready to travel back in time? Check out these audiobooks and podcasts, which cover everything from Icelandic sagas and Medieval murder to the queens of Medieval England and the scientific advancements of the Arab World.
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Excellent
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Excellent scholarly intro to a medieval Africa
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Especially Enjoyable to a Historian
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This is simply a collection of unconnected snippets of particular moments in time, with no connection between any of the snippets. There is no context presented whatsoever. The author (I use that term very loosely) jumps from Senegal to Ethiopia to Morocco to Zimbabwe with absolutely no effort to create any sort of large picture out of these uninteresting pieces. There are no intros nor explanations as to how what we are about to hear or have just heard fits with the other uninteresting pieces. There is no thread connecting any of these little tidbits (mostly about 10 minutes or so each) whatsoever. After almost every one of them I came away thinking that I could not care less about what I had just heard. It was just one piece of drivel after another. Shame on François-Xavier Fauvelle for pawning this off as "Histories of the African Middle Ages."
A Major Disappointment!
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