Ethiopia

 

A BBC four part documentary on the lost kingdoms of Africa takes us to Ethiopia, known as the cradle of civilisation from where ostensibly the first human beings came out of Africa and traveled by foot to various parts of the world. 

Ethiopia has a rich history dating back to pre Christian times when King Solomon and Queen Sheeba's son had connections with Ethiopia. There are legends that it is the birth place of Judaism. 

Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford, art historian and narrator of this documentary takes us to various places in Ethiopia which could possibly show the connection to King Solomon and Queen Sheeba. The kingdom of Aksum probably contains the ark which is zealously guarded by the local administration there. 

Dr. takes us to Harar, Lalibela, Gondor, Dire Dawa which has rock cut caves dating to the pre historic and pre Christian era. Ethiopia has more religious history behind it and tied to it are the monuments of the past built by the kings of that era. There are rock buildings carved out of a single piece of rock, like those found in Hampi and Ajanta in India and hieroglyphics giving messages of the kings of that era. Interesting documentary to watch. 

  

Nubia

 

Interesting BBC documentary on the lost kingdoms of Africa. This four part series starts in Nubia, the extinct kingdom which once encompassed the present day Egypt and Sudan put together. 

Interesting to note that there are apparently more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt. The documentary shows the ancient rock drums which were used by people to communicate with each other, the rock cut paintings of cattle, the hieroglyphics depicting the life in ancient Nubia more than 5000 to 7000 years ago. 

The whole area was full of vegetation and life and commerce in those days but desert started creeping up over the years and centuries making it what it is today. The presenter goes to a few village settlements to understand their life and the history of the area. 

Apparently frequent battles used to take place over the vegetation of the land and there was one cremation spot where apparently more than 200 men and 5000 heads of cattle were sacrificed. The documentary is a mix of commentary and interviews, so its a good series to watch.   

The Freebooters

The Freebooters written by Elleston Trevor is an unlikely story of a British army unit embattled in an imaginary country in a violent zone inside Africa with orders not to fight but only to retaliate. The force gets impatient, with one soldier letting loose his machine gun killing 15 of the locals. The locals meanwhile continue to harass the soldiers and in fact they get annoyed when the force constructs a barbed wire outside their perimeter in order to keep the locals away. The locals do manage to kill a few British soldiers and that too in a most brutal way. A few of them mutiny, walk across 250 miles of enemy territory with a truck and machine guns and all, but the truck breaks down and, so they are forced to leg it out to the missionary. Along the route they encounter the tribes and kill many of them. Once they arrive at the missionary it is still not over, and they have to fight hard to stave off the locals. Again when they arrive at the missionary, its head, a lady says, she does not approve of any killings, its bad. So they have a predicament, but they are lives to be saved as well. Its a brave story with varied characters and the writer has kept the interest intact. Goodreads review 5/5