Part 1: Lecture 1. Finding the "Lost Continent" -- Lecture 2. Africa's many natural environments -- Lecture 3. A virtual tour of the great land -- Lecture 4. The cradle of humankind -- Lecture 5. Crops, cattle, iron- taming a continent -- Lecture 6. Kinship and community- societies take shape -- Lecture 7. Like nothing else- the ancient Nile valley -- Lecture 8. Soul and spirit- religion in Africa -- Lecture 9. Ethiopia- Outpost of Christianity -- Lecture 10. West Africa's "Golden Age" -- Lecture 11. The Swahili commercial world -- Lecture 12. Great Zimbabwe and the cities of the south.

Part 2: Lecture 13. The Atlantic slave trade- the scope -- Lecture 14. The Atlantic slave trade- the impact -- Lecture 15. South Africa- the Dutch Cape colony -- Lecture 16. South Africa- The Zulu kingdom -- Lecture 17. South Africa- The frontier and unification -- Lecture 18. South Africa- diamonds and gold -- Lecture 19. Prelude to the "scramble for Africa" -- Lecture 20. European conquest and African resistance -- Lecture 21. Colonial Africa- new realities -- Lecture 22. Colonial Africa- Comparisons and change -- Lecture 23. The lion awakens- the rise of nationalism -- Lecture 24. The peaceful paths to independence.

Part 3: Lecture 25. The congo- promise and pain -- Lecture 26. Segregation to apartheid in South Africa -- Lecture 27. The armed struggles for independence -- Lecture 28. The first taste of freedom -- Lecture 29. The taste turns sour -- Lecture 30. The world turns down- the "permanent crisis" -- Lecture 31. A new dawn? The democratic revival -- Lecture 32. The South African miracle -- Lecture 33. The unthinkable- the Rwanda genocide -- Lecture 34. The new plague- HIV/AIDS in Africa -- Lecture 35. Zimbabwe- background to contemporary crisis -- Lecture 36. Africa found.