Season 7 Episode 2: Looking for Takrur
History of Africa

Season 7 Episode 2: Looking for Takrur

B2Upper-intermediateJune 23, 202631 min
  • History

In this episode, we explore the history of the medieval Western Sahel, and examine what Arabic language sources tell us about the Senegal River Valley during the rise of its first major empire - the Empire of Takrur.

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 20%A2 29%B1 33%B2 15%C1 3%
  • 82% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 163 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 218 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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1:07

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the History of Africa podcast. I'm your host, Andy. In the last episode, we examined the geography of Senegambia, the rivers that shaped the future patterns of human settlement in the region,

1:21

and the signs of Neolithic society that formed the backbone of Senegambian civilization. Today, we will explore the history of one of the earliest large-scale kingdoms in West Africa, a kingdom as mysterious and enigmatic as it is fascinating. Let's get into the history of the Kingdom of Takrur.

1:41

Season 7, Episode 2, Looking for Takrur. Ghana, Mali, Songhai. If you've heard of any kingdoms or empires from Sahelian West Africa before, those are most likely the three names that come up before all others. Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and not without good reason. In the case of Mali and Songhai, they're some of the best

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