Did the Dogon people of Mali know about an invisible star circling Sirius long before astronomers saw it? The story has fascinated millions. Here is what the evidence actually shows.
After two decades of construction, the Grand Egyptian Museum was formally inaugurated on 1 November, beside the Pyramids of Giza. For the first time, Tutankhamun's entire treasure is displayed together.
Legend says the Ewe escaped a tyrant king by walking backwards out of his walled city. Each November, the Anlo Ewe of Ghana's Volta Region celebrate that exodus with Hogbetsotso.
Deep red, tart and refreshing, bissap is made from dried hibiscus flowers. Known as zobo in Nigeria, sobolo in Ghana and karkadé in Egypt, it is one of Africa's most-loved drinks.
Slapping rubber boots, stamping feet and jangling bottle caps. The gumboot dance grew out of the harsh world of South Africa's mines and became a celebrated art form.
Thick white Beni Ourain rugs, bold Azilal designs and colourful rag-rugs called boucherouite. Amazigh women of Morocco have woven carpets that carry memory, protection and personal stories.
The language of the pharaohs did not simply vanish. Its final stage, Coptic, written in Greek letters, is still chanted in Egyptian churches today, and it helped unlock the secret of hieroglyphs.
In Akan thought, a person is made of several parts: a soul from God, a spirit that shapes character, and blood from the mother's family. Ghanaian philosophers have debated what this means for centuries-old questions about mind, body and community.
As night falls in Accra, roadside sellers fry cubes of ripe plantain tossed in ginger, chilli and spice. Kelewele is Ghana's favourite evening snack.
She sang in Xhosa clicks before the United Nations, was banished from her homeland for thirty years, and became the voice of a continent. The life of Miriam Makeba.
In a covered street beside one of Cairo's medieval gates, craftsmen stitch brilliant appliqué panels by hand. Khayamiya, the tentmakers' art, has decorated Egyptian celebrations for centuries.
No cars, narrow lanes, coral-stone houses and donkeys everywhere. Lamu, on an island off Kenya's coast, is East Africa's oldest continuously inhabited Swahili town.
