If almost every early migration out of Africa failed, how did any of us get here?
Why does an Akan word that once meant "person from beyond the cornfields" now mean a white person?
And, when British politicians talk about net migration, who are they leaving out?
Peter Frankopan takes Afua Hirsch through 50,000 years of people on the move, using the new illustrated edition of The Earth Transformed.
A green Sahara full of lakes. Romans who conquered half the world but didn't spread their genes. Huns and Mongols running empires like a business that had to grow every year. Then the long scars the slave trade left on trust in West Africa, and the Gold Coast students who came to Britain long before Windrush. Plus 150 million people on the move in a single century, and Afua's prediction for 2050. And a school where Wednesday homework was translating Sanskrit into Urdu, and why speaking five Ghanaian languages never earns the respect that French does.
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[0:00] 50,000 years of people on the move
[2:07] The surest way to lose an election, and Vikings who are fine in hindsight
[8:19] Almost every early migration out of Africa failed
[13:23] Skin colour, vitamin D and why race is a social construct
[16:47] Rome, the Huns and empire as a business model
[20:22] The Mongols in Hungary, and the Greek idea of the stranger
[24:23] "Beyond the cornfields": the scars you can still hear in a word
[28:11] The migration nobody counts: Britons leaving
[31:44] 2050: will Britain wish it had immigration?
[36:04] Languages, Sanskrit homework, and which ones count as "sophisticated"
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Instagram: @originallegacypodcast
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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:
Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com
Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.
legacy.supportingcast.fm
Stay connected with Legacy:
Instagram: @originallegacypodcast
TikTok: @legacy_productions
Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com
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