Tiny glass beads discovered in mountain caves about 25 miles from the shores of Lake Malawi in eastern-central Africa provide evidence that European trade in the continent’s hinterland was built on ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Beads have served as a medium of ...

The material used in making beads can also tell you how authentic they are. Traditional African beads are made from glass, ...

This week I moderated a conversation about the three great West African empires of the medieval period between 1100-1500 AD: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, and the trans-Saharan trade routes through which ...