Africans and Europeans are equals: we have just never been permitted the truth The stories that we are told is that the Europeans were the ones who adventured and ruled much of the world. This article presents lesser-known evidence to this idea of empire: that actually, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Africans were visiting Europe just as much; for example, the Ethiopians were on the Iberian peninsula in the 15th century.

We ended up with this racist, ethnocentric view of discovery to justify the very nature of colonialism, of getting rich and subjugating the other. A lack of knowledge has benefitted a historical narrative. From Dutch pirates to African kingdoms, this history does not need to be necessarily pinned to a story of Iberia, but could be Europe as a whole. We need to learn that we were always equal, to the extent that maybe African kingdoms exploited too: there is very little written about this, says the author, a researcher at the national research council of Spain, but if you want to know more, she suggests some links. It’s historical justice.

Nabeelah, conversation editor El País: ‘The age of exploration: when Africa discovered Spain’ (reading time: 10 minutes)
The greatest love story you’ve never heard of I have no idea how to summarise this story in 100 words. This is a love story so ethereal, so full of magic that even as you read it, you are overcome by a deep longing and sadness, because we are no longer allowed a story like this in the world of 2020. It is the story of a Swedish woman and her Indian lover - born to an "untouchable" caste in a village in the jungles of eastern India, but told by an astrologer that he is destined to marry a woman from a faraway land.

The two meet when she visits India. Instantly, they feel a connection – so intense that she tells herself she must have been born in this country in a past incarnation. But soon enough, she has to go back home to Sweden. So, what does the man do? He sells everything he has, buys a bicycle, and pedals all the way from India to Sweden to meet his destiny, never to part again. Simon Worrall and National Geographic – thank you for the gift of this story.

Tanmoy, Sanity correspondent National Geographic: ‘This man rode a bike from India to Sweden – for love’ (reading time: seven minutes)
Black is King – and so much more besides Teju Cole’s brilliant essay about the context, impact and implications of the record-breaking Black Panther movie is a thing of great beauty. In the wake of the continental and diasporic African response to Black is King, Beyoncé’s even more astonishingly beautiful retelling of the Disney classic, The Lion King, the themes Cole explores in his essay have become hugely relevant again.

Jade Bentil, a UK-based scholar, describes Black America’s tendency to create stories that superimpose romanticised royalty on the African continent, using a hodge-podge of ultimately unrecognisable cultural markers, as "Wakandification". Cole’s essay, written two years before Bentil coined the term, is a subtle, nuanced and thought-provoking exploration of this phenomenon.

OluTimehin, Othering correspondent Medium: ‘On the Blackness of the Panther’ (reading time: 15 minutes)

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