Civilisations: First Contact

David Olusoga show how art was always on the frontline when distant and disparate cultures came together in the 15th and 16th centuries. Benin bronzes record the meeting of an ancient West African kingdom and Portuguese voyagers in a spirit of mutual respect and exchange, while Aztec artworks recall a forgotten side to the Spanish conquest of Central America. And in Japan David shows how the Tokugawa Shogunate were wary of outside interference, but in their art, as in their trade, they could never truly isolate themselves