Vanessa Taylor shares the global history of humanity told through the rives that have shaped civilisation. Rivers are the great natural arteries that run through our lives Vanessa explains. This is the story of the Nile, Danube, Niger, Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and the Thames. It is the story of imperial frontiers, alluvial gold, kidnappings, slavery, de-colonialism, creation myths and the killing of rivers. Rivers are intertwined with humanity at our best and our worst. This is the story of us in seven rivers.

Interviewed by Ian Boyd