All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S11E06.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: They're watching you.

More than 6,000 satellites
circle the Earth.

Every day, they uncover new,
mysterious phenomena

that defy explanation.

The mystery of the king,

the cult, and the hunt for
the Lost Ark.

HORTON: This is one of
the most bizarre

things I've ever come across.

NARRATOR:
World War Weird.

These lines are part of
the battle against

the deadliest foe that
the world has ever faced.

NARRATOR:
And revealed from the skies,

the ghost town that helped
build America.

The entire town was left to
nature to completely

reclaim it.

NARRATOR: Baffling phenomena,
mysteries from space.

What on Earth are they?

[theme music playing]

February 2022.

Mark Horton is journeying
through Ireland,

hooked by something bizarre
seen from space.

I'm well intrigued
by this image,

and that's why we have to go
and investigate.

NARRATOR: The image,
captured over County Meath,

reveals a code etched into
the landscape.

The hills of Ireland are known
for being green and lush.

But here, we have some
very unusual

structure hiding in those
beautiful rolling hills.

You have these two circles,
and they look

like they're sort of raised
out of the earth.

NARRATOR: The weird structure
appears to be ancient

and measures around 500 feet
in diameter.

We know that circular earthen
structures built by ancient

peoples have been found
elsewhere in Ireland

and Britain,

but what's really weird
about these circles is

that they're conjoined in
a figure of eight.

NARRATOR: Tales of
mysterious rituals in

these lands stretched back
for millennia,

a clue,
Horton believes, that

the structures once served
a ceremonial purpose.

This part of Ireland is
absolutely steeped in history,

and I'm really keen

to find out how
our site might fit in.

NARRATOR: Horton approaches
the site from the north

through two 750-foot-long
parallel banks

visible in the image.

These go on and on,
as if it's drawing

me up to the center
of this sacred site.

NARRATOR: Yet when
the archaeologist reaches

the figure eight feature,
it's not what he expected.

What I saw
in the image was two

neat, intersecting circles,

but it's so much
more complicated,

with humps and bumps
absolutely everywhere,

kind of like waves in the sea.

NARRATOR: The shapes
seen from space are,

it turns out, two mounds
surrounded by several deep

ditches and banks of earth.

And at the center of
the larger hill

is something not visible
in the image.

HORTON:
It seems to be a stone.

It's completely smooth.

It's almost...

dare one say it,
slightly phallic in shape.

NARRATOR: The monolith has been
worn smooth by centuries of

human hands.

And it reminds me a bit of
storrs like this on the coast

of Scotland, which were
used for inauguration

of their chiefs and their kings.

NARRATOR: Historical records
confirm that the structure

was once one of the most
important inauguration sites

of prehistoric Europe.

For millennia, it played
a key role in the lives

of legendary figures called
the High Kings of Ireland.

The High Kings of Ireland are
shrouded in mythology

and mystery,

but the evidence suggests that
this was a site of supreme

importance for a phenomenal
length of time.

NARRATOR: Legend states that
some of the earliest High Kings

were crowned here in
the 15th century BCE

and that
they gained their power by

marrying a goddess.

But it's not until centuries
later that

verifiable evidence of these
inauguration rituals emerges.

In the early centuries of
the first millennium CE,

we know that there were over
100 kingdoms in Ireland,

each competing with one
another for power.

NARRATOR:
Out of these warring states

rose five principal kingdoms.

A court would then select
a chieftain from one

of these realms to be
the supreme leader of Ireland,

the so-called High King.

They didn't inherit
the throne

or assume it through any
divine right.

WALTERS: The evidence suggests
that they were often symbolic

figures with this almost kind
of godly status.

NARRATOR: The coronation
ceremony for each new king

takes place on the site
in the image,

called the Hill of Tara.

Before being inaugurated,
he must touch the pillar

at its center known as
the Stone of Destiny.

Legend has it that the stone
would cry out if it was

touched by a true High King,

and that this
cry would be heard all over

the Emerald Isles.

HORTON: All these

amazing earthworks
on top of the hill

must have underpinned
the power and authority

of the High Kings of Ireland.

NARRATOR: For 2,500 years,

the Hill of Tara is one of
the most hallowed sites

in Ireland,

where over 140 kings
are crowned.

Yet, as Horton consults recent
geological surveys of the site,

he spots something
close to the giant rings

that doesn't fit with
this sacred landscape.

This is

an incredible image.

Most of the site has nice,
rounded mounds,

but this bit is
quite different.

Something really odd
has been going on here.

NARRATOR: The image reveals
that, at some point in

the past, part of the site has
been repeatedly excavated.

Somebody's come in

and essentially
desecrated this sacred place.

I mean,
it's all very peculiar.

NARRATOR: An early 20th century
photograph of

the event offers a bizarre
and disturbing clue.

The people that were digging
here was a cultish

group who believed that
underneath the Hill of Tara

was buried the Ark of
the Covenant, and it's one

of the most extraordinary,
weird stories I've ever heard.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the hunt for the Lost Ark.

The Egyptian princess carried
it with her from Egypt,

and it was buried on this hill.

NARRATOR: And kill or cure --
history's mystery medicines.

Some of the treatments
ranged from

eating spiders to drinking
your own urine.

NARRATOR: Lured by mysterious
structures captured

from space,
archaeologist Mark Horton

is at the Hill of Tara,

the coronation sight for
the High Kings of Ireland.

This is the sacred heart of
the island of Ireland.

NARRATOR: A 120-year-old
photograph reveals that part of

the sacred site has been
desecrated by a mysterious cult.

JANULIS: The desecration
was actually done

by the British Israelites,
who believed

that this was the location of
the famed Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: The British Israelites
is a movement

founded in the 1840s.

Its members believe that
they are direct descendants

of one of the lost tribes
of Israel,

as documented in
biblical texts.

JANULIS: It's a Christian
movement formed by

British people who looked
for evidence

to prove that
they were one of

God's chosen people.

NARRATOR:
The cult's beliefs

appeal to groups
of white nationalists

and soon grows in numbers
and power.

This idea that the Anglo-Saxons
were descended from

a favored Israelite tribe
caught on

in the United States,
and the impact of this movement

is still being felt today.

NARRATOR: As the cult grows,
it creates its own mythology

based on pseudo history
and elements of Irish folklore.

In the 1890s, it proclaims
that the Hill of Tara

is, in fact, a spiritual capital
of the British Empire,

and within it is buried
the Ark

of the Covenant
and the Ten Commandments.

They had this strange myth
that an Egyptian princess

carried it with her from

Egypt, and then she married

a chieftain, and then it was
buried on this hill.

NARRATOR: In 1899, the group
begins to excavate the site,

creating scars visible in
the satellite image.

The desecration enrages
many Irish and fuels

resentment of British rule of
their country.

HORTON: The sheer arrogance
of the British Israelites,

to think that they
could come over from Britain

and desecrate
one of Ireland's

most sacred
and ancient sites.

And so what this did was
helped reawaken

Irish Celtic nationalism,

and this led
to the Irish revolution.

NARRATOR: The cult's vandalism
of the Hill of Tara

ultimately helps Ireland
gain its independence.

But the role this
extraordinary place played

in this country's history
doesn't end there.

There is, of course,
no connection whatsoever

between the Ark of the Covenant
and the Hill of Tara.

But there is another story,
which might

well have a grain
of truth in it.

The Hill of Tara also has

an important role to play in

the story of the man credited
with bringing Christianity to

Ireland, St. Patrick.

NARRATOR: The story begins in
the early 5th century CE.

St. Patrick was a Roman citizen
who was captured and sold into

slavery in Ireland,
but he was able to escape

and go to Britain.

In Britain,

he studied to become a priest,
and when he returned

to Ireland,
it was as a missionary.

NARRATOR: In March 433 CE,

Patrick travels
to the Hill of Tara

hoping to convert
the High King and his subjects

to Christianity.

In defiance of
pagan tradition,

he lights a bonfire on
the nearby Hill of Slane.

By placing
his Easter fire up here,

he was making a statement
about the arrival of

Christianity in opposition

to the pagan fires that were
burning on the Hill of Tara.

NARRATOR:
The fire enrages the High King,

who dispatches warriors to
arrest St. Patrick.

Well, St. Patrick's powers
of persuasion are so good,

he actually converts some of

the king's warriors
to Christianity.

HUNT: St. Patrick's conversion
of many of the Irish

from Tara is the advent of
Christianity in Ireland.

NARRATOR: Now, the site seen
from space represents

the link between pagan
and Christian Ireland.

And it's also a symbol of
the country's

journey from British rule to
freedom and independence.

What this place tells me
is how the past

shapes the present and probably
also will forge the future.

NARRATOR: Coming up,

the bug that fought
for America's freedom.

America might owe its very
independence to this disease.

NARRATOR: And Putin's
secret death squads.

There is really
no oversight of this group

and what they get up to.

NARRATOR: August 2018 --
aerial surveys of

the coastline near Barnstable,
Massachusetts, spot

something unusual.

We're clearly looking at what
appears to be a wetland region,

but alongside
these meandering waterways,

you can see these dead
straight lines carved out in

perfectly symmetrical rows.

Some of them are vertical,
some are horizontal.

There seems to be no rhyme

or reason to the pattern of
these lines.

NARRATOR: The strange carvings
stretch out across

50 miles of
the semi-submerged landscape.

To have this level
of construction

in a marshland region,
I would assume that this must

be some sort of
government initiative.

NARRATOR: Analysts use Maxar's
SecureWatch technology

to scan other U.S. wetlands
for clues.

This site in Louisiana has
very similar-looking parallel

lines, interconnecting with
more natural waterways

in the area.

We know these waterways
were constructed

during World War II
for the war effort.

NARRATOR: Louisiana's bayous
ran slow and silent for

countless millennia.

That changes in the 1940s,
when they become

a focal point of U.S. efforts
to power its war machine.

One of the things we see in
the Second World War

is this massive
uptick in consumption of oil.

This is what's driving
the jeeps

and the trucks and tanks
and the planes across Europe.

NARRATOR: During World War II,
the U.S. produces around

300,000 aircraft,

90,000 tanks,
and two million army trucks.

To fuel them,

the military needs
100 times more gasoline

than it did during
the First World War.

That increased demand for gas
led oil companies to seek out

new fields, and one of
the places they searched

was Louisiana.

NARRATOR:
Over the course of the war,

prospectors discovered
29 oil fields in the state,

helping to increase national
production by 30 percent.

These companies dug canals
through the marshlands.

The idea was that this would
allow transport ships to

get more easily from
the source of the oil

to where it was
being refined.

NARRATOR: Historical records
reveal the waterways in

the Massachusetts image
are indeed

the legacy of warfare,

but one waged
against an enemy that

has killed many more people
than the Nazis.

These lines are trenches dug
as part of the battle against

the deadliest foe that America
and the world has ever faced,

the mosquito.

NARRATOR: Some scientists
estimate that over history,

malaria-carrying mosquitoes
have killed 52 billion people,

half of all human deaths.

The disease reportedly
afflicted Tutankhamun,

Alexander the Great,

and may have even
contributed to

the collapse of Rome
and its empire.

Back in the day,

they didn't have a very good
way of dealing with malaria.

In fact, they didn't even know
it was caused by mosquitoes.

They thought it was
caused by bad air.

In fact, the name malaria
means bad air.

KOUROUNIS: Some of
the treatments ranged from

eating spiders
to drinking your own urine

to draining your blood.

Needless to say,

these treatments
weren't very effective.

NARRATOR: It's believed
that malaria was brought

to North America
by colonists

and enslaved Africans
in the 17th century.

After feasting on settlers'
infected blood,

it takes hold in local
mosquito populations before

spreading down the east coast.

The first western settlers
in America

had a terrible time
with malaria.

One of the earliest towns in

the Americas had repeated
outbreaks of the disease.

Over the following decades
and centuries,

malaria decimates
both indigenous

and settler populations...

[gunshot blasts]

...and even plays
a defining role

in the War of Independence.

The American victory at
the Battle of Yorktown is,

in part,
attributable to the fact

that only about half
of the British troops were

considered combat effective,

the rest suffering from
the debilitating effects

of malaria.

America might owe its very
independence to this disease.

NARRATOR: In 1897,
a British scientist

makes a discovery
that ultimately

leads to the strange patterns
in the image.

While dissecting a mosquito,

Sir Ronald Ross identifies
the malarial parasite,

the first time a link is

established between
the insect and the disease.

This allowed us
to suddenly have

an opportunity to control
the disease.

If we could figure out a way
to control the insects.

[insects buzzing]

NARRATOR: Malaria is only
carried by female mosquitoes

who breed in stagnant water.

In the early 20th century,

authorities formulate
an ambitious plan to eradicate

them from vast swaths
of the continental U.S.

The government decided to
invest in building giant

mosquito trenches
in America's wetlands,

and that's what we're looking
at in this image right here.

The idea was to drain
stagnant water,

taking away any type of
breeding environment for

the mosquitoes to procreate.

NARRATOR:
To drain the stagnant water,

562,000 acres of
trenches are excavated

in salt marshes along
the Atlantic coast.

The laborers are one of many
groups the government puts to

work on different
projects to combat

soaring unemployment
across the nation.

These projects involved
a huge amount of manual labor,

so it was actually a great way
to keep people

employed during
the Great Depression.

NARRATOR: Thanks to the trenches
and the use of insecticides,

malaria is all but eradicated
in the U.S. within 16 years.

Today, these scars, relics of
the country's 350-year war

with the disease, are still
visible from space.

It's absolutely incredible to
think that something as simple

as a trench could all but
rid the country

of one of history's
most deadly diseases.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the Saharan riddle.

OKEREKE: It looks like
the sort of thing

you would see in Star Wars,
not in the African sands.

NARRATOR: And the town
that became a tomb.

There wouldn't even be any
time to get out of your home.

NARRATOR:
January 2021.

Satellites flying
over North Africa

study the desert
sands below.

This photo is taken way out in
the middle of nowhere in

the Libyan desert,
and yet here's this enormous,

mysterious structure.

OKEREKE: It almost looks
like the sort of thing

you expect to see
in Star Wars,

but not in
the African sands.

NARRATOR: Scans of the wider
area yield a possible clue.

The structure sits
alongside a 43-mile-long trench

penetrating deep
into the desert.

This desert is home to
the pipelines for former

Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi's infamous

grand Man-Made River Project.

Perhaps this is part of that.

NARRATOR: The murderous
dictator, Muammar Gaddafi,

rises to power in 1969,

appointing himself as the king
of kings of Africa.

Gaddafi was seen as a madman
and a tyrant, not just by

the international community,

but by his own people
over whom he exerted

absolute control.

NARRATOR: To bolster
his domestic power base,

Gaddafi sets out to solve
a major problem facing

his country,
a lack of water.

So when Gaddafi
came to power,

it was his dream to exploit
an aquifer that had been hiding

beneath Libya
for millions of years.

NARRATOR: In 1983, Gaddafi
launches the $25 billion

Great Man-Made River Project to

tap into the 36,000 cubic
miles of water

hidden under
the Libyan sands.

This project is
the world's largest irrigation

project -- essentially,

it's a network of pipes
pumping water out of the desert

reserve and sending it over to
the big cities.

NARRATOR: Yet while pipelines
do run through this region,

military experts reveal
the trench and structure in

the image serve
a very different purpose.

JANULIS: This image seems to
have a sort of tactical makeup.

You've got areas where you
could put defensive positions.

It's hard to tell,
but I'd suggest

this is some form of
military installation.

NARRATOR: Libya has been
embroiled in conflict

since 2011,
when a series of uprisings

known as the Arab Spring

engulfs the Middle East
and North Africa.

In Libya, Gaddafi is
overthrown and beaten to death.

His killing ends
42 years of tyranny.

But the country's troubles
are far from over.

MUNOZ: Once Gaddafi died,
you sort of ripped the lid

off of this Pandora's box
of Libyan leaders

and exiles who are all
sort of jockeying for position

of power in the country.

NARRATOR: In 2014,
a disputed election

results in two rival factions

battling for control of Libya,

with each based on either side
of the trench in the image.

As the country
descends into chaos,

it begins to attract
the attention of predatory

foreign powers.

Libya is a really
attractive country

because of its massive
oil reserves.

It has the largest in Africa

and the ninth largest reserves
in the world.

NARRATOR: With some 48 billion
barrels of oil reserves,

the Libyan sands have recently
become a target for Russian

President Vladimir Putin.

Russia derives a lot
of its income from oil,

and it's in their interest
to control as much

of the oil supply
in the world as possible.

This, frankly, makes Libya
a great prize for the Kremlin.

NARRATOR:
Intelligence reports suggest

Putin is using the site in
the image to support

the Libyan National Army,

one of two forces vying for
control of the country.

So what's important to know is
that there are no Russian

government soldiers in
the area,

but there is a private
military group called

the Wagner Group,
made up of

really highly trained Russian
ex-servicemen.

Putin has a long history of
using private security firms

like the Wagner Group to
do his dirty work.

It enables him plausible
deniability among world leaders.

NARRATOR: The Wagner Group
is shrouded in secrecy,

but it's believed to employ
6,000 highly trained

Russian mercenaries.

[rapid gunfire]

It has been linked to
atrocities in Syria

and tasked with assassinating
Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky.

They rely
on intimidation and terror

and have been known to torture
and murder people.

But as a private
secretive organization,

there is really
no oversight of this group

and what they get up to.

NARRATOR: As well as gaining
control of oil supplies,

the fear is Libya
could give Putin

a base to launch attacks
across the Mediterranean.

Having a military presence
here allows Russia easy access

to the southern side
of Europe and, for Putin,

the potential to surround
his NATO rivals.

NARRATOR: What's more,
Putin appears to have recently

established 30 other
military installations

in Libya.

Satellites continue
to play a key role in

monitoring his next move.

MORAN: The scale of
these fortifications

shows just how seriously
Putin takes

keeping Russia
involved in Libya.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the white wall of terror.

Think of it as a steam train,
completely unstoppable.

NARRATOR:
And the river of gold.

This is truly precious stuff.

NARRATOR:
July 2021.

In the skies over
Lancaster, Pennsylvania,

aerial archaeologists using
Lidar discover ghostly

structures hidden
beneath the tree line.

If we look under
this layer of vegetation,

what we can see is roads,

maybe remnants of buildings,
like an abandoned town.

It's just super weird to me.

NARRATOR: The ghost town
appears to house

the remains of over
30 buildings.

There's no immediate signs
around here that tell me

why it was abandoned,

but it certainly was at some
point, and the entire town was

left to nature
to completely reclaim it.

NARRATOR: Analysts turn
to local archives for clues.

KOUROUNIS: Looking at
the historical records,

this town has a name --
Safe Harbor.

KAYS: Documents showed
that this town was

part of the industry that
really built Pennsylvania.

It was part of
the iron industry.

NARRATOR: The town has its
origins in the 19th century,

when the state's newly formed
Pennsylvania Railroad Company

begins expanding
at a frenzied pace.

[train whistle blows]

It's part of a national
explosion in rail use,

which will see more than
200,000 miles of track

laid down in a little over
five decades.

Each mile needs
50 tons of iron,

so the company builds
an ironworks

and town for 250 workers
on the Susquehanna River.

Obviously, you need
a tremendous amount

of iron to build a railroad.

And the town of Safe Harbor

and the ironworks there were
perfectly positioned

to provide that.

NARRATOR: Iron produced
at Safe Harbor helps

the company form
a 2,600-mile rail network

in just 15 years.

It will go on
to carry 20 percent

of all passengers in the US.

The Pennsylvania
Railroad Company grew so large

and so fast that it became
the largest railroad

in the entire, world with over
11,000 miles worth of tracks up

and down the eastern seaboard.

Without company towns
like Safe Harbor,

none of it would have
been possible.

NARRATOR: As the railroad
expands, so does the town,

with new schools,

beer halls, and homes built
with the money

made from making iron.

But in 1861,

its residents play a role

in a very different
chapter of U.S. history.

When the American Civil War
broke out,

the town of Safe Harbor
was perfectly positioned

to transition from making rail
lines to making gun barrels

and weapons
for the Union forces.

NARRATOR: The ironworks
produces the newly designed

Dahlgren guns
for use on the conflict's

revolutionary
ironclad warships.

The money generated from
making weapons means the town

escapes the economic
ravages of war,

but it turns out that
there are other forces

it cannot withstand.

DENNIE: In 1904, this area
experienced a winter

unlike any it had ever
experienced before.

Not only did the river
freeze over,

but we had up to
two-feet-thick ice.

NARRATOR: Production at
the ironworks grinds to a halt,

as Safe Harbor's inhabitants
battled temperatures of

minus 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

The subzero conditions freeze
the Susquehanna upriver

from the town,
creating a giant dam of ice.

Any time you block a river,

water pressure is gonna build
up behind it, and the pressure

continued to increase until
eventually, the ice smashed,

and the result is

an avalanche of ice
and water racing downstream,

destroying anything
that it hits.

There wouldn't even be
any time to react.

The water is rising
so quickly,

you wouldn't even be able
to get out of your home.

NARRATOR:
Buildings are obliterated

by the enormous chunks of ice,

leaving survivors of
the floodwaters homeless.

We completely underestimate
the power of moving ice

and water.

Think of it as a steam train,
completely unstoppable.

NARRATOR: In just 15 minutes,
the town is wiped from the map.

Over the next 100 years, its
ruins are swallowed by forest,

but today,
they are being revealed

once again from the skies.

KOUROUNIS: Even though the town
of Safe Harbor no longer exists,

it's amazing how much history
went through this little

speck that most people have
never even heard of.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the Himalayas' mystery cipher.

It looks like Lego bricks
pressed into the earth.

NARRATOR: May 2020.

A satellite
passing over

the Himalayas spots
something strange hidden

between its peaks.

DENNIE:
When you look at this image,

the first thing your eye is
drawn to is this river kind of

snaking through the middle.

But if you look again,

you see these unusual-looking
structures.

NARDI:
There seems to be hundreds,

and they're lined up along
the water's edge

along the length of the river.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: It almost
looks like a whole bunch of

Lego bricks have been pressed
into the earth.

NARRATOR: The structures sit
in a remote, steep valley,

7,500 feet above sea level.

It would be very treacherous
to access.

You have to wonder what's
motivating people

to go down there.

NARRATOR: Analysts wonder if
the color of the structures

offers a clue.

The significance of red in
Tibet is sacred.

It has to do with power
and authority.

So red is confined to
religious architecture

and symbolism.

NARRATOR: Nearly 80 percent
of the population

follows Buddhism,

a faith that reaches Tibet
in the 7th century CE

and governs almost every
aspect of life here.

Buddhism is
the main faith in Tibet.

So it's possible that these
structures are a sacred

site where Tibetans come to
meditate and seek nirvana.

NARRATOR: But more detailed
analysis of the aerial images

reveals the structures
don't serve a spiritual purpose.

KOUROUNIS:
These aren't buildings at all.

There are thousands of
salt pans,

evidence of an ancient
method of

salt production that's still
going strong today.

NARRATOR: There are 3,000 pans
along the Lancang River,

with each one producing
1,000 pounds of salt a year.

To harvest it,

locals used techniques that
have been perfected for

more than 40 generations,

using briny water stored
in wells along the river.

AUERBACH: The brine is
collected from the wells

and then transported
to these salt pans

spread out,
and then the water evaporates,

leaving the salt behind.

NARRATOR: Salt's ability
to preserve food

and its use in medicines
and religious rituals

made it one of the most valuable
commodities of antiquity.

That meant the structures
in the image were a focal

point for one of
the superhighways

of the ancient world,
the Tea Horse Road.

HUNT: The Tea Horse Road
rivals the Silk Road

in economic importance
and geographic importance.

Salt was part of
the wealth brought

along that, because salt
was good as money.

NARRATOR: Founded in
the sixth century,

this 1,500-mile route guides
caravans of horses on

a perilous six-month journey
through the Himalayas,

linking China
to Tibet and India.

The road is one of
the riskiest trade routes in

the world.

Not only did you have to
negotiate high,

unscalable mountains

and the raging rivers running
through the bottoms of those

steep valleys,

bandits are everywhere waiting
to take your goods from you.

NARRATOR:
The salt produced in Tibet

is traded in both China
and India,

earning vast riches

for those who complete
the dangerous journey.

Such trade routes,
or salt roads, are also vital to

the success of other
great civilizations,

including the Egyptians,
Romans, and Phoenicians.

The trade of salt has been
fundamental throughout the ages.

We've seen it traded
throughout various empires

in our history.

Roman soldiers
were paid in salt.

This was called a salarium.

This is also where we get
our modern word, "salary."

AUERBACH: There have been
periods in history where salt

has traded for nearly twice
its weight in gold.

This is truly
precious stuff.

NARRATOR: In more recent times,
salt produced

along the Tea Horse Road

played a role in one of
the defining moments of

Asian history.

So during the British
occupation of India,

there was the Salt Act of 1882,
and what that meant was salt

could not be bought from anyone

else but the British rulers at
the time.

AUERBACH: To add insult to
injury, the British levied

an extortionate salt tax,

which inflicted
tremendous suffering on

the poorest of Indians.

NARRATOR: The 1882 Act also bans
the production and collection of

salt in the region,

fueling the already growing
bitterness between the Indian

population towards British rule.

In 1930,
this simmering resentment

reaches a boiling point.

Mohandas Gandhi, before we know
him as Mahatma Gandhi, was

really anti-colonial, and he
decides to stage a protest.

What Mohandas Gandhi realized
is that going against

the salt tax was one of
the perfect ways

to break the bonds of
British authority, to protest

their colonial rule, without
resorting to violence.

NARRATOR: On March 12th,
Gandhi gathers his followers

and walks 241 miles toward
the Indian coast.

His plan is to openly defy
the 1882 Act by making salt

from seawater.

Tens of thousands joined
the March along the route,

sparking peaceful protests
throughout the region.

And this started
the ball rolling on

what culminated in Indian
independence from British rule.

NARRATOR: Today,
India is one of the world's

most industrialized nations
and a military superpower.

Back along the winding
Tea Horse Road,

these 1,000-year-old pans
continue to produce

the commodity that helped

the country gain
its independence,

a reminder of the incredible
role salt has played in

the rise and fall of nations,
visible from the skies.

HUNT: Whether as a currency
or as a commodity

or as a culinary spice,

salt again and again touches
upon all of human history.