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(dramatic music)
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(dramatic music)
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(birds calling)
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(dramatic music)
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I'm Christoper Clark, Cambridge historian.
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I was born in Australia.
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For Europeans, that's practically
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the other end of the world.
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But the European continent and its incredible diversity
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always fascinated me.
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Even in the far-off country where I grew up,
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I was always aware that so much of our world
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has its roots in Europe.
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And modern Europe is one of the greatest
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achievements in human history.
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I want to share the grand saga of this continent.
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And in the process, I hope to rediscover
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its wonders for myself.
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(dramatic music)
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Europe is a restless continent,
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a continent that is constantly reinventing itself.
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It began to project its power into the world.
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The expansion of the European frontier
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was one of the most momentous events
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of all human history.
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The world became the theater for the playing out
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of European power struggles.
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But these encounters with other peoples and their cultures
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and commodities, in turn, had a transformative impact
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on Europe itself.
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The history of Europe's expansion is a narrative
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of entrepreneurial spirit, technology,
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curiosity and courage, but also of violence,
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suppression and exploitation.
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Geography has always shaped Europe's opportunities,
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right from the very beginning.
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The continent is flanked to the north, the south
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and the west by seas and oceans.
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68,000 kilometers of coast,
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three times more than the United States.
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Crossing the water was the only way to expand.
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For people desperate to escape overpopulation,
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poverty, war and hunger, there was no other option
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but to leave by sea.
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And that's still true today.
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Europeans have always been driven by a thirst
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for adventure, a lust for power
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and not least, by greed.
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And their geographical destiny
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ensured that they were excellent seafarers.
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The Vikings construct seaworthy ships and set sail.
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1,200 years before our era, they flee the harsh
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and unforgiving climate of the European north,
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constantly seeking new targets for their raids.
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They're talented shipbuilders and navigators,
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but their brutal conquests soon make them
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one of the most feared peoples in Europe.
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(dramatic music)
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It begins on a June night in the year 793,
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with a raid on the island monastery of Lindisfarne,
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off the coast of northern England.
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The monks are peacefully going about their work
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when they notice the ships rapidly approaching the island.
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They sense disaster, the first Viking raid.
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(church bell ringing)
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(dramatic music)
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The Vikings storm the monastery, armed with swords and axes,
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slaughtering the terrified monks.
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It's a bloodbath.
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The raiders plunder the monastery of its gold,
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silver, gemstones and anything else that looks valuable.
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They soon make a name for themselves all over Europe
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with their hit-and-run raids.
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People everywhere utter the pray, Oh, Lord,
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protect us from the wrath of the Northmen.
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(dramatic music)
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But the Vikings push the boundaries
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of their territory further and further.
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Eventually, they become more than just
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the terrifying raiders from the far north.
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They evolve into a well equipped, confident maritime power.
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They discover Iceland and Greenland,
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and they advance as far as Newfoundland,
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where they establish settlements.
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(dramatic music)
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They were the first to land on the coast of North America
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1,000 years ago, but it was in Europe
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that they really left their mark, and their legendary raids
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aren't the only thing they're remembered for.
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Many regions bear the name.
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Normandy in France is named after these Northmen,
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and here, where I'm standing, on the shores
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of the Gulf of Finland, the Northmen were known
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as the Russ, or the Rowers.
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And that's why today this part of Europe is called Russia.
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The Vikings certainly got around in Europe.
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They made themselves at home wherever they went,
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and these erstwhile terrorists from the north
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created what was essentially
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the continent's first economic union.
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Networks and interconnections of this kind
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enhanced the cohesion of Europe as a cultural space.
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Westminster Abbey in London.
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Mont St. Michel in northern France.
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And deep in the south of Italy,
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the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo.
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The Vikings also made their mark
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on the continent's architecture.
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The impressive Norman citadel known as the Castel del Monte
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later used as a palace by the Wornschtalfen dynasty,
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is a case in point.
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European marketplaces become a lot more
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colorful thanks to the Vikings.
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They're able to offer a broader range of merchandise,
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including more exotic items.
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Traders return from long journeys with luxury goods.
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Initially intended for the nobility,
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these products soon begin to find a wider market.
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And spices from India are the best sellers of all.
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The Vikings pave the way, and German merchants
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soon follow in their footsteps,
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creating the Hanseatic League.
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Good business is always the goal.
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Trade missions spring up in the north and east.
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There are up to 300 flourishing Hanseatic cities.
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(dramatic music)
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The trade in furs, pelts, wood, grain and beer
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is highly lucrative.
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The merchants grow immensely wealthy,
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and their influence increases accordingly.
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Hanseatic shipping is now driving the European economy.
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German merchants open a trading post
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in the Flemish city of Bruges in 1235.
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The Venice of the north, Bruges is the hub
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of the Hanseatic League and will grow to become
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the wealthiest and most powerful Hanseatic city.
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The traveling merchants from Germany establish
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growing numbers of local trading posts
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in places like Bergen in Norway,
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where the fish trade is thriving.
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These entrepose provide the Germans with safe quarters
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in foreign countries.
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And by the high Middle Ages, the Hanseatic League
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is a brand worth protecting, with the reputation
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for reliability and fair dealing.
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That's not to say that these early European traders
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didn't have a keen nose for business.
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They expanded their trade routes all the way to Russia.
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Even today, you can feel the spirit of the Hanseatic League
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in cities such as Tallinn in Estonia,
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formerly known as Revala.
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(dramatic music)
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The Hanseatic League is an early form
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of the European Union.
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Trade routes are increasingly tight-knit,
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and a new system of logistics is developing
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in northern Europe.
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The League maintains ties outside of its member countries
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as well, including with the republic of Venice,
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which becomes a vital hub.
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In fact, the flourishing trade and resulting prosperity
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allows the Venetians to expand their fleet.
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They dominate trade throughout the entire Mediterranean
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region, with their hundreds of ship.
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The Venetians' share of influence extends
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from the east coast of the Adriatic Sea
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to Constantinople, Syria and Lebanon,
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and across the Black Sea, all the way to Asia.
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But that's not enough for the Europeans.
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They want to go even further.
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(dramatic music)
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Europeans become engrossed in speculations
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about the world beyond the world they know.
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They know that the Earth is round,
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but they have no idea of what lies beyond the horizon.
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Why did the Renaissance become an era
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of European world exploration?
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Was it intellectual curiosity
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or the competitive ambition of powerful states
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determined to deny each other
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the advantages of new possessions?
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The Spaniards and the Portuguese were the first.
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The Dutch, the British and the French
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followed hard on their heels.
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Whatever drove them to make these perilous journeys,
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one thing is clear.
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The world would never be the same again.
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The race is on to find an ocean route to India.
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Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus is working on a plan.
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He offers it to the Portuguese,
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but they dismiss him as a madman.
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He carefully studies the Book of the Marvels
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of the World by Marco Polo, in which the Italian explorer
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details his adventurous journey to Asia.
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The book is a bestseller in Europe
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and feeds a desire to know unknown worlds.
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(upbeat music)
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Perhaps Columbus can convince the Spanish to fund his plan.
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But that's no easy task.
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He spends more than five years begging Queen Isabella
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of Spain before she finally gives in.
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Columbus is entrusted with the task of finding gold.
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Why? Because the Spanish crown is bankrupt.
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Columbus sets sail in the summer of 1492.
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His crew consists of ruffians, murderers
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and thieves who have nothing to lose,
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not what you might call a seaworthy team.
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He's unable to attract better men.
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The fear of the end of the world is simply too powerful.
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Columbus grossly underestimates the size of the globe.
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He thinks he's on his way to India.
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The Atlantic Ocean seems endless,
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but then, finally, land ho.
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(dramatic music)
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After more than two months of uncertainty,
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it seems that the sailor's prayers have been answered.
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The team of three ships has been on the verge of mutiny
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more than once, but finally, the sailors fish some reeds
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and a few twigs with berries on them out of the sea.
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Harbingers of land.
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The sailors are fascinated with the flora
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and fauna on this unfamiliar shore.
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Christopher Columbus writes in his journal,
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"Upon disembarking we saw a landscape
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"with very green trees, many streams of water
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"and diverse sorts of fruits."
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Columbus is itching to seize this land.
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He has enough witnesses and his crew even includes
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a notary to certify the entire process.
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Of course, the question that has them all
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on the edge of their seats is whether
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or not the land is inhabited.
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After all, part of their mission is to find the natives
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and convert them to Christianity.
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When they do eventually meet the locals,
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both sides are curious.
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Columbus would later report, "I was very attentive
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to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold."
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(dramatic music)
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And he succeeded in the name of God and the Spanish crown.
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The native peoples, on the other hand, are baffled.
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They had never seen white men before.
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Things would ultimately end badly for them,
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but the first encounters remained peaceful.
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While the natives innocently marveled at the new arrivals,
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Columbus and his men already have very clear goals in mind.
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Two worlds collide here.
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The islanders have no concept of ownership.
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They believe the land belongs to everyone.
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The Europeans, on the other hand, want to annex territory,
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convert people to Christianity
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and exploit both the land and its inhabitants.
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This is where the fatal race for resources begins.
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(speaking foreign language)
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Columbus calls the natives Indians.
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He is thoroughly convinced that he is in India.
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He finds the people to be friendly and not at all dangerous.
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He believes they would make excellent slaves.
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But he has actually landed on the Bahamas in the Caribbean.
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And although he doesn't find any gold,
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he is standing on the threshold of an unknown continent.
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The Behaim Erdapfel, the oldest globe
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still in existence today,
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was created in the very year Columbus sailed to the west.
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All the geographical information Europeans were aware of
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at that time is included on this globe.
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But its precision naturally varies
268
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from continent to continent.
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The Atlantic extends all the way from Europe to Asia.
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Both continents are a bit too big,
271
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,070
and there's nothing in between them.
272
00:14:35,070 --> 00:14:36,840
Or is there something?
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A terra incognita.
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00:14:44,260 --> 00:14:46,870
But why did all of this originate from Europe
275
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and not from what was then an already powerful
276
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and technologically advanced China?
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When the third emperor of the Ming dynasty
278
00:14:53,710 --> 00:14:56,560
ascended the throne in 1402, he sent out
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a gigantic fleet to sail to Africa and Arabia,
280
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but when he died, the new emperor received
281
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a memorandum from his advisers.
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They wrote, "Your servants hope that your majesty
283
00:15:07,197 --> 00:15:10,557
"will not permit warlike plans and the gaining of glory
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"by expeditions to distant lands.
285
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"Give your people a period of rest."
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Whereupon the new emperor promptly decreed
287
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that high seas navigation would henceforth
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be punishable by death.
289
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The Chinese leadership simply had
290
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little interest in the outside world.
291
00:15:26,980 --> 00:15:29,240
China sufficed unto itself.
292
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Moreover, they had only one ruler.
293
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,330
Power was focused in one place.
294
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There was no competition,
295
00:15:35,870 --> 00:15:38,450
not at least in the world of power politics.
296
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In Europe, almost as big as China, everything was different.
297
00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,640
It was shared among many sovereign territories,
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with just as many rulers.
299
00:15:46,180 --> 00:15:48,050
And they kept goading each other on,
300
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even as they set their sights
301
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beyond the margins of the continent.
302
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Discoveries and conquests became weapons
303
00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:57,070
in a continental power struggle.
304
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To prevail in the struggle, you had to be open
305
00:16:00,178 --> 00:16:02,528
to new ideas and always ready for the big move.
306
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Hordes of armed men follow Columbus to the New World.
307
00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:09,150
They have nothing to lose in Spain,
308
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and they hope to find a better future across the ocean.
309
00:16:12,410 --> 00:16:15,930
They board ships heading west, and along with their horses,
310
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they advance deep into Central America.
311
00:16:19,468 --> 00:16:22,218
(dramatic music)
312
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This land must harbor incredible treasures, they think.
313
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Legends like El Dorado, a Central American ruler
314
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,620
so rich that he supposedly covers himself in gold dust
315
00:16:33,620 --> 00:16:36,180
every morning and washes it off every evening
316
00:16:36,180 --> 00:16:39,050
in a sacred lake, only served to increase
317
00:16:39,050 --> 00:16:40,870
their thirst for adventure.
318
00:16:40,870 --> 00:16:43,980
But where is El Dorado, and where are his piles
319
00:16:43,980 --> 00:16:45,143
of gold and silver?
320
00:16:46,740 --> 00:16:49,770
The conquest of the New World offers immense opportunities
321
00:16:49,770 --> 00:16:51,780
to the restless, underemployed men
322
00:16:51,780 --> 00:16:53,580
of the Iberian Peninsula.
323
00:16:53,580 --> 00:16:57,130
As conquistadores, they strike deep inroads
324
00:16:57,130 --> 00:16:59,330
into the Americas, driven by greed,
325
00:16:59,330 --> 00:17:02,739
missionary zeal, and the desire for status.
326
00:17:02,739 --> 00:17:05,156
(soft music)
327
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The main competitors of the Spanish are the Portuguese,
328
00:17:15,970 --> 00:17:18,420
an experienced seafaring nation.
329
00:17:18,420 --> 00:17:21,700
They too have an insatiable desire to explore the world
330
00:17:21,700 --> 00:17:23,670
in search of opportunities that will give them
331
00:17:23,670 --> 00:17:25,720
an advantage over their rivals.
332
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,083
Five years after the discovery of America,
333
00:17:28,925 --> 00:17:31,380
explorers Vasco da Gama and Bartolmeu Dias
334
00:17:31,380 --> 00:17:32,740
set off for India.
335
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They round the dreaded Cape of Good Hope
336
00:17:35,020 --> 00:17:37,630
at the southern tip of Africa and become the first
337
00:17:37,630 --> 00:17:41,043
Europeans to actually make it to India via this route.
338
00:17:42,155 --> 00:17:44,905
(dramatic music)
339
00:17:47,790 --> 00:17:50,540
There's an astonishing dynamism to this process
340
00:17:50,540 --> 00:17:52,590
of European expansion.
341
00:17:52,590 --> 00:17:56,040
Competition with the Spanish crown drives the Portuguese
342
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,740
to keep extending the range of their operations.
343
00:17:59,740 --> 00:18:02,120
And the extraordinary success of this small
344
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:04,260
European country suggests that they
345
00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:06,323
must be doing something right.
346
00:18:12,100 --> 00:18:14,510
It was with these ships, caravels,
347
00:18:14,510 --> 00:18:16,950
that the Portuguese first reached Africa,
348
00:18:16,950 --> 00:18:19,230
India, Brazil and Japan.
349
00:18:19,230 --> 00:18:21,710
Without such craft, and their later and larger
350
00:18:21,710 --> 00:18:24,210
follow-up versions, the Europeans wouldn't have
351
00:18:24,210 --> 00:18:26,600
discovered anything, let alone conquered it.
352
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,910
And what lay behind them was nothing less
353
00:18:28,910 --> 00:18:31,030
than cutting-edge technology.
354
00:18:31,030 --> 00:18:34,060
The caravel was the space shuttle of its era.
355
00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:37,920
Very fast, extremely stable, storm-resistant
356
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,220
and able to navigate in shallow coastal waters.
357
00:18:41,220 --> 00:18:43,870
Incidentally, there are virtually no written records
358
00:18:43,870 --> 00:18:46,570
of how this breakthrough invention was achieved.
359
00:18:46,570 --> 00:18:48,510
It was all kept secret.
360
00:18:48,510 --> 00:18:51,130
The shipbuilders passed their knowledge from generation
361
00:18:51,130 --> 00:18:53,830
to generation by word of mouth.
362
00:18:53,830 --> 00:18:57,453
After all, the competition was always watching.
363
00:18:59,330 --> 00:19:02,790
European audiences are enthralled by the explorers'
364
00:19:02,790 --> 00:19:06,260
travel journals and by the stories of their adventures,
365
00:19:06,260 --> 00:19:08,720
which describe breathtaking landscapes
366
00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,693
with lavish natural wonders around every corner.
367
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,720
A life of prosperity and abundance seems possible there.
368
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,370
The natives surely must be doing well for themselves,
369
00:19:18,370 --> 00:19:20,610
if they can afford the kind of spices
370
00:19:20,610 --> 00:19:23,887
only possessed by the wealthiest Europeans.
371
00:19:23,887 --> 00:19:25,640
(dramatic music)
372
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,340
In the race for conquest outside of Europe,
373
00:19:28,340 --> 00:19:31,300
Spain and Portugal remain bitter competitors.
374
00:19:31,300 --> 00:19:35,183
Now the pope plans to step in to arbitrate the conflict.
375
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,920
In 1494, a treaty is negotiated in Spain
376
00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,040
to regulate each country's holdings.
377
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,103
Using a simple method, the world is divided into two halves.
378
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,470
You, servant, take this cord
379
00:19:55,470 --> 00:19:57,123
and stretch it across the map.
380
00:19:58,280 --> 00:19:59,483
Right down the middle.
381
00:20:07,510 --> 00:20:08,513
Like this.
382
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,729
That's how we'll divide the world.
383
00:20:11,729 --> 00:20:13,396
No, that won't do.
384
00:20:15,630 --> 00:20:17,403
You, move more to the right.
385
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,100
Further, further, and you, the other,
386
00:20:23,100 --> 00:20:24,240
further to the left.
387
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:27,473
Good.
388
00:20:29,740 --> 00:20:31,890
That's how the border should be.
389
00:20:31,890 --> 00:20:33,633
Here is my part, and--
390
00:20:33,633 --> 00:20:35,010
No!
391
00:20:35,010 --> 00:20:36,478
No way.
392
00:20:36,478 --> 00:20:39,228
(dramatic music)
393
00:20:41,290 --> 00:20:43,840
The Treaty of Tordesillas is intended
394
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,500
to establish a definitive peace between the two rivals.
395
00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:50,840
America to the west of this randomly fixed line
396
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,520
is promised to the Spanish kings, while all
397
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,330
the territory to the east, meaning Africa and Asia,
398
00:20:57,330 --> 00:20:59,020
goes to the Portuguese.
399
00:20:59,020 --> 00:21:01,070
The treaty doesn't even consider the other
400
00:21:01,070 --> 00:21:04,090
maritime powers such as England and Holland.
401
00:21:04,090 --> 00:21:07,860
The conflict over global wealth now begins in earnest,
402
00:21:07,860 --> 00:21:10,650
and the competition among the European powers
403
00:21:10,650 --> 00:21:12,043
grows even fiercer.
404
00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:15,490
Everything changed.
405
00:21:15,490 --> 00:21:18,000
Europe's view of the world, its prosperity,
406
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,460
its greed for more and more.
407
00:21:20,460 --> 00:21:23,080
The violence of this conflicted continent
408
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,770
was projected outwards onto other peoples,
409
00:21:25,770 --> 00:21:27,910
with horrific consequences.
410
00:21:27,910 --> 00:21:31,260
The explorers were followed by the conquerors.
411
00:21:31,260 --> 00:21:34,750
They set out into a strange and unfamiliar world,
412
00:21:34,750 --> 00:21:37,570
lured by legendary treasures and adventure.
413
00:21:37,570 --> 00:21:39,550
Mexico is a good example.
414
00:21:39,550 --> 00:21:43,520
Hernan Cortes brings an army with him right from the start.
415
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,240
The conquerors view this new territory as their property,
416
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:47,920
as though no one lives here.
417
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,630
But of course there are already people and cultures
418
00:21:50,630 --> 00:21:52,460
inhabiting these territories.
419
00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:54,903
This is Europe's original sin.
420
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,130
By the time the Europeans arrive,
421
00:21:58,130 --> 00:22:01,780
Mexico is the center of a highly advanced civilization.
422
00:22:01,780 --> 00:22:03,800
But the conquerors are unimpressed.
423
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,700
Their goal is to strip the country's assets
424
00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:08,820
and Christianize the population.
425
00:22:08,820 --> 00:22:11,530
We used to admire these fearless adventurers.
426
00:22:11,530 --> 00:22:14,130
We'd forgotten what misery they inflicted
427
00:22:14,130 --> 00:22:15,830
on so much of humanity.
428
00:22:15,830 --> 00:22:19,530
Gold is abundantly available on this continent.
429
00:22:19,530 --> 00:22:22,810
It's a highly visible feature of indigenous culture.
430
00:22:22,810 --> 00:22:25,380
And the Mexicans who use and display it
431
00:22:25,380 --> 00:22:27,960
have no idea of the lust this treasure
432
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,106
excites in the European invaders.
433
00:22:30,106 --> 00:22:32,856
(dramatic music)
434
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,940
The war against the native peoples begins.
435
00:22:37,940 --> 00:22:40,430
It's arrows versus firearms,
436
00:22:40,430 --> 00:22:43,820
entire peoples are enslaved, killed off
437
00:22:43,820 --> 00:22:46,850
or perish from disease and malnutrition.
438
00:22:46,850 --> 00:22:48,890
Their culture is destroyed.
439
00:22:48,890 --> 00:22:50,940
Their treasures are carted off to Europe.
440
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,210
What's more, the Europeans pit the continent's
441
00:22:56,210 --> 00:22:58,750
various ethnic groups against each other.
442
00:22:58,750 --> 00:23:02,800
The Aztec temple in modern-day Mexico City is leveled.
443
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,380
On its foundations, the Spaniards construct
444
00:23:05,380 --> 00:23:07,610
a Christian cathedral.
445
00:23:07,610 --> 00:23:11,100
Europeans destroy a powerful empire
446
00:23:11,100 --> 00:23:13,590
and build their own on its ruins.
447
00:23:13,590 --> 00:23:16,340
(dramatic music)
448
00:23:28,784 --> 00:23:30,680
It was a potent mix.
449
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,950
In South America, Western European imperialism
450
00:23:33,950 --> 00:23:36,050
blended with religious zeal.
451
00:23:36,050 --> 00:23:39,590
And so the new lords set the stamp of their authority
452
00:23:39,590 --> 00:23:41,980
on the lands and people they captured.
453
00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:44,310
Many of the cities on the conquered continent
454
00:23:44,310 --> 00:23:46,590
still bear the signs of it today.
455
00:23:46,590 --> 00:23:48,810
Their models were palatial monasteries,
456
00:23:48,810 --> 00:23:51,000
such as the Mosteiro Jeronimos,
457
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,980
or Jeronimos Monastery, in Lisbon.
458
00:23:53,980 --> 00:23:56,950
Imagine the effect of such prideful,
459
00:23:56,950 --> 00:24:00,623
elaborately decorated facades on the indigenous peoples.
460
00:24:01,990 --> 00:24:04,630
The Europeans profit not only from the continent's
461
00:24:04,630 --> 00:24:07,450
gold and silver, but also from the natives'
462
00:24:07,450 --> 00:24:10,240
agricultural and medical knowledge.
463
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,870
In today's globalized world, it's virtually impossible
464
00:24:12,870 --> 00:24:16,670
to imagine how deep the impact of these encounters was.
465
00:24:16,670 --> 00:24:20,400
There's profound change on both sides of the Atlantic.
466
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,890
Foods that had never been seen in Europe before
467
00:24:22,890 --> 00:24:25,270
revolutionize the European diet.
468
00:24:25,270 --> 00:24:29,830
Corn, tobacco, cotton, potatoes, coffee and chocolate
469
00:24:29,830 --> 00:24:32,673
made their way into Europeans' shopping baskets.
470
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,580
After the introduction of the South American potato,
471
00:24:41,580 --> 00:24:44,570
Europeans finally have enough to eat.
472
00:24:44,570 --> 00:24:46,610
Soon, the population explodes.
473
00:24:46,610 --> 00:24:49,910
You might even say that the American potato helped to lay
474
00:24:49,910 --> 00:24:53,420
the foundation for Europe's rise as a global power.
475
00:24:53,420 --> 00:24:55,020
It fed the masses.
476
00:24:55,020 --> 00:24:57,770
(dramatic music)
477
00:25:01,180 --> 00:25:04,670
And in return, America gets grain crops,
478
00:25:04,670 --> 00:25:08,460
cabbage, wine grapes, and most importantly,
479
00:25:08,460 --> 00:25:11,440
domesticated European animals.
480
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,160
The settlers now arriving in America
481
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,710
bring pigs, cows and horses.
482
00:25:15,710 --> 00:25:19,510
Life completely changes within just a few generations.
483
00:25:19,510 --> 00:25:22,170
The surviving native peoples gradually establish
484
00:25:22,170 --> 00:25:25,110
permanent settlements and acquire private property,
485
00:25:25,110 --> 00:25:26,680
just like the Europeans.
486
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,980
America's prairies become agrarian landscapes.
487
00:25:29,980 --> 00:25:32,703
A decisive turning point in the continent's ecology.
488
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,023
(upbeat music)
489
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,240
But even a peaceful encounter can
490
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,100
have terrible consequences.
491
00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:46,780
The conquerors bring more than just
492
00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:48,870
their religious faith to the New World.
493
00:25:48,870 --> 00:25:51,760
They also bring pathogens that spell doom
494
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:53,640
for many native peoples.
495
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,580
Historical records suggest that within a short time,
496
00:25:56,580 --> 00:26:00,250
as many as 80% of the native population died
497
00:26:00,250 --> 00:26:04,198
of smallpox, plague, typhoid fever and influenza.
498
00:26:04,198 --> 00:26:06,948
(dramatic music)
499
00:26:21,510 --> 00:26:24,190
We can trace the story of this dark chapter
500
00:26:24,190 --> 00:26:25,570
of the colonial era
501
00:26:25,570 --> 00:26:28,780
at the Sugar and Slavery Museum in London.
502
00:26:28,780 --> 00:26:30,380
I've come here to find out more.
503
00:26:31,486 --> 00:26:33,903
(soft music)
504
00:26:36,460 --> 00:26:39,360
We're in the Docklands in the heart of London.
505
00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:42,413
In the 18th century, this was where they traded in sugar.
506
00:26:44,850 --> 00:26:48,170
It's often demonized today, but in the 18th century,
507
00:26:48,170 --> 00:26:49,630
it was idolized.
508
00:26:49,630 --> 00:26:52,140
Sugar was at the center of European dreams
509
00:26:52,140 --> 00:26:53,780
of power and wealth.
510
00:26:53,780 --> 00:26:56,880
The desire for sweetness is deeply embedded
511
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,430
in the genetic makeup of human beings.
512
00:26:59,430 --> 00:27:02,690
The demand for colonial sugar was insatiable.
513
00:27:02,690 --> 00:27:06,430
In the years between 1770 and 1775,
514
00:27:06,430 --> 00:27:09,730
sugar consumption in England rose eight-fold.
515
00:27:09,730 --> 00:27:12,720
No other commodity, not even gold and silver,
516
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,650
could match it for importance.
517
00:27:14,650 --> 00:27:17,360
No other commodity so drastically exemplifies
518
00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:20,640
the destructive impact of European consumption.
519
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,550
And no other product is so closely intertwined
520
00:27:23,550 --> 00:27:27,060
with the exploitation of Central and South America,
521
00:27:27,060 --> 00:27:29,860
and the degradation of the human beings who lived there.
522
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,773
But exactly how did this system of exploitation operate?
523
00:27:39,350 --> 00:27:42,410
The Caribbean became the object of intense competition
524
00:27:42,410 --> 00:27:44,480
among the European colonial powers.
525
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,130
Alongside Spain, France, the Netherlands and England
526
00:27:48,130 --> 00:27:50,070
also became increasingly hungry
527
00:27:50,070 --> 00:27:52,010
for goods from the Caribbean.
528
00:27:52,010 --> 00:27:54,890
In the process, human beings themselves
529
00:27:54,890 --> 00:27:57,710
were degraded to the status of commodities.
530
00:27:57,710 --> 00:28:00,130
The more colonies the Europeans acquired,
531
00:28:00,130 --> 00:28:01,810
the more workers they needed.
532
00:28:01,810 --> 00:28:03,990
Networks of African traders provided
533
00:28:03,990 --> 00:28:05,720
the Europeans with slaves.
534
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,310
These were shipped to North America and the Caribbean
535
00:28:08,310 --> 00:28:10,670
to be exploited on sugar plantations.
536
00:28:10,670 --> 00:28:13,810
Ships transported the products of the slave system
537
00:28:13,810 --> 00:28:17,200
to an insatiable England, and the next slave raid
538
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:19,120
in Africa followed soon after.
539
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,420
This triangular trade became the most lucrative branch
540
00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:26,220
of maritime commerce, until in 1807,
541
00:28:26,220 --> 00:28:29,383
a law put an end to the slave trade in England.
542
00:28:31,490 --> 00:28:34,990
The Europeans' contempt for the black population
543
00:28:34,990 --> 00:28:36,750
is a decisive factor here.
544
00:28:36,750 --> 00:28:40,490
They're treated as goods, not as people with rights,
545
00:28:40,490 --> 00:28:43,700
and the slave trade is shockingly lucrative.
546
00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:46,770
In collusion with tribal chiefs and Arab slave traders,
547
00:28:46,770 --> 00:28:49,520
the Europeans capture the natives and transport them
548
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,330
to harbor towns, where they're shipped to the colonies
549
00:28:52,330 --> 00:28:55,686
in slave galleys in abhorrent conditions.
550
00:28:55,686 --> 00:28:58,436
(dramatic music)
551
00:29:00,460 --> 00:29:04,890
The atrocity of slavery would make Europe rich and powerful.
552
00:29:04,890 --> 00:29:07,220
This continent's ascendancy was secured
553
00:29:07,220 --> 00:29:10,013
at an immense cost in human suffering.
554
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,690
There are registers in which the slaves
555
00:29:20,690 --> 00:29:22,780
were listed as if they were cattle.
556
00:29:22,780 --> 00:29:25,320
On this list here, we see on the left-hand side
557
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,710
the names of each of the slaves, then their ages,
558
00:29:28,710 --> 00:29:30,850
here the price that was paid for them,
559
00:29:30,850 --> 00:29:34,630
and on the right hand remarks on each individual.
560
00:29:34,630 --> 00:29:37,320
That he's sickly, that he is a good Negro,
561
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,120
a good hand, that he is a runaway.
562
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,450
That he's slightly consumptive.
563
00:29:43,450 --> 00:29:46,223
Human beings are treated as commodities.
564
00:29:48,090 --> 00:29:51,590
There are approximately 40,000 slave transports
565
00:29:51,590 --> 00:29:53,370
from Africa to America.
566
00:29:53,370 --> 00:29:56,230
12 million people are shipped on slave galleys,
567
00:29:56,230 --> 00:29:58,440
but only around 10 million of them
568
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,870
are still alive when they arrive.
569
00:30:00,870 --> 00:30:03,210
They are processed through the slave markets
570
00:30:03,210 --> 00:30:05,000
and spend the rest of their lives
571
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,900
on sugar plantations, cotton fields
572
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:09,743
or in the mines of South America.
573
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,420
The goods produced in the New World
574
00:30:14,420 --> 00:30:16,080
are then sent back to Europe,
575
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,406
a profitable cycle for white Europeans.
576
00:30:19,406 --> 00:30:22,156
(dramatic music)
577
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,260
Spain and Portugal proudly show off their new wealth.
578
00:30:27,260 --> 00:30:29,550
Cities like Seville and Lisbon
579
00:30:29,550 --> 00:30:32,250
grow into radiant, bustling metropolises,
580
00:30:32,250 --> 00:30:34,440
sparking envy among their neighbors.
581
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,230
Europe is dominated by relentless competition
582
00:30:37,230 --> 00:30:38,540
for profit and power.
583
00:30:38,540 --> 00:30:40,270
Other countries shoulder their way
584
00:30:40,270 --> 00:30:41,763
into the global marketplace.
585
00:30:43,070 --> 00:30:45,250
The Dutch are particularly active here
586
00:30:45,250 --> 00:30:47,370
as merchants and as pirates.
587
00:30:47,370 --> 00:30:50,210
With its powerful fleet and modern financial system,
588
00:30:50,210 --> 00:30:54,220
this tiny republic keeps its European neighbors on edge.
589
00:30:54,220 --> 00:30:57,130
The merchants' impressive homes still bear witness
590
00:30:57,130 --> 00:31:00,123
to that golden era in the Netherlands' history.
591
00:31:01,055 --> 00:31:03,805
(dramatic music)
592
00:31:05,660 --> 00:31:08,120
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is established
593
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,240
in the early 17th century.
594
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,760
It's a meeting spot for people who want to invest
595
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,230
their money in securities, as well as for those
596
00:31:15,230 --> 00:31:18,240
who hope to turn their securities into money.
597
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,210
In that sense, this stock market
598
00:31:20,210 --> 00:31:23,603
is an early form of exchange, or trading, floor.
599
00:31:26,370 --> 00:31:28,310
And like today's stock markets,
600
00:31:28,310 --> 00:31:30,900
this one had its bubbles and busts.
601
00:31:30,900 --> 00:31:33,480
This was the era of the tulip craze.
602
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,320
These beautiful flowers had become a valuable commodity
603
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,410
hotly traded on the stock exchange,
604
00:31:38,410 --> 00:31:41,770
even while the tulip bulbs were still in the ground.
605
00:31:41,770 --> 00:31:46,310
In the winter of 1636, the tulip bubble burst.
606
00:31:46,310 --> 00:31:50,200
99 bulbs were auctioned off for 90,000 guilders,
607
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,360
about 900,000 euros in today's money.
608
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,010
The buyers were speculating that prices would continue
609
00:31:56,010 --> 00:31:59,160
to rise and they would be able to resell the bulbs
610
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,300
at a profit, but it was not to be.
611
00:32:01,300 --> 00:32:04,510
People suddenly lost interest in the overpriced flowers,
612
00:32:04,510 --> 00:32:06,753
and the speculators were left high and dry.
613
00:32:08,740 --> 00:32:11,010
The wealthy merchants invest in art,
614
00:32:11,010 --> 00:32:13,680
and the revenues from trade fuel the rise
615
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,020
of the Dutch school whose artists,
616
00:32:16,020 --> 00:32:17,910
Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals,
617
00:32:17,910 --> 00:32:21,860
still adorn the museums, reminding us of the opulence
618
00:32:21,860 --> 00:32:24,443
and sophistication of the Dutch Golden Age.
619
00:32:25,340 --> 00:32:28,030
(dramatic music)
620
00:32:28,030 --> 00:32:30,510
Without the profits from the slave trade,
621
00:32:30,510 --> 00:32:31,893
none of this would be here.
622
00:32:33,238 --> 00:32:35,405
(popping)
623
00:32:42,610 --> 00:32:44,530
For the Spanish and the Portuguese,
624
00:32:44,530 --> 00:32:46,340
converting the heathen to Christianity
625
00:32:46,340 --> 00:32:49,880
was still an important part of the motivational mix,
626
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,130
but in the 17th century, Protestants,
627
00:32:52,130 --> 00:32:53,600
especially in the Netherlands,
628
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,160
were quite literally at the helm.
629
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,770
As seafarers and cartographers, they had plenty
630
00:32:58,770 --> 00:33:01,100
of experience, and now they founded
631
00:33:01,100 --> 00:33:04,070
the world's first multinational concerns,
632
00:33:04,070 --> 00:33:06,740
corporations with a global remit
633
00:33:06,740 --> 00:33:09,150
like the Dutch East India Company.
634
00:33:09,150 --> 00:33:13,060
By this means they secured a monopoly on trade with Asia.
635
00:33:13,060 --> 00:33:17,290
At times, they had nearly 5,000 ships under sail.
636
00:33:17,290 --> 00:33:20,070
Hardly surprising then that the merchants of Amsterdam,
637
00:33:20,070 --> 00:33:23,490
as depicted by Rembrandt, became immensely wealthy
638
00:33:23,490 --> 00:33:25,773
and built these wonderful palaces.
639
00:33:30,410 --> 00:33:33,540
No one can deny that this European city
640
00:33:33,540 --> 00:33:35,890
has a harmonious beauty about it.
641
00:33:35,890 --> 00:33:37,620
But there's a dark side.
642
00:33:37,620 --> 00:33:40,390
The lion's share of this wealth was acquired
643
00:33:40,390 --> 00:33:42,460
through the exploitation of peoples
644
00:33:42,460 --> 00:33:44,460
and of the colonies where they lived.
645
00:33:44,460 --> 00:33:47,543
It's an unsettling legacy that's still with us today.
646
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,900
The odd pediment above a front door in Amsterdam
647
00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:55,470
still tells the tale.
648
00:33:55,470 --> 00:33:57,600
Here, for example, this house belonged
649
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,390
to the famous admiral Cornelis Tromp.
650
00:34:00,390 --> 00:34:03,350
He was a 17th-century seafaring hero
651
00:34:03,350 --> 00:34:06,320
and master of many slaves here in Amsterdam.
652
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,430
And here's a little black boy that the admiral
653
00:34:08,430 --> 00:34:10,680
bought for perhaps a few guilders.
654
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:12,930
The sense of a God-given superiority
655
00:34:12,930 --> 00:34:15,570
over other humans is breathtaking.
656
00:34:15,570 --> 00:34:17,470
And Europeans have not found it easy to look
657
00:34:17,470 --> 00:34:19,500
this part of their history in the eye.
658
00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:21,674
It was only a few years ago that the Dutch queen
659
00:34:21,674 --> 00:34:23,940
officially acknowledged the suffering
660
00:34:23,940 --> 00:34:28,940
inflicted on 550,000 slaves in the name of the crown.
661
00:34:30,540 --> 00:34:33,920
And this dark past is still alive in the present,
662
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:35,603
even on the royal carriage.
663
00:34:37,350 --> 00:34:40,840
But in a Europe that prided itself on its civilization
664
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,450
and Christian values, were no dissenting voices raised
665
00:34:44,450 --> 00:34:46,360
against this appalling injustice?
666
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,980
Well yes there were, and one of these voices
667
00:34:48,980 --> 00:34:52,100
belonged to Bishop Bartolome de las Casas,
668
00:34:52,100 --> 00:34:54,560
who in the 16th century took up the cause
669
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,570
of the enslaved native Indians,
670
00:34:56,570 --> 00:34:58,940
though he only later acknowledged the rights
671
00:34:58,940 --> 00:35:00,517
of African slaves.
672
00:35:00,517 --> 00:35:03,507
"It was always unjust to catch them,
673
00:35:03,507 --> 00:35:06,960
"and it was tyranny to enslave them," he wrote.
674
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,860
This was probably the first European commitment
675
00:35:09,860 --> 00:35:11,930
to universal human rights.
676
00:35:11,930 --> 00:35:15,480
But it was not enforced until 200 years later,
677
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,050
and then, only temporarily.
678
00:35:18,050 --> 00:35:19,660
(dramatic music)
679
00:35:19,660 --> 00:35:22,710
England would soon overtake the Netherlands
680
00:35:22,710 --> 00:35:24,890
as the leading colonial power.
681
00:35:24,890 --> 00:35:27,290
London become the foremost hub
682
00:35:27,290 --> 00:35:29,813
and driver of globalization.
683
00:35:29,813 --> 00:35:32,563
(dramatic music)
684
00:35:41,351 --> 00:35:43,871
♪ Rule, Britannia ♪
685
00:35:43,871 --> 00:35:46,620
♪ Britannia, rule the waves ♪
686
00:35:46,620 --> 00:35:49,870
It's a fantastically catchy song that still stirs
687
00:35:49,870 --> 00:35:51,770
the blood of patriots here in England.
688
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,540
The ascendancy of modern Britain began with a victory
689
00:36:00,540 --> 00:36:04,490
over the Spanish Armada 450 years ago.
690
00:36:04,490 --> 00:36:07,690
With a modern naval fleet, Britain did indeed
691
00:36:07,690 --> 00:36:09,330
soon rule the waves.
692
00:36:09,330 --> 00:36:12,495
Bankrolled by the raids led by legendary privateers
693
00:36:12,495 --> 00:36:14,610
like Sir Francis Drake.
694
00:36:14,610 --> 00:36:17,470
Elizabeth the First was the self-confident queen
695
00:36:17,470 --> 00:36:20,330
who led her country out of the shadow of Spain
696
00:36:20,330 --> 00:36:24,680
and Portugal, allowing it to become a global player.
697
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,030
In a famous portrait of the queen, we see
698
00:36:27,030 --> 00:36:30,940
the victorious fleet and the sinking armada.
699
00:36:30,940 --> 00:36:34,240
Elizabeth the First as a goddess of war.
700
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,810
And here in Westminster Abbey, she rests in peace.
701
00:36:37,810 --> 00:36:40,740
The Virgin Queen who devoted herself entirely
702
00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:43,663
to her country and opened the world to England.
703
00:36:45,177 --> 00:36:47,100
(dramatic music)
704
00:36:47,100 --> 00:36:49,910
Over the centuries, Britain proves its mettle
705
00:36:49,910 --> 00:36:52,660
as a naval and colonial power.
706
00:36:52,660 --> 00:36:56,510
By 1913, the British Empire encompasses about a quarter
707
00:36:56,510 --> 00:36:59,090
of the world's population and about a quarter
708
00:36:59,090 --> 00:37:00,703
of its total land area.
709
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,840
The British navigator Captain James Cook
710
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,850
is in the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus,
711
00:37:08,850 --> 00:37:11,290
but he has an additional secret task,
712
00:37:11,290 --> 00:37:14,140
to search for new territories in the South Seas.
713
00:37:14,140 --> 00:37:16,340
There is already abundant evidence of another
714
00:37:16,340 --> 00:37:20,580
Southern continent, terra Australus incognita.
715
00:37:20,580 --> 00:37:21,743
My home country.
716
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,610
On the 29th of April, 1770, James Cook drops anchor
717
00:37:28,610 --> 00:37:30,310
off the coast of Australia.
718
00:37:30,310 --> 00:37:32,000
He had set sail from England towards
719
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,590
the South Pacific a year earlier.
720
00:37:34,590 --> 00:37:36,858
Now, Cook will be the first Englishman to set foot
721
00:37:36,858 --> 00:37:41,003
on Australian soil, a triumph for the ambitious explorer.
722
00:37:43,710 --> 00:37:47,200
He goes ashore at a place he will dub Botany Bay
723
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,210
because the botanists who travel with him
724
00:37:49,210 --> 00:37:51,560
collect hundreds of plants here that no one
725
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,940
in Europe has ever seen before.
726
00:37:53,940 --> 00:37:56,080
Cook claims the east coast of the country
727
00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:00,085
for the British Empire and names the region New South Wales.
728
00:38:00,085 --> 00:38:03,430
(waves crashing)
729
00:38:03,430 --> 00:38:05,580
But the country Cook has discovered
730
00:38:05,580 --> 00:38:08,120
for England is not uninhabited.
731
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:09,920
The Aborigines arrive on the continent
732
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,020
more than 60,000 years before Cook.
733
00:38:13,020 --> 00:38:15,620
According to their mythology, they've been entrusted
734
00:38:15,620 --> 00:38:17,890
with the land by a higher power.
735
00:38:17,890 --> 00:38:21,240
They populate the country as hunters and gatherers,
736
00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:24,340
and now come the Europeans, who seize the land
737
00:38:24,340 --> 00:38:25,940
and murder many of their people.
738
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,757
(Aboriginal music)
739
00:38:33,510 --> 00:38:35,360
There are many places in Australia
740
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,420
where you can find the petroglyphs of the Aborigines.
741
00:38:38,420 --> 00:38:41,740
Some of this artwork is up to 20,000 years old.
742
00:38:41,740 --> 00:38:44,940
It's the spiritual architecture of the continent.
743
00:38:44,940 --> 00:38:47,430
The images communicate reflections on
744
00:38:47,430 --> 00:38:49,860
the natural environment, but there are also
745
00:38:49,860 --> 00:38:51,940
depictions of humans.
746
00:38:51,940 --> 00:38:54,950
The white invaders adopt a threatening,
747
00:38:54,950 --> 00:38:57,756
demanding attitude, and their weapons
748
00:38:57,756 --> 00:38:59,723
are painted blood red.
749
00:39:01,380 --> 00:39:04,820
But something else begins with Cook's arrival too.
750
00:39:04,820 --> 00:39:09,600
Systematic research into the continent's flora and fauna.
751
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,017
(soft music)
752
00:39:13,740 --> 00:39:16,350
The sailors who undertook these epic journeys
753
00:39:16,350 --> 00:39:19,510
were always joined by a complement of scientists.
754
00:39:19,510 --> 00:39:23,770
Astronomers, botanists, experimental gentlemen,
755
00:39:23,770 --> 00:39:25,993
as they were known here on the Endeavor.
756
00:39:27,090 --> 00:39:29,980
In the 18th century European world empires,
757
00:39:29,980 --> 00:39:33,720
science and power entered into an intimate relationship.
758
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:36,090
Gathering knowledge about the world,
759
00:39:36,090 --> 00:39:38,120
extending it, structuring it,
760
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,963
was essential to the wielding of imperial power.
761
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,900
The Endeavor was a British ship, and its captain
762
00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:46,490
was a Yorkshireman from Whitby,
763
00:39:46,490 --> 00:39:49,700
but not everybody serving on this crew was British.
764
00:39:49,700 --> 00:39:52,500
The experimental gentlemen, the experts and scientists
765
00:39:52,500 --> 00:39:55,540
who joined this team, for the journey of exploration
766
00:39:55,540 --> 00:39:57,840
to New Zealand and Australia included
767
00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,400
the Finnish botanist Herman Sporing
768
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,080
and his Swedish colleague Daniel Solander.
769
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,140
And on a later journey, with Cook,
770
00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:08,700
the great German natural scientist Georg Forster
771
00:40:08,700 --> 00:40:10,350
joined the crew.
772
00:40:10,350 --> 00:40:12,730
These journeys of discovery
773
00:40:12,730 --> 00:40:15,593
were a genuinely European phenomenon.
774
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,420
At this point, no one is planning to colonize the country.
775
00:40:21,420 --> 00:40:24,620
It is not until 18 years later that the first
776
00:40:24,620 --> 00:40:27,733
British fleets lands with a very different purpose.
777
00:40:28,576 --> 00:40:30,960
(dramatic music)
778
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,950
Initially, Australia serves as a penitentiary
779
00:40:33,950 --> 00:40:36,410
for convicted criminals from England.
780
00:40:36,410 --> 00:40:40,470
Enormous prison colonies, like Port Arthur on Tasmania,
781
00:40:40,470 --> 00:40:41,550
are the result.
782
00:40:41,550 --> 00:40:43,760
It's believed to have been the worst jail
783
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,300
in the entire British Empire.
784
00:40:46,300 --> 00:40:50,020
More than 12,000 prisoners endure hell on Earth
785
00:40:50,020 --> 00:40:51,573
in this remote location.
786
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,370
By the 19th century, the English have spread out
787
00:40:57,370 --> 00:41:00,950
to every corner of the world, America, Asia,
788
00:41:00,950 --> 00:41:03,600
India, Oceania, Australia.
789
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,010
English is becoming the new global language
790
00:41:06,010 --> 00:41:07,760
alongside Spanish.
791
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:09,520
But the British soon run into trouble
792
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,380
with their increasingly wealthy and self-confident
793
00:41:12,380 --> 00:41:14,300
white settler colonies.
794
00:41:14,300 --> 00:41:18,010
In 1773, the conflict between the British motherland
795
00:41:18,010 --> 00:41:21,680
and the American colonists escalates in Boston.
796
00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,680
13 colonies revolt, and their revolution
797
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:28,455
eventually creates the United States of America.
798
00:41:28,455 --> 00:41:31,205
(dramatic music)
799
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,280
British subjects become American patriots.
800
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,690
And the cause of the frustration in Boston
801
00:41:39,690 --> 00:41:43,720
is the exorbitant tax on British Indian tea.
802
00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:46,810
The furious Bostonians board the British ships
803
00:41:46,810 --> 00:41:50,160
and dump an entire shipment of tea into the harbor.
804
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,363
It's the first step towards American independence.
805
00:41:54,293 --> 00:41:56,876
(upbeat music)
806
00:42:00,930 --> 00:42:04,400
Even today, there are still regular reenactments
807
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:06,389
of this event in Boston.
808
00:42:06,389 --> 00:42:08,639
(cheering)
809
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:15,420
What begins as a tax riot soon expands
810
00:42:15,420 --> 00:42:17,380
into a movement for independence.
811
00:42:17,380 --> 00:42:19,530
The motto of the British colonies in America
812
00:42:19,530 --> 00:42:22,460
is Give me liberty, or give me death.
813
00:42:22,460 --> 00:42:25,960
The Revolutionary War begins in 1775.
814
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,130
Englishmen, Germans and Frenchmen,
815
00:42:28,130 --> 00:42:30,870
supported by their respective indigenous allies,
816
00:42:30,870 --> 00:42:33,993
are engaged in a struggle for the future of a continent.
817
00:42:35,705 --> 00:42:38,455
(cannons firing)
818
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,160
Ultimately, the colonists win their freedom
819
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,000
from their colonial rulers with a decisive victory
820
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,453
at the Battle of Yorktown.
821
00:42:48,869 --> 00:42:50,570
(guns firing)
822
00:42:50,570 --> 00:42:53,110
The Declaration of Independence is followed
823
00:42:53,110 --> 00:42:55,680
by the adoption of the American Constitution,
824
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:58,590
but like many constitutions, this one is not
825
00:42:58,590 --> 00:43:01,203
an entirely faithful mirror of reality.
826
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:05,540
Notwithstanding the colonies' dependence on slavery,
827
00:43:05,540 --> 00:43:09,383
it solemnly states that all men are created equal.
828
00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:14,110
For all these dissonances, the American Constitution
829
00:43:14,110 --> 00:43:16,930
was an important step towards the emergence
830
00:43:16,930 --> 00:43:18,848
of modern democracy, not just in America
831
00:43:18,848 --> 00:43:21,373
but in the Old World as well.
832
00:43:23,020 --> 00:43:25,850
Where there is liberty, there is my country.
833
00:43:25,850 --> 00:43:28,830
In the decades that followed, millions of emigrants
834
00:43:28,830 --> 00:43:32,270
would take this motto to heart and pack their bags.
835
00:43:32,270 --> 00:43:34,230
They leave Europe behind them.
836
00:43:34,230 --> 00:43:36,290
Whole villages emigrate together.
837
00:43:36,290 --> 00:43:38,510
They are fleeing poverty and hunger
838
00:43:38,510 --> 00:43:40,013
in search of a better life.
839
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,490
Today, we might call them economic refugees.
840
00:43:47,490 --> 00:43:50,100
They view America as the land of prosperity
841
00:43:50,100 --> 00:43:51,870
and self-determination.
842
00:43:51,870 --> 00:43:56,100
No other continent has exported as many people as Europe,
843
00:43:56,100 --> 00:43:58,206
even into the 20th century.
844
00:43:58,206 --> 00:44:00,623
(soft music)
845
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:13,750
Today, nearly 50 million Americans
846
00:44:13,750 --> 00:44:16,020
claim that they have German ancestors.
847
00:44:16,020 --> 00:44:18,630
And many others have French, British, Irish,
848
00:44:18,630 --> 00:44:20,570
Spanish or Italian roots.
849
00:44:20,570 --> 00:44:23,990
In the 20th century, America becomes a safe haven
850
00:44:23,990 --> 00:44:26,640
for Europeans seeking a better life.
851
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,983
It's impossible to imagine modern America without them.
852
00:44:32,121 --> 00:44:34,538
(soft music)
853
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,730
In the 19th century, the United Kingdom is the largest
854
00:44:43,730 --> 00:44:45,760
colonial power in history.
855
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,630
But the other powers don't want to be left empty-handed,
856
00:44:48,630 --> 00:44:50,563
and there's still some land to be had.
857
00:44:51,676 --> 00:44:54,843
(marching band music)
858
00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:10,920
Who would win the battle for the spoils
859
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:12,460
of imperial conquest?
860
00:45:12,460 --> 00:45:15,050
In the 19th century, the European colonial powers
861
00:45:15,050 --> 00:45:17,030
entered into a bitter competition.
862
00:45:17,030 --> 00:45:18,750
The scramble for Africa.
863
00:45:18,750 --> 00:45:20,840
Colonialism was a fetish.
864
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,710
It had less to do with profits than with prestige
865
00:45:23,710 --> 00:45:25,550
and fantasies of power.
866
00:45:25,550 --> 00:45:27,180
To possess and develop colonies
867
00:45:27,180 --> 00:45:29,680
was considered a sign of modernity.
868
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,140
And here too, everything revolved around competition,
869
00:45:33,140 --> 00:45:35,330
that crucial motor of European history
870
00:45:35,330 --> 00:45:39,020
which in this form existed on no other continent.
871
00:45:39,020 --> 00:45:40,600
The British were at the height of their
872
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:42,990
international power, and they forced their neighbors
873
00:45:42,990 --> 00:45:44,960
to the margins of world events.
874
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,650
This fullness of power was personified in Queen Victoria,
875
00:45:48,650 --> 00:45:51,327
who was also empress of India and once said,
876
00:45:51,327 --> 00:45:54,327
"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.
877
00:45:54,327 --> 00:45:55,960
"They do not exist."
878
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,800
The British were now stronger than they ever would be again,
879
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:01,210
but like all great powers, they were surrounded
880
00:46:01,210 --> 00:46:03,090
by rivals and enemies.
881
00:46:03,090 --> 00:46:04,910
They were not the only players contending
882
00:46:04,910 --> 00:46:06,410
for African prizes.
883
00:46:06,410 --> 00:46:10,330
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal,
884
00:46:10,330 --> 00:46:13,180
all of them wanted a piece of the great pie,
885
00:46:13,180 --> 00:46:14,513
a piece of Africa.
886
00:46:14,513 --> 00:46:17,310
(soft music)
887
00:46:17,310 --> 00:46:19,890
The great powers meet in Berlin.
888
00:46:19,890 --> 00:46:23,820
A continent is divided up and portioned out.
889
00:46:23,820 --> 00:46:27,123
It's the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884.
890
00:46:28,150 --> 00:46:30,480
The German chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck,
891
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:32,700
has invited representatives to the capital
892
00:46:32,700 --> 00:46:35,150
of the German Empire in an effort to prevent
893
00:46:35,150 --> 00:46:39,020
a looming conflict between the African colonial powers.
894
00:46:39,020 --> 00:46:42,030
14 countries are competing for the last
895
00:46:42,030 --> 00:46:43,353
remaining territories.
896
00:46:46,030 --> 00:46:48,697
Ultimately, it's the Belgian king who emerges
897
00:46:48,697 --> 00:46:50,050
as the big winner.
898
00:46:50,050 --> 00:46:54,630
He's promised the entire Congo basin, rich in resources.
899
00:46:54,630 --> 00:46:57,710
10 million people will later pay for this decision
900
00:46:57,710 --> 00:46:59,400
with their lives.
901
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,883
Germany too joins the ranks of the colonial powers.
902
00:47:03,747 --> 00:47:06,664
(soft piano music)
903
00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:15,630
The Europeans know little of Africa.
904
00:47:15,630 --> 00:47:18,240
They think of it as the Dark Continent.
905
00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:22,370
Africa has already been bled dry by the slave trade,
906
00:47:22,370 --> 00:47:25,010
and now the last unconquered territory,
907
00:47:25,010 --> 00:47:27,050
except for Ethiopia and Liberia,
908
00:47:27,050 --> 00:47:29,910
is divided up among the European powers.
909
00:47:29,910 --> 00:47:33,940
Arbitrary borders, systematic exploitation,
910
00:47:33,940 --> 00:47:37,393
today's Africa is still grappling with the consequences.
911
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:40,989
(dramatic music)
912
00:47:41,940 --> 00:47:44,960
In many parts of Africa, the indigenous populations
913
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,340
resist the colonial authorities.
914
00:47:47,340 --> 00:47:49,430
At the battle of Waterberg in what is today
915
00:47:49,430 --> 00:47:52,980
known as Namibia, the Germans, led by the infamous
916
00:47:52,980 --> 00:47:57,470
Lothar von Trotha, drive the Herero people into the desert.
917
00:47:57,470 --> 00:47:59,463
Trotha calls it a race war.
918
00:48:00,495 --> 00:48:02,745
It becomes an exercise in mass extermination.
919
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,733
In Africa, colonial authority is founded on an alliance
920
00:48:09,733 --> 00:48:12,583
between the gun and the Bible.
921
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,160
Missionaries educate the native populations
922
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:18,570
and convert them to Christianity.
923
00:48:18,570 --> 00:48:21,880
The Europeans propagate their own civilization,
924
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,093
deeply convinced of its superiority.
925
00:48:27,060 --> 00:48:29,270
At the beginning of the 20th century, the arm
926
00:48:29,270 --> 00:48:31,200
of the European colonial powers reaches
927
00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,160
across nearly half the world.
928
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:36,330
The Germans share islands like New Guinea with the Dutch,
929
00:48:36,330 --> 00:48:39,740
and Indochina, like wide swaths of Africa,
930
00:48:39,740 --> 00:48:41,520
is under French control.
931
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:43,500
The European powers even view China
932
00:48:43,500 --> 00:48:45,200
as a sort of colony.
933
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:48,820
They gain colonial footholds all along the Chinese coast.
934
00:48:48,820 --> 00:48:52,173
Hong Kong, Macau, Sing Tao.
935
00:48:52,173 --> 00:48:55,209
(ship's horn blowing)
936
00:48:55,209 --> 00:48:57,959
(dramatic music)
937
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:04,958
In 1876, Great Britain's Queen Victoria
938
00:49:04,958 --> 00:49:08,540
is proclaimed empress of India.
939
00:49:08,540 --> 00:49:10,900
Her immense Indian territories,
940
00:49:10,900 --> 00:49:13,460
home to numerous ancient cultures,
941
00:49:13,460 --> 00:49:17,303
come to be seen as the crown jewel of the British Empire.
942
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,610
No other continent had or would ever
943
00:49:21,610 --> 00:49:25,920
dominate such a huge portion of the world's peoples.
944
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,713
We're still puzzling over the consequences.
945
00:49:29,681 --> 00:49:32,098
(soft music)
946
00:49:36,250 --> 00:49:38,960
After the end of the Second World War,
947
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:42,810
the European powers reluctantly give up their colonies.
948
00:49:42,810 --> 00:49:45,630
Europe withdraws to its heartland.
949
00:49:45,630 --> 00:49:48,520
But the legacy of European expansion
950
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:50,147
casts a dark shadow.
951
00:49:50,147 --> 00:49:52,642
(birds calling)
952
00:49:52,642 --> 00:49:55,392
(dramatic music)
953
00:49:58,550 --> 00:50:00,880
The two faces of Europe remain.
954
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:03,430
Europeans discovered the world on the far side
955
00:50:03,430 --> 00:50:05,210
of the oceans for themselves, and they made
956
00:50:05,210 --> 00:50:06,980
their own kind of sense of the people
957
00:50:06,980 --> 00:50:08,520
and things they found there.
958
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,670
From their perspective, it was a remarkable expansion
959
00:50:11,670 --> 00:50:15,010
of the horizons of knowledge, an extraordinary feat.
960
00:50:15,010 --> 00:50:16,930
On the other hand, the legacies
961
00:50:16,930 --> 00:50:19,040
of their conquests were scandalous.
962
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,210
European civilization is the only one
963
00:50:21,210 --> 00:50:24,060
to have imposed itself on the rest of the world.
964
00:50:24,060 --> 00:50:27,490
And only very late in the day, after World War Two,
965
00:50:27,490 --> 00:50:30,143
did Europe discover that it did have a conscience.
966
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,680
So the history of Europe is made of contradictions.
967
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:36,430
At the very moment when Pizarro and his conquistadors
968
00:50:36,430 --> 00:50:39,720
are exterminating the Inca, erasing their culture
969
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:42,410
and preparing to strip the Andes of their bullion,
970
00:50:42,410 --> 00:50:45,720
Michelangelo begins work on his fantastic painting,
971
00:50:45,720 --> 00:50:48,780
The Last Judgment, for the Sistine Chapel.
972
00:50:48,780 --> 00:50:51,860
The history of Europe has left deep scars,
973
00:50:51,860 --> 00:50:53,641
as well as treasures.
974
00:50:53,641 --> 00:50:56,391
(dramatic music)
76756
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