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(gentle music)
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(active music)
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I'm Christopher Clark and I'm traveling Latin America
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in search of its UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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The face of this continent
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has been shaped by ancient cultures
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and by European conquest.
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There's also spectacular natural heritage
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to be discovered here,
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the Galapagos Islands, for example,
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where you can experience evolution firsthand.
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And in Cuba, I look forward to discovering
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the country's turbulent history,
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as well as its residents' special attitude to life.
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{\an8}In Latin America, the past is wrapped in mystery.
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{\an8}Ancient cities built and inhabited by unknown peoples
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and abandoned centuries ago
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for reasons we still puzzle over.
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Under every temple under every church,
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there's something older,
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a coming and going of peoples,
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a cultural diversity and sophistication
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unsurpassed anywhere in the world.
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And on top of these many layers,
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superimposed a European culture
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which took possession of this continent with violence,
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religious zeal, and administration.
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The tensions buried in this history can still be felt today.
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And that explains the turmoil,
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but also the creativity of this continent.
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In Ecuador, I plan to examine the cultural legacy
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of the colonial era.
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From there, I'll sail 1,000 miles across the sea
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to the Galapagos Islands,
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a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.
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I'll visit the historic district of Havana
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and learn more about the legacy of slavery in Cuba.
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But, first, I'm in Mexico,
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exploring the ancient worlds of the Maya and the Aztecs.
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In the middle of the Mexican jungle
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lie the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque.
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The city is said to have covered 20 square kilometers
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during its golden age in the 7th and 8th centuries AD,
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and at its heart is this temple,
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commissioned by Pakal the 1st
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to stand for eternity as his own tomb.
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In its heyday, the temple was painted blood red.
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Inside, a winding passageway
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leads down into the burial chamber of King Pakal
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who ascended the throne when he was 12 years old
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and still ruled his powerful empire
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at the grand old age of 80.
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The dead king lay resplendent in his tomb
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wearing costly jewelry and a jade mask.
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His resting place was discovered only decades ago.
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In all that time, amazingly,
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it had never been disturbed by grave robbers.
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Only the elite among the Maya
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were permitted to wear jade jewelry.
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This valuable stone was also a symbol of power.
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The skeletons of five other people
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were found near the grave.
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They were probably sacrificed
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so that they could accompany Pakal
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on his journey to the afterlife.
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In keeping with their beliefs, the Mayans constructed a path
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to allow their dead king to reach the underworld.
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The tunnel travels deep into the earth
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and was filled with water.
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The idea was that the soul of their ruler
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would be swept along with the current
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down to the roots of the tree of life.
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The Christian Old Testament, or the Mosaic Bible,
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also describes a tree of life
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next to the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
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It symbolizes immortality.
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And it's extraordinary
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that when it comes to matters of religious belief,
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even very different cultures
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touch each other in unexpected ways.
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Archeologists only recently discovered
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a spring and a canal system under the tomb.
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So the spirit of the Mayan king
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will have easily found its way down into the underworld.
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The Mayan holy book, the Popol Vuh,
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says that when the gods created the world,
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they first tried to make people out of clay,
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and then out of wood.
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Both attempts failed.
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It wasn't until they used maize that they finally succeeded
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in creating the first human beings.
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And that's why even today,
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the Mayans still call themselves people of corn.
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(pleasant music)
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The Maya settled in Mexico and Central America
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about 4,000 years ago.
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But the classical era of the Maya civilization
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lasted from about 400 to 900 AD.
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The Aztecs' sphere of influence was Central Mexico,
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but that came later between the 14th and the 16th centuries.
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Some descendants of the ancient Maya live around Palenque.
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They are known as the Lacandon.
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K'in Garcia Garcia speaks only the Lacandon language.
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His son translates into Spanish for us.
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Do you still consider Palenque
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to be the center of the universe?
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{\an8}Yes, it is a holy place for us.
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{\an8}We believe in the gods of our ancestors.
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And our religion is unique.
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Its roots are here, even though our ancestors
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sometimes had to leave their cities
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when resources grew scarce.
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Otherwise, they were very advanced.
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There's mathematicians, physicists, astronomers.
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We, the Lacandon, are still guided by the stars.
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They show us the way in the jungle.
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We also inherited the seeds of plants
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that we still cultivate today.
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Seeds are the fruit of life
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given to us by our god, Hachakyum,
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just like the eternal protection we enjoy.
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We only have that here in the Chiapas province.
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That's why we're still here.
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The legacy of the ancestors
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is still very visible today.
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Here in Palenque,
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the Maya carefully trace the paths of the heavenly bodies.
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They calculated their planting and harvest times.
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Today, the buildings need constant restoration
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because part of the structure
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is always on the verge of collapse.
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Nature is trying to win back lost ground
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and the humid rainforest climate
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eats away at the structures.
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Mexican archeologists and UNESCO are working together,
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fighting to preserve these buildings.
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It's a truly Sisyphean task.
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But it's about more than just the bricks and mortar,
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they're trying to save a culture
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that has not yet been fully explored.
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These places are rich in subtle hints
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at how the Maya lived when their culture was in full bloom.
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And the archeologists are finding out
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how Maya architects built and decorated in the 7th century.
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And is the work today done
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using the same materials as the Maya?
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Yes.
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{\an8}Thanks to the archeological studies
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{\an8}that have been carried out.
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{\an8}For the last 100 years,
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{\an8}we've known that lime was the material
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that they used to strengthen not just buildings,
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but also plaster,
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and sometimes stucco decorations in sculptures.
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So based on the information that we have,
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we use the same materials that the Maya used.
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That's why we can better preserve them.
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And they look more authentic with the original materials.
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And there are some stunning reliefs.
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Here, we see King Pakal's mother
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handing the crown to her son.
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It may well be that the Maya sacrificed humans to their gods
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more often than we used to think.
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And the nobler the blood of the victim,
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the happier the gods would be.
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How were the human sacrifices carried out?
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We found informative depictions
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in several different Maya ruins,
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on wooden tablets, in paintings,
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(mumbles) stucco molding.
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There were images of people being grabbed by the hair
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then having their heads chopped off with an ax.
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This was one way people were sacrificed.
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Other sacrificial victims would lie down like this
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and allow themselves to be stabbed.
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And their bodies would be opened up here at the breastbone
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and their hearts were torn out.
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There are even commemorative stones
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with the names of royal prisoners.
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These names are from some of the most
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famous families of that time.
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But what happened to others who weren't of royal blood?
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Unfortunately, there are no commemorative stones for them
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because they were not of noble blood.
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They're often soldiers from an enemy city
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that had been taken captive, forced into slavery,
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and then sacrificed.
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The Maya most often sacrificed people
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during droughts and famines
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and before they went off to war.
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And among the Aztecs, some time later,
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the custom of human sacrifice
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came to play an even more important role.
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I'm traveling from Palenque to Mexico City
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where the former Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan
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was once located.
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Little remains of this capital,
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of the elaborate system of canals
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built by the Aztec centuries ago,
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scarcely a trace is left.
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Tenochtitlan was constructed across
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several islands in Lake Texcoco,
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connected to the mainland by five dams.
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The brick dams and the canals served as transport routes.
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It was a perfectly organized metropolis,
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a hub of trade and a center of education.
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The square in front of the Templo Mayor, the Grand Temple,
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was the heart of the city.
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On the ruins of the Aztec temple,
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destroyed by the Spaniards,
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the conquerors built an enormous cathedral.
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They also drained the city of its water.
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The original rulers of the city
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conducted human sacrifices to their gods on this exact spot
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on a grand scale.
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Hundreds of people were killed
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on the top level of the Templo Mayor.
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Once dead,
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they were beheaded and their skulls stacked up into towers.
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Most of the sacrificial victims
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were between 25 and 35 years old.
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They died for Huitzilopochtli, the god of war.
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The Aztecs believed that these constant sacrifices
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were necessary to keep the world turning.
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The gory rituals of the Aztecs involved
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cutting out the hearts of their victims,
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and not just their opponents on the battlefield,
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but women and children as well.
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But the Aztecs were not a godless people
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of butchers and cannibals,
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as the Spanish Conquistadors unfairly described them.
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They weren't motivated by cruelty.
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In their eyes, their victims were sacrifices
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owed to their gods.
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We don't know exactly who was killed here.
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Were the sacrificial victims just captured enemies,
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or did the Aztecs' own people also faced this ordeal?
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What we do know is that the sacrificial cult
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was one of the cornerstones of Aztec religion.
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These sacrifices were meant to ensure
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that the sun would rise again in the morning
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and that the world wouldn't simply descend into darkness.
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The Aztecs firmly believed that they had to give their gods
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what they called precious water, chalchiuh-atl.
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And this precious water was nothing less than human blood
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offered up to the gods in the still beating hearts
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of the Aztecs' human sacrifices.
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The victims died, but their blood nourished new life.
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And this is how the Aztecs themselves depicted it.
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They removed the victim's heart
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and held it up to the heavens.
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There are still so many mysteries in the ancient Maya
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and Aztec cultures.
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The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
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contains the world's largest collection
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of ancient Mexican art.
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The stone sculptures dedicated to their gods
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remind us of the importance of mythology
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to the ancient cultures in this part of the world.
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It was the key to the meaning of life
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and of the world that lay beyond death.
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But the most breathtaking exhibit of all
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is the giant sun stone.
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It was discovered in the 18th century,
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buried under the Zocalo, the central square of Mexico City,
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where once the Templo Mayor, the Great Temple, stood.
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Many people think that this stone is a calendar.
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What was it really?
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00:13:41,380 --> 00:13:42,533
{\an8}Well, it is a monument dedicated to the cult of the sun
270
00:13:45,340 --> 00:13:49,620
{\an8}for the Aztecs.
271
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{\an8}Sun worship was the most important thing to them.
272
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It doesn't record the passage of time,
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so we can't consider it a calendar.
274
00:13:58,540 --> 00:14:01,240
However, what the Aztecs depicted in this stone
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are the ideas that they had about time,
276
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the passage of time.
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The center represents the four eras or suns
278
00:14:09,420 --> 00:14:12,540
before the fifth sun.
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The fifth sun is the sun of the Aztecs,
280
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which is in the center of the stone.
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Surrounding it in the first ring are the days.
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The years are next,
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and, finally, there are two big fire serpents,
284
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which represent the place where the sun moves.
285
00:14:27,710 --> 00:14:30,273
They are carrying the sun across the sky.
286
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(mystifying music)
287
00:14:37,599 --> 00:14:40,516
Teotihuacan, 30 miles from Mexico City,
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was one of the largest ancient cities in the Americas.
289
00:14:52,990 --> 00:14:56,470
It was built and experienced its golden age
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long before the Aztecs arrived here.
291
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,993
What a site must have greeted the Aztecs
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when they discovered this city in the 15th century.
293
00:15:06,130 --> 00:15:09,760
700 years earlier, it had been abandoned
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by a culture that remains unidentified today.
295
00:15:12,420 --> 00:15:15,390
We still don't know for sure who lived there.
296
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The Aztecs were convinced that the pyramids and temples
297
00:15:18,270 --> 00:15:21,490
must have been built by giants and gods.
298
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So they named the city Teotihuacan.
299
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Roughly translated, that means
300
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the place where people became gods.
301
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Nearly 200,000 people had lived here.
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00:15:31,350 --> 00:15:34,440
Back then, Teotihuacan had been
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the biggest city on the continent,
304
00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:37,780
the heart of Central America,
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comparable only with ancient Rome.
306
00:15:39,610 --> 00:15:42,440
The Aztecs could've settled in the abandoned city,
307
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but they were too much in awe of its mysteries.
308
00:15:45,380 --> 00:15:48,120
Instead, they turned Teotihuacan
309
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,730
into an enormous shrine to their gods
310
00:15:50,730 --> 00:15:53,520
who they believed had created the world here.
311
00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,373
It was the Aztecs who named the main street
312
00:15:58,540 --> 00:16:01,500
Avenue of the Dead
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and the two great temples here after the sun and the moon.
314
00:16:02,830 --> 00:16:06,970
The city was sacred to them
315
00:16:06,970 --> 00:16:08,600
and they copied its architectural style
316
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:10,820
for their own building projects.
317
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The Aztec Empire was the last
318
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,320
of the great Mesoamerican cultures,
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highly developed socially, intellectually, and artistically.
320
00:16:17,430 --> 00:16:21,343
In their moral and ethical reasoning,
321
00:16:26,990 --> 00:16:29,550
the Aztecs were pragmatists.
322
00:16:29,550 --> 00:16:31,690
There's an old Aztec proverb that says,
323
00:16:31,690 --> 00:16:34,237
"The earth of this world is slippery."
324
00:16:34,237 --> 00:16:36,520
What they meant by that was that even a good person
325
00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,500
can slip into ill.
326
00:16:39,500 --> 00:16:41,940
And what that means in turn
327
00:16:41,940 --> 00:16:43,300
is that the important question is not,
328
00:16:43,300 --> 00:16:45,640
are you a good or a bad person,
329
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,700
but how do you handle and manage
330
00:16:47,700 --> 00:16:49,660
the consequences of your errors?
331
00:16:49,660 --> 00:16:52,072
(puzzling music)
332
00:16:52,072 --> 00:16:55,340
Alone here in the early morning,
333
00:16:55,340 --> 00:16:58,040
you can feel the magic of this lost world.
334
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,973
The urge to be in constant exchange with the gods
335
00:17:14,980 --> 00:17:18,530
can be found in many Mesoamerican cultures.
336
00:17:18,530 --> 00:17:21,153
Among the Central American peoples,
337
00:17:30,310 --> 00:17:32,610
{\an8}it was the king who was the world's link to the divine.
338
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{\an8}He held the cosmos together
339
00:17:36,020 --> 00:17:38,040
{\an8}and he commanded that rituals and sacrifices
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00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,760
be performed for the gods.
341
00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,430
He was responsible for preventing crises,
342
00:17:42,430 --> 00:17:44,910
such as failed harvests.
343
00:17:44,910 --> 00:17:47,170
And time played a crucial role in these cultures.
344
00:17:47,170 --> 00:17:51,980
The Central American peoples distinguish between
345
00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:54,720
ritual time and solar time.
346
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,210
In other words, between sacred and worldly time.
347
00:17:57,210 --> 00:18:00,950
There was a calendar for each,
348
00:18:00,950 --> 00:18:02,680
and the two species of time were integrated with each other,
349
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,670
allowing events from the past or from the world of the gods
350
00:18:05,670 --> 00:18:09,090
to be embedded in the experience of living humans.
351
00:18:09,090 --> 00:18:12,273
Teotihuacan has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site
352
00:18:15,380 --> 00:18:18,750
since 1987.
353
00:18:18,750 --> 00:18:20,670
It has not been fully excavated yet,
354
00:18:20,670 --> 00:18:23,350
only a fraction of the city is actually visible.
355
00:18:23,350 --> 00:18:26,870
Everything was planned with perfect symmetry,
356
00:18:26,870 --> 00:18:29,420
like a chess board.
357
00:18:29,420 --> 00:18:31,090
The heart of the complex is the Temple of Quetzalcoatl,
358
00:18:31,090 --> 00:18:35,020
the god depicted as a feathered snake
359
00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:37,730
found in many Mesoamerican religions.
360
00:18:37,730 --> 00:18:39,893
According to legend,
361
00:18:48,140 --> 00:18:49,440
the white-skinned Quetzalcoatl was overthrown as god king
362
00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,630
and he fled from these lands.
363
00:18:53,630 --> 00:18:55,450
But one day it was said he would return from across the sea
364
00:18:55,450 --> 00:18:58,860
and reclaim his former empire.
365
00:18:58,860 --> 00:19:01,130
And according to the Aztec calendar,
366
00:19:01,130 --> 00:19:03,470
that was to be the exact year that Spanish Conquistador
367
00:19:03,470 --> 00:19:07,200
Hernan Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico.
368
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,530
Moctezuma II firmly believed
369
00:19:10,530 --> 00:19:12,800
that Cortes must be a descendant of the banished god.
370
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,680
His credulity, along with many other factors,
371
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:19,520
sealed the Aztecs' fate.
372
00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,323
Some believe that the Spanish exploited the myth
373
00:19:22,830 --> 00:19:25,980
of the return of Quetzalcoatl's descendant
374
00:19:25,980 --> 00:19:28,950
to justify the overthrow of the Aztec Empire.
375
00:19:28,950 --> 00:19:32,220
In any case, from that moment onwards,
376
00:19:32,220 --> 00:19:34,650
for better or for worse,
377
00:19:34,650 --> 00:19:36,420
Europe would remain an integral part
378
00:19:36,420 --> 00:19:38,880
of this continent's history.
379
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:40,586
(engaging music)
380
00:19:40,586 --> 00:19:43,419
In no way can you see more clearly
381
00:19:51,413 --> 00:19:53,560
than in this little city of Cholula
382
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,680
with what confidence and arrogance
383
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,140
the Spaniards took control of this country.
384
00:19:58,140 --> 00:20:00,560
This used to be the location
385
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,490
of the largest pyramid in Central America,
386
00:20:02,490 --> 00:20:04,770
perhaps in the entire world.
387
00:20:04,770 --> 00:20:06,500
It was dedicated to the god, Quetzalcoatl,
388
00:20:06,500 --> 00:20:09,010
and it was built by Central American nations
389
00:20:09,010 --> 00:20:11,860
whose identities are still not known.
390
00:20:11,860 --> 00:20:14,290
In the 16th century,
391
00:20:14,290 --> 00:20:15,580
the Spaniards built right on the top of that a cathedral,
392
00:20:15,580 --> 00:20:19,160
Nuestra Senora de los Remedios.
393
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,500
What an act of domination.
394
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:23,270
(engaging music)
395
00:20:23,270 --> 00:20:26,103
Alongside countless churches,
396
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:35,470
the Spaniards also built two new cities
397
00:20:35,470 --> 00:20:38,490
around the old pyramid in the 16th century,
398
00:20:38,490 --> 00:20:41,350
imposing on the local nations
399
00:20:41,350 --> 00:20:43,520
the architecture they had brought with them from Europe.
400
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,660
The city of Puebla, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
401
00:20:46,660 --> 00:20:50,070
is a particularly well-preserved
402
00:20:50,070 --> 00:20:52,110
example of this architecture.
403
00:20:52,110 --> 00:20:53,693
(lively music)
404
00:21:05,674 --> 00:21:07,698
But the colonial rulers never managed
405
00:21:07,698 --> 00:21:10,120
to destroy the Native Mexicans' culinary heritage.
406
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:14,170
Instead, there was an immediate fusion of cuisines.
407
00:21:14,170 --> 00:21:17,630
The Spanish brought their livestock.
408
00:21:17,630 --> 00:21:19,710
Pigs and cows were particularly popular
409
00:21:19,710 --> 00:21:21,850
with the indigenous people
410
00:21:21,850 --> 00:21:23,490
who updated their recipes accordingly.
411
00:21:23,490 --> 00:21:26,050
The local women in charge of the cooking
412
00:21:26,050 --> 00:21:27,940
became the facilitators of cultural exchange.
413
00:21:27,940 --> 00:21:30,680
It was a meeting of cultures through palettes and stomachs.
414
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,240
And the culinary tradition they created
415
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,400
still survives today.
416
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:37,843
According to a Mexican saying,
417
00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:46,330
a dinner without chili is like love without kisses.
418
00:21:46,330 --> 00:21:50,170
That tells us something
419
00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:51,310
about this country's love of good food.
420
00:21:51,310 --> 00:21:53,090
And, of course, the people here are proud of the fact
421
00:21:53,090 --> 00:21:55,720
that Mexican traditional cuisine
422
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:57,880
has been recognized by UNESCO as a piece of
423
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,380
immaterial global heritage.
424
00:22:00,380 --> 00:22:03,150
For centuries, the monasteries in this country
425
00:22:03,150 --> 00:22:05,850
were the hubs of Mexico's gastronomic culture.
426
00:22:05,850 --> 00:22:08,790
It's here that the recipes of the indigenous women
427
00:22:08,790 --> 00:22:11,480
who cooked for monks and bishops
428
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:13,470
were preserved like priceless relics.
429
00:22:13,470 --> 00:22:16,070
And every monastery had its own version, for example,
430
00:22:16,070 --> 00:22:19,760
of the famous mole sauce, a specialty here in Puebla.
431
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,039
(festive music)
432
00:22:24,039 --> 00:22:26,050
There's no shortage of festive occasions in Mexico.
433
00:22:26,050 --> 00:22:29,920
At traditional weddings,
434
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,100
the post ceremony banquet plays an important role.
435
00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:34,510
And in Puebla, no wedding meal is complete
436
00:22:34,510 --> 00:22:37,470
without mole poblano.
437
00:22:37,470 --> 00:22:39,570
First, the customary tortillas are prepared.
438
00:22:39,570 --> 00:22:43,180
They are part of every main course in Mexico.
439
00:22:43,180 --> 00:22:45,770
The tortilla, made of blue corn in this case,
440
00:22:45,770 --> 00:22:49,090
is one of the oldest foods.
441
00:22:49,090 --> 00:22:51,250
Even the Aztecs enjoyed this popular flatbread.
442
00:22:51,250 --> 00:22:54,403
What are the ingredients of a mole sauce?
443
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,093
Well, we use cinnamon,
444
00:23:04,170 --> 00:23:06,253
sesame,
445
00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:08,333
peanuts,
446
00:23:10,190 --> 00:23:11,153
plantains and almonds,
447
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,253
raisins, and mulatto peppers.
448
00:23:15,410 --> 00:23:18,123
This recipe has been passed down
449
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,070
within this family for eight generations.
450
00:23:27,070 --> 00:23:29,820
And three generations are here in the kitchen today.
451
00:23:29,820 --> 00:23:33,140
The friendly ladies teach me their cooking tricks.
452
00:23:33,140 --> 00:23:35,410
Not only am I allowed to look over their shoulders,
453
00:23:35,410 --> 00:23:37,950
they even let me lend a hand.
454
00:23:37,950 --> 00:23:40,153
What really strikes me about cooking in this kitchen
455
00:23:41,810 --> 00:23:44,990
is how calm and tranquil the whole process is.
456
00:23:44,990 --> 00:23:47,950
In a European kitchen, there's often quite a lot of,
457
00:23:47,950 --> 00:23:51,310
how shall I put it, tension and hurry.
458
00:23:51,310 --> 00:23:53,700
But, here, there seems to be a very
459
00:23:53,700 --> 00:23:56,230
relaxed and slow rhythm of cooking,
460
00:23:56,230 --> 00:23:59,580
which is extremely pleasant to experience.
461
00:23:59,580 --> 00:24:01,853
This is where ancient Aztec cuisine
462
00:24:07,170 --> 00:24:09,810
fuses with elements from Europe,
463
00:24:09,810 --> 00:24:11,820
and from Spain in particular.
464
00:24:11,820 --> 00:24:13,373
{\an8}It used to be that the nuns in the convents
465
00:24:19,138 --> 00:24:21,180
{\an8}would work in the kitchen
466
00:24:21,180 --> 00:24:22,330
{\an8}until they dropped from exhaustion.
467
00:24:22,330 --> 00:24:24,680
{\an8}Milling the corn to make corn meal for tortillas
468
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,410
was the most strenuous work.
469
00:24:27,410 --> 00:24:29,580
And we also get the name of this dish, mole,
470
00:24:29,580 --> 00:24:32,540
from the verb mo-le-a, which means to mill.
471
00:24:32,540 --> 00:24:35,480
Mexican cuisine has been listed
472
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:43,740
as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage since 2010.
473
00:24:43,740 --> 00:24:48,583
This is how the church dignitaries must have felt
474
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,500
as they enjoyed the finest meals
475
00:25:07,500 --> 00:25:09,610
from the convent kitchens on Mexico's many holidays.
476
00:25:09,610 --> 00:25:13,053
Here in Mexico, we don't use cutlery.
477
00:25:20,770 --> 00:25:23,570
Try it.
478
00:25:23,570 --> 00:25:24,620
Look, you make a triangle like this.
479
00:25:24,620 --> 00:25:26,870
And now, it's time for me to say
480
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:35,320
goodbye to Mexico,
481
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:36,610
to the city of Puebla and its local volcano, Popocatepetl,
482
00:25:36,610 --> 00:25:40,560
which is active and still erupts from time to time.
483
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,865
(rhythmic music)
484
00:25:43,865 --> 00:25:46,430
My journey takes me now to Cuba
485
00:25:46,430 --> 00:25:48,840
with its capital city of Havana
486
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,780
and the Valle de Vinales, the Mecca of tobacco.
487
00:25:50,780 --> 00:25:53,793
In October 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba,
488
00:26:00,150 --> 00:26:04,650
he thought he had discovered China.
489
00:26:04,650 --> 00:26:07,120
He called this island the most beautiful ever seen
490
00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:09,950
by human eyes.
491
00:26:09,950 --> 00:26:11,360
And he immediately claimed it for Spain.
492
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:14,250
This city has experienced so much
493
00:26:14,250 --> 00:26:17,000
in its more than 500 years of history.
494
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,630
I want to take a closer look, so I dive straight in,
495
00:26:19,630 --> 00:26:22,450
enjoying a tour of the historic streets in a vintage car.
496
00:26:22,450 --> 00:26:26,590
I look at what has changed since the death of Fidel Castro,
497
00:26:26,590 --> 00:26:29,440
and I can't shake the impression, on the one hand,
498
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,590
that the Habaneros are dreaming of a new beginning,
499
00:26:32,590 --> 00:26:35,200
and on the other, that they'll do just fine
500
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,800
if it doesn't materialize.
501
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,223
Here, you can really feel
502
00:26:50,770 --> 00:26:52,560
how the turbulent chapters of Cuba's history
503
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,500
have shaped this city,
504
00:26:55,500 --> 00:26:56,950
Spanish colonialism,
505
00:26:56,950 --> 00:26:58,690
African slavery,
506
00:26:58,690 --> 00:27:00,150
rebellion and resistance,
507
00:27:00,150 --> 00:27:01,890
the golden age of the sugar barons.
508
00:27:01,890 --> 00:27:04,190
In the 1920s,
509
00:27:04,190 --> 00:27:05,700
this place was a playground for the American mafia.
510
00:27:05,700 --> 00:27:09,040
And then came the victory of the Cuban Revolution
511
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,750
under Fidel Castro,
512
00:27:11,750 --> 00:27:13,240
and 60 years of socialist rule.
513
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,030
And throughout all of these challenges, the Habaneros,
514
00:27:16,030 --> 00:27:18,800
as the inhabitants of this Caribbean Babylon are known,
515
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,880
have retained their indomitable
516
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,018
(speaks in foreign language).
517
00:27:24,018 --> 00:27:27,851
Cuba has always been a place of synthesis,
518
00:27:33,050 --> 00:27:36,320
where disparate influences,
519
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:37,990
African, Caribbean, Spanish, American, and French,
520
00:27:37,990 --> 00:27:41,910
came together in a process that continuously produce
521
00:27:41,910 --> 00:27:45,030
new forms of expression.
522
00:27:45,030 --> 00:27:46,970
Cuban anthropologist, Fernando Ortiz,
523
00:27:46,970 --> 00:27:49,040
called this process transculturation.
524
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,963
In Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
525
00:27:53,940 --> 00:27:57,200
this process is visible all around us.
526
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,010
The old town has so far only partly been refurbished.
527
00:28:00,010 --> 00:28:04,190
There's just not enough money.
528
00:28:04,190 --> 00:28:06,830
Revolution and a unique music
529
00:28:06,830 --> 00:28:08,927
are still the old dominant elements
530
00:28:08,927 --> 00:28:11,200
of street life in Havana.
531
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,720
I'm visiting a rumba group,
532
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,350
considered among the best in the country.
533
00:28:14,350 --> 00:28:16,600
Rumba has been recognized as intangible cultural heritage.
534
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,596
(upbeat music)
535
00:28:20,596 --> 00:28:23,263
It's a mix of music and dance, singing, gesture,
536
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,400
and intense interaction between men and women.
537
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,420
And rumba tells the story of the island.
538
00:28:49,420 --> 00:28:52,123
Rumba is typically Cuban with African influences
539
00:29:13,210 --> 00:29:16,700
{\an8}because the Black people from Africa
540
00:29:16,700 --> 00:29:18,690
{\an8}who were transported to Cuba as slaves
541
00:29:18,690 --> 00:29:20,990
{\an8}sang as a form of protest.
542
00:29:20,990 --> 00:29:23,240
As an expression of their protest,
543
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,040
they sang about their country,
544
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:26,770
their homesickness, law, mistreatment.
545
00:29:26,770 --> 00:29:29,980
And the songs were passed on
546
00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:31,350
from generation to generation in this way.
547
00:29:31,350 --> 00:29:33,593
They were Mulattoes and Whites,
548
00:29:34,490 --> 00:29:36,510
but mostly Black people who adopted rumba
549
00:29:36,510 --> 00:29:39,100
as a form of expression,
550
00:29:39,100 --> 00:29:41,100
as a means of liberation.
551
00:29:41,100 --> 00:29:42,783
These experiences memorialized in music
552
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,250
must've left their mark on the landscape as well.
553
00:29:48,250 --> 00:29:51,440
It's said that the best tobacco in the world is grown here
554
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,420
in the Vinales Valley.
555
00:29:54,420 --> 00:29:56,000
I'm looking for the masters who can roll a real Cuban cigar
556
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,110
because this is where famous brands such as Cohiba,
557
00:30:00,110 --> 00:30:02,970
Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta come from.
558
00:30:02,970 --> 00:30:05,483
A cigar made of tobacco leaves is known as puro, or pure.
559
00:30:16,180 --> 00:30:20,023
{\an8}A puro consists of three parts,
560
00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:27,920
{\an8}tobacco leaves without stems for the filling,
561
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,560
{\an8}and a (indistinct) leaf,
562
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,410
which are then pressed and wrapped
563
00:30:32,410 --> 00:30:33,580
in a particularly fine leaf called the capa.
564
00:30:33,580 --> 00:30:36,243
The tobacco leaves are naturally fermented.
565
00:30:37,250 --> 00:30:39,400
Even Columbus marveled
566
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,250
at the peculiar cigarettes smoked by the indigenas,
567
00:30:48,250 --> 00:30:51,240
the indigenous peoples.
568
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,010
But it wasn't until the 18th century that the Europeans
569
00:30:53,010 --> 00:30:56,440
who had always preferred chewing tobacco, or snuff,
570
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,060
developed a taste for smoking,
571
00:31:00,060 --> 00:31:02,320
and tobacco production spiked.
572
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,013
Unfortunately, tobacco farming
573
00:31:07,490 --> 00:31:09,580
wasn't the only industry in Cuba fueled by slave labor.
574
00:31:09,580 --> 00:31:13,660
Slaves also worked on the coffee and sugar cane plantations.
575
00:31:13,660 --> 00:31:17,333
The Caribbean became the theater
576
00:31:19,490 --> 00:31:21,360
of a competition among the European colonial powers.
577
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,570
There was a growing appetite
578
00:31:24,570 --> 00:31:25,910
for products from the Caribbean,
579
00:31:25,910 --> 00:31:27,650
and in the process,
580
00:31:27,650 --> 00:31:28,770
human beings became the most desirable merchandise of all.
581
00:31:28,770 --> 00:31:33,250
No other product is as closely intertwined
582
00:31:33,250 --> 00:31:35,990
with the exploitation of human beings in this region
583
00:31:35,990 --> 00:31:38,890
as sugar.
584
00:31:38,890 --> 00:31:40,170
Tobacco may be the symbol of Cuba,
585
00:31:40,170 --> 00:31:42,520
but sugar was the true driver of its modern history.
586
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,980
By the middle of the 19th century,
587
00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:47,530
the island could boast a state-of-the-art,
588
00:31:47,530 --> 00:31:50,200
high-tech sugar industry
589
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:51,950
with factories larger than the cotton mills of Manchester,
590
00:31:51,950 --> 00:31:55,340
all dependent on the labor of slaves.
591
00:31:55,340 --> 00:31:58,083
There can be no glossing over of the horrors of slavery
592
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,390
or the suffering of the enslaved.
593
00:32:04,390 --> 00:32:07,090
The colonial rulers, our ancestors,
594
00:32:07,090 --> 00:32:09,750
lined their own pockets at the slaves' expense.
595
00:32:09,750 --> 00:32:12,850
It's difficult to imagine the atrocity
596
00:32:12,850 --> 00:32:14,820
as this peaceful valley
597
00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:16,570
and this entire continent have seen over the centuries.
598
00:32:16,570 --> 00:32:20,600
Of course, there have always been wars and conflict
599
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,310
here as everywhere else,
600
00:32:23,310 --> 00:32:24,980
but the Spanish conquest of Latin America and the Caribbean
601
00:32:24,980 --> 00:32:28,500
marked a new departure.
602
00:32:28,500 --> 00:32:30,400
In some places, entire populations were wiped out.
603
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,840
Oppression and enslavement followed.
604
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,580
All of these countries witnessed
605
00:32:36,580 --> 00:32:38,230
courageous movements of resistance,
606
00:32:38,230 --> 00:32:40,870
emancipation, and independence,
607
00:32:40,870 --> 00:32:43,010
but the original sin of European conquest
608
00:32:43,010 --> 00:32:46,280
continued to shape their history.
609
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,670
Terrible as this saga of violence and destruction is,
610
00:32:48,670 --> 00:32:52,090
it's hard to explain the diversity and creativity
611
00:32:52,090 --> 00:32:55,670
of this part of the world
612
00:32:55,670 --> 00:32:57,070
without that traumatic background.
613
00:32:57,070 --> 00:32:59,500
It's a contradiction that continues to animate culture here,
614
00:32:59,500 --> 00:33:03,180
and it helps to explain the unique charisma
615
00:33:03,180 --> 00:33:06,240
of these societies.
616
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:07,433
My journey now takes me into the Andes,
617
00:33:17,630 --> 00:33:20,630
to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
618
00:33:20,630 --> 00:33:22,930
It's nearly 3,000 meters above sea level.
619
00:33:22,930 --> 00:33:26,100
Quito is nestled amongst volcanoes,
620
00:33:26,100 --> 00:33:28,320
and it was the first city ever to be placed on UNESCO's list
621
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,670
of World Heritage Sites in 1978.
622
00:33:32,670 --> 00:33:35,943
The high snow-capped peaks,
623
00:33:39,020 --> 00:33:41,460
{\an8}the active volcanoes and earthquakes,
624
00:33:41,460 --> 00:33:43,820
{\an8}the vegetation, and the customs of the people
625
00:33:43,820 --> 00:33:46,930
{\an8}make this region one of the most interesting in the world.
626
00:33:46,930 --> 00:33:50,050
This is how the German naturalist, Alexander Von Humboldt,
627
00:33:50,050 --> 00:33:53,260
described the country of Ecuador in 1802.
628
00:33:53,260 --> 00:33:56,440
He cataloged 6,200 plant species here.
629
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,690
And this was his starting point
630
00:34:00,690 --> 00:34:02,390
for summiting the highest known peak at the time,
631
00:34:02,390 --> 00:34:05,250
Chimborazo, just on there.
632
00:34:05,250 --> 00:34:07,653
And you can see that he's
633
00:34:07,653 --> 00:34:09,320
recorded his findings from this region
634
00:34:10,490 --> 00:34:13,070
schematically in this map here.
635
00:34:13,070 --> 00:34:15,933
Even after more than 200 years,
636
00:34:16,780 --> 00:34:19,360
Humboldt is revered beyond all measure in Latin America.
637
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,950
He's considered the second and true discoverer of America
638
00:34:22,950 --> 00:34:26,190
because unlike Columbus or even Hernan Cortes,
639
00:34:26,190 --> 00:34:29,400
he came to the continent with peaceful, friendly intentions,
640
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,400
and was interested in the local people,
641
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,720
as well as the flora and fauna.
642
00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:37,690
It's one of the many reasons why Alexander Von Humboldt
643
00:34:37,690 --> 00:34:40,810
numbers among my favorite Germans.
644
00:34:40,810 --> 00:34:42,803
In 1534, the Spanish conquered the ancient Inca Empire
645
00:34:49,030 --> 00:34:53,520
in the Andes.
646
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:54,610
The Incan temples were forced to make way
647
00:34:54,610 --> 00:34:56,750
for colonial architecture.
648
00:34:56,750 --> 00:34:59,010
Today, Quito possesses one of the most extensive
649
00:34:59,010 --> 00:35:02,470
and best preserved historic centers of Spanish America.
650
00:35:02,470 --> 00:35:06,340
Professor Sofia Luzuriaga Jaramillo
651
00:35:06,340 --> 00:35:09,130
is conducting research into Quito's turbulent history.
652
00:35:09,130 --> 00:35:13,000
The city brings together indigenous
653
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,730
and European architectural and artistic traditions.
654
00:35:15,730 --> 00:35:18,933
It's an area like this
655
00:35:22,060 --> 00:35:23,710
{\an8}that is located in the wide valley of Guayllabamba.
656
00:35:23,710 --> 00:35:27,900
{\an8}What was Quito like at this time?
657
00:35:27,900 --> 00:35:30,410
It was a Quito that was moving.
658
00:35:30,410 --> 00:35:33,140
It was a Quito with a lot of interaction.
659
00:35:33,140 --> 00:35:36,640
So for example, let's talk briefly about Ilalo,
660
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,260
which is part of what would become the area of Quito,
661
00:35:41,260 --> 00:35:44,173
Ilalo with its obsidian workshops.
662
00:35:45,270 --> 00:35:48,110
So we'll go back a little in time
663
00:35:48,110 --> 00:35:50,600
and then forward again in time,
664
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:52,680
carrying on to Cotocollao.
665
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,280
There, you've got planes with ridges.
666
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:58,310
These were dips and slopes
667
00:35:58,310 --> 00:35:59,850
which were used for agricultural cultivation,
668
00:35:59,850 --> 00:36:03,020
or take Yun-mi-pam-pa to the north of the city,
669
00:36:03,020 --> 00:36:06,610
where there was a strong human settlement
670
00:36:06,610 --> 00:36:08,920
that had to be abandoned
671
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:10,200
because of the constant volcanic eruptions.
672
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,270
So you've got an area at different stages
673
00:36:13,270 --> 00:36:16,440
that I want to emphasize was a dynamic area,
674
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:20,160
with exchanges,
675
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:21,560
exchanges of knowledge, products, and skills.
676
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:25,650
That also was an area to which you had to adapt,
677
00:36:25,650 --> 00:36:29,320
not just to the altitude of 2800 meters,
678
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,980
but also to all the slopes
679
00:36:32,980 --> 00:36:34,950
with their distinct tiers of ecosystems,
680
00:36:34,950 --> 00:36:37,560
especially because the societies before the 16th century
681
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,750
in these Andean areas
682
00:36:41,750 --> 00:36:43,770
moved constantly between the different altitudes.
683
00:36:43,770 --> 00:36:46,713
The colonial Baroque style that arose here
684
00:36:48,730 --> 00:36:51,810
combined Italian, Flemish, Morisco, and local influences.
685
00:36:51,810 --> 00:36:56,110
For evidence of this style, we need look no further
686
00:36:56,110 --> 00:36:58,610
than the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, the Jesuit church.
687
00:36:58,610 --> 00:37:03,530
The modest gray volcanic rock facade
688
00:37:03,530 --> 00:37:05,950
belies an opulent golden interior.
689
00:37:05,950 --> 00:37:09,220
It's said to have required nearly seven tons of gold leaf.
690
00:37:09,220 --> 00:37:13,263
One of the really fascinating things about this place,
691
00:37:29,140 --> 00:37:31,560
about this church,
692
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:32,790
is how different cultures are brought together here.
693
00:37:32,790 --> 00:37:35,520
So you can see in the vaulting over the nave,
694
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,450
Moorish, Arabic looking inscriptions and decorations
695
00:37:39,450 --> 00:37:43,600
by the Moorish artisans
696
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,860
who came with the Spaniards during the conquest of Ecuador.
697
00:37:45,860 --> 00:37:49,080
And behind me, of course,
698
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:50,650
all the pomp and glory of the European Baroque.
699
00:37:50,650 --> 00:37:53,630
And above me in this beautiful dome,
700
00:37:53,630 --> 00:37:56,630
a reference to the sun.
701
00:37:56,630 --> 00:37:58,770
And, thus, a coded reference to the sun god
702
00:37:58,770 --> 00:38:02,050
of the conquered Incas.
703
00:38:02,050 --> 00:38:03,890
The local people, the indigenous of Ecuador,
704
00:38:03,890 --> 00:38:06,970
was supposed to feel spiritually
705
00:38:06,970 --> 00:38:08,920
at home in this church as well.
706
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,030
And this is something perhaps that almost
707
00:38:11,030 --> 00:38:12,820
all these places of global cultural patrimony
708
00:38:12,820 --> 00:38:17,100
have in common.
709
00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:18,210
They're places where despite all the history of destruction,
710
00:38:18,210 --> 00:38:23,040
transition, and subordination,
711
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,380
pieces, different broken pieces of humanity,
712
00:38:25,380 --> 00:38:28,310
are brought back together.
713
00:38:28,310 --> 00:38:29,683
The Jesuits who built this church
714
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,630
were able to afford all this gold leaf
715
00:38:32,630 --> 00:38:35,240
because they were also businessmen
716
00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:37,240
who commissioned the cultivation of sugar cane
717
00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:39,610
on enormous swathes of land,
718
00:38:39,610 --> 00:38:41,760
laboriously planted and harvested
719
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,300
by the descendants of the Incas and by African slaves.
720
00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:48,030
This was how they financed
721
00:38:48,030 --> 00:38:49,420
the construction of churches like this one.
722
00:38:49,420 --> 00:38:52,180
But Ecuador would soon cast off
723
00:38:52,180 --> 00:38:54,380
Iberian Spanish colonial rule.
724
00:38:54,380 --> 00:38:56,760
The great revolutionary, Simon Bolivar,
725
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,250
fought to liberate several countries.
726
00:38:59,250 --> 00:39:01,640
And in 1822, Ecuador gained independence.
727
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:04,970
The country incidentally gets its name from the equator,
728
00:39:04,970 --> 00:39:08,260
which run straight through it.
729
00:39:08,260 --> 00:39:10,460
Here in Quito in Ecuador,
730
00:39:10,460 --> 00:39:12,470
a few years ago, they used GPS to draw,
731
00:39:12,470 --> 00:39:15,000
with military precision,
732
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:16,400
the equator as a line in the ground.
733
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,210
And that means I have a choice standing here.
734
00:39:19,210 --> 00:39:21,530
I can place myself in the Southern Hemisphere,
735
00:39:21,530 --> 00:39:23,760
which is where I come from, where I was born,
736
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,070
or I can place myself in the Northern Hemisphere
737
00:39:26,070 --> 00:39:29,500
where I've been living and working for decades.
738
00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:32,350
It's a difficult choice.
739
00:39:32,350 --> 00:39:33,410
And I think I'll simply stand
740
00:39:33,410 --> 00:39:35,810
with one foot in each hemisphere
741
00:39:35,810 --> 00:39:38,120
and offer myself as a bridge.
742
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,263
Just below the equator are the Galapagos Islands,
743
00:39:47,130 --> 00:39:50,560
one of the last true corners of paradise on this planet.
744
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:54,450
In 1835, British naturalist, Charles Darwin,
745
00:39:54,450 --> 00:39:58,230
set course for the 19-island archipelago
746
00:39:58,230 --> 00:40:01,240
onboard the Beagle, a British Navy survey vessel.
747
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:05,140
Darwin was 24 years old at the time.
748
00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:07,740
He'd abandoned his medical studies
749
00:40:07,740 --> 00:40:09,870
and thrown himself headlong into studying the natural world.
750
00:40:09,870 --> 00:40:14,150
He was fascinated by the flora and fauna of the Galapagos.
751
00:40:14,150 --> 00:40:18,220
And he soon realized that different species
752
00:40:18,220 --> 00:40:21,350
of marine iguanas, tortoises, thrushes, and finches
753
00:40:21,350 --> 00:40:25,260
lived on the different islands.
754
00:40:25,260 --> 00:40:27,460
From these and other observations,
755
00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:29,610
he gradually developed the theory
756
00:40:29,610 --> 00:40:31,880
that the plants and animals had adapted over time
757
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,690
to their respective environments.
758
00:40:35,690 --> 00:40:37,613
The islands became a national park back in 1959,
759
00:40:46,670 --> 00:40:50,650
and they've been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978.
760
00:40:50,650 --> 00:40:55,350
It's believed that the Galapagos
761
00:40:55,350 --> 00:40:56,880
were created approximately 350 million years ago
762
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,150
through seismic and volcanic activity on the ocean floor.
763
00:41:01,150 --> 00:41:04,810
As they were never connected to the mainland,
764
00:41:04,810 --> 00:41:07,330
unique species of plants and animals
765
00:41:07,330 --> 00:41:09,680
were able to develop there.
766
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:11,030
Here on the Galapagos islands,
767
00:41:21,850 --> 00:41:23,410
we can take a close-up look at the process of evolution
768
00:41:23,410 --> 00:41:27,000
as it occurred everywhere on the planet.
769
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,280
Why here exactly?
770
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,040
Well, interestingly enough, these islands
771
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:32,760
are completely isolated from one another.
772
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,180
Each one stands alone,
773
00:41:35,180 --> 00:41:36,800
and the mainland is 1,000 kilometers away.
774
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:40,580
This allowed the various species on the islands
775
00:41:40,580 --> 00:41:42,970
to develop independently,
776
00:41:42,970 --> 00:41:44,680
undisturbed by external influences.
777
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,310
And the environment is a challenging one
778
00:41:47,310 --> 00:41:49,270
for the organisms living here.
779
00:41:49,270 --> 00:41:50,920
Freshwater is scarce, UV radiation is intense,
780
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:54,620
and there are extreme droughts.
781
00:41:54,620 --> 00:41:56,990
Plants and animals that were carried onto the islands
782
00:41:56,990 --> 00:41:59,520
on the wind or on driftwood
783
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,450
had to adapt and change radically in order to survive.
784
00:42:01,450 --> 00:42:04,980
If they didn't, extinction loomed.
785
00:42:04,980 --> 00:42:07,770
The result was that the same species
786
00:42:07,770 --> 00:42:09,710
developed in different directions on the different islands.
787
00:42:09,710 --> 00:42:12,770
And this observation was an important building block
788
00:42:12,770 --> 00:42:15,980
for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution,
789
00:42:15,980 --> 00:42:18,640
which came to him later after his trip to the islands
790
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,950
on the Beagle.
791
00:42:21,950 --> 00:42:23,150
It was impossible to get any proper work done on the Beagle.
792
00:42:23,150 --> 00:42:26,700
Darwin suffered terribly from seasickness.
793
00:42:26,700 --> 00:42:29,453
(light music)
794
00:42:29,453 --> 00:42:31,470
Unlike the rest of the world,
795
00:42:31,470 --> 00:42:33,240
the Galapagos Islands are dominated by reptiles,
796
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:36,800
not by mammals.
797
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,380
The giant tortoises that lend the archipelago its name
798
00:42:38,380 --> 00:42:41,890
must be around here somewhere.
799
00:42:41,890 --> 00:42:43,940
Galapagos means saddle in old Spanish,
800
00:42:43,940 --> 00:42:46,010
and the shells on these primordial giants
801
00:42:46,010 --> 00:42:48,890
really do look like saddles.
802
00:42:48,890 --> 00:42:51,230
Darwin said that he rode on the backs of the tortoises,
803
00:42:51,230 --> 00:42:54,840
but it was difficult to keep his balance.
804
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:56,890
Reptiles can survive for a long time without drinking water,
805
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:06,200
but how their ancestors made their way to the islands
806
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,330
from the far off mainland long ago
807
00:43:09,330 --> 00:43:11,440
is still completely unknown.
808
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,573
What a fantastic primeval creature.
809
00:43:15,090 --> 00:43:17,900
This one, apparently, was born during the First World War.
810
00:43:17,900 --> 00:43:22,280
At least that's the estimate.
811
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:23,730
It's an extraordinary thing, and yet, of course,
812
00:43:24,750 --> 00:43:27,203
one wonders if he couldn't make a little bit more of his
813
00:43:28,260 --> 00:43:30,300
120-year life.
814
00:43:30,300 --> 00:43:32,563
It seems a somewhat structureless existence,
815
00:43:33,580 --> 00:43:36,890
munching on grass for 130 years.
816
00:43:36,890 --> 00:43:39,563
But, still, magnificent all the same.
817
00:43:40,690 --> 00:43:43,903
These creatures have developed some very special abilities
818
00:43:51,220 --> 00:43:54,860
in order to adapt to the uncertainties of their environment.
819
00:43:54,860 --> 00:43:57,923
When the male fertilize the female,
820
00:43:59,130 --> 00:44:01,340
{\an8}the female have an (indistinct) sac,
821
00:44:01,340 --> 00:44:04,260
{\an8}And the female can preserve the sperm of the male
822
00:44:04,260 --> 00:44:07,060
{\an8}for more than three years.
823
00:44:07,060 --> 00:44:08,723
Yes, if any time during this three years,
824
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,570
the seasons, the rainy season is good,
825
00:44:13,570 --> 00:44:16,780
the female will fertilize the eggs.
826
00:44:16,780 --> 00:44:18,610
That take couple weeks to increase the size of the eggs
827
00:44:18,610 --> 00:44:21,720
and then lay the eggs.
828
00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:23,450
Female tortoises have a very high degree
829
00:44:23,450 --> 00:44:25,550
of reproductive self-control.
830
00:44:25,550 --> 00:44:27,340
Not only that but also the female
831
00:44:27,340 --> 00:44:29,340
can delay the develop of the egg.
832
00:44:29,340 --> 00:44:31,933
The reason, they guess, the tortoises can keep the sperm
833
00:44:33,150 --> 00:44:37,460
and eggs for about five years.
834
00:44:37,460 --> 00:44:39,547
And the female can escape bad seasons.
835
00:44:39,547 --> 00:44:41,870
What's special about this species?
836
00:44:41,870 --> 00:44:43,600
Why does it get so old?
837
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,120
Why do tortoises reach such an extraordinary age?
838
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,880
Well, that is a good question. (laughs)
839
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,550
But we start to research this in 1965.
840
00:44:50,550 --> 00:44:54,480
And so in a very short time, in a very short period of time.
841
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:58,170
But one of the very important evidence that we have
842
00:44:58,170 --> 00:45:02,240
is from Steve Irwin, the guy from Australia.
843
00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:06,460
When Charles Darwin came here in 1835,
844
00:45:06,460 --> 00:45:08,960
he brought out many species from Galapagos.
845
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:11,587
And the group of the species that he brought from here
846
00:45:11,587 --> 00:45:14,110
were the tortoises as well.
847
00:45:14,110 --> 00:45:15,690
For any reason, one of the tortoises,
848
00:45:15,690 --> 00:45:17,706
that they named Harry in the beginning,
849
00:45:17,706 --> 00:45:20,020
but they discover was a female,
850
00:45:20,020 --> 00:45:21,930
and they changed to Harriet.
851
00:45:21,930 --> 00:45:23,150
This is Harriet who was in Melbourne Zoo.
852
00:45:23,150 --> 00:45:25,038
Exactly.
853
00:45:25,038 --> 00:45:26,640
Steve report that tortoise died after 170 years.
854
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:31,640
That is the only real evidence
855
00:45:32,070 --> 00:45:34,610
that we have about their life span.
856
00:45:34,610 --> 00:45:36,750
But for scientists, that is a record of life
857
00:45:36,750 --> 00:45:39,920
because we put on a very tough, tough, very strong animal,
858
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:44,920
living in captivity with a bed, with foods.
859
00:45:45,290 --> 00:45:49,123
Probably we can help--
860
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:51,180
It's pretty privileged existence.
861
00:45:51,180 --> 00:45:52,245
Exactly.
862
00:45:52,245 --> 00:45:53,078
The larger islands with lusher vegetation
863
00:45:57,570 --> 00:46:00,440
and lots of grass are home to species with domed shells.
864
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:04,930
Their relatives on the smaller rockier islands,
865
00:46:04,930 --> 00:46:07,510
on the other hand, developed very different shells.
866
00:46:07,510 --> 00:46:10,640
And they needed to be able to stretch their necks up
867
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:12,960
much higher to reach sources of food.
868
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:15,853
Darwin noticed this,
869
00:46:18,330 --> 00:46:19,520
and the many different species of finches on the islands
870
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:23,370
also gave him food for thought.
871
00:46:23,370 --> 00:46:25,193
It wasn't until after his journey to the Galapagos Islands
872
00:46:27,620 --> 00:46:30,890
that Darwin began to work his observations
873
00:46:30,890 --> 00:46:33,940
of the Galapagos finch species
874
00:46:33,940 --> 00:46:36,100
into some kind of theoretical structure.
875
00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:38,520
And, today, some of these birds are still named after him.
876
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,860
The finches, he argued,
877
00:46:41,860 --> 00:46:43,300
had evolved independently of each other
878
00:46:43,300 --> 00:46:45,250
on the different islands.
879
00:46:45,250 --> 00:46:46,700
And each type of finch had a very different beak.
880
00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:50,200
Some of their beaks were short
881
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,340
and thick to help them crack nuts.
882
00:46:53,340 --> 00:46:56,420
Others had longer, thinner beaks
883
00:46:56,420 --> 00:46:59,610
that were ideal for catching insects.
884
00:46:59,610 --> 00:47:02,190
The finches, in other words,
885
00:47:02,190 --> 00:47:03,690
had evolved into distinct species,
886
00:47:03,690 --> 00:47:06,470
adapting to the food available
887
00:47:06,470 --> 00:47:08,350
on the islands where they live.
888
00:47:08,350 --> 00:47:10,040
Changing from generation to generation
889
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,600
was the only way they could survive.
890
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,010
Darwin would later call this natural selection.
891
00:47:15,010 --> 00:47:18,570
His theory on the origin of species
892
00:47:18,570 --> 00:47:20,410
was nothing short of revolutionary.
893
00:47:20,410 --> 00:47:22,520
It demolished old certainties
894
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:24,630
and turned contemporary understandings of natural history
895
00:47:24,630 --> 00:47:27,790
on their heads.
896
00:47:27,790 --> 00:47:29,180
And the first place in which Darwin captured this thinking
897
00:47:29,180 --> 00:47:33,790
on the history of species is in his notebooks,
898
00:47:33,790 --> 00:47:36,870
the notebooks he made when he got back
899
00:47:36,870 --> 00:47:38,270
from the Galapagos Islands.
900
00:47:38,270 --> 00:47:40,000
And you can see how he's drawn a diagram
901
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,570
in which the species diverge like branches.
902
00:47:42,570 --> 00:47:45,600
And Darwin called this diagram the tree of life.
903
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:50,033
The different species of scalesia plants
904
00:47:53,130 --> 00:47:56,180
are a botanical parallel to the Darwin finches.
905
00:47:56,180 --> 00:47:59,600
They too vary from island to island.
906
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,550
On Santa Cruz, they form thick forests.
907
00:48:02,550 --> 00:48:05,900
On the other islands, they don't.
908
00:48:05,900 --> 00:48:07,550
On my expeditions to the various islands,
909
00:48:14,940 --> 00:48:17,350
I meet rangers who are looking after a species of birds
910
00:48:17,350 --> 00:48:20,500
that are nearly extinct.
911
00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:22,340
Today, one of the very rare Galapagos petrels
912
00:48:22,340 --> 00:48:24,970
is scheduled to be marked.
913
00:48:24,970 --> 00:48:26,990
They're endemic here,
914
00:48:26,990 --> 00:48:28,250
so they can only be found in the Galapagos Islands,
915
00:48:28,250 --> 00:48:30,830
and are on the list of critically endangered animal species.
916
00:48:30,830 --> 00:48:34,790
They nest in burrows in the ground
917
00:48:34,790 --> 00:48:37,040
to protect their eggs and chicks from predators like rats,
918
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:40,580
which arrived on the islands along with humans.
919
00:48:40,580 --> 00:48:43,200
The rangers' goal is to mark and observe
920
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:46,230
every individual fledgling.
921
00:48:46,230 --> 00:48:48,310
Protecting this unique species is also their duty
922
00:48:48,310 --> 00:48:51,030
to this UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site,
923
00:48:51,030 --> 00:48:54,080
say the rangers.
924
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:55,023
Back on the coast, I meet up with Maria Jose Barragan,
925
00:49:12,900 --> 00:49:17,040
scientific director of the Darwin Research Station
926
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:19,770
on the Galapagos Islands.
927
00:49:19,770 --> 00:49:21,100
How does she view the future of the archipelago?
928
00:49:21,100 --> 00:49:23,683
I am optimistic, and that's why I'm here.
929
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:27,090
{\an8}Simply because I believe in the new generations.
930
00:49:27,090 --> 00:49:30,320
{\an8}And I truly believe Galapagos is a very special place.
931
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:33,890
{\an8}And I believe the local population,
932
00:49:33,890 --> 00:49:35,650
as any other in the mainland,
933
00:49:35,650 --> 00:49:37,720
is more aware and more sensible on how special this place is
934
00:49:37,720 --> 00:49:41,910
and how the commitment of this local community,
935
00:49:41,910 --> 00:49:44,460
especially the young members of the community,
936
00:49:44,460 --> 00:49:46,550
could be and could become the challenge,
937
00:49:46,550 --> 00:49:49,200
but also the active agents into the change.
938
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:52,340
So I trust in the future of Galapagos.
939
00:49:52,340 --> 00:49:55,353
I invite all the people living here,
940
00:49:56,370 --> 00:49:58,670
me and all the members of this community,
941
00:49:58,670 --> 00:50:01,970
to take a reflective position and an approach
942
00:50:01,970 --> 00:50:05,610
into how it means and what does it imply
943
00:50:05,610 --> 00:50:08,010
to live here in Galapagos.
944
00:50:08,010 --> 00:50:09,310
For the moment, the people here live in symbiosis
945
00:50:13,020 --> 00:50:16,380
with the animals and the natural world.
946
00:50:16,380 --> 00:50:19,570
And yet the question remains
947
00:50:19,570 --> 00:50:21,400
as to whether the dangers of tourism for these islands
948
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:24,990
have been fully recognized.
949
00:50:24,990 --> 00:50:27,320
Tourism desperately needs to be restricted
950
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:30,300
if this place is to be preserved.
951
00:50:30,300 --> 00:50:32,580
The archipelago is battling growing levels of pollution,
952
00:50:32,580 --> 00:50:36,390
and climate change is not helping things.
953
00:50:36,390 --> 00:50:39,310
But above all,
954
00:50:39,310 --> 00:50:40,700
the many endangered species of plants and animals
955
00:50:40,700 --> 00:50:44,200
need to be protected from human beings and their actions.
956
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:48,063
This place really brings it home to you
957
00:50:51,610 --> 00:50:54,280
{\an8}just what is at stake.
958
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:56,370
{\an8}A fragile ecosystem that has functioned smoothly
959
00:50:56,370 --> 00:50:59,320
{\an8}for hundreds of thousands of years is in danger,
960
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:02,510
extreme weather conditions are occurring
961
00:51:02,510 --> 00:51:04,460
more and more frequently,
962
00:51:04,460 --> 00:51:05,740
sea levels are rising,
963
00:51:05,740 --> 00:51:07,470
and plastic waste from Asia and South America
964
00:51:07,470 --> 00:51:10,340
is washing up on the beaches,
965
00:51:10,340 --> 00:51:12,070
posing a threat to local wildlife.
966
00:51:12,070 --> 00:51:14,450
The imminent collapse of our planetary biosphere
967
00:51:14,450 --> 00:51:17,500
is the foremost problem and challenge of our time.
968
00:51:17,500 --> 00:51:20,860
We will only master it if we stop thinking of ourselves
969
00:51:20,860 --> 00:51:24,900
just as Europeans, Chinese, Americans, or whatever,
970
00:51:24,900 --> 00:51:29,090
and begin to see ourselves as inhabitants of a shared space.
971
00:51:29,090 --> 00:51:33,460
Humans, after all, are also a species
972
00:51:33,460 --> 00:51:36,500
that will have to evolve if it hopes to survive.
973
00:51:36,500 --> 00:51:39,173
(misty music)
76621
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