00:00The year is 452. The Roman Empire is on the brink of collapse, and the Huns have just
00:07launched their attack on Northern Italy. Several cities are completely destroyed, forcing the
00:12locals to go on the run. They head for a lagoon just off the coast, and take refuge on several
00:17small islands, a decision that would no doubt save their lives. Against all odds, this small
00:24civilization eventually went on to build one of the most impressive feats of engineering
00:29the world has ever seen, Venice. Despite having no roads, no land, and no fresh water, the
00:36Venetians managed to turn a muddy swamp into the most powerful and wealthiest city of its
00:43time. This unique layout of canals and bridges woven through hundreds of islands made Venice
00:49incredibly accessible, and it became the epicenter of all business. We modeled the entire thing
00:55to show you what's going on beneath the surface, and how its clever design and medieval
01:01engineering allowed it to take over the world. When the first refugees arrived to start their
01:06new lives on the islands, they had the worst possible surface to build on. The small, marshy
01:13islands were made of an incredibly soft clay, which would barely hold the weight of a human,
01:18let alone an entire city. To create stable foundations for buildings, the Venetians collected
01:24large timber piles from the forests of Croatia and started hammering them into the ground.
01:29They drove them about five meters deep until they reached a much harder layer of clay.
01:34Not only did this stabilize the piles, but by packing them really close together, it compressed
01:40the surrounding clay, pushing out the water and making it much stronger. Once the piles were
01:45firmly in the ground, the tops were cut off and wooden planks were laid on top to spread the load.
01:51Special blocks of Istrian stone were then placed to raise the foundations above the water.
01:57This design was a stroke of genius, as the wooden piles were sealed away from the air,
02:03making it impossible for them to rot. To this day, almost all of the original piles are in great
02:09condition and are still holding up the city. Once the foundation had been properly laid down,
02:15the buildings themselves were built. Venetians started off using wood for their houses,
02:20but after numerous fires, they switched to brick. To keep the buildings as lightweight as possible,
02:26they had to be no more than three stories high. Lime mortar had to be used instead of cement
02:32because it was flexible and would allow the entire building to flex as the ground beneath slowly
02:37moved. The inner walls were built in a crisscross pattern that would also flex like a trellis.
02:43The facade walls, which had large windows and elegant stone designs, made them much heavier,
02:49and so in order to stop them from falling over, they were pinned into the floor using iron rods,
02:54keeping the entire building together. This method of building worked well for the Venetians,
02:59and soon several islands around the lagoon were established in this way. Instead of expanding
03:05outwards like most cities, these islands expanded into each other. At first, boats were the only way
03:11to cross between the islands, but eventually the islands grew closer together, and many could be
03:17crossed by simply wading through the shallow water on a horse. The next step in Venice's
03:22evolution would of course be connecting the islands. Surprisingly, there were no bridges for
03:28the first 500 years of Venice's existence, but as the population increased and business started to
03:34ramp up, there needed to be an easier way to reach Rialto, the financial center of Venice, and so
03:40the Doge of Venice set up a prize for the engineer that could design the best bridge.
03:46He announced this by putting up Displate posters all around the city. Just kidding. Displate,
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04:46today and visit displate.com slash primalspace or use code primalspace. In order to turn Venice
04:53from a collection of islands into a bustling city, bridges had to be built. The first attempt was a
04:59simple pontoon bridge that joined the two largest sections of Venice together, and crucially,
05:05provided quick access to the Rialto area. The bridge was later upgraded to a wooden bridge,
05:10which eventually burned down and collapsed before it was finally replaced by a much stronger stone
05:16bridge. To build it, over 12,000 timber piles were driven into the banks of the canal, and 10,000
05:23tons of stone were built on top to form the bridge. To this day, the bridge still stands,
05:29and it serves as the main artery in the center of Venice. After this, stone bridges started to
05:35pop up everywhere, turning Venice into a compact city made up entirely of canals instead of roads.
05:42This gave Venice a unique advantage, since the canals allowed goods and traffic to flow quickly
05:47through every part of the city. The messy overlap of pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic
05:53didn't exist in Venice, since the walkways and canals were completely separated, yet people
05:58could transition between the two effortlessly without slowing down. By now, the city had become
06:04the most powerful and richest city in Europe. Everything being bought and sold went through
06:10Venice, and the Venetians were making enormous amounts of money. But as business increased,
06:16so did the population, and the demand for fresh water was out of control. Despite being surrounded
06:23by water, Venice couldn't use any of it, since it was extremely salty and undrinkable. Without
06:29natural springs or rivers to collect fresh water, Venice relied upon boats to deliver water from
06:35the mainland. But with 170,000 people, the demand became too much, and the Venetian engineers had to
06:43get creative. From the beginning, Venetian islands were built around squares, which were initially
06:49just empty fields for animals to graze upon. The idea was to use these squares to collect rainwater.
06:55They started by digging out large areas under the entire square and lining the walls with a thick
07:01layer of clay to make it waterproof. The space was then filled in with sand and stones, and the
07:06surface was redone with tiles that would lead the water towards each corner of the square. From here,
07:12rainwater would flow into the basin and gradually filter through the sand and stones until it
07:18reached the main well at the center of the square. To maximize the surface area for water collection,
07:24the roofs of the nearby buildings were fitted with gutters that would direct the water onto the
07:28square and into the drains. Venice then became an enormous funnel, which filled more than 600 wells
07:35around the city. The Venetians had once again engineered a masterpiece to save its city.
07:41But there was still one huge problem. Waste. Until this point, people threw all of their waste
07:48out of the window, some of it landing in the canal. But for those who didn't live within
07:53throwing distance of a canal, urine, feces, and rotten food all ended up in the streets. And so,
08:00in the 16th century, the Venetians started building a network of underground tunnels
08:04that would collect the waste from every building and flush it into the canal. When the tide of the
08:10lagoon was down, solid waste would collect at the bottom and the liquids would naturally flow into
08:15the canals. Then, when the tide rose, it would flood the tunnels and pull the solid waste into
08:21the canal. The motion of the tide coming in and out twice a day would exchange the dirty water
08:27for fresh water from the sea, flushing Venice from all of its waste. The extremely salty water
08:33worked as a strong disinfectant and, thanks to this system, the streets became clean.
08:38Amazingly, almost all of the incredible engineering that made Venice is still around today.
08:45The bridges, the canals, the buildings are all ancient relics sitting on a forest that has held
08:51up the entire city for over a thousand years. And now, time for the Primal Space giveaway.
08:58The winner of the previous giveaway is Leon. Congrats! In the next video, we'll be giving away
09:04this Primal Space-designed Venice poster. All you need to do is sign up at the link below,
09:10like the video, and leave a comment saying what you think about Venice.
09:14Thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
