Από το Big Bang στο Σήμερα - Η Εποχή της Ανακάλυψης (Age of Discovery) - video Dailymotion

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Από το Big Bang στο Σήμερα (Deep Time History)  2016 | Επ. 2/3 | HD  Σε αυτήν τη σειρά, γκρεμίζουμε τα τείχη μεταξύ επιστήμης και ιστορίας για να αποκαλύψουμε πώς η ιστορία της ανθρωπότητας επηρεάζεται συχνά από γεγονότα από τα αρχέγονο παρελθόν. Αρχαία υπερκαινοφανή αστέρια, οι συγκρούσεις ηπείρων, ο σχηματισμός των μορίων, όλα αυτά διαμόρφωσαν διακριτικά την ιστορία όπως την ξέρουμε. Ο πολιτισμός μας και οι καινοτομίες, τα ταξίδια μας και οι μάχες δεν επηρεάζονται μόνο από τις αποφάσεις μας, αλλά και από τη φυσική, τη γεωλογία, τη βιολογία, τη χημεία – από δυνάμεις που είναι πολύ μικρές για να τις διακρίνουμε…ή τόσο παλιές που ο μόνος τρόπος για να κατανοήσουμε την επίδρασή τους είναι να αλλάξουμε τρόπο σκέψης.  Ο Κολόμβος δεν έχει ιδέα ότι εξαιτίας της γεωλογίας και της γεωγραφίας της Γης, δεν θα φτάσει στον προορισμό του – ή πώς αυτή η επική αποτυχία θα κάνει το ταξίδι του μία από τις σημαντικότερες αποστολές της ανθρωπότητας. Ας προσθέσουμε στο παζλ και έναν αστεροειδή που χτύπησε τη Γη πριν από δισεκατομμύρια χρόνια και η εικόνα ολοκληρώνεται…

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00:00600 χρόνια,

00:04Έναν από ευρώπη σχερά σε στιαίες

00:07και έτσι έφεραν έγινε το Ιησοδησία.

00:12Ρσοδησία, χωρίς χωρίς κρήσης,

00:16πιστεύω κλήσης,

00:18πιστεύω από ευρώπη τους που έτσι έγινε τα πόλαιο.

00:22Ρσοδησία, πιστεύω από το νημό και μεταφερνάει το πλανέντ.

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07:47Η μολεκλη είναι ο πιπρυρή.

07:51Ή είναι λίγο στους εξαρτηθούς, αλλά δεν χειρίζει τους.

07:55Ή είναι πολύ μεγάλο.

07:56Ή είναι λίγο ασφαλό.

07:59Ή είναι πιο εξαρτηθόμα.

08:01Ή είναι πιο γνωρίζοντας πιπρυρή.

08:03Και από 1492,

08:05βαθούς Ευρωπαϊκού δεν έχουν καλύτερες.

08:09Ήταν πιπρυρή πιπρυρή.

08:11Ήταν πιπρυρή πιπρυρή.

08:15Μετά από τις βορήσεις μέλες φυσικά,

08:19καθώς έχουν πιπρυρή πιπρυρή χρήνη με την Ευρωπαϊκή διαλίκη.

08:28Στην εκχύδη εξαρτηγάλο μέλη μέλη μέλη μέλη μια αργασφαλή.

08:31Ήταν πως η ψάχνια πιπρυρή υπήρή πρόσφαλα να δημιουργήσουν πουchantσκονται με πιπρυρή πιπρυρή.

08:36Ίκουδοί αναζήκατε,

08:38έχουν πρέπει να δούμε πάντα να αν δεν υπήρει φύλλα πιπρυρή πιπρυρή.

08:40...και όταν δεν υπήρχε μια μονομή.

08:454.5 διόνια χρόνια.

08:48Δεν υπήρχε μια μονομή.

08:50Και η μονομή δεν υπήρχε.

08:55Μετά...

08:56...και πιστεύουμε ότι μια μονομή,

08:58πραγματικά μονομή,

08:59μόνο μονομή της μονομή,

09:01θα έρθει σε μονομή.

09:10Ματά η μονομή που μετλώνει καθημερινόν για να μπανα πάνω στην μονομή ανάγκη,

09:15ίσως θεξαρνότητα αίσθηση με το σύμφbelsι που αισθανόχετ nhưng το αμφανά

09:25της μονομήκας που μεταφεράλευσε την μονομή

09:28είναι η οποία geral συμφωνώ την Ατσάριξη για να διαφινουν παραγωγές για το αδείσμα

09:33παρακοπήρματι γνωρίζει 231,5 δεγρονί.

09:35Και η αισθαρνή της βιθνής μονομή.

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14:47And this causes a shockwave across Western Europe, because Constantinople is essentially the gateway between Europe and the Orient.

14:54It's the place where spices and other exotic luxuries from the Orient enter Europe.

15:01But one country in Europe has already been planning to get around the Silk Road.

15:07A country that was considered insignificant even by European standards.

15:12And yet, in the early 1400s, ground zero for the Age of Discovery is Portugal.

15:20Instead of depending on the Silk Road, Prince Henry, later called the Navigator, wants to find a direct sea route to India.

15:32Portugal is a poor country.

15:35But if it takes over the spice trade, it'll be rich.

15:38Let's be frank about this.

15:42The early explorers did not go into the unknown for their health.

15:47No, they did it for financial gain.

15:50Prince Henry's plan is to do what no one has ever done.

15:55Sail around the southern tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean.

15:59But there's a geological reason that sailing around Africa won't be easy.

16:09Africa's Atlantic coastline has very few natural harbours or inlets.

16:13So when the Portuguese sail south, there aren't a lot of safe places to anchor.

16:22So there are many, many areas where it's almost impossible to land.

16:29And we're prevailing currents and wind patterns make it very dangerous to try and get in and come out again.

16:34So we imagine these expeditions slowly working further and further down,

16:37then coming back to Portugal, accumulating more and more information.

16:40Over the decades, Prince Henry's ships do find a handful of safe harbours.

16:48They start trading in everything from ivory to slaves.

16:56But the decades pass.

17:00Henry the Navigator dies.

17:02And his successes still haven't made it around Africa.

17:05So far, the geographical barriers imposed by deep time have been too great.

17:17Then, in 1484,

17:22Christopher Columbus comes to the Portuguese with a new plan.

17:28Never mind Africa.

17:29Save time and money by sailing over the Atlantic.

17:32They assume that if you cross this ocean that we see off our western shores here,

17:39that eventually we'll simply come to East Asia.

17:43Columbus is sure that if he sails far enough west,

17:47he'll end up in the Far East.

17:49Because he's sure that the Earth is round.

17:52But, contrary to myth,

17:57Columbus isn't trying to prove that it's round.

18:00Most educated Europeans know the Earth is a sphere.

18:04The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle

18:06had calculated the roundness of the Earth 2,000 years earlier.

18:10But Columbus and other Europeans have no insight into a deeper question.

18:21Why exactly is the Earth round?

18:26What's the scientific reason that planets like ours are spherical,

18:30instead of some other shape?

18:32It's a question that we can answer.

18:38And there's a clue in some recent astronomical photos.

18:43Look at these two objects.

18:46One is a comet visited by a space probe in 2014.

18:51The other is Pluto.

18:53Why does the comet have an irregular shape?

18:59While Pluto is a sphere, like Earth?

19:05Well, the answer is, gravity is attractive.

19:09Or, as we tell our students, gravity sucks.

19:14In other words, objects in space form when gravity pulls cosmic debris together.

19:20The force of gravity always pulls towards the centre of an object.

19:29And as you add mass, gravity gets stronger.

19:35But you see, gravity sucks evenly.

19:38And that's the reason why the state of lowest energy

19:40is when gravity accumulates all this mass,

19:44smooths out all the imperfections

19:46to create a spherical star or planet.

19:51However, for very small objects like asteroids,

19:55the gravity is not strong enough to smooth it out.

19:59In fact, if a body is less than roughly 700 miles across,

20:04gravity is not sufficiently strong to create a round planet.

20:11Which is why Columbus is right.

20:16Nevertheless, the Portuguese pass on his plan.

20:27So Columbus has to seek out fresh investors for his project.

20:32Which he can do.

20:33Because one of Europe's greatest weaknesses

20:36turns out to be a secret advantage.

20:39So, remember how Europe was the squabbling collection of competing states?

20:45Well, think about it from Columbus's point of view.

20:48If the Portuguese say no,

20:50he can go to the monarchs of England, France or Spain.

20:53And he can say to each one of them,

20:54if you back me,

20:55I will make you the richest ruler in all of Europe.

20:59And of course,

21:00eventually,

21:01the King and Queen of Spain decide to take a gamble.

21:03They give Columbus the funding for its cross-Atlantic route to China.

21:09And on August 3rd, 1492,

21:13three ships at sail across the Atlantic.

21:15Now, from a limited point of view,

21:29you have an Italian commanding a Spanish commercial venture

21:32that's trying to get an economic advantage over the Portuguese.

21:36But think about the knowledge and the technology aboard those three ships.

21:48Columbus has studied cartography from ancient Greece and Rome

21:51that's been preserved by Arab scholars

21:53and translated back into Latin.

21:59He's using a compass that was invented in China

22:02and transmitted to Europe over the Middle Eastern trade routes.

22:05From the perspective of deep time history,

22:12Columbus and his men represent the sum total

22:14of all the extraordinary knowledge and innovation of Afro-Erasia.

22:22And yet,

22:23because they don't know that the surface of the planet

22:25is divided into two major world zones,

22:28they have no idea where they're going.

22:35But in spite of that,

22:38because of the shape of the Earth

22:41and geological forces unleashed tens of millions of years before,

22:47these three ships from Afro-Erasia find land,

22:53an island in the Bahamas

22:59that to this day has not been clearly identified.

23:08It's the 12th of October, 1492.

23:12Columbus gives thanks to God

23:30for what he thinks is a successful business trip.

23:33In fact,

23:36he's reversed the tectonic process

23:38and brought Afro-Erasia and the Americas

23:42back together.

23:46The world is reconnected.

23:49Humans rediscover each other, if you like,

23:51and the entire globe becomes

23:53sort of a modern, metaphorical Pangaea.

23:58Columbus never realises

24:00that he's reached the outskirts of a world

24:02unknown to Europeans.

24:10He thinks he's somewhere near India

24:12and he calls the people he encounters Indians.

24:21In fact,

24:23these islanders are the Taino.

24:28And like Columbus,

24:30they came from Afro-Erasia.

24:43There was this land bridge

24:45during the Ice Age

24:47that allowed waves of migrants

24:50to come from Asia

24:52and populate the Americas.

24:56Within a couple of thousand years,

24:58they've made it right down

24:58to the southern tip of South America.

25:00With the waning of the Ice Age

25:02from about 12,000 years ago,

25:04sea levels rise dramatically,

25:06that bridge disappears,

25:08and these humans are now cut off,

25:10isolated in the Americas

25:11from Afro-Erasia,

25:13and the memory of this connection

25:14is sort of lost.

25:17And it won't be till,

25:19literally until 1492,

25:22that these vast world zones

25:23will be reconnected.

25:29The reconnection

25:30is the start

25:31of what will be called

25:32the Columbian Exchange.

25:36A vast, ongoing transfer

25:39between the Americas

25:40and Afro-Erasia

25:41of cultures,

25:42technologies,

25:43and especially,

25:45living things.

25:46The breakup of the supercontinents

25:51was not just a geologic event,

25:53it was also a biological event.

25:56But now technologies,

25:59plants,

26:00animals,

26:01diseases,

26:02and people

26:03from one landmass

26:04or the other

26:04will spread across oceans

26:06and around the world.

26:10Phase one of the exchange

26:12gets underway

26:12when Columbus returns

26:13to Spain

26:14in 1493.

26:17He has found

26:18no black pepper.

26:21But there are other spices

26:23and a strange leaf,

26:25the Taino burn,

26:27that they call

26:27tobacco.

26:31This leaf will kill

26:32hundreds of millions

26:33of people.

26:35Its addictive ingredient,

26:36nicotine,

26:37evolved as a natural insecticide,

26:39like the piperine molecule

26:41of black pepper.

26:44Even more exciting

26:45for the Spanish,

26:47small amounts of gold

26:48from streams

26:49and riverbeds.

26:50They hope to find

26:51a lot more

26:52and they expect

26:53the Taino

26:54to get it for them.

26:56As Columbus writes

26:58in an official report,

26:59the people

27:00would make good servants

27:01and he brings back

27:03several of them

27:04as slaves.

27:09Phase two

27:10of the Columbian Exchange

27:11begins on January 2nd,

27:141494.

27:19Columbus returns

27:20to the Americas

27:20with 17 ships,

27:23European livestock

27:24like pigs and cattle

27:25and a small army.

27:28The bloody conquest

27:30of the Americas

27:30is about to begin.

27:35And the conqueror's

27:37most terrifying weapon

27:38is the horse.

27:43Imagine these early horses

27:45being brought over.

27:46Imagine Native American people

27:47who have never seen this before

27:48saying,

27:49wow, look at that.

27:52But this is another story

27:54with a deep time twist

27:55because horses

27:57aren't really

27:58an invasive species

27:59in America.

28:00in fact,

28:04they're completing

28:04a 7,000-year round trip.

28:09The horse,

28:10which has proven

28:11so important

28:12for human history,

28:13originally evolved

28:14in the Americas.

28:18Evolved

28:19and then disappeared,

28:21possibly hunted

28:23to extinction

28:23by the Taino's

28:25Ice Age ancestors.

28:26But some horses

28:29escaped to safety

28:30over the bridge

28:31to Eurasia

28:32before the seas

28:34rose again.

28:37Those prehistoric horses

28:39spread throughout

28:40Asia and Europe

28:41where they were

28:41domesticated,

28:43bred

28:43and crossbred.

28:44Now,

28:50in 1494,

28:51the horse returns

28:52to the Americas

28:53as a weapon

28:55of conquest.

29:02Horses carry the Spanish

29:04who follow

29:04in Columbus's path

29:05into Central

29:07and South America

29:07where they find

29:09a new world

29:10of powerful civilizations.

29:16This is Mexico City,

29:18the world's

29:1912th largest city

29:21and the largest

29:22Spanish-speaking

29:23metropolis on earth.

29:29It's a hub

29:29of commerce

29:30and culture,

29:32but in the middle

29:33of the city

29:33is what remains

29:35of a great temple.

29:38Mexico City

29:39is built directly

29:40over the ruins

29:41of another great city,

29:44Tenochtitlan,

29:45the urban center

29:46of the Aztec Empire

29:48in the early 1500s,

29:49five square miles

29:51with a population

29:52of 200,000,

29:55four times that

29:56of London

29:57at the time.

29:58And it's not

29:59just the Aztecs.

30:02The Americas

30:03are home

30:03to other powerful

30:04empires and kingdoms,

30:06including the Maya

30:08and the Incas.

30:12And the Spanish

30:13conquistadors

30:14don't have an easy time

30:15bringing them down,

30:17at least,

30:18not at first.

30:19case in point,

30:22one summer night

30:23in 1520.

30:31Hernán Cortés

30:32and his men

30:33find themselves

30:34hunted

30:34and outnumbered,

30:39chased into

30:39the side streets

30:40of Tenochtitlan,

30:42where the spaces

30:44are too narrow

30:45to make use

30:46of their horses.

30:51Even the superior

30:52technology of guns

30:54is of little use

30:56against an endless

30:58rain of arrows

30:59and spares.

31:00But as the Spanish

31:15flee with as much

31:16gold as they can carry,

31:18they leave behind

31:20without knowing it

31:22a weapon more powerful

31:24than gunpowder,

31:25horses,

31:25or steel.

31:29Because inside

31:30one of Cortés' fallen

31:32is a biological

31:34time bomb

31:35brought forth

31:37from deep time.

31:38and months later,

31:46when the Spanish

31:47and some anti-Aztec

31:48allies return

31:49to Tenochtitlan,

31:51they find the city

31:53in disarray

31:55and the streets

31:56littered with the dead.

32:00Smallpox is the

32:01beginning of the end

32:02of the Aztec Empire.

32:06The disease spreads

32:08throughout Central

32:09and South America.

32:12The result is

32:13often catastrophic.

32:15But why are

32:16the European diseases

32:17like smallpox

32:18and measles

32:19so instantly deadly

32:21to the peoples

32:21of 16th century

32:23America?

32:25In a way,

32:26it goes back

32:27to the horse.

32:32Horses

32:33and other large mammals

32:34were never domesticated

32:36in North or South America

32:37because by the time

32:39the descendants

32:39of Asian hunters

32:40settled down

32:41and developed

32:42civilization in the Americas,

32:44most large mammals

32:45had died out.

32:50But look at this farm

32:52on the other side

32:53of the Pacific.

32:53for thousands of years,

32:56people all over Afro-Eurasia

32:58lived with their

32:58domesticated animals.

33:01Animals that often

33:02carried pathogens

33:03inside them.

33:05Over tens of centuries,

33:07these diseases

33:08kill hundreds of millions.

33:11But over the centuries,

33:13Afro-Eurasians develop

33:14some limited immunity.

33:16for the people of the Americas,

33:20immunity consists of two oceans.

33:26Early migrants

33:27to the Americas

33:27found themselves

33:28then sealed off

33:29in this huge world zone

33:31and the diseases

33:32of Afro-Eurasia

33:34were in no way

33:35able to make their way

33:35into the Americas.

33:38But when people

33:39cross the water,

33:40so do their pathogens.

33:47In just over a century

33:49after Columbus,

33:50between 50 and 95%

33:53of the Americas

33:54native population

33:55dies.

33:58Some groups

33:59have descendants

34:00in the 21st century.

34:02Others die out

34:03completely.

34:04remember European states

34:08that are tiny

34:09in comparison

34:10to these great

34:11imperial states

34:11of the Aztecs

34:12and the Inca.

34:14But because the Europeans

34:15have got guns

34:16and they've got steel

34:17and they've got diseases,

34:19they're quickly able

34:20to conquer

34:21these very impressive

34:22civilizations

34:23and the cultures

34:24of North America as well

34:25and turn these

34:26into great sort of

34:27areas of resource

34:28acquisition for Europe.

34:31Resources

34:31that Europe will then

34:33use to finance

34:33its conquest

34:34to the rest of the world.

34:36Over the next 400 years,

34:38the Americas

34:39are utterly transformed

34:40by new invasive species

34:42from Europe and Asia.

34:45From cattle

34:46and pigs

34:47to rats

34:48and earthworms.

34:51From apples

34:52and oranges

34:53and Midwest wheat

34:54to the bluegrass

34:57of Kentucky.

34:59But there was

35:00a similar trade

35:01the other way

35:01from the Americas

35:02to Western Europe.

35:04And so what we see

35:05is a huge export

35:07of crops

35:07and livestock

35:08from all corners

35:09of the world

35:10to all corners

35:10of the world

35:11thus radically

35:12transforming

35:13the ecology

35:13of the entire planet.

35:15That's because

35:16although the people

35:17of the Americas

35:18lacked large domestic animals,

35:20they had bred

35:21more than half

35:21of all humanity's usable plants.

35:26Including tomatoes,

35:27squash, beans,

35:28peppers, chocolate,

35:30yams, avocados,

35:31peanuts,

35:32the potato,

35:33and a weed

35:36that became one of the world's

35:38most astonishing examples

35:40of genetic modification.

35:44What was growing successfully

35:45in the wild

35:46in the Americas

35:46was a plant called

35:47teosinte,

35:49a small,

35:50weedy sort of grass

35:52that took many,

35:53many hundreds

35:54of generations

35:54of careful,

35:56sort of selective breeding

35:57of teosinte

35:57before you could start

35:59to turn it into a crop

36:00that could feed

36:00large numbers of people.

36:02You had to sort of

36:03essentially change

36:04the DNA of this thing

36:05so that it would produce

36:06a lot larger heads.

36:07One air of teosinte

36:09is about the size

36:11of a finger

36:11with five to twelve

36:13really hard kernels.

36:15It's not much

36:16to look at,

36:17but 10,000 years ago

36:18farmers in Mexico

36:19began planting

36:20and breeding it.

36:21They saw that some

36:22teosinte airs

36:23were a little bigger,

36:24some kernels

36:24might be slightly softer,

36:26and they planted those.

36:27And over thousands

36:28of years of selective breeding,

36:29the farmers of Mexico

36:30created,

36:31and that's the word

36:32they created,

36:33what we recognise

36:34as modern corn.

36:35Corn is a human invention.

36:40Initially,

36:41it probably gets imported

36:43into Europe

36:43as a novelty item,

36:44but quickly people realise

36:45that this is a really

36:46useful crop.

36:47It turns out

36:48that while the earth

36:49only has a few places

36:51that can grow spices,

36:52it has many areas

36:55where corn can grow,

36:57places too dry for rice,

36:59too wet for wheat.

37:02It grows well

37:03in a wide range

37:03of conditions.

37:04it's relatively pest tolerant,

37:06it's relatively drought resistant,

37:08and it produces

37:08a large amount

37:09of carbohydrate.

37:10And so it quickly spreads

37:12across Europe

37:13and into Africa,

37:14and today is the basis

37:15of both Europe's

37:16and Africa's food system.

37:19In the modern day,

37:20this has revolutionised agriculture

37:23across the world,

37:25and especially in places

37:26like the American Midwest

37:27or in China,

37:28where almost all of the corn

37:30that is being produced today

37:32ends up going into

37:34the belly of an animal

37:35that we then use

37:36for something else,

37:38largely for protein.

37:40While corn is a new world crop

37:42that helps transform

37:44the old world,

37:45an old world crop

37:48turns out to be

37:48the foundation

37:49of an empire

37:50in the new world.

37:51When the conquistadors

37:54first arrived

37:55in the Americas,

37:55they realised

37:56they were in a very

37:57conducive environment

37:58for growing certain crop species

38:00for which there is

38:01an enormous demand

38:02back in Eurasia.

38:03Chief amongst these

38:05was sugar.

38:07Sugar was the preferred drug

38:09of many, many Europeans.

38:12Humans have a fundamental

38:14deep time link

38:15with sugar

38:16because it's how

38:20we use

38:21the power of the sun.

38:32Through photosynthesis,

38:34plant cells use

38:35water and carbon dioxide

38:36to turn solar energy

38:39into oxygen

38:40and sugar molecules.

38:43Simple sugar molecules

38:47are the basis for glucose

38:48which provides energy

38:50for living cells.

38:54So we've evolved

38:55a sweet tooth.

38:58Chemical receptors

38:58that make us want

39:00this energy source

39:01that we need.

39:05An early homo sapien

39:08that had a strong motivation

39:09for sugar

39:10might have been healthier,

39:11might have been fatter,

39:12might have survived

39:13the winter better

39:14and gone on

39:14to have more children.

39:15And over time,

39:16this sort of evolutionary

39:17process would have bred

39:18a craving for sugar in us

39:20that we have still today.

39:24Sugar plantations

39:25spring up in areas

39:26where there's no gold

39:27to steal.

39:28Parts of Brazil,

39:29the islands of Jamaica,

39:30Barbados,

39:31and elsewhere.

39:33Through exploration

39:34and conquest,

39:36Europeans have now

39:37seized something

39:38that the deep time

39:39history of the planet

39:40failed to give them.

39:41their own tropics.

39:46At first,

39:48these tropical plantations

39:49are worked

39:50by enslaved local peoples.

39:52But as we've seen,

39:54they start dying out

39:55from European diseases.

39:57So the sugar growers

39:59solve their labor shortage

40:00by importing slaves

40:02from Africa.

40:05Prince Henry the Navigator

40:06had started the slave trade

40:08between Africa and Europe

40:09in the 1440s.

40:10Now it becomes

40:11one of the biggest businesses

40:13of the entire Colombian exchange.

40:17Over the next 350 years,

40:20more than 10 million Africans

40:22will be shipped

40:23to the New World

40:24to work the sugar plantations

40:26of Brazil and the Caribbean.

40:27and then other plantations

40:30growing tobacco,

40:31rice,

40:32coffee,

40:33and cotton

40:34to supply the world.

40:38If this looks like

40:39the beginning of globalization,

40:42that's because it is.

40:45But the substance

40:46that really connects the globe,

40:49linking countries around the world

40:51in a network of trade

40:52isn't a tropical plant,

40:55but a precious metal

40:57buried deep inside

40:59this extinct volcano

41:01in Bolivia

41:02known as Potosi.

41:07It's not gold,

41:09as you might think,

41:10but silver.

41:16One of the great discoveries

41:18that the conquistadors,

41:19the Europeans make,

41:20is the availability

41:21of a huge mine of silver

41:22at Potosi.

41:24The Europeans

41:25are very quick to exploit it.

41:27But from the view

41:28of deep time history,

41:29the silver didn't really

41:31come from Potosi.

41:35But from the death

41:36of an alien star.

41:41Stars make elements,

41:44the basic substances

41:45of the universe.

41:47When nuclear fusion

41:48at a star's core

41:49rearranges atomic nuclei

41:51with unimaginable pressure

41:53and heat.

41:56Middle-sized stars,

41:58like our sun,

41:59make very simple elements,

42:01like helium.

42:05Larger stars

42:06make heavier elements,

42:08and if they die,

42:09they make more.

42:11when a star

42:15about 10 times more massive

42:17than our sun

42:18uses up its nuclear fuel,

42:21it collapses,

42:22and then it blows up

42:24in an explosion

42:27100 million times brighter

42:29than the sun,

42:31creating even more elements

42:33and shooting them out into space.

42:38If the star is massive enough,

42:40one of those elements

42:41is silver.

42:45More than 4.5 billion years ago,

42:48gravity pulls the silver debris together

42:51into the forming Earth.

42:53But you have chemicals

42:58which touch other chemicals

43:00and coalesce in different ways,

43:02and so as a consequence,

43:03silver was not distributed evenly

43:05across the planet Earth.

43:09Inside the Earth,

43:11the silver from space

43:12is melted

43:12and then concentrated

43:14in areas of extreme subsurface heat.

43:17in other words,

43:20where there's volcanic activity.

43:25So millions of years ago

43:26in Bolivia,

43:27the Earth cracks open

43:29and Potosi

43:30fills with a metal

43:31that in the 16th century,

43:36the Spanish will do

43:37almost anything to get.

43:40When silver was discovered

43:42in the New World,

43:44that gave incentive

43:45for the conquistadors

43:47to complete the process

43:50of conquering the New World.

43:53So believe it or not,

43:54events that took place

43:56maybe 5, 6 billion years ago

43:58affected the history

44:00of the Americas

44:01billions of years later.

44:05Gold stolen from the Aztecs

44:07and Incas

44:08has been a huge windfall

44:09for the Spanish.

44:12But it's silver from Potosi

44:14that creates

44:15the first true

44:16international economy.

44:18That's because

44:20between the 1550s

44:22and 1800s,

44:2485% of all the silver

44:26in the world,

44:28from the Americas

44:29to Afro-Erasia,

44:31flows from this one mountain.

44:34And most of it flows

44:35to one country,

44:38China.

44:38That's right,

44:43China.

44:44A few years after

44:44Columbus landed in the Bahamas,

44:46our old friends,

44:47the Portuguese,

44:48finally made it around Africa

44:49to India

44:50and then China.

44:51Once Portugal opened the door,

44:53other European countries

44:54quickly found their own ways

44:55into the Chinese markets.

44:57Spain established trade routes

44:59from their new territories

45:00in the Americas.

45:01And by the late 16th century,

45:03they're buying Chinese goods

45:05with the first global currency,

45:08the purest silver coins

45:09in the world,

45:10silver from Potosi,

45:12shipped to the Mint in Mexico

45:13to create the silver dollar.

45:16Silver is then turned

45:17into coins or ingots.

45:19This is then shipped

45:20on Spanish galleons

45:21across the Pacific

45:21to the new Spanish colony

45:23in Manila

45:24in the Philippines.

45:25From there,

45:26it goes on to China

45:26to pay for the still

45:28highly in-demand

45:29Chinese luxury goods.

45:31So this extraordinary

45:32creation of a supernova

45:34becomes the key medium

45:35of exchange

45:35during this early modern period,

45:37this age of discovery,

45:39and really marks

45:40the beginning

45:40of genuine commercial

45:42globalisation

45:42of the planet.

45:46500 years later,

45:48a lot of Potosi's silver

45:50has run out,

45:51and the Mexican dollar

45:52is no longer

45:53a world currency.

46:02But the effects

46:04of the global economy

46:05and the Colombian exchange

46:07are all around us.

46:15Take a look

46:16at this very common

46:18modern meal.

46:19You could call it

46:19the Old World,

46:21New World combo.

46:22Look at the burger.

46:23Old World.

46:24The cow was domesticated

46:26in the Near East,

46:27then went to Western Europe

46:28and was taken

46:29to the Americas.

46:30The wheat in the bun?

46:31That was first grown

46:32in Mesopotamia.

46:34Lettuce?

46:35Egypt.

46:35The onion is Asian.

46:37But the tomato

46:38on the burger

46:39and in the ketchup

46:40comes from Mexico.

46:42And these French fries?

46:43New World potatoes

46:44named for an Old World country.

46:46The soda has sugar,

46:49which was originally

46:50from Papua New Guinea

46:51in the South Pacific.

46:52It spread through India

46:54to the Middle East,

46:55where Europeans acquired it

46:56and cultivated it

46:57in the New World.

47:00Oh.

47:00And here are packets

47:05of salt

47:05and black pepper,

47:08the precious exotic spice

47:09from the East

47:10that jumpstarted

47:11the Age of Discovery.

47:13It comes free

47:14with your meal.

47:16So today,

47:16we produce black pepper

47:17on very large plantations

47:20at an industrial scale,

47:22and the costs

47:23of producing the black pepper

47:24are very, very small,

47:26and the costs

47:26of shipping this product

47:27on large container vessels

47:29is totally insignificant.

47:31More inexpensive food

47:33for more people?

47:34That's one of the legacies

47:35of the Age of Discovery.

47:37Other parts of that legacy

47:38are very dark indeed.

47:40Violence, racism,

47:42slavery, even genocide.

47:44But there's something else

47:46to be said

47:46for the Age of Discovery.

47:49It altered forever

47:50the way we understood

47:51our place in the universe.

47:56There's a very clear link

47:57between the discoveries

47:58of these different regions,

48:00extraordinary landforms,

48:01lifelays, and so on,

48:03and what becomes

48:04the great scientific revolution,

48:05very much driven

48:06by trying to make sense

48:07of these extraordinary discoveries.

48:13Plunder and financial gain.

48:15That's why the early explorers

48:17risked their life

48:18to go to the new world.

48:21But eventually,

48:22a transformation took place.

48:24more and more adventurers

48:27and people who are just curious

48:29began to embark

48:31upon these great adventures,

48:32the most famous of them

48:34being Charles Darwin.

48:36He was curious.

48:37He was a naturalist.

48:39He wanted to write

48:39the history of life

48:40on the planet Earth.

48:42And the only way

48:43you could do that

48:44was to get on one of these boats

48:46and sail the ocean blue.

48:49And so we begin to realize

48:50that even though originally

48:52the spirit of exploration

48:54was the spirit of looking

48:56for profit and commercial gain,

48:59eventually people went

49:01because they were curious

49:03about the world.

49:04It was the age of discovery

49:05in the truest sense of the word.

49:11In one sense,

49:13the age of discovery

49:13began with a few ships

49:15in the 15th century,

49:16setting out for unknown shores.

49:18But in another sense,

49:20the age of discovery

49:20has roots in the very depths of time.

49:24In a land bridge

49:25that populated two continents,

49:29tectonic plates

49:29that ripped South America

49:31from Africa

49:31and created two huge world zones.

49:36In the molecules

49:37that formed after the collision

49:38that made the moon

49:39and the globe-connecting element

49:43forged in the heat

49:44of a dying star,

49:45links in the chain of events

49:48of deep time history.

49:50is there,

49:53like if they planned

49:55and a little bit

49:56of the night

49:57as if theyieved

49:58as the last soul

49:59did a lot of emergencies

49:59go to the Germans

50:00into the air

50:01to hacia Kash meeting

50:03to ash 잠

50:05at the jamais

50:06where are you

50:07or in theÉ

50:08in the Somehow

50:08thatusi

50:08that Holod

50:09ended on the boom

50:10and a flag

50:11was the most

50:12so

50:12that once

50:13before the Holocaust

50:13of 2

50:14was in the exact sail

50:15for the first chick

50:15that was in the 없이

50:16of the last room

50:17that maintained

50:18JavaScript

50:19Ευχαριστώ.

Από το Big Bang στο Σήμερα - Η Εποχή της Ανακάλυψης (Age of Discovery)

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