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00:00The 8th of November, 1519.
00:15In a magnificent city, surrounded by water, an all-powerful Aztec ruler prepares to meet
00:23a man like no one he's ever seen before.
00:30Imagine, in your mind, blue sky, beautiful weather, sunlight glittering on the lake.
00:40And these basically visitors from Mars advance across the causeway.
00:46These are the Spaniards.
00:49They wear unfamiliar clothes and carry strange weapons.
00:56The first meeting between Cortez and Moctezuma is one of the great moments in human history.
01:04This is the moment when the two halves of humanity come together.
01:08Old world meets new, changing forever the course of history.
01:19One, a formidable ruler who has been dominating his world for 20 years.
01:27The other, one of the most ruthless, effective, brilliant, brutal opportunists in world history.
01:36This fateful meeting will expose fault lines at the heart of the Aztec empire.
01:47A harsh regime, fueling resentment.
01:57And a fatal weakness in the face of an invisible killer.
02:01Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Aztecs of Mexico, and the Samurai of Japan.
02:29Four great civilizations, each a pinnacle of human ingenuity and achievement.
02:41Each lasted for centuries.
02:45Their people thought they would endure forever.
02:50Until suddenly, everything changed.
02:59These civilizations faced challenges that are all too familiar today.
03:09Climate catastrophe.
03:14Pandemic.
03:21War.
03:23Challenges for which ancient societies had few solutions.
03:34But what if there was a place that had the answers to what went wrong?
03:39A place full of secrets and stories.
03:44A repository of memory stretching back through time.
03:52The British Museum, home to more than 8 million artifacts, is a record of how and why the greatest
04:01civilizations rose to power and then spectacularly fell.
04:09Its treasures are the human traces that survived disaster.
04:15But might they also hold lessons for our own future.
04:22Every civilization throughout history has had an expiry date.
04:27With great societies, the seeds of their destruction are sown within the society.
04:34They're already there.
04:38No civilization ever thinks it's going to fall.
04:41But the question is, what can we learn from the past?
05:05In the shadow of volcanoes, on an island in the middle of a vast lake, the city of Tenochtitlan
05:16is home to around 200,000 people.
05:24It is the dazzling jewel at the heart of the mighty Aztec empire.
05:33Stretching from coast to coast, across what is modern-day Mexico, its territory covers over 77,000 square miles.
05:46Tenochtitlan is far more advanced than most European cities of this age.
05:52Five times the size of Henry VIII's London.
05:56Tenochtitlan is not like an old medieval European city.
06:01It was planned in the form of a grid rather like Manhattan is today.
06:07The city is green and lush.
06:13Fertile water gardens produce multiple crops each year.
06:17The civilization created the technology in order to use this water and also to construct fields on the water.
06:30And these people, it's possible to sow corn, to sow beans, to sow tomatoes on these fields.
06:42You have all kinds of foods, chilies, peppers.
06:47You can buy fish pre-wrapped in a maize leaf.
06:52So you can kind of take away your dinner if you'd like.
06:55They have huge kind of seething markets where tens of thousands of people go shopping every day.
07:04This city is teeming with life.
07:06There are priests and soldiers, weavers, traders.
07:10The city is overwhelming in its colours and its smells and the sort of atmosphere of excitement and bustle.
07:29Much of what we know of this civilization and the clues to its catastrophic collapse lie in a remarkable set of books that survived from that time, written by the Aztecs themselves.
07:46We have hundreds and hundreds of pages in the Aztec language. They're called the codices.
07:52Today, we can look at the beautiful images and the alphabetic writing and learn a great deal about their political history, their religious beliefs.
08:17The Aztecs have a very long tradition of writing.
08:29This is my mother tongue.
08:31And this is the language that my parents transmitted to me in the 20th century.
08:36We feel very proud to find a very strong legacy in the history of the Aztec society.
08:55You're hearing things that were said, performances that were given, prayers that were uttered.
08:59It's really quite extraordinary.
09:01The picture that emerges from these manuscripts is of a community bound together by a level of equality, very unlike Europe at the time.
09:16Aztec society is incredibly progressive.
09:20You have institutional education for boys and girls.
09:23They instill the children with an understanding of being part of that Aztec machine.
09:33Men and women have very specific and very different roles, but both are regarded as equally essential to the successful perpetuation of their culture.
09:41The Empire and its five million inhabitants are under the control of a single, all-powerful ruler.
10:02Moctezuma was a man in his early forties.
10:12He had been emperor for 17 years and a very successful one.
10:17His name, Moctezuma, means frowns like a lord.
10:21So presumably he was high-handed and had a temper.
10:24Moctezuma became ruler after the death of his uncle.
10:31He did not inherit the throne. He was chosen.
10:37The Aztecs are so interested in who's going to do a good job that that takes over from who is the closest relative.
10:46Moctezuma looks like a good bet as ruler. He is a brilliant, effective warrior.
10:52There's good evidence that he himself went out into the field and led armies and was a successful general.
11:03However, in private, Moctezuma appears to be an emperor who likes to sit in Tenochtitlan and read books and learn about his empire.
11:15He is intelligent and he has a thirst for knowledge.
11:19Moctezuma believes in his own ability to understand and control the world around him.
11:28His people revere him as a demigod.
11:32But soon he will face a challenge for which he is completely unprepared.
11:41He is destined for ×”×–×”.
11:451,500 miles away, on the island of Cuba, a Spanish adventurer is plotting a bold expedition.
12:15His name is Hernán Cortés.
12:26The single most important thing about Hernán Cortés is that he is a nobody.
12:32He was born in 1485 in Extremadura, a kind of scrubby frontier bit of Spain.
12:38He could have stayed in Spain, but he's clearly very ambitious.
12:42It has been nearly 30 years since the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.
12:56Since then, Spanish explorers, mercenaries and merchants have been travelling to the Caribbean
13:02in their thousands, looking for land, gold and glory.
13:12They are known as conquistadors.
13:17Everyone who's going to the new world is going to seek their fortune.
13:24It's the American dream. It's the idea of anyone can go and make something of themselves.
13:34They're a bit like venture capitalists investing in tech.
13:38They're looking for the next frontier, the next big thing.
13:45Cortés, growing up in Spain, saw ships laden with treasure arriving from the new world.
13:52He followed the lure and joined the ranks of the conquistadors.
13:59Cortés wants money and gold and probably also fame and recognition.
14:08Cortés is a narcissist. He's possibly a sociopath.
14:15He's a clever guy, but he's an awful person.
14:22Cortés will sacrifice friendships and betray his colleagues in order to get what he wants.
14:29Arguably, Cortés is kind of a monster.
14:32Cortés has set his sights on the mainland to the west.
14:42A previous expedition has explored its coast and brought back tales of a mysterious kingdom beyond.
14:49Said to be laden with gold.
14:53He starts drumming up support and gathering men, promising them great wealth if they come with him.
15:01Cortés is often described as a very Machiavellian kind of character, very manipulative.
15:11He's highly ambitious.
15:16Leading 11 ships and some 500 men, Cortés's thirst for gold is about to take him into the unknown.
15:26And into the heart of the most powerful warrior culture in the Americas.
15:33Do Cortés and any of his men have any sense of Tenochtitlan, of the Aztec Empire, of the extraordinary power of this civilisation?
15:40I think the answer is clearly no.
15:54Throughout his rule, Moctezuma has ruthlessly expanded his empire.
15:59Backed by an army of some 200,000 warriors.
16:10Inspired by the ferocious power of the apex predators that hunt in the wilds of the Aztec world.
16:17Everything in nature, whether it be animals or mountains or plants or trees, is seen as part of their world view.
16:29They feel that there are strong spiritual bonds there.
16:33Aztec warriors even dress as the animals whose primal violence they seek to harness.
16:39Eagle and Jaguar warriors were the two highest orders in the Aztec army.
16:49They symbolise bravery, proximity to power and to creation.
16:54The Aztecs aren't just a fearsome military culture.
17:02Their religious beliefs also lead them to practise a terrifying ritual.
17:14It's hard to get away from sacrifice when it comes to the Aztecs.
17:18The popular image of Aztec culture is basically they love a sacrifice.
17:39They love nothing more than plunging a knife, ripping out your car and holding it up to a baying mob.
17:46Everybody's covered in blood.
17:49But it's not how the Aztecs behave.
17:51They almost certainly saw these as very serious kind of religious rituals.
18:03This knife clearly is an incredible symbolic object.
18:07Knives like this are often used as part of ritual offerings.
18:12The blade is crafted from razor sharp flint.
18:19The handle carved in wood.
18:22Then decorated in mother of pearl, turquoise and malachite.
18:28To depict one of the most formidable of all Aztec fighters.
18:34The eagle warrior.
18:39The black patches at the tips of the eagle's wings, those are singeing from the sun.
18:44Because supposedly they were the animals that stood the closest to the sun at its creation.
18:49The Aztecs see it as their duty to uphold the balance of the cosmos.
18:56To achieve this, they must feed the sun and the earth with blood.
19:04The most common ritual sacrifice takes place on top of the temple pyramid.
19:17Four priests would stretch the arms and legs of the person backwards over a pointed stone.
19:23They stretch the arms of the victim backwards.
19:28And then a fifth priest removes the heart from the ribcage which is extended.
19:35And the heart is given to the gods.
19:39Human sacrifice also allows Moctezuma to rule his empire with absolute authority.
19:58This isn't just about saying, look how many people will die.
20:02It's about saying, look how powerful our gods are.
20:07It's about Moctezuma being at the heart of that power and being the figure around which the cosmos is swirling.
20:14He is the man who has to hold all those forces in balance.
20:18And that is a big statement about power.
20:22The Aztecs wanted to frighten people.
20:25Human sacrifice became a weapon in their war against others.
20:30For now, Moctezuma is terrifying his enemies into submission.
20:36But he is about to face an entirely new kind of opponent.
20:55Two months after setting out from Cuba, the conquistador Hernan Cortez reaches the coastline of the Aztec Empire.
21:10When the Spaniards first arrive on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, their expedition is being watched.
21:16It's the first time that the Aztec people are observing strange people.
21:25Their skin was more or less white.
21:29They were using swords riding horses.
21:34These animals were not known in central Mexico.
21:39They have ships that are large.
21:46They have different clothing and weaponry.
21:49They are hairier, smellier, and the Spaniards seem and are grubby.
21:55Moctezuma's spies are watching.
22:05And he soon hears reports of the strange new arrivals.
22:12He could crush the Spaniards.
22:15But he chooses to let them live.
22:22Moctezuma is curious.
22:24And he wants to see them.
22:28If an alien spaceship landed and aliens looked human, got out and walked around,
22:33your first instinct wouldn't be, we must immediately kill them.
22:36You'd want to talk to them and find out where they've come from.
22:40He cannot possibly think that they pose a threat to his life or to the survival of his empire.
22:49Moctezuma sends a message to the newcomers intended to show his strength.
22:55But it's a message that will be misread, with tragic consequences.
23:05He dispatches a gift of gold.
23:12The Asics had a special name for gold, which was the excrement of the gods.
23:32Something so precious and so beautiful that only gods could do.
23:55Few items made of gold from the Aztec world still exist.
23:59We often hear the Asics prefer turquoise.
24:05But this is really not true.
24:08Once they discover the beauty, they go crazy with gold.
24:16We see the Asics being in a way like nouveau riche, that has acquired wealth suddenly and is showing it off.
24:28Is it equivalent to a Rolex watch?
24:37For the Aztecs, gold is not just valuable, it is sacred.
24:43A sign of the presence of gods on earth.
24:47And through intricate craftsmanship, a way to harness supernatural forces.
24:56This ring is depicting a jaguar, the most powerful feline in the Americas.
25:06This could have been worn by a noble, or a priest, or a distinguished warrior.
25:14So it's a symbol really of power and it's a symbol of strength.
25:20Moctezuma's gift of gold is extremely valuable to the Aztecs, but it is not meant as a welcome.
25:35I would read that as a display of power, or else a grand display, look how rich I am, I can give you all of these things, so you should go away.
25:47The Spanish, of course, see it as a submission.
25:50Oh, he's agreed that you'll give us all these gifts and so we're going to be in charge.
25:56Moctezuma believes he's shown his strength.
26:01What he fails to realise is that he has just made Cortez more determined than ever.
26:08It is a catastrophic mistake.
26:35Two months later, Cortez and his men are forging a path inland, up through the lowland jungle.
26:46They are beginning to understand that to get their gold, they will have to take on a vast warrior empire.
26:56But then Cortez discovers a weakness that he can exploit.
27:03There are plenty of people who have been suppressed by the Aztecs who might want to take advantage of the arrival of a new power player in the territory.
27:12There is a simmering resentment against Moctezuma.
27:17The source of this resentment is encoded in a remarkable object from the Aztec world.
27:24This is a human existence that has been transformed into a work of art.
27:43Beneath a layer of precious stones is a human skull.
28:06We call it the decorated skull.
28:13But it's not a decorated skull.
28:15It's a power object.
28:17It's mosaic covering is of dazzling turquoise, black lignite and red oyster shell.
28:29Precious materials Moctezuma demands from the wider Aztec empire.
28:34Part of a harsh system of taxation imposed on his subjects.
28:40The city of Tenochtitlan is a parasite on other territories.
28:46So tribute can encompass everything from raw materials and currency, so things like gold and cacao and cotton,
28:55to fully created warrior outfits and even in some cases sacrificial victims.
29:02The richly decorated skull attached to a deerskin belt was designed to be worn by an Aztec warrior,
29:13strapped to his back, to strike all into those that followed.
29:18The idea that this skull mask could be attached to the body,
29:26looking behind you as you move forward as a priest or a warrior,
29:31that in some senses here is this object that talks about the overcoming of death.
29:39I can imagine the warrior going into battle wearing this thing,
29:44somehow feeling invincible, protected, being reinforced in their own inner potency.
29:54The decorated skull, built from cruel tribute, is a symbol of Aztec domination.
30:05But it also holds a warning for Emperor Moctezuma.
30:10The danger for him is that there will be some people who think,
30:13God, you know, the Aztecs are very overbearing.
30:16This guy Moctezuma, you know, he's a real menace.
30:19Like, I can't wait to see the back of him.
30:21And that, of course, means that there are people who, if a new group entered the arena,
30:27would be very keen to ally with them against Aztec.
30:30It's a curse, often, to be in a position of power.
30:37You are in a position that is incredibly precarious.
30:40In the case of the Aztec Empire, it was even worse,
30:42because this was an empire that was recently built upon conquest of multiple different groups and ethnicities.
30:48It was bloated, overtaxed, unequal, and fragile.
31:03Cortes and his men press on.
31:06And now they discover that Moctezuma's empire doesn't just harbour people who resent his rule.
31:14There are also those prepared to resist.
31:18There are city-states within Mexico which don't send tribute to Tenochtitlana and actually defy it.
31:29Most famously, its big rival is a place called Tlaxcala.
31:33Tlaxcala is a pocket of independent territory that lies directly on Cortes' route to the Aztec capital.
31:46When the Spanish first arrive, Tlaxcalan warriors try to drive them back.
31:53But Cortes has a secret weapon.
31:56Someone who can help him negotiate with the people of Tlaxcala.
32:02When the Spaniards first arrive on the coast, Cortes is very lucky that the Spaniards are given 20 girls to be part of the Spanish entourage.
32:14Among them is a young woman who will help change the course of history.
32:20In Spanish, she is known as Malinche.
32:24The Aztecs call her Malincen.
32:27Malincen is said to have been born in the household of a nobleman, very near the Gulf of Mexico.
32:38Between 8 and 12 years old, she was captured and sold into slavery.
32:47We did not know how many people had owned her.
32:53Hernán Cortes gave Malincen to the highest-ranking Spaniard in his group, who was very impressed by Malincen because she was beautiful and also she was very confident.
33:06Malincen soon proves extremely useful to Cortes.
33:14Born just outside the Aztec Empire, she speaks their language.
33:20Now she learns Spanish as well.
33:23Almost overnight, she moves from being a sexual servant to being a translator, directly engaging and working with Hernán Cortes.
33:35Images of Malincen herself can be seen in the Aztec record books.
33:43She often appears either as large or larger than Hernán Cortes, which points to her importance.
33:58Malincen is helping Cortes, but she has her own agenda.
34:05She holds a deep grudge against the Aztecs.
34:10It was they who tore her from her family and sold her into slavery.
34:15Malincen is freely advancing her own interests.
34:22We can well imagine that it might have seemed like an opportunity for her to escape slavery.
34:30The Clascalan's own records capture the moment when, with Malincen as his translator, Cortes tries to persuade them to help him.
34:51The Spanish have to work really hard before the Clascalans eventually decide,
34:57OK, it looks like we might have a chance of defeating the Aztecs, so let's join forces.
35:27Six months after setting foot on the mainland, Cortes and his men, backed by 6,000 of their new local allies, cross the mountain passes surrounding Tenochtitlan.
35:42They finally get their first glimpse of the spectacular Aztec capital.
35:47They start to proceed across the causeway.
35:53Cortes and his captains leading this column of Spaniards.
35:59They have all their finery, they want to impress their hosts.
36:03Moctezuma believes in the strength and power of his empire.
36:12So he welcomes the Spanish, but he also reminds them who has the upper hand.
36:20There really is an enormous power imbalance.
36:26And Moctezuma emphasises that power imbalance by making Cortes wait for ages and ages and ages.
36:34And he has to wait for absolutely hours before eventually he meets Moctezuma himself.
36:39Moctezuma plays
37:06This moment is, I think, the most richly symbolic,
37:16the most momentous meeting of two human beings in world history.
37:23Because it stands for something much bigger,
37:26which is the European discovery of the New World,
37:29and, of course, the New World's discovery of Europeans.
37:36And all of that is embodied in these two extraordinary people.
37:51First comes an exchange of gifts.
37:57Cortes presents a necklace of pearls and glass beads.
38:02It's no match for the craftsmanship Moctezuma can call upon.
38:11One written account records the gift of a carved serpent covered in turquoise.
38:19Remarkably, an Aztec artifact to match that description has survived.
38:24And it holds clues to the message Moctezuma meant to convey.
38:29The double-headed serpent is this absolutely exquisite object
38:52that, from the moment you first see it,
38:55you can never forget, because it imprints itself on your memory.
38:59Snakes, for the Aztecs, represent fertility, they represent life and death.
39:21The shedding of the skin symbolises rebirth.
39:24This is to be seen, to be admired, to be shown to the world.
39:37It's part of the pride that the Aztecs have.
39:42It's a display of power.
39:44The person that made it must have been aware of the emergent power of this object
39:57and been spellbound by it as it was being made.
40:01The gift is meant to impress Cortez, but it may also be a warning.
40:19The double-headed serpent is an ambiguous symbol.
40:23It can be a negative omen because you have the two of them pulling in different directions.
40:28So there's that slight hint of danger underlying it.
40:37If you were a betting man and you look at these two blokes,
40:40you'd say, come on, there's only going to be one winner here.
40:42And it's not the Spaniards who's got a few hundred adventurers and ruffians at his back.
40:48It's the bloke with a massive capital city and kind of millions of people.
40:52It seems like no match at all, but Moctezuma critically underestimates the threat.
41:02He treats Cortez like a friendly visitor, a courtly prince,
41:07when in reality he is a ruthless mercenary.
41:12He says to Cortez, welcome, this is your home, please come into the city, everything is yours.
41:18You know, we're so delighted that you've come.
41:22This was basically like people who say, oh, come into my house.
41:26But you never really mean it.
41:29You're saying polite things.
41:31These are the courtly conventions, the courtesies, that you extend to your guests.
41:35That's what Moctezuma is doing.
41:37And I think the Spanish take that literally.
41:41Cortez is like, great, you know, let's go.
41:43The Spaniards, along with the Clash Garland leaders, take up residence inside the Aztec capital.
41:58Moctezuma thinks, I am much more powerful than the Clash Garlands,
42:03and these guys will be overwhelmed by my city and me and my power,
42:08and probably they'll abandon the Clash Garlands and come and work for me.
42:12The Spaniards is clearly in awe of this wonderful city.
42:21One of the other conquistadors later says,
42:24we wondered if it was not a dream because it was all so beautiful.
42:28He and his men are housed in a palace next door to Moctezuma's own palace.
42:33We have this sense that he is building a relationship, a rapport with Moctezuma.
42:37The Spaniards are engaging in a kind of prolonged diplomatic encounter.
42:43They go hunting together.
42:46They were very impressed by the market.
42:49They saw the inside of temples.
42:51They were taken by boat to the other side of the lake shore to see other little towns and villages.
42:56The more the Spanish see of this fabled land, the more desperate they are to get their hands on it.
43:07The problem for Cortez is that there's no apparent end point to this prolonged period of diplomacy.
43:14After five months of diplomatic stalemate,
43:37Cortez receives news that forces him to act.
43:40Cortez learned that some other Spaniards had arrived on the coast.
43:46He knew he had a problem because he didn't have the permission to be there.
43:53Cortez has embarked on his bold venture without getting approval from the Spanish authorities.
44:02Cortez has gone rogue.
44:03Effectively, Cortez is attempting to defeat an empire without actually having a license from the king of Spain to do what he's doing.
44:13The new arrivals are here under orders to arrest Cortez.
44:19He needs a bargaining chip.
44:22So he takes a huge risk.
44:25Cortez thought it would go better for him if he could say that he had control of the kingdom through a hostage prince.
44:32This was an age-old way of making war in Europe.
44:35You take a prince hostage and then you have control over their people.
44:38He had the nerve to send a group of men into the throne room where Montezuma was
44:50and literally take him prisoner.
44:55Malinche is doing all the translating.
45:10They say, look, you're coming with us.
45:12And he's just so stunned.
45:14It's a kind of paralysis.
45:15He's like, OK, I'll go.
45:22Such a mad gamble.
45:23Such a mad thing for Cortez to do to take Montezuma prisoner.
45:26You get this sense of Cortez being this amazing maverick who makes the right choices at the right time.
45:49What's often forgotten is the fact that he is a desperate man.
45:52He can't turn back.
45:54He's got no choice, so he may as well plough on.
45:59The gamble pays off.
46:02And Cortez bribes the new arrivals to join him in his quest for gold.
46:09Cortez is able, through his usual mix of military and diplomatic prowess, to win the new Spaniards over.
46:17In fact, it takes almost no winning over at all.
46:19He now has 800 additional soldiers.
46:24But having kidnapped Montezuma, Cortez has made the whole population of the Aztec capital his enemy.
46:39Once they have taken Montezuma prisoner, the mood in the city has definitely darkened.
46:44There's a few hundred Spaniards, they're in this palace, but around them, it's not merely the city, with like hundreds of thousands of people, but it's a whole massive empire.
46:59A band of Aztec warriors stages an attack on the palace where Montezuma is being held prisoner.
47:11The emperor is ordered by Cortez to try and defuse the situation.
47:16Montezuma was forced on a balcony to appeal to his people.
47:23They're kind of using him as a bit of a hostage, a human shield, possibly still hoping that he can act as an intermediary with the people.
47:30Although I think it's pretty clear by this point that his authority has drained away and that people are no longer listening to him.
47:38The emperor has lost all control over his people.
47:46Once hailed as a demigod, he is now powerless.
47:52And all too mortal.
47:56Montezuma, he's a hostage who has outlived his usefulness.
47:59We know the Spanish kill all their other hostages.
48:02And there are sources that say the Spanish basically came into his room and killed him.
48:07We know the Spanish kill all their other people.
48:08The French kill all their other people.
48:28The corpse of the once mighty leader of Central America's greatest civilization
48:34is left on the street to rot.
48:51Before the Aztec warriors can take their revenge,
48:55the Spanish decide to grab what they can and make their escape.
48:59They're sneaking through the streets, which seem deserted.
49:05How are we going to get out of here with our lives?
49:09They are seen by a woman who's collecting water,
49:12and she raises the alarm.
49:17And then it's as though the whole city is pouring out of the buildings.
49:21Canoes are swarming around the Spaniards.
49:32The mortality rate is just piling up.
49:36Horses are being killed.
49:38People are being killed by the hundreds.
49:42In the chaos, around two-thirds of the Spaniards die.
49:47Some 600 men.
49:49Cortes himself is quite badly injured, but he survives.
49:54This night has gone down in history with the name of La Noche Triste,
49:59the Night of Sorrows,
50:00because for the Spaniards, it is a tragedy.
50:04From the indigenous point of view,
50:06maybe we might think of it as more like a night of triumph.
50:10Finally, the Aztecs have rid their capital city of the newcomers.
50:18The whole city celebrates.
50:21The Spaniards are gone.
50:24But they have left behind a parting gift.
50:28An invisible threat
50:30that will bring the Aztecs to their knees.
50:33After the Spaniards left,
50:52for a few weeks,
50:54people were very happy.
50:55But then people began to die.
51:01For the Aztecs,
51:02can you imagine the horror
51:03as this silent, unexplainable killer
51:05first appears among them?
51:07Tantalising evidence for this mystery disease
51:24may be embedded
51:26in the most iconic artifact
51:28from the Aztec world.
51:49Masks were a central element of Aztec life.
51:52Turquoise masks were usually placed on corpses
51:56at the time of a funeral.
52:00Here we see an Aztec
52:02with ammoni-like eyes,
52:07aquiline nose,
52:09and beautiful teeth.
52:11But this mask
52:20contains some unexpected details.
52:26We see these stones.
52:29They stand out,
52:30so the imperfections of the skin
52:33are being shown.
52:36We see the man being afflicted.
52:38He is showing us
52:40what he's suffering from.
52:44The lumps on the skin
52:46might represent
52:47the disease of leprosy,
52:49widespread in the Americas.
52:52But they are also
52:54a remarkable match
52:55for a killer plague
52:57that the Spanish
52:58have introduced
52:59to the new world.
53:02Smallpox.
53:03It seems very evident to me
53:07that those bigger bits
53:09of turquoise
53:10on the surface,
53:11that is the lumps
53:12that you would find
53:13on the face of somebody
53:14afflicted by smallpox.
53:19It's hard not to associate
53:21the mask
53:22with exactly that,
53:24this wave
53:25of mortal disease
53:27that decimated
53:2840% of the population.
53:30Since the Spaniards' arrival,
53:38smallpox has spread
53:40inland from the coast
53:41before engulfing
53:44the Aztec capital itself.
53:48This population
53:49was virgin population
53:51in the sense
53:51that they had never been exposed
53:53to these Western microbes.
53:56They all got sick.
53:58They had no medicine
54:01that worked for it,
54:02no way to understand it.
54:04It was psychologically devastating.
54:11Smallpox is one of the most
54:12deadly diseases we've had
54:13in the history of humanity.
54:16Infectious enough
54:17to spread quite quickly,
54:18but deadly enough
54:20that actually it kills
54:21a third of people infected.
54:22It is higher than SARS,
54:26which is 10%.
54:27It's higher than COVID-19,
54:29which was, you know,
54:301 to 2%.
54:31When you get it,
54:34you start feeling unwell.
54:35High fever,
54:36headaches,
54:37vomiting.
54:39The next stage
54:40is the tongue
54:41and the mouth
54:42get covered
54:42with pus-filled
54:43little sacs.
54:44Once your skin
54:47starts rising up,
54:48almost like little peas
54:49underneath your skin,
54:50incredibly painful,
54:52soon come all the way up
54:53and develop into scabs.
54:55Once it's in your home,
54:56everyone will get it.
54:57And then it's the question
54:59of how many will survive.
55:05Disease is the greatest reaper
55:07across human history.
55:09More people have fallen
55:10to pathogens
55:11than they have
55:12to any other cause.
55:13epidemics are a shock.
55:15But ultimately,
55:16what's more important
55:16is how vulnerable
55:18is a society
55:19which is hit
55:20by an epidemic.
55:25Nearly 14 months
55:26after he fled
55:27the Aztec capital,
55:29Cortes has returned
55:31to a civilization
55:32in its death throes.
55:34Now,
55:35backed by his local allies,
55:37he launches
55:38a brutal attack.
55:43They're fighting
55:43a disease-ridden,
55:45weakened,
55:46starving population.
55:48And I think that is
55:48massive in explaining
55:50how he's able
55:50to achieve what he does.
55:54The Aztecs insist
55:55on fighting
55:55to the death.
55:58So the Spanish
55:59start moving
56:00through the city
56:01practicing total war.
56:06It's simply
56:07the only way
56:08the Spanish
56:09are able
56:09to force
56:10the Aztecs,
56:11this proud warrior culture,
56:13to surrender.
56:14Finally,
56:29the mighty warrior empire
56:31of the Aztecs
56:32has fallen.
56:36The Aztec empire
56:47fell apart
56:48within two years.
56:49This makes it
56:50one of the fastest
56:51collapses
56:52throughout world history.
56:53That was due
56:54to the sheer variety
56:55of threats at first.
56:59An overbearing leader
57:01who demanded
57:02tax and tribute.
57:04a disaffected people
57:06with nothing to lose
57:08and a ruthless opponent
57:11who exploited
57:13these fault lines
57:14for his own gain.
57:17Once you think
57:18about the huge amount
57:20of indigenous people
57:22who were not happy
57:23and were ready
57:25to fight
57:25against the Aztecs,
57:27you get a very different
57:28view of the situation.
57:32This is an indigenous
57:34civil war,
57:35an empire that has
57:35collapsed in on itself.
57:38A collapse
57:39hastened
57:41by an unforeseen killer.
57:43Disease is still
57:45one of the greatest threats
57:46to civilization.
57:48We do need to look
57:49at our collective vulnerability.
57:51Just think of
57:51what happened with COVID.
57:53Pathogens always seem
57:54to be two steps ahead of us
57:55and we're trying
57:56to catch up
57:57in that race.
57:57The story of the Aztecs
58:01is ultimately
58:02a story about
58:03the arrival
58:03of the unexpected
58:04and I think
58:06that has to be
58:07a pretty sobering
58:08lesson for us.
58:12We are deluded
58:13if we think
58:15that everything
58:16we take for granted
58:18will be here forever.
58:19Japan,
58:28a unique culture
58:29closed off
58:30to the west
58:31for centuries,
58:32is on a collision course
58:34with the modern world.
58:37As foreign aggressors
58:39arrive on their shores,
58:41Japan's ancient warrior class,
58:44the samurai,
58:45must fight
58:46to save their way of life.
59:16theii Sounds
59:17and the
59:21there's a
59:22question
59:23before
59:26the
59:28the
59:28the
59:28the
59:29the
59:30the
59:30the
59:30the
59:31the
59:32the
59:34the
59:43the
59:44the
59:44the
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