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00:00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:09:07We are all stargust.
00:09:10Copper and tin, Bronze Age.
00:09:12Without supernovas, there's no Bronze Age.
00:09:15Go to any supermarket and buy a multivitamin.
00:09:19And go and look in the ingredients.
00:09:21You'll find copper, you'll find zinc, you'll find selenium.
00:09:23You'll find all sorts of elements that can only be made in a supernova.
00:09:29The elements made by stars will become the seeds of life on Earth
00:09:34and the drivers of human history.
00:09:38But the journey has just begun.
00:09:41Before there can be life, the universe has to build us a suitable home.
00:09:48To build a proper house, you have to assemble the right materials all in one place.
00:09:57Now when planets form, it's the same thing.
00:10:00It's the materials that you have at hand that's going to dictate the kind of house that your planet's going
00:10:06to be.
00:10:06To get enough of the right material in the right place, all at once takes a very long time.
00:10:14Over the next 8 billion years, more than half of history as we know it,
00:10:20the element factories continue their work.
00:10:23Stars explode and are reborn.
00:10:30Each generation with more heavy elements than the last.
00:10:36Until 4.6 billion years ago.
00:10:41Finally, there are enough materials gathered for the next step, on the path to us.
00:10:52A new star is born.
00:10:57It's so massive that it's gathered up 99.9% of the gas and dust in the solar system.
00:11:04But there's still just enough left behind for gravity to build some other things.
00:11:10Like planets.
00:11:12The third one out from this star will be our home.
00:11:19By the time Earth emerges, just over four and a half billion years ago,
00:11:24two-thirds of the history of the universe has already passed.
00:11:31The first sunrises sweep across a foreboding alien planet.
00:11:36A world spinning so rapidly that a day lasts only six hours.
00:11:45When you go back to the early Earth, right after the planet formed,
00:11:49you really have to think of the Earth as another planet.
00:11:54The sun would have looked out over a hellacious scene of just molten lava.
00:12:04In places, you would see rafts of black volcanic rock.
00:12:10Within the liquefied rock, the elements are all in a jumble.
00:12:16Something has to bring order out of this chaos.
00:12:20And once again, that something is gravity.
00:12:24Lighter material drifts toward the surface and forms a solid crust.
00:12:32While heavier material sinks toward the center,
00:12:36forming a molten iron-nickel core.
00:12:40This churning liquid metal creates a magnetic field
00:12:43that reaches out into space.
00:12:45Like a force field,
00:12:47it will protect our future home from the sun's deadly charged particles.
00:12:52Soon, this magnetic field will allow for life to grow.
00:12:56And later, guide the explorers who will connect two halves of the world.
00:13:01But for all this to unfold,
00:13:04the Earth will need a critical partner.
00:13:14Four and a half billion years ago,
00:13:16an object the size of Mars
00:13:18smashes into the planet at 25,000 miles per hour.
00:13:28Earth swallows up much of the impactor.
00:13:38Earth swallows up much of the impactor.
00:13:52where it has been ever since.
00:13:56The formation of the Moon
00:13:58was an incredibly important event in Earth's history.
00:14:01And in fact, its creation over four billion years ago
00:14:05is really important to the Earth's climate today.
00:14:08The Moon keeps Earth steady.
00:14:11Its gravitational pull prevents the planet from wobbling,
00:14:15saving us from wild climate swings.
00:14:17and the collision that formed the Moon
00:14:20leaves Earth tilted on its axis,
00:14:23giving the planet a key ingredient to life,
00:14:27seasons.
00:14:31Having seasons is very, very important
00:14:34for the evolution of life on the Earth.
00:14:36And having some stability in the tilt of those axis,
00:14:40that's very, very important also
00:14:42for maintaining life on the Earth.
00:14:46The Moon's gravity also begins to slow Earth's rotation,
00:14:50which will eventually lengthen our days
00:14:53from six hours to 24.
00:15:074.4 billion years ago.
00:15:11It's too hot on Earth for liquid water to exist.
00:15:15But there's water vapor,
00:15:17steam in the atmosphere.
00:15:20The trick is
00:15:22how to get it out of the sky
00:15:24onto any world
00:15:25where you hope to have life.
00:15:27A little rain must fall.
00:15:35For millions of years,
00:15:37as the planet cools,
00:15:39rain pours down,
00:15:41forming puddles,
00:15:43lakes,
00:15:44and eventually,
00:15:46our oceans.
00:15:49By 3.8 billion years ago,
00:15:53our planet has a Moon
00:15:54and permanent oceans.
00:15:56But it hardly resembles the place
00:15:58we now call home.
00:16:01To become the stage
00:16:03for all of human history,
00:16:05Earth needs an oxygen-rich atmosphere,
00:16:08fertile continents
00:16:09for people to discover and develop.
00:16:12Who will create our modern world?
00:16:15There's a trillion of them
00:16:17crawling on your skin
00:16:18right now.
00:16:27We're telling the history of the world
00:16:30in two hours.
00:16:31From the Big Bang
00:16:32to the present day.
00:16:35And our modern world
00:16:36holds important clues to the story.
00:16:39In fact,
00:16:40structures like this
00:16:41hide a mysterious link
00:16:44to the first life on Earth.
00:16:523.8 billion years ago,
00:16:57beneath the surface
00:16:58of our primeval oceans,
00:17:02a revolution is taking place.
00:17:09Six simple elements,
00:17:11including hydrogen
00:17:12from the Big Bang
00:17:13and oxygen, carbon,
00:17:15and nitrogen created by stars
00:17:16have combined
00:17:18to form the key substances
00:17:19that will make up all life,
00:17:21including us.
00:17:25The most spectacular
00:17:27is DNA.
00:17:30Within its spirals
00:17:32hide the secret codes of life.
00:17:37700,000 years
00:17:38after the planet
00:17:40first formed,
00:17:42life on Earth
00:17:43begins.
00:17:46We stand not
00:17:47on the shoulders
00:17:48of giants,
00:17:49but of tiny organisms,
00:17:52bacteria.
00:17:55We're very egocentric.
00:17:56We think that we animals
00:17:57run the world,
00:17:59but in fact,
00:18:00we are very late entrants.
00:18:02It was an empire
00:18:04of bacteria
00:18:04long before animals.
00:18:06Animals come along
00:18:07and we like to think
00:18:08that we wiped out
00:18:09that empire.
00:18:11Well,
00:18:11we would be dead
00:18:12if we wiped out
00:18:13that empire.
00:18:15I have within me
00:18:16an entire zoo
00:18:17of bacteria.
00:18:19In fact,
00:18:20each one of us
00:18:21has more bacteria
00:18:23living in our bodies
00:18:24than there are people
00:18:25on the planet.
00:18:28for billions of years,
00:18:30microbes like these
00:18:31will have Earth
00:18:33to themselves.
00:18:36Like our infant universe,
00:18:38the first life
00:18:39is small,
00:18:40simple,
00:18:41and full of possibilities.
00:18:44The secret
00:18:44of how it explodes
00:18:45into all the incredible
00:18:47forms we see today,
00:18:48including us,
00:18:50goes back
00:18:50to the beginning
00:18:51of time.
00:18:53as we've seen,
00:18:54all the energy
00:18:55that will ever exist
00:18:56was created
00:18:57in the Big Bang.
00:19:00All creatures
00:19:01need to grab
00:19:02their share
00:19:03of this energy
00:19:03to survive.
00:19:05The more we harness,
00:19:07the more efficiently
00:19:08we use it,
00:19:09the more complex
00:19:10we can become.
00:19:11And almost all
00:19:12of our share
00:19:13of the Big Bang's energy
00:19:15is beamed to us
00:19:16by the sun.
00:19:20Two and a half
00:19:22billion years ago,
00:19:23some very special
00:19:25bacteria
00:19:26figure out
00:19:27how to consume
00:19:27the sun's energy
00:19:29to live.
00:19:32In doing this,
00:19:33they also create
00:19:35the most important
00:19:36waste product
00:19:36in the history
00:19:37of the world.
00:19:40Oxygen.
00:19:44Soon,
00:19:45oxygen will remake
00:19:47our world.
00:19:48But first,
00:19:49it has another
00:19:50important job
00:19:51to do.
00:19:52Earth's ancient seas
00:19:54are full of iron
00:19:55particles,
00:19:56and everyone
00:19:57knows what happens
00:19:58when oxygen
00:19:59meets iron.
00:20:02Here,
00:20:03I'm a little
00:20:04bacterium.
00:20:05I've produced
00:20:05this oxygen molecule,
00:20:06and here's a big
00:20:07piece of iron
00:20:08clump.
00:20:08I rust it.
00:20:11This rusted iron
00:20:13collects on the
00:20:14seafloor.
00:20:18billions of years
00:20:18later,
00:20:20these huge
00:20:20deposits will be
00:20:21raised up
00:20:22to become
00:20:23major sources
00:20:24of the world's
00:20:25iron and steel.
00:20:29It was these iron
00:20:30deposits
00:20:31that later on
00:20:32drove the
00:20:33industrial revolution.
00:20:36in this way,
00:20:37the Brooklyn Bridge
00:20:38and the other
00:20:40early landmarks
00:20:41of the industrial age
00:20:42are a direct link
00:20:44to some of the
00:20:44first lifeforms
00:20:45on Earth.
00:20:48Once there's no more
00:20:50iron left in the sea
00:20:51to rust,
00:20:52these ancient bacteria
00:20:54have a mission
00:20:55to complete.
00:20:55they create so much
00:20:58oxygen
00:20:58that it fills
00:21:00the oceans
00:21:01and escapes
00:21:02into the atmosphere.
00:21:06And from then on,
00:21:07we have a very
00:21:08different planet
00:21:08from all the other
00:21:09planets in the
00:21:10solar system.
00:21:11Now,
00:21:13life takes
00:21:14a giant leap.
00:21:15For the first time,
00:21:17some bacteria
00:21:18learn to live
00:21:18on oxygen.
00:21:20Every human breath
00:21:22is a ritual.
00:21:24two and a half
00:21:25billion years old.
00:21:29Life tends to
00:21:30stick with what works
00:21:31even over the course
00:21:31of billions of years.
00:21:34Oxygen
00:21:34is a game changer.
00:21:36By taming its power,
00:21:38life has found
00:21:39a better way
00:21:39to energize itself.
00:21:41Twenty times
00:21:42more efficient
00:21:43than anything
00:21:44used on Earth
00:21:45before.
00:21:46What life does
00:21:47with all this
00:21:48new energy
00:21:49will be the story
00:21:50that leads to us.
00:21:58over the next
00:21:59two billion years,
00:22:00life becomes
00:22:01more complex.
00:22:05Skies become blue.
00:22:08And so do the oceans
00:22:10that reflect them.
00:22:12Large, solid
00:22:13continents appear.
00:22:15Earth is beginning
00:22:16to look more like
00:22:17the place
00:22:18we now call home.
00:22:28550 million years ago.
00:22:31As the planet
00:22:32celebrates its
00:22:33four billionth birthday,
00:22:35oxygen levels
00:22:36in the atmosphere
00:22:37have risen
00:22:38from next to nothing
00:22:39to as much
00:22:40as 13%.
00:22:44Take a deep breath
00:22:45because life on Earth
00:22:47is about to go wild.
00:22:55This is the Cambrian
00:22:56Explosion,
00:22:57biology's version
00:22:59of the Big Bang.
00:23:02Right after you have
00:23:03abundant oxygen,
00:23:04you get size
00:23:06and complexity.
00:23:07And oxygen
00:23:08lets you do that.
00:23:12it's in this
00:23:14breathtaking span
00:23:15of roughly
00:23:1630 million years
00:23:17that most of the
00:23:18major animal groups
00:23:19evolve.
00:23:22By 500 million years ago,
00:23:24the first
00:23:25bony fish
00:23:26have evolved
00:23:27in the seas.
00:23:28These fish
00:23:29are our direct
00:23:30ancestors.
00:23:32Though they look
00:23:33nothing like us,
00:23:34they evolve
00:23:35the body parts
00:23:36that will make
00:23:36our own bodies
00:23:37possible,
00:23:38including a spine
00:23:39and a mouth
00:23:40with jaws
00:23:41and teeth.
00:23:43We owe a great deal
00:23:45to our fish ancestors.
00:23:46In fact,
00:23:47all vertebrates
00:23:47today really
00:23:48represent modifications
00:23:49of the original
00:23:49fish body plan.
00:23:53For the first
00:23:54four billion years
00:23:55of Earth's history,
00:23:56plants and animals
00:23:57have stuck
00:23:58to the seas.
00:24:01But that all
00:24:03begins to change.
00:24:04With oxygen
00:24:05comes an ozone layer
00:24:07protecting us
00:24:08from dangerous radiation.
00:24:13Plants
00:24:14make the move
00:24:15first.
00:24:25Around 400 million
00:24:27years ago,
00:24:28animals are ready
00:24:29to take the leap.
00:24:32Among the first
00:24:33ashore are the
00:24:34amphibians,
00:24:35whose descendants
00:24:36will include us.
00:24:39The most amazing
00:24:40thing about animal
00:24:41evolution ever
00:24:42for me personally
00:24:43is that moment,
00:24:44that first amphibian
00:24:46walks out of
00:24:47the primeval ocean
00:24:49onto land
00:24:50and takes a big
00:24:51gulp of air.
00:24:54Kind of like
00:24:55great, great, great,
00:24:56great, great, great,
00:24:56great grandpa
00:24:57coming out of the ocean
00:24:58and seeing
00:24:59this fantastic world.
00:25:02It's like,
00:25:03hey,
00:25:04I can live here.
00:25:05Look at those trees.
00:25:06Look at those bugs.
00:25:06There's food here.
00:25:07I can do this.
00:25:14Eventually,
00:25:15humans will conquer
00:25:16every imaginable terrain.
00:25:20But before we can do that,
00:25:23our ancestors must first
00:25:24cut their final tie
00:25:26to the water,
00:25:28mating season.
00:25:33Like modern frogs,
00:25:35they have jelly-like eggs
00:25:37that would dry out on land.
00:25:40But some amphibians
00:25:42eventually solve the problem.
00:25:44They evolve a new form of egg
00:25:47with a shell
00:25:48that keeps the moisture in.
00:25:51This allows us
00:25:52to carry the ocean with us
00:25:54onto land
00:25:55and signals the evolution
00:25:57of amphibians
00:25:59into reptiles.
00:26:01You could be
00:26:02three, four, five hundred,
00:26:04a thousand miles
00:26:05away from water
00:26:05and still have the water
00:26:07in that egg
00:26:08in order to birth.
00:26:10That is the key.
00:26:12It cuts that final tie
00:26:14to the ocean.
00:26:16That way,
00:26:16we could colonize
00:26:17the rest of the land.
00:26:32300 million years ago.
00:26:36Life flourishes
00:26:37in massive tropical swamps
00:26:39where planet Earth
00:26:41is cooking up a surprise.
00:26:44As plants die here,
00:26:47they are buried,
00:26:49compacted,
00:26:50and cooked.
00:26:53Energy created
00:26:54in the Big Bang
00:26:55and radiated by the sun
00:26:57to plants on Earth.
00:27:00is now locked away
00:27:02underground
00:27:04as coal,
00:27:05a gift to be opened
00:27:07by human beings
00:27:08millions of years
00:27:09in the future.
00:27:18250 million years ago,
00:27:22an apocalypse unfolds.
00:27:25The biggest spike
00:27:27in volcanic activity
00:27:28since the early days
00:27:30of the planet.
00:27:32The atmosphere
00:27:33is choked
00:27:34with carbon dioxide,
00:27:36and the diversity
00:27:37of animal life
00:27:38spawned in the Cambrian
00:27:39explosion
00:27:39is stopped dead
00:27:41in its tracks.
00:27:45More than 70%
00:27:47of all species
00:27:48on Earth
00:27:49go extinct
00:27:49in the worst
00:27:50mass die-off
00:27:52in history,
00:27:53the Permian extinction.
00:27:55extinction.
00:27:58Extinction
00:27:59is a recurring character
00:28:00in the story
00:28:01of planet Earth.
00:28:04Five times
00:28:05in the last
00:28:06500 million years,
00:28:07some cataclysm
00:28:09wiped out
00:28:09the dominant species.
00:28:11It's a reshuffling
00:28:13of the deck
00:28:13that allows new creatures
00:28:15to take hold.
00:28:17New creatures
00:28:18like the dinosaurs.
00:28:24Dinosaurs will reign
00:28:26for the next
00:28:26160 million years.
00:28:30During that time,
00:28:31the first hardwood forests
00:28:33appear.
00:28:36and after more
00:28:38than 4 billion years,
00:28:39the moon's gravity
00:28:40finally settles Earth
00:28:42into a 24-hour day.
00:28:46At the start
00:28:47of the dinosaur era,
00:28:49the continents
00:28:49are clustered together
00:28:51into a single landmass
00:28:52we call Pangea.
00:28:54But now,
00:28:55they start to break apart.
00:29:00Africa separates
00:29:02from South America.
00:29:03the vast Atlantic Ocean
00:29:05opens up,
00:29:07creating what will become
00:29:08one of the defining
00:29:09barriers of human history,
00:29:11the gulf
00:29:12between the old
00:29:13and new worlds.
00:29:18The undisputed stars
00:29:20of the dinosaur era
00:29:21are animals
00:29:22like Triceratops
00:29:24and T-Rex.
00:29:25But there are
00:29:26some important creatures
00:29:27scurrying around
00:29:29their feet.
00:29:30If we were to trace
00:29:31our lineage back
00:29:32far enough,
00:29:33we would come to
00:29:34really small,
00:29:35shrew-like mammals
00:29:37surrounded by these
00:29:38titans of reptile life.
00:29:41During that time,
00:29:42mammals,
00:29:43we were living
00:29:43on the fringes.
00:29:44We were maybe
00:29:45stealing dinosaur eggs,
00:29:46maybe just eking out
00:29:48an existence.
00:29:49So the dinosaurs
00:29:50kind of held us back.
00:29:53The biggest headline of the history
00:29:55of dinosaurs,
00:29:56which is 160 million years,
00:29:58is that we lost.
00:30:00Mammals lost.
00:30:01We couldn't get much bigger
00:30:03than a small cat.
00:30:04For 160 million years,
00:30:07all the medium-sized,
00:30:08medium-big,
00:30:09big, gigantic,
00:30:10and stupendous animals
00:30:11were dinosaurs.
00:30:12For that whole time,
00:30:13they beat us
00:30:16fair and square.
00:30:20But the deck
00:30:21is about to be reshuffled.
00:30:3165 million years ago,
00:30:34a six-mile-wide object,
00:30:36likely an asteroid,
00:30:38slams into the Earth.
00:30:48A dust cloud
00:30:49blocks out the sun.
00:30:51Temperatures plummet.
00:30:53Every creature on land
00:30:55weighing over 50 pounds
00:30:57goes extinct.
00:30:59The reign of the dinosaurs
00:31:02is over.
00:31:05The greatest gift
00:31:06that the dinosaurs
00:31:07ever gave us
00:31:08was dying.
00:31:10When they went extinct,
00:31:12it gave the mammals
00:31:13time to rise.
00:31:16It doesn't take long
00:31:17after the disappearance
00:31:18of the dinosaurs
00:31:19for the first true primates
00:31:21to appear.
00:31:22Like their later versions,
00:31:24including us,
00:31:26these mammals have evolved
00:31:27forward-facing eyes,
00:31:29allowing for accurate
00:31:31depth perception
00:31:31and flexible hands
00:31:33with five digits.
00:31:35They have five fingers,
00:31:37just like us,
00:31:38which means we can grasp
00:31:40things.
00:31:40If you think about
00:31:41other animals
00:31:41that don't have digits
00:31:43organized the way
00:31:44ours are,
00:31:45their ability
00:31:46to hold things,
00:31:47to manipulate objects
00:31:48is much more limited.
00:31:5250 million years ago,
00:31:54our primate ancestors
00:31:56are evolving
00:31:56on a planet
00:31:57that is warming.
00:31:58It's so hot,
00:32:00there are jungles
00:32:01of the poles.
00:32:05As the continents drift,
00:32:07the Americas
00:32:08and Africa
00:32:08have almost fully
00:32:09taken shape.
00:32:11But in northern Africa,
00:32:13modern-day Egypt
00:32:15is submerged
00:32:16beneath an ancient sea.
00:32:19on the floor
00:32:20of that sea
00:32:21live small-shelled
00:32:22creatures called
00:32:22nummulites.
00:32:24Their shells,
00:32:25made of calcium
00:32:25and carbon,
00:32:27pile up on the sea
00:32:27bottom over millions
00:32:28of years,
00:32:29where they form
00:32:30into limestone.
00:32:33Limestone that will be
00:32:34used to build
00:32:35the great pyramids.
00:32:37If you look closely
00:32:38at the pyramids today,
00:32:39you can still see evidence
00:32:41that these 4,000-year-old
00:32:43monuments are,
00:32:44in fact,
00:32:45made of 50-million-year-old
00:32:48seashells.
00:32:55By 10 million years ago,
00:32:58Earth is morphing
00:32:59into a world
00:32:59most of us
00:33:00would recognize.
00:33:02The Colorado River
00:33:03is carving out
00:33:04the Grand Canyon.
00:33:06Mountain ranges
00:33:07like the Himalayas
00:33:08have arisen.
00:33:09They're so tall,
00:33:10they disrupt
00:33:11weather patterns.
00:33:13setting the stage
00:33:14for a colder planet.
00:33:20The Isthmus of Panama
00:33:21emerges to connect
00:33:23North and South America,
00:33:25cleaving the connection
00:33:26between the Atlantic
00:33:27and the Pacific,
00:33:29disrupting ocean currents
00:33:30and tipping the world
00:33:32even more
00:33:32towards an ice age.
00:33:37With the planet
00:33:38getting colder,
00:33:39our primate ancestors
00:33:40hang on in the tropics.
00:33:42but a new creature
00:33:43is coming in
00:33:44that threatens
00:33:45to destroy them.
00:33:567 million years ago,
00:33:59our primate ancestors
00:34:01lived safely
00:34:02in the trees.
00:34:03But their neighborhood
00:34:04is about to be invaded.
00:34:07This newcomer will have
00:34:09as profound an effect
00:34:10on human history
00:34:11as any other living
00:34:12thing on Earth.
00:34:16It seems almost impossible
00:34:18to believe,
00:34:18but one of the most
00:34:19important things
00:34:20that will lead
00:34:21to the emergence
00:34:22of us
00:34:24is the emergence
00:34:26of grass.
00:34:27The grasslands appear
00:34:30almost simultaneously
00:34:32around the world.
00:34:34We get the African savannas.
00:34:38We get the Eurasian
00:34:40steplands.
00:34:42We get the North American prairies.
00:34:46We get the great grasslands
00:34:48of Argentina
00:34:50appearing simultaneously
00:34:52around the world.
00:34:55In eastern Africa,
00:34:58grasslands invade
00:34:59the traditional
00:34:59woodland habitat
00:35:00of our ape ancestors.
00:35:02With fewer trees
00:35:04and greater gaps
00:35:05between them,
00:35:06our ancestors
00:35:07have to adapt.
00:35:09Apes would notice
00:35:10that there's more
00:35:11and more apes
00:35:11in the same tree
00:35:12and less and less food,
00:35:14increasing incentives
00:35:15for apes to go
00:35:15from one patch of food
00:35:17to a different one
00:35:18separated by grasslands.
00:35:20Now, one way to do it
00:35:21is to run like hell.
00:35:23The other way to do it
00:35:24is to extend
00:35:25one's food sources
00:35:26into the grasslands
00:35:27and seek out the foods
00:35:28that are available there.
00:35:31And so,
00:35:32some apes
00:35:33make the move down
00:35:34into this stark
00:35:36new habitat.
00:35:40It's a landscape
00:35:41better suited
00:35:42to primates
00:35:43that can walk
00:35:43on two legs.
00:35:46Keeping their heads
00:35:47up above the tall grasses
00:35:49to watch for predators.
00:35:54Standing on two feet
00:35:55is a revolutionary advance
00:35:58because it frees up
00:36:00our hands.
00:36:03Hands we will need
00:36:05to shape human history.
00:36:152.6 million years ago.
00:36:20Early proto-humans
00:36:22or hominids
00:36:23walk an Earth
00:36:25whose rocks are loaded
00:36:26with the element silicon.
00:36:31Created in the cores of stars
00:36:33billions of years before,
00:36:35silicon is the second
00:36:37most abundant element
00:36:39in Earth's crust.
00:36:40One of its chemical quirks
00:36:42is the ability
00:36:43to bond with oxygen
00:36:44to form crystals
00:36:45that combine
00:36:46into solid rocks.
00:36:48Rocks that can be chipped
00:36:50and shaped
00:36:51without shattering.
00:36:54hominids started doing this
00:36:562.6 million years ago
00:36:57breaking crypto-crystalline silicates
00:37:00to make sharp edges.
00:37:01People use them
00:37:02for millions,
00:37:03literally 2.6 million years.
00:37:09Simply having a modified stone
00:37:12with a sharp edge on it,
00:37:13now suddenly you have a hammer.
00:37:15You have a crude cutting edge.
00:37:18A simple modified stone
00:37:19means a human
00:37:21can suddenly do
00:37:22a thousand more things
00:37:24than we could do previously.
00:37:31That little extra bit
00:37:33of technology
00:37:34enabled our ancestors
00:37:37to persist
00:37:38and eventually turn into us.
00:37:42silicon launches
00:37:44the first
00:37:45technological revolution,
00:37:47the Stone Age.
00:37:51Millions of years
00:37:52after it powers
00:37:53our first
00:37:54hand-held devices,
00:37:56another chemical quirk
00:37:57of silicon
00:37:58will make it
00:37:59the height of technology
00:38:00once again.
00:38:04The next leap
00:38:05towards becoming
00:38:06truly human
00:38:06relies on a little-known
00:38:08secret of our home planet.
00:38:10In the known universe,
00:38:12it turns out Earth
00:38:13may have a rare
00:38:14and special power.
00:38:21Of all the planets
00:38:22and moons
00:38:23in the solar system,
00:38:24we think that Earth
00:38:25is unique
00:38:26in the ability
00:38:27to sustain fire.
00:38:32Other planets
00:38:33and moons
00:38:34have lightning
00:38:34and lava.
00:38:37But only on Earth
00:38:39do we have
00:38:39the two critical things
00:38:41we need
00:38:41for fire to burn.
00:38:44A vast fuel supply
00:38:46in the form
00:38:47of plants
00:38:47and trees
00:38:48and an atmosphere
00:38:49full of oxygen
00:38:50to fan the flames.
00:38:53If fire wasn't
00:38:54the possibility,
00:38:55you'd have nothing
00:38:56like us running around.
00:39:00Homo sapiens,
00:39:02they made a world
00:39:03filled with fire.
00:39:10Our ancestors
00:39:11have fire
00:39:12firmly under control
00:39:13by 800,000 years ago.
00:39:18It's a skill
00:39:19that connects us
00:39:20back to the very beginning.
00:39:24Remember that
00:39:25all energy
00:39:25was created
00:39:26in the Big Bang
00:39:27and all life
00:39:28is in a competition
00:39:29for our share
00:39:30of this energy.
00:39:33Using fire
00:39:34to cook
00:39:35is like having
00:39:36an external stomach
00:39:37to break down foods,
00:39:38releasing more calories,
00:39:40giving us more energy,
00:39:42which in turn
00:39:43allows us
00:39:44to support
00:39:44bigger brains.
00:39:47Fire is also
00:39:49the ultimate
00:39:49gateway technology.
00:39:52We will soon
00:39:53use it
00:39:53to turn clay
00:39:54into pottery,
00:39:56metal into weapons,
00:39:59water into steam power.
00:40:03If you don't have fire,
00:40:04you can't have
00:40:05an internal combustion engine.
00:40:06No fire,
00:40:07no metal.
00:40:08No fire,
00:40:09no rubber.
00:40:10It's a technology
00:40:12that opens
00:40:13a world of possibilities
00:40:14for creatures
00:40:15that know
00:40:15how to use it.
00:40:22Two hundred thousand
00:40:23years ago,
00:40:26the modern human
00:40:28has fully
00:40:29taken shape.
00:40:31The larynx,
00:40:32or voice box,
00:40:33which is high up
00:40:34in the throat
00:40:35in our ancestors,
00:40:36descends.
00:40:38More complex
00:40:39sounds are now
00:40:40possible.
00:40:44We begin
00:40:45to speak.
00:40:48For the first time,
00:40:50information can be
00:40:51shared
00:40:52between individuals
00:40:53and across
00:40:55generations.
00:40:57Humans have
00:40:57gained a critical
00:40:58advantage over
00:40:59every other creature
00:41:00on earth.
00:41:02You can tell
00:41:02my grandfather
00:41:03said that when
00:41:04the elephants
00:41:05didn't show up,
00:41:05we go off
00:41:06and hunted zebras.
00:41:07My aunt told me
00:41:08that her cousin
00:41:09found this water hole
00:41:10on the other side
00:41:11of that river.
00:41:13And we can all
00:41:14benefit and we can
00:41:15all understand
00:41:15what they mean
00:41:16when they're describing
00:41:17what they found out
00:41:18on that landscape.
00:41:21language changes
00:41:22humans from being
00:41:23like stand-alone
00:41:24computers to being
00:41:25networked computers
00:41:26where you can
00:41:27share information.
00:41:30One doesn't need
00:41:31to depend on
00:41:31one's own
00:41:32personal experience.
00:41:33One can borrow
00:41:34the personal experience
00:41:36of anyone
00:41:36with whom one
00:41:36can communicate.
00:41:38That's a powerful
00:41:39advantage.
00:41:39No other creature
00:41:40has that.
00:41:42As a species,
00:41:44humans become
00:41:44exponentially smarter.
00:41:47The global game board
00:41:48has been set
00:41:49and we are now
00:41:50ready to play.
00:41:54100,000 years ago,
00:41:57man can move.
00:41:59We have agile hands
00:42:00and primitive tools.
00:42:02We can communicate
00:42:03and control fire.
00:42:05We are finally ready
00:42:07to expand out
00:42:08of our African home
00:42:11on a path
00:42:12millions of years
00:42:13in the making.
00:42:19Shifting continents
00:42:20have linked Africa
00:42:21and Eurasia
00:42:22into the largest
00:42:23contiguous landmass
00:42:24on Earth,
00:42:26Afro-Eurasia.
00:42:2833 million square miles,
00:42:31more than twice
00:42:32the surface area
00:42:33of our entire moon.
00:42:36For early humans,
00:42:37this means more
00:42:38than half the land
00:42:39on Earth
00:42:40can be reached
00:42:41on foot.
00:42:47Human dispersal
00:42:48was a crucial
00:42:49game changer.
00:42:50We are one
00:42:52of the few primates
00:42:53that live on more
00:42:54than one continent
00:42:54simultaneously.
00:42:56So what that means
00:42:58is that we're
00:42:59better insulated
00:43:00from the kinds
00:43:00of things that
00:43:01cause big mammals
00:43:02to become extinct
00:43:03than other primates
00:43:04are.
00:43:05It's extinction
00:43:05insurance.
00:43:06Dispersal
00:43:07is extinction
00:43:07insurance.
00:43:12But just as
00:43:13the world begins
00:43:14to open itself
00:43:15up to man,
00:43:16the planet
00:43:17turns on us.
00:43:20An ice age
00:43:21begins.
00:43:24Now the planet
00:43:25will test us
00:43:26like never before.
00:43:28By 50,000 years
00:43:30ago, glaciers
00:43:31begin to advance
00:43:32down from the
00:43:33North Pole.
00:43:34At the same time,
00:43:35humans continue
00:43:36their conquest of the globe,
00:43:38arriving in China
00:43:39and Australia.
00:43:41By 30,000 years ago,
00:43:43Homo sapiens reach Europe
00:43:44for the first time.
00:43:46By 20,000 years ago,
00:43:48with the ice
00:43:49nearing its most extreme,
00:43:51the march of man
00:43:52reaches the frigid tundra
00:43:53of northeast Siberia.
00:43:57despite the trials
00:43:58of the ice age,
00:44:00man endures
00:44:02and develops
00:44:04the last skills
00:44:05we will need
00:44:05to be truly human.
00:44:11the clues lie
00:44:13in these symbols.
00:44:15We have taken
00:44:17an intellectual leap
00:44:18to think beyond
00:44:20the here and now,
00:44:21beyond what is simply
00:44:23needed to survive.
00:44:24We can only start saying
00:44:26we have an organism
00:44:27that is human
00:44:28that is the same as us
00:44:29when we start seeing
00:44:30evidence of symbolic thought.
00:44:33It's when we start
00:44:34seeing a picture
00:44:35of a cow
00:44:38that everybody
00:44:39will recognize
00:44:39as the picture
00:44:40of a cow.
00:44:41Because only when
00:44:43we start seeing
00:44:43all of those things
00:44:44can we say
00:44:45that is a human.
00:44:47People or creatures
00:44:49that think like us,
00:44:51that see the world
00:44:52in the same way as us.
00:44:53And from that moment on,
00:44:55human history
00:44:56was marked
00:44:56to be radically different
00:44:57to any other species
00:44:58on this planet.
00:45:01Now,
00:45:01with huge amounts
00:45:03of the planet's water
00:45:04locked up in ice,
00:45:05sea levels plummet
00:45:06by three to four hundred feet.
00:45:09The last great barrier
00:45:11to the spread of man
00:45:12is erased.
00:45:14We come across
00:45:15the Bering Land Bridge
00:45:17from Siberia
00:45:18to North America.
00:45:23We are telling
00:45:24the history of the world
00:45:25in two hours.
00:45:26And in just one hour,
00:45:28more than 13 billion years
00:45:30have already passed.
00:45:31These years of preparation
00:45:33have allowed man
00:45:34to finally emerge
00:45:35and spread out
00:45:36across the planet.
00:45:38And human history
00:45:39as we know it
00:45:40can truly begin.
00:45:48Our history of the world
00:45:49began with the beginning
00:45:51of time,
00:45:52the Big Bang.
00:45:54It has taken us
00:45:55on a journey
00:45:56of nearly 14 billion years.
00:46:01Now,
00:46:02as humans take center stage,
00:46:04it's important to remember
00:46:06just how small
00:46:08a slice of history
00:46:09we actually occupy.
00:46:11to make things simple,
00:46:13imagine compressing
00:46:1514 billion years
00:46:16of history
00:46:17down to just 14 years.
00:46:22On this scale,
00:46:24the Earth would have existed
00:46:26only for the past five years.
00:46:28So that's about a third
00:46:30of the history
00:46:30of the universe.
00:46:32Large, complex creatures
00:46:34would have developed
00:46:35seven months ago.
00:46:37On this scale,
00:46:39dinosaurs went extinct
00:46:40only about three weeks ago.
00:46:42The entire recorded history
00:46:44of humans
00:46:45would span only
00:46:47the last three minutes.
00:46:50Modern industrial societies,
00:46:52the industrial revolution,
00:46:53effectively,
00:46:54six seconds ago.
00:46:57What this shows me
00:46:58is that we humans
00:46:59have been around
00:47:00for only a very brief instant
00:47:02in the recorded history
00:47:04of the universe.
00:47:06Mankind has waited
00:47:08billions of years
00:47:09for our brief instant
00:47:10to shine
00:47:11as the stars
00:47:13and our evolving planet
00:47:14carried out
00:47:15the slow work
00:47:16of organizing the elements
00:47:17in a way
00:47:18that would make
00:47:19human history possible.
00:47:27It's 10,000 B.C.,
00:47:29less than 100,000 years
00:47:31after expanding
00:47:33out of Africa,
00:47:34man has reached
00:47:35South America.
00:47:37Humans have met
00:47:38the adversity
00:47:39of the Ice Age
00:47:40head-on,
00:47:41and rather than die off,
00:47:43we have adapted,
00:47:44become even more intelligent,
00:47:47and now,
00:47:48we have colonized
00:47:49the entire globe.
00:47:51From coast
00:47:54to mountaintop,
00:47:58from tundra,
00:48:02to desert,
00:48:04humans are there.
00:48:07Our closest living ancestors,
00:48:09chimpanzees,
00:48:10live in the tropics.
00:48:11They only live
00:48:12in the tropics.
00:48:13Humans have managed
00:48:14to colonize
00:48:15the entire globe.
00:48:18Ice Age land bridges
00:48:19allowed man
00:48:20to spread around the world,
00:48:22but now,
00:48:23the ice begins to melt,
00:48:26and sea levels
00:48:27rise again.
00:48:28Humans are trapped
00:48:29and separated
00:48:30in two vast
00:48:31and unconnected
00:48:32hemispheres.
00:48:33Each pocket
00:48:34of humanity
00:48:35left to make
00:48:36the best
00:48:37of what it has been given.
00:48:39as the glaciers
00:48:40recede,
00:48:41they carve out
00:48:42lakes,
00:48:43rivers,
00:48:44and bays.
00:48:46The map
00:48:47as we know it
00:48:47emerges.
00:48:50In Africa,
00:48:52increased rainfall
00:48:53causes Lake Victoria
00:48:54and Lake Albert
00:48:55to overflow
00:48:57and form Egypt's
00:48:59Nile River.
00:49:01In Eurasia,
00:49:03other rivers emerge.
00:49:05The Tigris
00:49:06and Euphrates
00:49:07in Mesopotamia,
00:49:08modern-day Iraq,
00:49:10the Indus
00:49:12in modern-day Pakistan,
00:49:13and China's
00:49:15Yellow and Yangtze.
00:49:17These river valleys
00:49:18become critically important
00:49:20for how human history
00:49:21will now be played out
00:49:23following the retreat
00:49:24of these ice sheets.
00:49:27These are the river valleys
00:49:29whose waters
00:49:29and fertile soils
00:49:31will allow
00:49:32the first seeds
00:49:33of civilization
00:49:34to be planted.
00:49:38With temperatures
00:49:39warming after the ice age,
00:49:41plants and animals
00:49:42are more plentiful,
00:49:44and man can finally
00:49:46choose to stop moving.
00:49:50Permanent settlements
00:49:51begin.
00:49:54Populations grow.
00:50:00with more mouths to feed,
00:50:02our ancestors
00:50:03have to get clever.
00:50:06They have to find a way
00:50:07to increase the amount
00:50:08of food they could get
00:50:09from their surroundings.
00:50:11Now, one discovery
00:50:13forever changes the planet
00:50:15and the path of mankind.
00:50:20We learn to plant seeds.
00:50:24And the seeds we sow
00:50:26come from the same plants
00:50:27that millions of years earlier
00:50:29spurred our evolution
00:50:31from ape to man.
00:50:33the unheralded hero
00:50:35of human history,
00:50:37grass.
00:50:39A grass seed is tiny, right?
00:50:41It's no food.
00:50:42I can hunt a bison
00:50:43or I can take grass.
00:50:44I can hunt a bison, right?
00:50:47Ironically, grass seeds
00:50:48become the most important
00:50:50food crops in the world,
00:50:51but they're the things
00:50:52that are ignored
00:50:52by hunter-gatherers
00:50:53for thousands
00:50:54and thousands of years.
00:50:55People don't start using them
00:50:56until they absolutely
00:50:57have to use them.
00:50:59Some of the species of grass
00:51:01that we are most familiar with
00:51:03includes sugarcane.
00:51:05It includes wheat
00:51:06and rye
00:51:07and barley.
00:51:09All of the cereal crops
00:51:10are types of grass.
00:51:12So it's not just
00:51:14that beautiful green lawn
00:51:16that we measure
00:51:17our middle-class success from.
00:51:19It's also the staple crop
00:51:22upon which civilization depends.
00:51:24It is the majority
00:51:25of our calorie intake.
00:51:29Once again,
00:51:30it all goes back
00:51:31to the Big Bang.
00:51:33Central to the story
00:51:35of all life
00:51:35is our competition
00:51:36for that energy
00:51:37created at the beginning
00:51:38of time.
00:51:40Just as oxygen
00:51:41gave us an edge,
00:51:43just as fire allowed us
00:51:45to consume more calories.
00:51:47Switching to farming
00:51:49is an energy revolution.
00:51:51A hunter-gatherer
00:51:52needs ten square miles
00:51:53of territory
00:51:54to provide himself
00:51:55with enough sustenance,
00:51:57enough energy
00:51:58in the form of plants
00:51:59and meat
00:52:00to survive.
00:52:02A farmer
00:52:03can harvest the sun's energy
00:52:05so efficiently
00:52:06he can fulfill his needs
00:52:08using only a tenth
00:52:09of a square mile of land.
00:52:14in the warming
00:52:15after the last ice age,
00:52:17farming begins
00:52:18to take hold
00:52:18in a half-dozen places
00:52:20around the globe.
00:52:21But by the fortunes
00:52:22of geography,
00:52:23no place
00:52:24in the ancient world
00:52:25has a better concentration
00:52:27of plants and animals
00:52:28that can be domesticated
00:52:29than the Middle East's
00:52:31fertile crescent.
00:52:32In the Middle East,
00:52:34we have this remarkable
00:52:35convergence of species
00:52:37that seem to have been
00:52:38and susceptible
00:52:39to domestication,
00:52:40both plants and animals.
00:52:42In terms of animals,
00:52:44we're talking about
00:52:44cattle, pigs,
00:52:46sheep, and goats.
00:52:47In terms of plants,
00:52:48two varieties of wheat,
00:52:49rye, barley,
00:52:50lentils, figs,
00:52:52all in this very small part
00:52:54of the world.
00:52:56Unlike the fertile crescent
00:52:58and the rest of Afro-Erasia,
00:53:00places like Sub-Saharan Africa
00:53:02and the Americas
00:53:03have very few wild species
00:53:05that can be easily domesticated.
00:53:10It's a critical difference.
00:53:13People blessed
00:53:14with the right mix
00:53:15of plants and animals
00:53:16will become more powerful
00:53:18and get a massive head start
00:53:20on the road
00:53:21to the modern world.
00:53:30One animal that gives
00:53:31any human who can tame it
00:53:33an almost unbeatable edge
00:53:35is the horse.
00:53:39It's a little-known fact
00:53:40that although horses
00:53:41first evolved in the Americas,
00:53:43they died out there
00:53:45along with many other
00:53:46large mammals
00:53:47around 10,000 B.C.
00:53:48There were at least
00:53:50three species of Ice Age horses
00:53:51in North America,
00:53:52maybe more.
00:53:53Some as small as ponies,
00:53:55some as big as Clydesdales.
00:53:56They had evolved
00:53:57in North America
00:53:58for 40 million years.
00:53:59They're part of the whole history.
00:54:00And then they're gone.
00:54:02They're gone.
00:54:03These powerful,
00:54:04potential allies disappear
00:54:06before they can be used
00:54:08by the first North Americans.
00:54:10Fortunately,
00:54:11before that happened,
00:54:12large numbers of horses
00:54:13escaped back across
00:54:14the Bering Strait land bridge
00:54:15and spread out
00:54:16across the great grasslands,
00:54:18the steppe lands
00:54:19of Central Eurasia.
00:54:21A narrow escape
00:54:23that had a profound effect
00:54:24on human history.
00:54:26Around 4,000 B.C.,
00:54:29nomadic people
00:54:30in Central Asia
00:54:31learned to tame them
00:54:33for the first time.
00:54:36Domesticated horses
00:54:37will be harnessed
00:54:38across Eurasia,
00:54:39advancing everything
00:54:41from work
00:54:42to warfare.
00:54:47perhaps no other animal
00:54:49has had a bigger influence
00:54:50on the course
00:54:51of human history.
00:54:53And the circle
00:54:54wouldn't be complete
00:54:55for another 5,000 years
00:54:57when Christopher Columbus
00:54:59would bring horses
00:55:00with him
00:55:01on his second voyage
00:55:02to the Americas.
00:55:05His horses
00:55:06would be the first
00:55:07to set hooves
00:55:08in the Americas
00:55:09since the great die-off
00:55:10over 10,000 years earlier.
00:55:216,000 years ago,
00:55:23domestication of animals
00:55:25and plants
00:55:25sets the stage
00:55:26for the next phase
00:55:27of human history.
00:55:30Like clouds
00:55:31of interstellar dust
00:55:32gathering in material
00:55:33to form stars,
00:55:35a type of gravity
00:55:36is at work
00:55:37as places like Sumeria,
00:55:39located in part
00:55:40of the fertile crescent
00:55:41known as Mesopotamia,
00:55:43draw in people,
00:55:44support large populations,
00:55:46and spin up
00:55:47into centers
00:55:48of power
00:55:48and innovation.
00:55:52By 3,000 B.C.,
00:55:54some of these
00:55:55Sumerian settlements
00:55:56can truly be called
00:55:57Our First Cities.
00:56:01One of them,
00:56:02Uruk,
00:56:03has around 50,000 people
00:56:05living in less
00:56:06than one square mile,
00:56:08a population density
00:56:10that rivals
00:56:11modern-day New York City.
00:56:16Humans have become
00:56:17so efficient
00:56:18at deriving energy
00:56:19from domesticated food
00:56:20that this land area,
00:56:22which would have supported
00:56:23only a single
00:56:24hunter-gatherer,
00:56:25now can support
00:56:27thousands.
00:56:30but a change in diet
00:56:32also triggers
00:56:33a new dependence.
00:56:39Once you move
00:56:40to agriculture,
00:56:41you are depending
00:56:42for 80, 90%
00:56:43of your calories
00:56:44on perhaps
00:56:44one or two species.
00:56:46In the case of the Middle East,
00:56:47wheat and barley.
00:56:48In the case of wheat and barley,
00:56:50they both ripen
00:56:52at about the same time,
00:56:53humans have to gather
00:56:54the seeds at the same time,
00:56:56so now we have
00:56:57our food for the year
00:56:59that has arrived in one hit.
00:57:01It's like getting your salary
00:57:02paid once a year.
00:57:03You need to record it,
00:57:05you need to plan,
00:57:06because if inevitably
00:57:08your crop fails,
00:57:09you have famine,
00:57:10and you're not going to have
00:57:12another go
00:57:12for another 12 months.
00:57:18In these first cities,
00:57:21crops are king.
00:57:25To keep track of them,
00:57:27our ancestors developed
00:57:28the first writing.
00:57:30to protect them,
00:57:31the first armies,
00:57:33and to administer them,
00:57:35the beginnings of politics.
00:57:37When you have hundreds
00:57:39or thousands of people
00:57:40who are living together,
00:57:41there's simply too many people
00:57:43to sort of run around
00:57:44and create a census.
00:57:45It creates a need
00:57:47for government.
00:57:48It creates a need
00:57:49for some form of social
00:57:51and political hierarchy.
00:57:54Planting seeds
00:57:55has set man
00:57:56on a new path.
00:57:58Settlements have grown
00:58:00into cities.
00:58:02But to take the next
00:58:04epic step
00:58:05from city to civilization,
00:58:07we'll need the help
00:58:08of a very surprising creature.
00:58:225,000 years ago,
00:58:25after wandering the Earth
00:58:27for more than 100,000 years,
00:58:29mankind has begun
00:58:31to settle down.
00:58:34We cluster near rivers,
00:58:37along the Tigris
00:58:38and Euphrates,
00:58:41the Nile,
00:58:43the Indus,
00:58:46the Yellow and Yangtze.
00:58:49Civilizations are about
00:58:50about to take off.
00:58:53But first,
00:58:54they must all master
00:58:56one thing,
00:58:57trade.
00:58:58The more they exchange goods
00:59:00and learn from other lands,
00:59:02the faster they grow.
00:59:04It seems that long-distance trade
00:59:07and communication
00:59:07is a necessary precursor
00:59:10to allow urban civilization
00:59:12as we know it.
00:59:13and surprisingly,
00:59:15the first civilizations
00:59:16arise on the back
00:59:17of a creature
00:59:18with a lowly reputation
00:59:20in the modern world,
00:59:22the donkey.
00:59:27The donkey caravan
00:59:28is the interstate highway
00:59:30and high-speed internet
00:59:31of its day.
00:59:34Their roots
00:59:35will lay the groundwork
00:59:36for the modern world.
00:59:40Moving not only goods
00:59:42like timber and bronze,
00:59:44but ideas and stories.
00:59:46The civilizations they connect
00:59:48will be some of the first
00:59:50described in the Bible.
00:59:53The caravan routes converge
00:59:55at the Persian Gulf,
00:59:56where they link up
00:59:57with ships
00:59:58that carry goods to India.
01:00:00It essentially brought
01:00:02these civilizations together
01:00:03into great cultural
01:00:04and material exchange
01:00:05and really was the beginning
01:00:07of the trend
01:00:08towards globalization.
01:00:11It is a key
01:00:12to understanding
01:00:13how our world works
01:00:14to this day.
01:00:16Just like the first
01:00:17civilizations,
01:00:18we trade and form networks.
01:00:20These networks form hubs.
01:00:23And throughout history,
01:00:25being at that hub
01:00:27has meant one thing.
01:00:30The amount of ideas,
01:00:32the amount of cargo
01:00:33that passes through a region
01:00:34seems to have
01:00:35of a direct correlation
01:00:36to how powerful
01:00:38and important they are.
01:00:41By 2000 BC,
01:00:43humans have gone
01:00:44from humble huts
01:00:45to massive monuments.
01:00:49In Africa,
01:00:50great pyramids arise
01:00:52on the banks of the Nile.
01:00:56The first stages of Stonehenge
01:00:58rise up in ancient Britain.
01:01:02And back in Samaria,
01:01:04artificial temple mounds
01:01:06called ziggurats
01:01:07climb ever higher
01:01:08toward the heavens.
01:01:11To cement these massive structures together,
01:01:15the builders of Samaria
01:01:16turn to a substance
01:01:17that oozes from seepages
01:01:19along the Euphrates River.
01:01:21It's called bitumen.
01:01:23Used as asphalt
01:01:25in the modern world,
01:01:26it is the first petroleum product
01:01:27to be exploited
01:01:28by mankind.
01:01:30While bitumen
01:01:31is highly prized,
01:01:32the lighter,
01:01:33thinner substance
01:01:34oozing from the ground
01:01:35along with it
01:01:35is considered a nuisance
01:01:37by the ancients
01:01:38because it catches fire
01:01:40so easily.
01:01:41The ancients call it naphtha.
01:01:44We call it gasoline.
01:01:46And it's one of the first indications
01:01:48of the vast oil fields
01:01:50that will one day
01:01:51turn the cradle of civilization
01:01:52into a center of wealth
01:01:55and warfare.
01:02:00The legacy of these first civilizations
01:02:02can be seen
01:02:03in surprising ways.
01:02:05The Sumerian counting system
01:02:07was based on the number 12
01:02:09rather than 10
01:02:10which is why we divide our days
01:02:12into two 12-hour blocks,
01:02:14our hours into 60 minutes
01:02:16and our minutes
01:02:18into 60 seconds.
01:02:20The Sumerians also likely invented the wheel
01:02:24which eventually leads
01:02:25to another innovation
01:02:26that will change the course of man,
01:02:29the chariot.
01:02:32Thus bringing together
01:02:33the Sumerian invention of the wheel
01:02:35with the domestication of the horse
01:02:38that had occurred
01:02:38amongst these nomadic peoples
01:02:40into this really formidable
01:02:42piece of military technology.
01:02:46Around 1200 B.C.
01:02:49a chariot-driven clash of civilizations
01:02:51cuts off trade routes
01:02:53for copper and tin,
01:02:54the metals we need
01:02:55to make bronze tools and weapons.
01:02:57But luckily,
01:03:00the stars have made us an alternative,
01:03:03iron.
01:03:05Now,
01:03:06metalsmiths make a crucial discovery.
01:03:09By working at higher temperatures,
01:03:11they can release the power
01:03:12of this ancient metal.
01:03:14Easier to sharpen
01:03:15and 700 times more common
01:03:17on Earth than copper.
01:03:19It is a game changer.
01:03:23Humanity enters the Iron Age.
01:03:32As we reach the first millennium B.C.,
01:03:35history has taken us
01:03:36on a wild ride.
01:03:39From the initial blast
01:03:41of the Big Bang
01:03:42to the formation of Earth
01:03:44and its first creatures
01:03:45and the rise of man,
01:03:48we've seen the Ice Age
01:03:49create bridges
01:03:50to spread mankind
01:03:51around the world,
01:03:52then strand us
01:03:54on different continents,
01:03:56leaving us to survive
01:03:57on what we have at hand.
01:04:01So by 1000 B.C.,
01:04:04the world remains
01:04:05a divided place.
01:04:07The trade network
01:04:08that connects much
01:04:09of Eurasia and North Africa
01:04:10doesn't yet penetrate
01:04:12the planet's driest deserts
01:04:14across the vastest oceans.
01:04:19Cut off by geography
01:04:21are people in places
01:04:22like sub-Saharan Africa
01:04:24and the Americas.
01:04:26With few easy-to-domesticate
01:04:28plants and animals
01:04:29of their own,
01:04:30they remain tied
01:04:31to more ancient ways of life.
01:04:41600 B.C.
01:04:46The cavalry have arrived.
01:04:51Humans ride into battle
01:04:53on horseback
01:04:53for the first time.
01:04:58We've seen that
01:04:59just taming a horse
01:05:00gives man a massive advantage.
01:05:05Now, pairing him
01:05:07with iron weapons
01:05:08makes him nearly unstoppable.
01:05:12These advances
01:05:13in technology,
01:05:15they don't just make
01:05:17a fighting ability possible.
01:05:19They make empires possible.
01:05:23And that is the story
01:05:25of the next several millennia.
01:05:28With new technology
01:05:29and improved logistics,
01:05:31empires spread,
01:05:33uniting massive land areas
01:05:35under a central control.
01:05:39As empires grow,
01:05:42so do new beliefs.
01:05:48One interesting phenomenon
01:05:49we see with the rise
01:05:51of these empires
01:05:52is this idea of monotheism,
01:05:55this idea of a universal God
01:05:58that develops over time.
01:06:00And it's just a phenomenon.
01:06:02Judaism emerges,
01:06:04from which we eventually
01:06:05get Christianity
01:06:06and Islam.
01:06:09Buddhism and Hinduism
01:06:11also arise.
01:06:12The five major religions today
01:06:15are all rooted
01:06:16in this remarkable era.
01:06:20Although empires spread,
01:06:23some great powers
01:06:24remain isolated.
01:06:26The rise of the Himalayas
01:06:2750 million years earlier
01:06:29has left China
01:06:30cut off from trading
01:06:32with the rest of the world.
01:06:33But that is about to change.
01:06:39Around 100 B.C.,
01:06:41a Chinese emperor
01:06:42sends an envoy to the West
01:06:44in search of alliances.
01:06:47The routes he travels
01:06:49will become
01:06:50the Silk Roads.
01:06:53A massive trade network
01:06:55that connects China
01:06:56across Central Asia
01:06:58to the Roman Empire.
01:07:00China has joined the world.
01:07:04As far as we know,
01:07:05no Chinese trader
01:07:06ever met a Roman.
01:07:07No Roman ever met
01:07:08a Chinese trader,
01:07:09at least during this first period
01:07:10of the Silk Roads.
01:07:11But this vast trade
01:07:12then began to explode.
01:07:14Between about 100 B.C.
01:07:16and about 200 A.D.,
01:07:18we have three centuries
01:07:19of trade
01:07:20and cultural exchange
01:07:21on a level
01:07:22that has not been seen
01:07:23before in human history.
01:07:26But this new human network
01:07:28also unleashes
01:07:31hidden dangers.
01:07:45By the beginning
01:07:46of the common era,
01:07:48great empires have risen
01:07:50and a massive trading network
01:07:52connects most of Europe
01:07:53and Asia.
01:07:54But the trade routes
01:07:56also carry
01:07:57an invisible threat.
01:08:02Disease.
01:08:06Massive epidemics
01:08:07that some blame
01:08:08for taking down
01:08:09both the Roman Empire
01:08:12and China's Han Dynasty.
01:08:18But these networks
01:08:20also lead
01:08:21to the spread of religion.
01:08:26in 312 A.D.
01:08:28the Roman Emperor
01:08:29Constantine
01:08:30converts to Christianity,
01:08:32paving the way
01:08:33for it to become
01:08:33the dominant religion
01:08:35of Europe
01:08:36and the West.
01:08:42Three centuries later,
01:08:45Islam also emerges.
01:08:47A religion that will,
01:08:49for a time,
01:08:50unify a territory
01:08:51two and a half times larger
01:08:53than Rome ever was.
01:08:55Arab trade will drive innovation
01:08:57for the next thousand years
01:08:59and expand the global network
01:09:01to places it has never gone before.
01:09:05The Arabs are sitting
01:09:06in the middle
01:09:07of Afro-Eurasia.
01:09:08There are Arab traders
01:09:09who are sailing off to China.
01:09:11There are Arab traders
01:09:12who are traveling
01:09:13all the way
01:09:13to the Atlantic Ocean.
01:09:15So they are sitting
01:09:16in the middle
01:09:17of the hub.
01:09:20One secret to Arab trade,
01:09:23the camel.
01:09:27A creature whose ancestor,
01:09:29like the horse,
01:09:30escaped across
01:09:31the Bering land bridge
01:09:32out of North America.
01:09:35A caravan of six camels
01:09:37can lug as much
01:09:38as two tons of cargo
01:09:40as far as 60 miles a day.
01:09:43Twice the load
01:09:44of a donkey caravan
01:09:46in half the time.
01:09:52For the first time,
01:09:54camel caravans
01:09:55open up reliable trade routes
01:09:57across the formidable
01:09:58Sahara Desert.
01:10:00Leading to the formation
01:10:01of the first states
01:10:02in West Africa,
01:10:04Arabic trade expands,
01:10:06moving salt
01:10:07from the Sahara to Rome,
01:10:09rice from Eastern Asia
01:10:10to India,
01:10:11the secrets of making paper
01:10:13out of China
01:10:14into Europe,
01:10:15and countless other inventions
01:10:17and ideas around the world.
01:10:19Where does our word
01:10:20for lemon come from?
01:10:22Where does our word
01:10:23for coffee come from?
01:10:24They're all Arabic.
01:10:26Because the Arabs
01:10:28brought a huge number
01:10:29of food crops
01:10:30into Europe.
01:10:31Oranges, citrus crops,
01:10:33they come from South China.
01:10:35Yet they don't make it
01:10:37to the West
01:10:37until the Great Age
01:10:39of the Arabs.
01:10:43In Islamic North Africa,
01:10:46one Italian merchant
01:10:47named Leonardo Fibonacci
01:10:49becomes well-schooled
01:10:50in the ways
01:10:51of Arab traders.
01:10:53He picks up
01:10:54on a simple
01:10:55but ingenious counting system
01:10:57that originated in India
01:10:59but is used extensively
01:11:00in the Arab world.
01:11:02His writings
01:11:03will spread this knowledge
01:11:05to Europe
01:11:05and around the globe.
01:11:08With everyone counting
01:11:09the same way,
01:11:11business and trade
01:11:12will explode.
01:11:13And because of Fibonacci,
01:11:16people today
01:11:17still almost universally
01:11:18use the numbers
01:11:19known as
01:11:20Arabic numerals.
01:11:24But there is another idea
01:11:26Arab traders will spread,
01:11:28something even more
01:11:29influential.
01:11:31It originates in China
01:11:32around 800 A.D.
01:11:35A Chinese alchemist
01:11:37in search of an elixir
01:11:38for long life
01:11:39instead stumbles
01:11:41upon chemistry
01:11:41that can bring
01:11:42sudden death.
01:11:45He combines
01:11:46carbon and sulfur
01:11:47with saltpeter,
01:11:48a compound made of
01:11:49potassium, nitrogen
01:11:50and oxygen.
01:11:54forged in the stars,
01:11:55these elements
01:11:56now come together
01:11:59to make gunpowder.
01:12:03The recipe for gunpowder
01:12:05eventually moves west
01:12:07across the silk roads
01:12:08to the Islamic world
01:12:09where Muslim warriors
01:12:12use it to fire cannonballs
01:12:13at Christian crusaders.
01:12:25Europeans pick up on the idea
01:12:27embracing and perfecting
01:12:30gunpowder weapons.
01:12:431492 A.D.
01:12:45There are roughly 400 million people
01:12:48in the world,
01:12:50but it is still divided
01:12:52in two.
01:12:55In the Americas,
01:12:56the civilizations
01:12:57of the Aztecs,
01:12:59Mayans and Incas
01:13:00have all arisen.
01:13:02while halfway around the world
01:13:04in the aftermath
01:13:05of the fall of Rome,
01:13:07Europe has cracked
01:13:08like an egg
01:13:09into individual states.
01:13:12For Italian-born
01:13:13Christopher Columbus,
01:13:15this means he can appeal
01:13:16for funding
01:13:17from a succession
01:13:18of European rulers
01:13:22until he finally convinces
01:13:24the king and queen
01:13:24of Spain
01:13:25to back his expeditions.
01:13:29It has taken
01:13:30all of Earth's history
01:13:32to make Columbus's
01:13:33journey possible.
01:13:36For tacking into the wind,
01:13:38he uses triangular sails,
01:13:40a technology copied
01:13:41from the Arabs,
01:13:44to guide him,
01:13:45the compass,
01:13:46an invention from China,
01:13:48and guiding the needle,
01:13:50a magnetic field
01:13:51formed with the core
01:13:53of the planet itself.
01:13:57Although Columbus
01:13:59is looking for a new way
01:14:00to sail to India,
01:14:01what he does instead
01:14:03is finally and forever
01:14:05connect the two halves
01:14:07of the world.
01:14:08The voyage is not just
01:14:10significant in American history.
01:14:12As you'll see,
01:14:14it's a pivotal event
01:14:15in all of human history.
01:14:19nothing will ever
01:14:20be the same.
01:14:28The end of the Ice Age
01:14:30marooned large pockets
01:14:31of humanity
01:14:32on separate sides
01:14:33of the globe
01:14:34for over 15,000 years.
01:14:37Now, that's all
01:14:39about to change.
01:14:41The voyage of Christopher Columbus
01:14:43in 1492
01:14:44was taught as
01:14:44one of the most significant
01:14:46events in American history.
01:14:48In fact,
01:14:49it's one of the most
01:14:49significant events
01:14:50in all of human history.
01:14:52Prior to that voyage,
01:14:54the great world zones
01:14:55had existed largely
01:14:56in isolation.
01:14:59By crossing the Atlantic,
01:15:01Columbus opens up
01:15:02the vast American world zone,
01:15:04these two enormous continents
01:15:05of North and South America,
01:15:07with the millions of people
01:15:08that are living there,
01:15:08the resources
01:15:09that are available.
01:15:11and for the first time,
01:15:13people living in Eurasia
01:15:14become aware
01:15:15of this other part
01:15:15of the world.
01:15:16Until the voyage of Columbus,
01:15:18these people may as well
01:15:19have been living
01:15:19on different planets,
01:15:20so isolated were they.
01:15:23A trade network
01:15:24that started
01:15:25with the first civilizations,
01:15:26connected Europe,
01:15:28Asia, and Africa,
01:15:29now reaches
01:15:30across the Atlantic.
01:15:32In this vast
01:15:33new global network,
01:15:35new hubs will form,
01:15:38and once again,
01:15:39power will shift.
01:15:42For most of the last
01:15:442,000 years,
01:15:45Europe hasn't been
01:15:46that important.
01:15:47Then we get
01:15:48the age of Columbus,
01:15:49and what do you know?
01:15:50This is exactly the time
01:15:51where we see
01:15:52the rise of the West.
01:15:53This is when the West
01:15:54starts taking over,
01:15:55when it gets itself
01:15:57smack bang in the middle
01:15:58of the biggest exchange network
01:16:00the world has ever seen.
01:16:03Now, foods that had been
01:16:05isolated on
01:16:06disconnected continents
01:16:07begin to move
01:16:08around the world.
01:16:10Maize from the Americas
01:16:12shows up in Egypt
01:16:13and China.
01:16:16Potatoes from the Andes
01:16:17prove perfectly suited
01:16:18to the soils of Ireland
01:16:20and Russia.
01:16:22The old fertile crescent grains
01:16:25like wheat
01:16:25begin to feed the Americas.
01:16:29New foods mean
01:16:30mean more calories,
01:16:32more energy.
01:16:33Within three centuries
01:16:35of Columbus's voyage,
01:16:36the population of the world
01:16:38will more than double
01:16:39to 900 million.
01:16:42But the unequal hands
01:16:44dealt to the two hemispheres
01:16:45now play out
01:16:48in a deadly climax.
01:16:51European conquistadors,
01:16:54inheritors of the agriculture
01:16:55and animals of the fertile crescent
01:16:57and the trade spread
01:16:59along the vast networks
01:17:01of the old world
01:17:02come bearing guns,
01:17:04riding horses
01:17:05and carrying infectious diseases.
01:17:09The result,
01:17:11slaughter.
01:17:16in the years following
01:17:17Columbus's first voyage,
01:17:1995% of the native population
01:17:21in the Americas
01:17:22will die
01:17:23from European guns
01:17:25and germs.
01:17:31Once the hemispheres
01:17:33are connected,
01:17:35nothing can ever be the same.
01:17:37Take the incredible story
01:17:39of sugar.
01:17:41Chemically,
01:17:42it's the only source
01:17:43of fuel for our brains,
01:17:45a substance
01:17:45we are programmed
01:17:47to crave.
01:17:49Raw sugar comes mostly
01:17:51from sugar cane.
01:17:52Once again,
01:17:54a grass
01:17:55will play a central role
01:17:56in the story of mankind.
01:18:00First cultivated
01:18:01more than 6,000 years ago
01:18:03in Asia,
01:18:04Europeans discovered sugar
01:18:06in the Middle East
01:18:07during the Crusades
01:18:08and carried it home.
01:18:10Europe was hooked.
01:18:12But there's virtually
01:18:13nowhere in Europe
01:18:14where sugar can grow.
01:18:17Then we have
01:18:18Christopher Columbus
01:18:19and the discovery
01:18:19of the New World.
01:18:20And the Spanish
01:18:21conquistadors,
01:18:23yes,
01:18:23they initially
01:18:24are very interested
01:18:25in the gold
01:18:26and the silver,
01:18:27but really,
01:18:28they just want
01:18:28to make it rich.
01:18:29They don't care
01:18:29how they're going
01:18:30to make it rich.
01:18:31And once the gold
01:18:32and the silver
01:18:32has been looted,
01:18:34the next step
01:18:35is to open
01:18:36sugar plantations.
01:18:39The Spanish themselves
01:18:40don't want to work
01:18:41in the sugar plantations.
01:18:42They start looking around
01:18:43for a new labor force.
01:18:45And over
01:18:46on the other side
01:18:46of the Atlantic,
01:18:48there is a place
01:18:48where they can buy slaves.
01:18:50And if we look
01:18:51at the history
01:18:51of slavery,
01:18:52the number one destination
01:18:54of slaves from Africa
01:18:55are sugar plantations.
01:18:58So the history
01:18:59of sugar
01:19:00shapes the development
01:19:02of history
01:19:02through the Middle East,
01:19:04through the Crusades,
01:19:05through the conquest
01:19:07of Mesoamerica,
01:19:09and even the history
01:19:10of slavery
01:19:11from Africa
01:19:12to the Americas.
01:19:22In the year 1700,
01:19:25mankind has hit a wall.
01:19:27Most humans continue
01:19:28to live simple lives,
01:19:30more like our ancient ancestors
01:19:32than our own.
01:19:34When you think back
01:19:35to the world in 1700,
01:19:37most people were farmers,
01:19:39most people practiced
01:19:40small-scale subsistence agriculture,
01:19:42most manufacturing
01:19:43was done in workshops.
01:19:45In 1700,
01:19:47it takes over a year
01:19:49for cargo and information
01:19:50to circle the planet,
01:19:52longer than it would take us today
01:19:54to get to Mars.
01:20:00What's holding us back
01:20:01is how we power our lives.
01:20:06In Egypt of 2000 B.C.,
01:20:0990% of all work
01:20:11was done by human muscle,
01:20:12with animals kicking in the rest.
01:20:17By 1700 in Europe,
01:20:19the majority of work,
01:20:2070%,
01:20:21is still driven
01:20:23by human muscle.
01:20:27Muscle power alone
01:20:29can't clear the path
01:20:30to the modern age.
01:20:31but there's a breakthrough
01:20:33hidden
01:20:34deep within the earth.
01:20:43As our history of the world
01:20:45in two hours
01:20:46races towards a close,
01:20:48mankind has hit a wall.
01:20:51Human progress
01:20:52is stalled
01:20:53by the limits of our muscle.
01:20:55To break through,
01:20:56we'll need a new way
01:20:57to power our lives
01:20:59and the entire
01:21:00history of the world.
01:21:04Remember that
01:21:04billions of years ago,
01:21:06iron from exploding stars
01:21:08was gathered up
01:21:09into planet Earth
01:21:10during its formation.
01:21:13Thousands of years ago,
01:21:14man started using this iron
01:21:16for tools and weapons.
01:21:20To keep our forges burning,
01:21:22we began cutting down
01:21:24our forests.
01:21:25Now,
01:21:26300 years ago in Britain,
01:21:28iron is in high demand
01:21:30and the trees
01:21:31are running out.
01:21:33The British need
01:21:34a new source of fuel
01:21:35and thanks to the decayed remains
01:21:37of ancient ferns,
01:21:39they have one.
01:21:42Coal.
01:21:43But coal itself
01:21:45won't power mankind
01:21:46into the modern world.
01:21:47There's one more
01:21:49fateful twist
01:21:50in the story.
01:21:51As the quest for coal
01:21:52takes miners
01:21:53ever deeper
01:21:54into the ground,
01:21:55water begins
01:21:56flooding the tunnels.
01:21:58To pump out the water,
01:22:00a new invention
01:22:01is needed.
01:22:04In 1712,
01:22:06Thomas Newcomen
01:22:07produces a pump
01:22:08powered by burning coal
01:22:09and driven by steam.
01:22:13Newcomen's machine
01:22:14is the first
01:22:15practical steam engine.
01:22:17It is this combination,
01:22:20energy and engine,
01:22:22fuel and machine
01:22:23that will free man
01:22:25from the limits
01:22:25of his own muscle
01:22:27and change the world.
01:22:30The Industrial Revolution
01:22:32begins.
01:22:35Along with political revolutions
01:22:37in America
01:22:37and later France,
01:22:39this technological revolution
01:22:41forever transforms
01:22:43the landscape of the world.
01:22:46and before long,
01:22:48the Atlantic world
01:22:49has become
01:22:49the new economic,
01:22:51therefore cultural,
01:22:52therefore political,
01:22:53therefore military leader
01:22:54and will utterly
01:22:55dominate global geopolitics
01:22:57from that moment to this.
01:23:01Trains thunder
01:23:02across the countryside.
01:23:05by the 1870s,
01:23:07the internal combustion engine
01:23:09has arrived
01:23:10and the Germans
01:23:11invent its killer app,
01:23:13the automobile.
01:23:18oil,
01:23:19the substance which the ancients
01:23:20considered too flammable
01:23:22to be of any use,
01:23:23becomes the most important commodity
01:23:25on the planet,
01:23:27fueling even more innovation.
01:23:32The telegraph and telephone
01:23:34move messages
01:23:35at lightning speed.
01:23:36With electricity,
01:23:38mankind reclaims the night
01:23:40from darkness.
01:23:44The hub of power
01:23:45has shifted.
01:23:48In 1800,
01:23:50Europeans
01:23:50and their descendants
01:23:51controlled 35%
01:23:53of the land on Earth.
01:23:55By 1900,
01:23:56they control
01:23:5985%.
01:24:03By the 20th century,
01:24:05fossil fuels
01:24:06and the internal combustion engine
01:24:08have amplified everything,
01:24:11including warfare.
01:24:16That technology
01:24:18meant that military power
01:24:20and military conquest
01:24:21was something
01:24:21that could be international.
01:24:24International in a way
01:24:25that it had never been before.
01:24:28In the 20th century,
01:24:30almost three times
01:24:31as many people
01:24:32are killed
01:24:32as a result of war,
01:24:34as in the previous
01:24:352,000 years
01:24:36of human history
01:24:37combined.
01:24:41The application
01:24:42of the industrial skills,
01:24:44the industrial technologies
01:24:45of the 18th century
01:24:46reached their culmination,
01:24:47I think,
01:24:48with these extraordinary events.
01:24:50And it's all being driven again
01:24:52by the micro-fossilized bodies
01:24:54of organic entities
01:24:55that disappeared
01:24:55into ancient swamps
01:24:57millions and millions
01:24:58of years ago.
01:25:00The Industrial Revolution
01:25:02also allows
01:25:03the human population
01:25:04to explode.
01:25:06It has taken
01:25:07200,000 years
01:25:09of human history,
01:25:10from the dawn of man
01:25:11to the year 1900,
01:25:14for the population
01:25:15to reach 1.6 billion.
01:25:18Now,
01:25:19within the 100 years
01:25:20of the 20th century,
01:25:21it nearly quadruples
01:25:23to more than 6 billion.
01:25:27The 20th century
01:25:28is the most extraordinary
01:25:29moment in human history.
01:25:31Never before
01:25:31have we seen change
01:25:32on such a scale.
01:25:39Today,
01:25:40humans number
01:25:41close to 7 billion.
01:25:43We are the dominant players
01:25:45on the planet.
01:25:49We have learned
01:25:50to harness
01:25:5050,000 times
01:25:52more energy
01:25:53than our ancestors
01:25:54just 10,000 years ago.
01:25:57This energy drives
01:25:58our fast-paced lives
01:26:00and a literal
01:26:01world-wide web,
01:26:03a network
01:26:04that,
01:26:05as we have seen,
01:26:06has been in the making
01:26:07for as long
01:26:08as humans
01:26:08have walked the Earth.
01:26:12Our two-hour story
01:26:14is coming to an end.
01:26:15A story that really began
01:26:1714 billion years ago
01:26:19with a tiny universe
01:26:21where everything
01:26:22was all in one place.
01:26:25Then,
01:26:26the Big Bang.
01:26:27All the energy
01:26:29that has ever existed
01:26:30created in an instant.
01:26:33Gravity sculpted
01:26:34our universe.
01:26:35For billions of years,
01:26:37stars and supernovas
01:26:38created all the elements
01:26:40we would eventually need.
01:26:41Then,
01:26:42an extreme Earth
01:26:43took shape.
01:26:44and settled
01:26:45into just the right
01:26:46conditions
01:26:46to support life.
01:26:48As the planet evolved,
01:26:50life competed for energy
01:26:52and grew more
01:26:53and more complex.
01:26:54Eventually,
01:26:55the conditions
01:26:56were right
01:26:57for our species
01:26:58to rise.
01:26:59We mastered
01:27:00stone and fire.
01:27:02When the Ice Age came,
01:27:03we spread around
01:27:04the planet.
01:27:05And when the ice melted,
01:27:07we were stranded
01:27:08on different continents.
01:27:09We learned to bend
01:27:11and plants and animals
01:27:12to our will.
01:27:14We built cities,
01:27:16then civilizations.
01:27:18We created a vast network
01:27:20that linked empires,
01:27:22joined continents,
01:27:24then crossed oceans.
01:27:26Just when it seemed
01:27:27we had reached
01:27:28our human limit,
01:27:29we found the energy
01:27:30and technology
01:27:31to carry us
01:27:32into the future.
01:27:33on Earth.
01:27:35The seeds of the past
01:27:37have bloomed
01:27:37into a present
01:27:38filled with energy
01:27:39and creativity.
01:27:42The stories
01:27:42of billions of lives
01:27:44have played out
01:27:45against the backdrop
01:27:46of a universe
01:27:47almost too vast
01:27:48to comprehend.
01:27:50In everything
01:27:51that we do,
01:27:52in all that we are,
01:27:53we remain living monuments
01:27:55to the past
01:27:56as we continue
01:27:57to make history
01:27:59every day.
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