Tape Episodes
11th Century – Century of the Sword
As the second millennium began on the Eurasian continent, vibrant civilizations were
concentrated in China, India, and the Islamic World. The sword symbolizes the 11th
century, not because the 11th was any more violent than other centuries of the
millennium, but because it was riven by fundamental divisions within and between many
cultures. Among these divisions were conflicts between China and her neighbors,
conflicts connected with the expansion of Islam, and conflicts within the Christian world.
The sword also represents cleavage, separation, and insularity. Such was the case in
Japan, where ties with outside cultures were diminishing or virtually non-existent. Yet
despite violence and separation, the 11th century was marked by vibrancy, creativity, and
a great deal of cultural transfer, especially in the Islamic World and in East Asia.
As the world began a new millennium in the 11th century, only within Christendom did
the word "Millennium" have much significance. Only there was chronology counted from
Christ's birth. The rest of the world marked time in other ways, a fact which symbolizes
the world's cultural and regional disconnectedness during this period: although cultures
met, touched, interacted, and exchanged, for the most part they remained separated and
separate. Looking at Eurasia, there were in the 11th century four great cultural
constellations-China, the Muslim World, India, and Christendom. China considered
herself the center of the universe, dominant in the world of technology, and home to a
vibrant internal market and culture. When outsiders attacked, China often survived by
absorbing her enemies rather than beating them on the battlefield. Yet, China was set off
from the rest of the world by barriers, some geographical like the Takla Makan Desert.
Meanwhile, Islam expanded, absorbed and preserved Greco-Roman science and arts, and
then produced a brilliant synthesis of Islamic and neighboring cultures. Such a cultural
fusion is richly reflected in the Spanish city of Cordoba. India, to the east, was also
affected by Islamic travellers and conquerors who occupied northern India in 1000 AD.
Eleventh century India, a relic of a former great civilization that had produced two world
religious traditions was, at one time, at the forefront of the sciences. Nowhere, except
perhaps Ireland, in the 11th century is isolation more evident than in Japan. After
centuries of borrowing from China, Japan in the 11th century solidified her imperial
tradition in splendid isolation. Separation occurred also within Christendom. In 1054, a
split that had been brewing for centuries, finally forever divided Christendom between
East and West, Orthodox and Catholic. The East became more vulnerable to Islam while
the West entered the second millennium unencumbered, ready to begin the creation of a
dynamic new society that formulated institutions and ways of thought that were destined
to change the course of world history.
Segments – 11th Century
CHINA - Summary
In China, barbarians from the north swept down to seize some
of China's wealth. In the course of this invasion, the bustling,
cosmopolitan city at the heart of China-Kaifeng-was sacked.
Confucian scholars remained confident, however, that China's
culture would endure. As it turned out, they were more or less
right: China was a center of world innovation and would not be
restrained for long. Chinese civilization had produced the print
block, paper money, the compass, the seismograph, an
accurate water clock, acupuncture, medical sciences, and
gunpowder. The invaders, rather than crushing these
achievements, were seduced by such sophistication and
adopted Chinese ways.
JAPAN - Summary
Treacherous seas separated the Japanese from much of the
world. At the heart of the Japanese islands was a court where
manners had became increasingly refined. Female courtiers
were expected to be skilled in many things. Writing talent in
particular was highly valued. Sei Shonagon was one such
courtier skilled in letters. Her portrait of court life has been
preserved, as fresh today as it would have been in the 11th
century. Perhaps because her world was confined to the walls
of the palace complex, she observed her surroundings in their
minutest details: the raindrops on a spider's web, the wind
created by a mosquito's wings, the play of light on water as it is
poured into a vessel. She also recorded awkward and
embarrassing moments, such as when a man lay awake at night
talking to his companion, only to have the companion go on
sleeping. Sei Shonagon's nights were full of intrigue as various
lovers tiptoed around the palace complex to visit her and the
other ladies of the court. Although this court culture was only a
small part of Japanese reality, it typifies this introspective and
insular society, which would show no signs of initiative for
several centuries to come.
INDIA - Summary
For centuries, India had provided much of the rest of Asia with
sacred scriptures and scientific texts. In the 11th century, the
Muslim scholar Alberuni visited India to learn the secrets of
Indian wisdom. He travelled around the subcontinent for 15
years, visiting sacred temples and studying Sanskrit. He
marvelled at the industry of the various Indian peoples he
encountered but was puzzled by the behaviour of India's
religious leaders. The priests did not take shelter, nor did they
wear clothes. The great learning of the previous millennium was
no longer in much evidence; instead he found a civilization that
had become self-absorbed.
SPAIN - Summary
The Islamic World was a young and vigorous civilization in the
11th century. Over the preceding four hundred years, the
warriors of Islam had conquered vast tracts of territory. Once
converted by traders, the nomadic tribes of the Sahara and
central Asia proved to be even more zealous evangelists than
their mentors. During this century, Turks displaced Arab rulers
in Asia and Egypt, and real military expansion occurred on
many fronts, including sub-Sahara Africa, North Africa,
Afghanistan and Spain. Muslim traders also extended and
consolidated Islamic influence. They operated across great
distances, connecting the African continent to the Middle East,
Christendom and Asia. At the heart of the western Islamic
world lay Cordoba. Like many Islamic cities, it boasted
hundreds of gardens, shops and baths. It was a mirror of
paradise.
JERUSALEM - Summary
Christendom was also on the fringes of the greater civilizations,
and in the 11th century was split irrevocably into two separate
geographic and ideological factions. The West held the wealthy
Eastern Church in contempt, while the more urbane Eastern
Church considered the Christians of the west to be barbarians
of little faith. In 1054, years of political wrangling reached a
climax. The Pope in Rome issued a document formally
excommunicating the Eastern Church. It was a rift that would
create divisions within Europe for centuries after. At the time, it
appeared that prospects for this part of the world in the future
were dim. However, the drive to clear the forests and spread
the Christian faith into the corners of the continent proved to be
a powerful force of revival later in the millennium. Rapid
expansion would begin on all frontiers-the seeds of Western
dynamism were already in hand.
12th Century – Century of the Axe
In CNN's MILLENNIUM, the Century of the Axe was an age of ambitious building, as
world populations beeomed and cities thrived. Filmmakers chose the axe as a fitting
symbol for the twelfth century because people used it to clear the land for food and
housing, thereby transforming and remodeling the world. Some builders created
monuments to their gods. Other individuals chose not to build but insead worshipped the
land that gave them sustenance.
According to MILLENNIUM's filmmakers, the twelfth century was most conspicuously
the century of the axe in Western Europe, but other parts of the globe displayed
innovative building and creativity. In Western Europe, life and building rebounded after
centuries of stagnation under feudalism. In France, ever more elaborate churches were
constructed; in Italy, a frenzy of city-state building reflected growing competition
between independent city-states over trade and wealth. In other quite distant parts of the
world, building of other types took place. In Ethiopia, Christian temples were carved out
of mountains and the Chaco Canyon in the Americas, the Ancient Pueblo people built
complex, urban-like structures on canyon floors. And for the twelfth century hunter-andgatherer culture of the Aborigines in Australia, the axe is symbolic of artistic creativity
and control over the environment.
Segments – 12th Century
AMERICA - Summary
In North America, a civilization arose which transformed a
semi-desert into a cultivated landscape. The Ancient Pueblo
peoples of the Southwest imposed a new geometry on the
landscape. At Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico,
stand the ruins of what was once a complex of structures with
more than 800 rooms. The rooms were stacked on top of one
another in a huge semi-circle, a plan that the Pueblo people
devised and kept to for 200 years. The timbers that supported
the vast roofs of the dwellings were brought by hand from
forests over 60 miles away.
Around the buildings lay carefully cultivated fields with crops of
maize and squash. To allow crops to grow in such an arid
environment, the Pueblo people created an ingenious system of
irrigating channels. Dug deep into the rocks and dirt of the
surrounding mesa tops, these channels captured droplets of
rain from passing storms or melting snow. The water then fed
into fields where it was retained by built-up earth around each
plant. This "waffle" irrigation system sustained a growing
population for several hundred years. But after a series of
persistent droughts towards the end of the twelfth century,
even these levels of ingenuity could not help the settlement. It
was eventually abandoned.
FRANCE - Summary
In northern France, forests were cleared at faster and faster
rates. As the population grew, the pressure for land increased.
Churches and houses were usually made of timber, but as the
number of suitable trees dwindled the structures had to change.
At St. Denis in Paris, Abbot Suger dreamed of rebuilding the
old abbey. His inspiration was a mystical vision of heaven. He
envisioned slender stone columns, huge windows, and a mighty
roof that would draw the eye upward toward heaven.
Skeptics told Abbot Suger he would never find trees large
enough to stretch across such an expanse, but he persevered.
He finally found twelve trees tall enough to span the roof and
was able to build his dream cathedral. St. Denis, a mixture of
stone and wood, was completed in Suger's lifetime. However,
it would go through several renovations; as cathedrals
continued to expand, more and more stone was used. The
construction of St. Denis sparked the beginning of the new
style of "Gothic" architecture. Over the next 150 years,
cathedrals sprang up throughout Europe.
ETHIOPIA - Summary
While churches sought to rise to the sky in Europe, in Africa
they were being carved out of the earth. In the highlands of
Ethiopia during twelfth century, a man called Lalibela rose to
power, was crowned King, and went on to establish a
Christian empire spanning the highlands and stretching to the
sea. His ambition was to build a religious state and a spiritual
center to rival Jerusalem. He claimed to have been shown - in
a vision - the most holy of churches in Heaven. He ordered
tools be made to carve temples out of the rock like those he
had seen.
Craftsmen toiled in the stony mountains for over twenty-four
years to create these unique rock churches. Some of Lalibela's
motivation to build these unusual structures stemmed from a
desire to claim legitimacy. He belonged to a dynasty that had
seized the throne and the churches helped him gain acceptance.
His efforts paid off: today he is revered as a saint and his shrine
attracts a continuous flow of pilgrims. While all religions at one
time or another have constructed shrines and physical symbols
to serve an ideological purpose, striking awe into to the layman
and establishing the clergy's direct connection to the power of
God, Lalibela clearly lacked legitimacy and used these temples
to insure his leadership.
ITALY - Summary
In the twelfth century, cities grew worldwide. In Italy, a
booming economy and population explosion meant increased
demand for goods and space. People gathered in cities to
trade and settled in increasingly cramped spaces. Despite
feuding between factions within cities, a spirit of citizenship
emerged. In many towns and cities republics were established,
consuls were elected, and citizens assigned rights. Residents
were proud of their cities and strove to make them more
glorious than their neighbors'. In Sienna, in Tuscany, an event
known as the Palio originated and became a tradition. This
bi-annual bareback horse race round the central piazza
celebrated the city spirit while also serving as a peaceful outlet
for the rivalries among different quarters of the town.
AUSTRALIA - Summary
In Australia in the twelfth century, the Aboriginal culture
flourished. Though they did not build, the Aboriginal' creativity
centered around art: they endowed every landmark with
sacred significance and celebrated it with rituals. The journeys
of ancestors were retraced again and again over centuries; a
physical pilgrimage through artistic celebrations. The
Aborigines' universal language was art. For forty thousands of
years they created paintings in galleries of rock intended to be
overlaid by other artists over time.
Aborigines left their mark on the land in other subtle ways. Fire
was a core technology, and they used it to modify the
wilderness by burning sections and clearing it for grazing
animals. Fire sticks were used to chase animals out of their
burrows. They did not cultivate crops, but instead gathered
foodstuffs offered up by the land. Aboriginal culture developed
a detailed and crucial knowledge of what was edible and
exactly where it was to be found. Aboriginal society survived in
isolation until Europeans began to colonize in the 18th century.
13th Century – Century of the Stirrup
Early in the thirteenth century, the Mongols became a formidable power in Asia. Their
new, bureaucratic way of organizing their army - by tens, hundreds, thousands - broke up
the older Klan groupings. While horses and stirrups had been familiar for centuries, the
Mongol's skilled horsemanship made them powerful and profoundly changed the course
of history. Thus, the filmmakers of MILLENNIUM chose the stirrup as the symbol of for
the thirteenth century.
The symbol of the stirrup captures the essence of the rise of the Mongols and their
remarkable thirteenth-century advance across Eurasia. It also evokes the importance of
travel along the reopened transcontinental Silk Road which transported both goods and
knowledge. Few areas of Eurasia were untouched by the Mongols, but their advances and
conquests meant different things to different peoples. For western Europe, the Mongols
were the means of transmission of important knowledge and goods that a century later
would enable Europeans to set sail across oceans. For China, Mongols established their
rule but not cultural subjugation. The Mamluks in Egypt gained fame as the first to
successfully defeat the Mongols, thereby protecting Mamluk Islamic culture. And for the
Mongols themselves, their horse-riding prowess meant the beginning of the end of
nomadic existence and control of the Eurasian steppe.
Segments – 13th Century
MONGOLIA - Summary
In the Century of the Stirrup, the Eurasian landmass was
transformed by the emergence of a new force in history: the
Mongols. Genghis Khan founded an empire that would
eventually stretch from China to the Middle East, blocked only
by the Mamluks in Egypt. While regular caravan travel
between China and Mongolia began in 101 B.C.E., after the
creation of the Mongolian Empire the trails connecting the East
to the West became safe to travel. As the "Silk Road"
flourished, Chinese knowledge flowed westward, stimulating
new approaches to science and religion.
Genghis Khan grew up among the Mongols, then rose quickly
to prominence, proving himself to be an extraordinary leader.
He quickly dominated the tribes of Central Asia and then went
on to conquer parts of Northern China and the Islamic world.
He used terror tactics to scare people into submission, sparing
only skilled artisans if a town failed to surrender. Once a land
was conquered, however, the Mongols were very tolerant
rulers, allowing other faiths and traditions to continue. The
method of Genghis Kahn's leadership was so strong that the
army and empire he founded continued to grow after his death.
CENTRAL ASIA - Summary
The Mongols enforced law and order across Central Asia,
policing a network of routes connecting East and West. They
built post stations throughout the empire from which messages
were carried at high speed across vast distances. The hostile
impressions some foreign visitors formed changed as they
spent more time with the Mongols. William of Rubruck found
that in Karakorum, the main Mongol city, there were "very fine
craftsmen in every art, and physicians [who knew] a great deal
about the power of herbs and diagnose[d] very cleverly from
the pulse." The religious tolerance Rubruck discovered would
have been unimaginable in Europe at that time.
CHINA - Summary
Kublai Khan continued the work his grandfather, Genghis
Khan, had begun. But he also made significant land gains in
China, achieving a prize that had eluded the Mongols for
decades. Kublai Khan eventually rejected the harsh life of the
steppes and built a luxurious palace complex in what is
present-day Beijing; the poet Samuel Coleridge called it
Xanadu. A visiting Venetian named Marco Polo recorded his
impressions of the palace¹s grandeur: "the walls are of gold and
silver. It glitters like crystal and the sparkle of it can be seen
from far away." The Khan had many concubines and the
women in his court held great sway over him. When Kublai's
senior wife died, he lost the will to rule and retreated into a life
of increasing decadence. In 1368, the conquered Chinese
seized the opportunity to regain their independence.
EGYPT - Summary
After the rule of Kublai Khan ended, others followed China's
lead and challenged the myth of Mongolian invincibility. The
Mamluks in Cairo, Egypt, were the first soldiers to halt the
Mongol military advance west. Their leader was a man called
Baybars, who, like Genghis, excelled on the battlefield. He led
an elite mounted corps that trained on the polo fields. At the
battle of Ain Julut, in Palestine, the Mamluks dealt the Mongols
their first defeat in an Islamic area and were able to protect
Islam from further Mongolian domination. While not a defeat
for the Mongol army as a whole, this small-scale battle had
great symbolic significance. Much of the architecture in Cairo
today dates back to the Mamluk era when a secure empire
ensured flourishing trade. Cairo remained a leading cultural
center within the Islamic world.
EUROPE - Summary
Europeans who had contact with Eastern knowledge often
embraced new ways of thinking. A scientific revolution
resulted, as Europeans began to explore and test the laws of
nature. Frederick II of Sicily conducted numerous experiments,
including disemboweling men to see how their digestive
systems worked. Working in Paris, France, and Oxford,
England, Roger Bacon dissected human eyes. His discoveries
contributed to the invention of spectacles. A new religious
movement encouraged people to regard the natural world as a
thing to be loved and studied rather than feared. But these
innovative movements would be stalled in the following century
as disease and climatic change wiped out much of the
population.
14th Century – Century of the Scythe
The 14th century was an age of dynamic interaction between the great cultures of the
world. But some of the promise of the previous century was cut short by climate change,
plagues, and peasant revolution. Even so, obstacles to progress in China, the Islamic
world, and Christendom created opportunities for previously marginalized parts of the
world. The empires of Mali and Java, for example, flourished in this period. The "scythe"
of this century was death itself, which swept through many parts of the world, either by
disease or through imperial expansion.
For MILLENNIUM's filmmakers, the 14th century demonstrates an important aspect of
world history: its dissynchronous nature. In other words, not all parts of the globe
experience things simultaneously. Certainly this was true in the 14th century when
Europe and China were laid low by disease, climatic change, and socio-political
dislocation, even as in Africa (Mali), Central Asia (Uzbekistan), and Indonesia (Java)
empires flourished.
Segments – 14th Century
EGYPT - Summary
Cairo was one center particularly hard-hit by disaster. At ten
times the size of Paris or London, Cairo was one of the
greatest cities in the world. But it lost 20,000 people a day to a
mysterious and devastating disease called the Black Death.
The bubonic plague was a pest-borne bacterial infection, which
originated in Central Asia and spread along the flourishing
trade routes both to the East and West. Christendom was
especially hard hit. People struggled to understand why the
disease had struck. Many looked for scapegoats. Jews were
massacred and heretics burned. But when people noticed that
the Jews and heretics were also dying, they began to blame
themselves instead, recognizing the plague as a scourge sent by
God. China, the Islamic world, and Christendom were all held
back from expansion while the disease ran its course.
MALI - Summary
Beyond the reach of the Black Death, other cultures flourished.
In West Africa, where the great Sahara desert provided a
barrier against disease spread from the north, the empire of
Mali was busy trading its abundant gold for essentials such as
salt. An Islamic traveler from Tangier named Ibn Battuta wrote
at length about what he saw in the empire of Mali. The
mosques, libraries, and schools of the region's cities were
gathering places for Muslim intellectuals and became
comfortably familiar to him. Ibn Battuta was particularly
impressed by the humility of King Mansa Musa's subjects and
their devotion to the Islamic faith.
Among the Mongols, all men rode horses; by contrast, in
Mansa Musa's army only a tiny elite of professional soldiers
rode. The skill of these cavalry units enabled Mansa Musa to
dominate large swathes of the desert and grasslands of west
Africa. The gold that provided him with the means to support
such a huge empire became well known as far away as
Europe. It was said that when he went on pilgrimages to
Mecca, his extravagances upset the economies of the towns he
visited.
UZBEKISTAN - Summary
In Central Asia, another empire was able to flourish. A
nomadic conqueror, known as Timur, laid siege to vast
swathes of territory. He began life as a sheep rustler, then rose
to become a leader of armies. Claiming Mongol descent, he
aspired to rival Genghis Khan. But as a convert to Islam, he
also saw himself as a champion of the faith. Using terror and
slaughter, he created an empire that stretched from the Indian
Ocean to the Mediterranean. He used his gathered wealth to
build extraordinary monuments in Samarkand and Bukhara,
inside present-day Uzbekistan. Timur's ambitions seemed to
know no limits. Almost blind and too weak to walk, he set off
on one last campaign to conquer China. But he died before the
invasion could begin - and his empire did not survive his death.
Timur's memory lives on among the people of Uzbekistan, who
hail him as a national hero and a symbol of might.
INDONESIA - Summary
Across the Indian Ocean, at the heart of the world's busiest
trade routes, lay the island of Java, home to the kingdom of
Majapahit. The regular monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean
had helped sailors move East and West across the water for
millennia. For half the year the winds blew in one direction and
for the other half in the opposite direction. In between, ships
idled in ports waiting to take off again. The main island of
Indonesia, Java, was one such stopover point. It was also an
important provider of specialized woods, spices, and rice.
Much of Java's culture had its roots in India. Buddhism and
Hinduism had mixed with local Javanese traditions to create
hybrid faiths. Some of the traditions that originated in the 14th
century are kept alive on a large island to the east of Java,
called Bali. Here they tell the story of Hayan Wuruk, one of the
kingdom's greatest leaders. Like others in this century, he had
ambitions to create a huge empire stretching to China and
India. But for the most part he was content to simply receive
visitors from afar, offering them grand feasts and displays.
Artistic performance was a way of entertaining and of honoring
the gods. The island flourished under his rule.
ENGLAND - Summary
Back in Christendom, things were going from bad to worse.
Not only were the people afflicted with the plague, but
temperatures were plunging. A mini-ice age had struck.
Icebergs floated farther south, and the northern seas grew
treacherous. Marginal lands to the north were deserted and
crops everywhere failed to grow. The poor suffered the most.
What little food there was became astronomically expensive.
Turning to their rulers for help, the poor were rewarded with
oppressive laws and harsh taxes. Peasants across Europe
began to challenge their rulers - rebellions erupted. The poor
sought justice and equality, but their demands were largely
refused. In the next century, some would decide to seek
properity beyond the bounds of Christendom, across the
oceans.
15th Century – Century of the Sail
The fifteenth century was a century of far-flung exploration and ocean travel. During this
"century of the sail" the peoples of many civilizations took to the sea and risked sailing
with the winds. With the hardships of the previous century behind them, cultures around
the world began to expand. For those with access to water and the technology to exploit
it, great trade benefits awaited. The states that lined the coasts of maritime Asia
developed the most impressive and mature sea-going technologies. But the fastestgrowing empire of the fifteenth century was land based; in the Americas, the Aztecs
developed a civilization rivaled in speed and scale by only the Ottoman Empire.
The maritime accomplishments of coastal societies in Asia and Mediterranean Europe
during the century of the sail increased trade opportunities and moved both people and
goods across continents. The Ottomans expanded by sea within the Mediterranean and
proved that a land-based people could adapt to a sailing culture. The Aztecs, with their
entirely land-based empire, provided a point of contrast to the ocean-based empirebuilding occurring elsewhere around the globe. As European sailors learned how to ride
the winds of worldwide exploration, ocean travel would from this century onwards be
synonymous with empire building.
Segments – 15th Century
CHINA - Summary
China began to recover from the plagues and famines of the
fourteenth century and turn her energies to maritime expansion.
China was best equipped to expand, with technologies far
exceeding those of her rivals. Ambitious expeditions left the
shores of Asia during the reign of Emperor Yong Le, led by the
eunuch Admiral Zheng He. For nearly three decades, Zheng
He set sail with fleets as large as 200 ships and with crews
totaling 27,000 men. The ships were some the largest wooden
vessels ever constructed, over 400 feet long and 180 feet
wide. They were powered by twelve bamboo sails on nine
masts and could sail at any angle to the wind. While some
claim these expeditions aimed to determine whether there was
anything in the world China did not possess, others say the
motives of the voyages were unclear. The fleets traveled to
points all around the vast Indian Ocean, exchanging gifts with
people they met, returning with exotic animals and goods. The
expeditions were eventually abandoned; perhaps Confucian
scholars decided nothing brought back was of use to China.
China entered a period of self-created isolation.
ITALY - Summary
Western Christendom began to recover from the plague, and
European culture experienced a "re-birth" or renaissance. The
Renaissance was arguably dependent on sea links between
Italy and Atlantic Europe as well as with Constantinople and
other major ports around the Mediterranean. Improved and
extended maritime connections between Italy, Alexandria, and
Cairo ensured the import of exotic spices, clothes, and artifacts
from the East. A few private, influential families vied with one
another to show off their newfound wealth and stimulated
progress in art and architecture. Ambitious new buildings
sprang up, works of decorative art were commissioned,
cathedrals were adorned with beautiful new frescoes, and
artists devised new methods to portray it all on canvas. Italy's
strong demand for luxuries and spices in turn inspired the sea
voyages of Spain and Portugal. These two countries were on
the periphery of Europe and were desperate to gain access to
wealth. Trading goods with countries like Italy could provide it.
CENTRAL AMERICA - Summary
In the Americas, the Aztecs created a vast empire without the
use of wind-powered crafts or water-based trade; the Aztec
civilization was entirely land-bound. The heart of the Aztec
empire was the city of Tenochtitlan, a huge, vibrant island in the
midst of a swampy lake. From this city the Aztecs controlled
thousands of outlying settlements, demanding the tribute which
helped keep the main city provisioned and viable. The children
of elite citizens were reared to be part of a disciplined warrior
class. The warriors maintained the Aztecs' control over
conquered peoples. The constant conquest of new peoples
was also essential to supply sacrificial victims for offerings to
the gods. The Aztec civilization would thrive until the arrival of
the Spanish in the next century.
TURKEY - Summary
The Ottoman people exploited both land and sea-based
military technologies to establish a new and vigorous Muslim
empire in formerly Christian lands. In 1453, Mehmet the
Conqueror led a 100,000-strong army towards
Constantinople. Constantinople was one of the richest cities in
Christendom, as prosperous as Venice, Florence, or Milan.
But Mehmet¹s army outnumbered the inhabitants 7 to 1, and
his victory was complete. The conquest changed the fate of
Constantinople forever. Mehmet saved the ancient Christian
cathedral of Hagia Sophia from destruction, but converted it
into a mosque. In addition, he built a vast palace - the Topkapi
Sarayi - with kitchens capable of feeding 10,000 people in a
day. It was laid out like a nomad's tent, but on a grand scale,
and echoed the Ottomans' Turkish style of art and architecture.
Other conquests allowed the domain of the Ottomans to grow.
Their empire eventually stretched from the Danube in
present-day Hungary to the Euphrates in present-day Iraq,
straddling the Silk Road. Finally, the Ottomans successfully
challenged the Venetian empire at sea, establishing their control
over all but the western portion of the Mediterranean.
PORTUGAL - Summary
The sail changed the fortunes of Portugal and Spain, two
sparsely populated maritime nations located on the Iberian
peninsula. Merchants were motivated to find a new sea route
to the east so they could bypass the many middlemen who
imposed taxes and the Ottomans who now had a stranglehold
on the important trade routes. The Portuguese edged their way
south around the coast of Africa, despite some dangerous
sailing waters. Bartolomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good
Hope in 1488. But Christopher Columbus was the only one
willing to take the ambitious gamble of a direct westerly
journey. No one knew what lay to the west of the Iberian
peninsula, but many feared the expanse of ocean was the
domain of monsters and serpents. By Columbus' calculation,
travelling west would eventually bring him to Japan where he
would secure exotic goods to sell. The trade winds carried him
to in San Salvador Island on October 12, 1492. He
discovered new territories and brought two very separate parts
of the world together for the first time in history. But the real
triumph was reserved for Vasco de Gama, who 7 years later
actually reached India and the Orient by sea. Expansion and
subsequent colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese would
forever change the course of history.
16th Century – Century of the Compass
In the 16th century the world became an arena of competition between aggressively
expanding empires and fiercely evangelical religions. New empires were created across
oceans and continents by dynamic civilizations determined to influence cultures very
different from their own. In this Episode, European maritime imperialism is set in the
context of Russian, Chinese, and Japanese empire-building. The reach of global
imperialism is evoked through the content of a cabinet of curiosities. The compass was a
technology that made these ambitions possible.
While the compass pointed the way for Spanish penetration of the Yucatan, Russian
expansion across Asia, Japanese forays in Korea, and the Moghul thrust into India, it did
not provide any direction in the way that the exchanges between peoples were conducted.
In most cases, when peoples of differing cultures met face to face the results were often
misunderstanding, suspicion, and bloodshed-not unlike present-day anticipations of
encounters with aliens from other planets, with. Without a compass to direct the
encounters, force alone usually determined the outcomes. In the Yucatan Peninsula, the
Spanish overwhelmed the native Maya, and in Siberia the Russians overwhelmed the
indigenous tribes. The weakness of the Japanese fleet led to continued isolation for
Koreans and Japanese alike. In India, Muslim Moghuls encountered a strong Hindu
cultural tradition, ultimately producing a Muslim-Hindu cultural mix rather than cultural
submersion.
Segments – 16th Century
MEXICO - Summary
In Central America, the Mayans and their Spanish conquerors
struggled for souls. Diego de Landa, a Franciscan friar sent by
the Spanish to the present day Mexican province of Yucatan,
was a keen chronicler of Mayan culture. He spent time with
Mayan villagers, learning to speak different dialects and
adopting local customs. But equally, he was a zealous Catholic
who baptized thousands of Mayans a day to "save their souls."
Trouble began when he discovered that the converted Maya
continued to worship their own idols. Enraged by the apparent
double standard, de Landa began to interrogate villagers, then
torture them. Over a three-month period some 4,500 Mayans,
including chiefs and elders, were imprisoned and tortured. A
new bishop arrived to calm the hysteria; de Landa was
condemned for his actions. Although he managed to clear his
name with the Spanish authorities, even today he is loathed by
Mayans for his brutal repression.
RUSSIA - Summary
The foundations for modern-day Russia were laid in the 16th
century. Russian expansion pursued by Ivan the Great was
finally pushed beyond the Ural Mountains by Ivan the Terrible.
The fur trade was very important to the Russians, but the trade
all lay to the East, in the vast reaches of Siberia. Kazan lay
between Russia and the supply routes. When Kazan was
conquered in 1553, it was celebrated by the construction of St
Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Its famous cupola domes
represent Kazan turbans, one for each chieftain killed in the
siege. In Siberia, Cossack mercenaries hired by Ivan moved
steadily across the freezing wasteland, attacking local rulers
and terrorizing indigenous peoples. Domination of the fur trade
was finally achieved, and Moscow grew rich on the proceeds.
But towards the end of his life the strains of empire unhinged
Ivan the Terrible, and a reign of terror was instituted.
JAPAN - Summary
Japan had for centuries remained relatively isolated from the
world, surrounded by treacherous seas. But in the 16th century
a ruler emerged who was determined to cross them. He was
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a peasant soldier known as "The Bald
Rat." He has come to be considered the true architect of the
Japanese nation and is still venerated in annual festivals. After
centuries of anarchy and rivalries between warlords throughout
Japan, Hideyoshi managed to unify the country and create a
new state of affairs: internal peace. Then he declared his
ambition to conquer China, via Korea. But the Koreans had
developed the invincible turtle ship, which proved far superior
to anything in the Japanese navy. Smarting from defeat,
Hideyoshi retreated and spent his remaining years in a state of
paranoia, devoted to his only son Hideyori. But after his death,
Hideyoshi's generals rebelled. Hideyori and his mother
committed suicide. Japan once again closed itself off from the
outside world.
INDIA - Summary
The Moghuls had imperial ambitions, and these produced
long-lasting effects. Originating in Central Asia, the Moghuls
(descendants of the Mongols) under the teenage ruler Babur
began conquests in Samarkand. Failing here, they moved East
into Kabul (present-day Afghanistan) and then finally central
India. Babur's daughter Gulbadan was, like her father, a strict
Moslem. She and other women in the harem were shocked
when they encountered the customs of the Hindis in India.
Gulbadan would never adjust, but Babur's grandson Akbar the
Great proved more open-minded. Marriage alliances brought
him lands and loyalty, and in return he allowed a diversity of
beliefs to flourish in the Moghul empire. He even built a special
house of worship where representatives from all the different
creeds were encouraged to discuss their faiths. Later on,
buildings like the Taj Mahal came to symbolize this fusion of
cultures, a characteristic of India which endures to the present
day.
EUROPE - Summary
The 16th century was a critical point in history as the varied
cultures of two great landmasses-the Americas and
Eurasia/Africa-finally came into contact with one another. Fear
and greed dominated many of these contacts, but wonder also
played a part. Explorers and conquerors brought strange
artifacts back to Europe, such as armadillos, corn, parrots, and
canoes. These were gathered together in what became known
as Wunderkammer, or Cabinets of Curiosities. Primarily the
obsessions of scientists or princes, these contained oddities
purchased from world travelers. Emperor Rudolf II of Prague
packed over 20,000 exhibits and specimens into just four
rooms. Not only did the collection inspire wonder in the
onlooker but it signified the worldwide reach of the ruler. They
were the precursors of many of the museums of today.
17th Century – Century of the Telescope
The 17th century was a century that favored communities with access to the Atlantic,
particularly those in northern Europe. The first refracting telescope, invented by Dutch
lens grinders in 1600, was a useful tool for European cultures looking to expand across
the ocean. Compelled by choice and by necessity, some Europeans set sail to establish
precarious colonies across the Atlantic. These settlements marked the beginning of the
enduring European and African cultural influence in the Americas. Goods first trickled,
then flowed back into Europe from the Americas and southeast Asia. The Dutch grew
rich from trade, ushering in a brief "Golden Age." The telescope also symbolized the rise
of Western scientific endeavor and the technical superiority that the West would later
enjoy.
The lens symbolizes the extraordinary scientific advances made by the Europeans in the
17th century. Among those inventions was the telescope (1600) which became an
instrument vital to European expansion overseas. This expansion led to colonization and
growth of a lucrative trade in sugar and slaves in the Americas. It also led to a Golden
Age in Holland, spawned by Dutch control of the rich East Asia spice island trade. The
telescope brought sharp focus to the shifting world power center from China to Europe
over the next few centuries
Segments – 17th Century
ENGLAND - Summary
In the 17th century, scientists like Isaac Newton transformed
people's understanding of the world. The telescope, and then
the microscope, enabled gentlemen scientists in Europe to
observe new facts. Europe's rulers were now willing to support
scientific undertakings, realizing that knowledge was power. In
England, after a bloody Civil War, gentlemen were freed from
the demands of military service and were able to follow new
pursuits. And those who were not born into high ranks now
found the means and finance to rise independently. Isaac
Newton studied the astronomy of Galileo and the philosophy
of Descartes, and was a pioneer in mathematics. He found that
the movement of ordinary objects was predictable. Made
famous by his work, he was knighted and made president of a
new Royal Society dedicated to learning. The new faith in the
regularity of nature challenged superstition and provided the
foundation for advances in European scientific endeavor for
centuries to come.
USA - Summary
The telescope aided English expansion overseas. Keen to
catch up with the Spanish and Portuguese in the New World,
James I granted a charter to open up the Americas. In 1607,
104 men sailed to the coast of present-day Virginia. They
expected to find quantities of gold and to get rich quick.
Instead they encountered an unfamiliar environment and
residents-the Powhatans-who were soon given reasons to
mistrust the newcomers. Unreceptive to successful
food-growing methods used by the Powhatans, the colonists
proved unable to provide from themselves and most died. One
self-elected leader, John Smith, held the colony together for a
time, but was then mysteriously injured and returned to
England to recover. The venture was on the verge of failure
when "gold" was discovered in the form of tobacco. As
demand for the crop in Europe grew, the future of the colony
was assured.
BRAZIL - Summary
The Portuguese had already settled small numbers of people in
the Americas, but during this century they brought in many
more, this time from Africa. These were slaves, involuntary
colonists of the New World. The ocean routes opened up in
the previous century were used to transport hundreds of
thousands of captured slaves from Portuguese colonies in
western Africa to Brazil. The slaves were needed to grow
sugar cane, a labor-intensive crop imported to and grown
successfully in the fertile soil around Salvador in northeast.
Plantation life was cruel, brutal and short. Demand for slaves
was constant because so many died and women deliberately
had very few children. Some slaves escaped to live in free
communities in the hills. One of these, Palmares, boasted an
army of over 5,000 soldiers. In present-day Brazil the legacy
of the slave trade can be seen in African traditions preserved
and still practiced.
HOLLAND - Summary
Another unlikely part of Europe grew rich on overseas trade.
The Dutch used the telescope to sail to southeast Asia and
establish dominance over supply routes for spices. The key to
their success was distribution of spices by sea, which bypassed
the more traditional trade routes. Goods which had previously
enriched the East now led to the creation of booming stock
market in Amsterdam. Like the Italian Republics of the twelfth
century, the Dutch celebrated by building a new Town Hall.
Rich and poor merchants commissioned portraits of themselves
and the world in which they lived. A Golden Age had begun.
But when decadence eventually set in, economic initiative
shifted elsewhere.
CHINA – Summary
The newfound European confidence was felt in China. Here
visiting Jesuits demonstrated the new European advances in
astronomy. For centuries, the Chinese empire had led the
world in science and technology. Now, the Jesuits spoke of a
clock that could predict the movements of the stars. Intrigued,
the Chinese conducted a test. An eclipse of the sun was
predicted by both Chinese and European astronomers. The
hour predicted by the Chinese came and went. Then, at the
precise moment the Jesuits had anticipated, the eclipse
occurred. Here was another example (European mapping
being another) of Western science challenging Chinese
superiority. A period of exchange opened up for a time.
Chinese learning once again traveled back to Europe,
influencing thinkers like Voltaire and Leibnitz who would in turn
shape developments in the next century.
18th Century – Century of the Furnace
The eighteenth century was the "century of the furnace" in a dual sense: the furnace of
proto-industrial technology glowed brightly in China, India, and the West, and the furnace
of political revolution set off sparks as well. New ways of thinking strengthened and
disrupted Europe, while the American Revolution strained ties across the Atlantic
between Europe and the colonies. India textile exports thrived, with thousands of workers
mass-producing cotton, tea, and silk. However, by the middle of the century, the British
East India company began its conquest of India-Britain was beginning to claim these
riches. China, also confident about its economic prosperity, colonized new territories to
the north and west.
In the eighteenth century, two parts of the globe were seething with energy and change. In
the West-in Europe and the Americas-adventurous expeditions struck out to remote
corners of the world. New ways of thought based on the Enlightenment inspired
revolutions that empowered the middle class. Nowhere was the empowerment of the
common man more evident that in the West's growing appetite for goods on a mass scale.
In the East, both India and China enjoyed the prosperity derived from their roles as
producers and exporters. Textiles and spices from India and porcelain and tea from China
moved west and both countries profited by this exchange. However, by the end of the
century these states would be eclipsed by the productive power of European factories and
by the colonial overlordships imposed by European states. In the nineteenth century, East
and West would experience a different set of relationships in the context of a different
world dynamic.
18th Century
LAPLAND - Summary
The furnace of ideas in Europe inspired extraordinary
expeditions to remote corners of the world. Newfound
confidence in the ability of and need for scientists to scrutinize
the world led the French King Louis XV to sponsor one of the
world's most expensive expeditions, an attempt to measure the
shape of the earth. Two teams had to measure the distance
between one degree of the earth's latitude. One team went to
the equator and the other, led by Pierre de Maupertuis, to the
Arctic Circle. The difference between their measurements
would reveal whether the earth was a true sphere, was
elongated, or was slightly flattened at the top and bottom. The
project took a year, including two bitterly cold winters building
signal towers and fixing measuring rods in the deep snow of
northern Finland. When the results were collated, the teams
discovered that the poles of the earth were slightly
flattened-knowledge that was extremely useful to all navigators.
PORTUGAL - Summary
While scientists measured the earth, new rational ideas were
also applied to society. Cities across Europe were shaped by
new ideas. After an earthquake devastated Lisbon in Portugal
in 1755, the city was rebuilt with broad squares and bold vistas
laid out in an ordered geometric pattern under the supervision
of Portugal's Prime Minister, Marquis de Pombal. The city
became a symbol of the Enlightenment, a movement that
fostered a belief in reason and the scientific method. The
authority of the past was rejected, while moral authority was
derived from reason. Mozart's opera The Magic Flute
celebrated this new cult of reason. A revival of interest in the
game of chess illustrated Enlightenment ideals of equality: in
chess a mere pawn can overthrow the king.
USA/France - Summary
The ideas brewing in Europe inspired rebellion in the British
colony of America. Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello,
symbolized his allegiance to the spirit of the Enlightenment. His
house also symbolized a new sense of American culture. Its
architecture and decoration derived from European classical
motifs but displayed distinct differences. Like other settlers in
the colony, he felt little allegiance to the British. Inspired by
Thomas Paine's Common Sense (a pamphlet which attacked
the authority of the British King) and by other grievances, he
wrote the Declaration of Independence. The British declared
the colony in rebellion and war ensued. The greatest naval
power in the world was eventually defeated at Yorktown,
Virginia in 1781 by the partnership of the French
military-seeking revenge for the Seven Year's War-and
George Washington's troops. In fact, there were more French
at Yorktown than Americans. Without the French army and
navy, victory would have been impossible. With the end of the
American Revolution, British dominion over the colony ended
and the Republic of the United States of America was born.
The furnace of ideas also inspired the French Revolution of
1789, but the outcome was far bloodier. Enlightenment ideas
of democracy--the rights of ordinary people and the value of
unsophisticated cultures-- inspired revolutionary sentiments.
The American revolution had demonstrated that with a closer
link between the rulers and the people it was possible to
overthrow Great Britain. While many of the revolutionary ideas
in France were provoked by a desire for power, the acute
food shortages experienced by the poor also contributed. King
Louis XVI lived in extraordinary luxury in Versailles. His wife,
Marie Antoinette, dressed up as a shepherdess and tended a
flock provided for her in the grounds of the palace. Such
pretensions to poverty enraged an already miserable
population. A rebellion began in 1789. The King and Queen
were the first to be beheaded. As mob rule took over, many
more died during a period known as the Reign of Terror.
INDIA - Summary
In the East, India and China possessed two of the wealthiest
and most productive economies in the world. India was the
world's biggest exporter of textiles, and merchants worldwide
coveted this wealth. As the Moghul empire disintegrated, the
British seized the opportunity to gain some advantage. British
traders in Bengal helped defeat insurrections and were
rewarded with a share of tax revenues. But in the southern
state of Mysore the British were refused a stake in the
economy. The state's elite cavalry, ruled by Tipu Sultan,
roundly defeated the British and their Indian allies. A local
drama portrays Tipu Sultan as a hero and records how the
British conspired against him. In 1799, the British, together
with Tipu's enemies, finally defeated the Mysore troops. Within
fifty years, the British established colonial rule over the whole
of India. The products and profits of Indian technology moved
westward.
CHINA - Summary
Eighteenth-century China was also a furnace of industry.
Ambitious colonization to the west and the resettlement of
millions of peasants to the rich agricultural lands of Sichuan
expanded the empire to its current border. Crops brought from
the New World prompted an agricultural boom. Cottage
industries also multiplied into industrial scale. Demand for cups
and teapots for tea-drinking stimulated a manufacturing boom
and porcelain was produced on a vast scale. Exports to
Southeast Asia and the West also swelled China's merchants'
coffers, making it the richest nation on earth. British missions
brought European goods to tempt the Chinese into free trade
agreements, but the offerings were met with indifference.
Though China imported fur, silver, gold, and other metals,
many in China claimed that there was nothing the country
needed that it could not produce itself. Emperor Qianlong
eventually opened up some trading houses to the foreigners, a
move the Chinese would live to regret.
19th Century – Century of the Machine
Industrialization altered the world's balance of power in the nineteenth century. During
the "century of the machine," Western powers established world empires by means of
technological superiority and became more powerful than the big-sister civilizations of
China, Islam, and India. Other cultures tried to resist the influence of the industrial
powers but ultimately failed, losing ground to new modes of living.
The machine was truly a new phenomenon in world history, wedding science and
technology. Until the nineteenth century, science had been closely tied to religion and
practiced by many societies in the abstract, while technology was a continuum of everimproved tool-making. But when science was applied directly to the creation of practical
tools, the results were astounding. Western Europe, building on its own classical heritage
and that of Islamic, Chinese, and Indian science, pioneered the application of scientific
rationalism to mechanical creations. The result was a revolution in which the source of
productive power was transferred from man to machine. The steam engine, one of a series
of new power sources, gave economic, political, and social power to those who possessed
its mechanical secrets. In this way, Western Europeans began to dominate the Americas,
and also Asia and Africa. This domination was not just physical, in the form of empires,
but extended to world-view and religion. Europe spread the belief that the development of
science and technology was equivalent to human progress and enlightenment. Despite
these imperial over tones, science and technological achievements have proven
irresistible to most people the world over, perhaps due to the promise of better living
conditions.
Segments – 19th Century
BRITAIN - Summary
In nineteenth-century Britain, engineers and inventors became
heroes. Richard Trevithick was one of the first hero-engineers;
he created a locomotive powered by steam. This technology
was then applied to boats, and soon paddle steamers were
crossing the Atlantic Ocean, carrying thousands of migrants to
new worlds. Oceans previously crossed at great risk,
particularly the Pacific, could be spanned easily by the latter
part of the century. A world-wide network of transport
evolved, joining continents together by rail and steam. An
itinerant preacher, Thomas Cook, began a global tourism
business. The newly industrialized powers also had further
means to expand, colonize, and control the world.
ENGLAND - Summary
Charles Darwin, a young scientist conducting a world survey
for the Royal Navy, developed astounding new theories about
evolution. These ideas were published as The Origin of
Species, in which Darwin suggested that species, including
humans, changed over time as they adapted to local
environments. Humans, he said, were the descendants of apes.
While Darwin's arguments horrified the religious establishment,
others found his ideas appealing and adapted them for other
uses. The doctrine of "survival of the fittest" was interpreted as
justification for the nations of the West to dominate and
conquer other less "fit" cultures. In the last two decades of the
century, Africa became the victim of a wholesale European
colonial take-over.
USA - Summary
Nineteenth-century mechanization also contributed to the drift
of American settlers westward. Steel plows and railroads
made settlement of the prairies easier. The native inhabitants
resisted the new settlers; using guns and horses brought to the
New World by Europeans, the Plains Indians proved to be
difficult to displace. But the settlers turned their repeating rifles
against the life-source of the Indians: millions of buffalo were
slaughtered and an entire ecosystem was destroyed. Defeated
at last, the Indians were confined to unwanted land, prisoners
in their own country. The conflict would be recreated in
theatrical fantasies such as the Wild West Show, establishing a
myth of cowboys and Indians.
CHINA - Summary
China¹s position as a world-trade power changed in this
century when the British used new steam gunboats to defeat
China in the Opium Wars. China had become a vital trading
partner for the British, who were devotees of Chinese silk,
porcelain, and, above all, tea. To correct the trade imbalance,
the British needed to find a product that the Chinese wanted.
The British decided to exploit poppy crops in their Indian
colony to supply the drug opium to every part of China. The
Chinese protested, as they were already weakened by the
drug, but to no avail. When the Emperor's Commissioner, Lin
Zexu, locked up 350 British merchants in their factories and
ordered thousands of balls of opium destroyed, war ensued.
But the British were victorious. They forced China to pay for
the war and hand over five ports, including Hong Kong. China
was opened up to European powers and to Western ways.
EUROPE - Summary
Industrialization changed the conditions of many people's lives.
Steam engines powered not only trains and ships, but also
looms. Together with the furnace, these engines transformed
production. Factories sprang up around the industrialized
world, enriching business tycoons. But the centralization and
mechanization of production convulsed society. Towns grew
overcrowded, riddled with slums and disease. People worked
long hours in noisy, filthy, and degrading conditions. For some,
manufactured goods improved living conditions, but others
were stirred to protest the factories and the hardships they
created. Men, women and children fought for their rights and
called for political representation. These same social dynamics
would come to dominate more people's lives in the century to
follow.
20th Century – Century of the Globe
During the twentieth century, the "century of the globe," humans entered space, and for
the first time were able to see from afar the planet they call home. This achievement
resulted from remarkable developments in science and technology. While some of these
developments were used in war, creating killing fields of mass destruction, others
completely revolutionized physics, art, medicine, and communications. These advances,
in turn, prompted a population explosion, mass migrations, and the creation of huge
urban megalopolises. The ease of global transportation and communication led to the
creation of a world culture largely modeled on American styles of dress, music, and
entertainment and fed by the twentieth-century propensity to change, innovate, and
market.
The tempo and breadth of technological change makes the twentieth century stand out as
a turning point in world history. Technological development may be akin to other great
human achievements like standing upright, tool making, the agricultural revolution,
metallurgy, and industrialization. Global communication and transportation systems have
made the globe one and have heralded a new era in politics, economics, social systems,
and culture. The third Millennium may well be the Age of Space when humans fan out
across the cosmos as they did across the globe so many millennia ago. It would have been
difficult to predict that a century that began with world wars would end with international
celebration. Such is the human drama that is reflected in the pages of history and in the
video episodes of this MILLENNIUM series.
Segments – 20th Century
FREUDIAN TIMES - Summary
Twentieth-century science investigated both the internal world
of the mind and the external world of physics. While
psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud explored unconscious and
subconscious motives for behavior, Albert Einstein c ompletely
revolutionized physics by challenging established Newtonian
laws of movement, motion, and matter. Einstein and others
suggested that the laws of physics work according to principles
of relativity rather than fixed laws, that there are even smaller
units of matter than atoms, and that change can occur randomly
and in "leaps". The theoretical world of science and the unseen
world of the mind had a profound impact on art. Pablo Picasso
and others fragmented reality by painting objects and people
from multiple perspectives at once. Innovations in science and
art, along with the devastating twentieth-century world wars,
bred a sense of introspection and uncertainty.
EUROPE - Summary
Twentieth-century world wars, ideological fanaticism, and
genocide smashed nineteenth-century optimism and belief in
human progress. In World War I, armies exploited
technologies of death like poison gas and the automatic
machine gun. By war's end, Europe was scorched physically
and scarred mentally, and her world hegemony foundered.
Further carnage occurred in World War II, a war that began
with the Japanese invasion of China that caused millions of
deaths and that ended with the dropping of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing millions more. Meanwhile,
communist and fascist ideological fanaticism led to Siberian
death camps, famine prompted by forced collectivization in
Russia and China, and Nazi genocidal policies against Jews.
After World War II and during the Cold War that followed it,
ever more dangerous weapons like nuclear bombs cast a pale
of fear over the world's population and stood as a threat of
Armageddon. No less fearsome were the less sophisticated
weapons of war like machetes and rifles that were used in
ethnic and ideological conflicts in Rwanda, Cambodia, and
other states.
USA - Summary
Population increases, faster and cheaper modes of
transportation, and the end of European empires led to mass
population movements in the twentieth century. As populations
soared, people sought opportunities in wealthier countries and
in cities where there were more opportunities for work.
Relationships between imperialist powers and their colonies
provided many people with the legal means to move. In
America, immigration from neighboring Spanish-speaking
countries by people searching for jobs and a better life
transformed American culture.
NORTH AMERICA - Summary
In many ways, the twentieth century belongs to America.
Americans developed, exploited, and marketed worldwide
new technologies like the automobile, telephone, television, and
computer. They also exported their culture in the form of films,
music, clothes, and sports. American corporations also
became "multinational" by establishing headquarters in a vast
range of countries. American dollars followed and became the
de facto world currency.
JAPAN - Summary
The post-World War II economic boom affected Asia as well
as Europe and America. With the help of American aid, Japan
rebuilt and began to challenge the American export market in
the field of cars and electronics. The economies of other Asian
"dragons" like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South
Korea also grew at extraordinary rates. After fifty years of
economic hardship under communist experimentation, the
progressive policies of Den Xiaoping began to revitalize the
economy of China. Meanwhile, ethnic Chinese overseas used
their considerable capital to nurture growth back in China.
Many predict that the twenty-first century, much like the tenth
century that began the Millennium, will belong to China.