LOCATOR: home | episode rundown EPISODE RUNDOWN 1 - Sword | 2 - Axe | 3 - Stirrup | 4 - Scythe | 5 - Sail 6 - Compass | 7 - Telescope | 8 - Furnace | 9 - Machine | 10 - Globe We survey the world in 1000 AD and see that China was the most vibrant, open and technologically advanced civilization. Enriched by contact with China, Japan looked promising but turned increasingly in on itself. A Japanese princess kept an intimate diary of life in the imperial palace. Rich in natural resources, India was the only other civilization that the Chinese respected. Islam, less than 400 years old, had rapidly become the most far reaching civilization, favouring trade and travel. Cordoba, in Southern Spain, was one of the most important cities in the world. Poor and marginal by comparison, Christendom split into factions: the Latin West, based in Rome, and the Byzantine East, in Constantinople. The fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims inspired the first Crusade, which recaptured the holy city in 1099. back to top All over the world, people challenged nature and a century of ambitious building began. At Pueblo Bonito, in the American Southwest, a monumental city rose from the desert. As the forests of Northern Europe fell to the axe, vast new churches arose, to celebrate God's glory through Gothic architecture. In Ethiopia, spectacular Christian churches were carved out of solid rock to establish the power of King Lalibela. In Italy, new cities produced a new way of life. Citizens gave themselves charters, established their rights, and declared themselves independent republics. But not everyone built. Nomadic tribes such as the Australian aborigines continued to flourish by hunting and gathering and honouring the land. back to top Genghis Khan and his Mongol horsemen thundered across Asia, conquering the largest empire the world has ever known. The Mongols were ferocious warriors, but they imposed peace on the lands they conquered. It became possible to travel and trade, safely from Europe to the Orient. Grandson of Genghis, Kublai Khan conquered and united the whole of China, but was seduced by luxury in his palace at Xanadu. The only people able to beat the Mongols at their own tactics were the Mamelukes, a Muslim dynasty of former slaves who made Cairo into one of the world's great cities. As trade and travel flourished, Venice became a great empire. Goods and ideas from the Orient travelled via Venice up into northern Europe. back to top Black Death, the catastrophic plague which invaded Europe from the East, cut short the new prosperity. Treatments varied from the magical to the scientific. In Cairo, the number of deaths was said to reach 21,000 a day. While the great empires were devastated, smaller ones flourished. Mali, in east Africa, became wealthy through trading gold and salt. In Central Asia, Timur, a turk born near Samarqand, rose from sheep-stealer to conqueror of a vast empire, which gave the world some of its most spectacular Islamic architecture. Seaborne trade prospered, especially at the eastern end of the Indian Ocean. In East Java, the Kingdom of Majapahit thrived under the splended rule of Hayan Wuruk. Europe also suffered other catastrophes - terrible famine and a mini ice-age. Across Europe, rebels called for greater equality between people and their rulers. back to top China set out to dominate the seas, led by a Muslim eunicyh, Admiral Zheng He, whose first fleet comprised 62 of the largest junks ever built, 225 support vessels and 27,870 men. These new trade ventures were extremely lucrative, but after 30 years Ming bureaucrats forbade further voyages and abandoned maritime imperialism. Europe was torm by civil war, but the city states of northern Italy produced a cultural explosion known as the Renaissance. The Medici prince, Lorenzo the Magnificent, dominated and adorned Florence, nurturing painting, sculpture, poetry, music and architecture. Greater than any European city was Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital on the site of what is now Mexico City. Built on marshland beside Lake Texcoco, the highly organized city was supported by trade over huge distances. The Ottomans took advantage of the breakup of the Mongol empire, and made Constantinople the glorious capital of their far-flung empire. Mehmed the Conqueror's palace included a harem for 2,000 women, stables for 4,000 horses, 10 mosques, 14 baths and two hospitals. The kitchens could feed 5,000 or 10,000 on holidays. Of all the great voyages of the 15th century, the most important was that of Christopher Columbus, across the Atlantic and back. back to top This was a century in which the territories and religions of the great empires expanded aggressively. Diego de Landa, a Spanish missionary, converted thousands of Mayans in Ycatan, torturing them brutally when they continued to honour their former idols in secret. The biggest land gain was made by Ivan the Terrible, who extended Muscovite rule from the Baltic to Siberia. For every conquest, there were many failures. In Japan, a ferocious military dictator, Hideyoshi, dreamed of conquering the world, beginning with Korea and China. But the Koreans defeated him, with 'turtle' ships covered with iron spikes and breathing cannon fire through dragon's head prows. Muslim conquests were even more spectacular. Akbar conqureed northern India and created the sophisticated Moghul empire. People were fascinated by strange objects brought back from exotic corners of the world. Cabinets of Curiosities, containing objects as diverse as a lock of hair from Petrus Gonsalvus, the Hairy Man of Tenerife, to fossils and souvenirs of exotic animals, were displayed by famous collectors such as Emperor Rudolf II of Prague. back to top The role of the scientist changed dramatically. It was a time in which to question, experiment and observe. Greatest of all the new gentlemen scientists was Isaac Newton, whose experiments with the laws of nature were undertaken to reveal God, not to disprove his existence. Colonies were established along America's Atlantic coast. The first, in Jamestown, Virginia, struggled to survive until the tobacco trade made it viable. Slaves were transported from Africa, to service the new colonies. The largest numbers were taken to Brazil by the Portuguese and Dutch, their short brutal lives eked out on the sugar plantations. In Europe, the economic centre of gravity shifted north. The Dutch became rich on the South East Asian spice trade and Amsterdam began a golden age. Women entered business and great painters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer were commissioned by the emerging middle class. Europe began to eclipse Arabic and Chinese eminence in science. Visiting Jesuit priests proved to the Emperor of China that their knowledge of astronomy was more accurate than the Chinese. back to top This was a century in which revolutionary ideas ignited and transformed society. Western scientists undertook heroic expeditions to determine the shape of the world. A French expedition to the Arctic endured extreme cold to establish that the planet was an oblate spheroid. People began to think about politics and society in new ways. After an earthquake destroyed Lisbon, the city was rebuilt following the rational and humane ideals now known as the Enlightenment. The laws of nature were undertaken to reveal God, not to disprove his existence. Revolution transformed Europe and North America. The American War of Independence was the most conspicuous instance of colonial forces shaking off the mother country; the French Revolution was a bloodbath inspired by the notion of human rights and 'the people' as a creative force. India's wealth of natural resources brought mass-production of cotton, tea and silk; but British imperialism claimed their riches. China also prospered, colonizing new territories to the north and west. back to top The development of the steam engine transformed travel and transport, as railways and steamships encircled the earth. Thomas Cook invented mass tourism. Darwin's theories of Natural Selection and the Origin of Species challenged religious certainties. Transatlantic steamers and railroads enabled unprecedented immigration and expansion westwards across America. American Indians and the buffalo herds on which they depended were decimated as the new settlers took over the forests and prairies. China was no match for the weapons of the West, and was humiliated by the Opium Wars. The new industries across Europe and the USA had huge social consequences. The pace of work changed, damp and filth led to disease and workers struggled for political representation. back to top In the twentieth century, for the first time, mankind saw the world as a whole. Exploration also turned inward. Sigmund Freud explored the human psyche. Science split the atom; DNA revealed the origin of life. This has been the century of Megadeath: the bloodbath of the First World War, the starvation of millions in the Soviet Union and China, Nazi genocide and the crimes of Pol Pot in Cambodia surpassed the horrors of previous centuries. This is the century of migrations. In a post-colonial world, populations get up and move. Asians to Britain, Hispanics to the U.S., the Chinese worldwide. Everywhere, men and women leave the land for the city, making Tokyo and Mexico City the larget urban sprawls in history. In previous centuries, it took years to circle the globe. Now, telephones, satellite television and computers do it in an instant. Charlie Chaplin, Princess Diana, brand-names such as Coca-Cola and global events like the World Cup are recognized everywhere. It is a small world. The East rises. Japan, China, the tiger-economies of the Pacific Rim, bid for the limelight and for power. The wheel turns full circle. The planet survives and begins the next Millennium. back to top © 1999 Turner Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved.