Podcast Transcript Sometime around the year 1450, a monk living just outside of Venice created one of the greatest maps of the medieval world. It was an enormous map, even by modern standards, and it had a level of detail that had never been seen before. It took years to make and was a major …
Podcast Transcript Located in Central Java, outside of the modern city of Yogyakarta, lies the world’s largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur. Borobudur doesn’t get as much attention as other great monuments in the world, but it should certainly be included among them. Unlike other great monuments, Borobudur has a distinction that no other monument has. It …
Podcast Transcript Lego is one of the best-known toy brands in the world. Known for its fun and complex building process, the small plastic bricks encourage creativity and playability, and have become a staple in most households with kids. However, they aren’t just free-form toys for children. They have also graduated into high-end items for …
Podcast Transcript Just 60 years ago, Dubai was a sandy, sparsely populated port on a minor creek emptying into the Persian Gulf. Today, it is one of the most important cities in the world. It is a global center for trade, finance, and transportation. How did a random sandy outpost location in the Middle East …
Podcast Transcript For thousands of years, human beings have created works of art. Many of these works were commissioned by monarchs, merchants, or religious leaders. Over time, many of these great works have found their way into the hands of art museums. Museums allow everyone to enjoy and appreciate art that has been produced around …
Podcast Transcript In the mid-19th century, China experienced its greatest civil war. It was a conflict that set China on a course that eventually led to its Century of Humiliation and the fall of the Qing Dynasty. It wasn’t just a massive civil war; in terms of total lives lost, it was far and away …
Podcast Transcript Located on the Baltic Sea, sandwiched between the nations of Lithuania and Poland, is the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad, as it exists today, does not have a deep history. For most of its history, it was known as Königsberg. The reason it exists at all dates back to the Teutonic Knights in …
Podcast Transcript In the year 1950, the world was halfway through the 20th century. In the 25 years prior, the world had seen the greatest economic downturn in modern history and the greatest war the world had ever known. New technologies were being developed, and many previous technologies were making their way into the hands …
Podcast Transcript On May 7, 1915, nearly a year into the First World War, the British steamship RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat off the southern coast of Ireland. Over 1,100 people were killed, many of whom were civilians from the United States who were not participants in the war. Although the loss …