Podcast Transcript For over two thousand years, China lived under imperial rule. A series of dynasties and emperors were the defining feature of Chinese governance. However, in the early 20th century, China threw off its imperial rulers and became, for the first time in its history, a republic. Much of the reason why China became …
Podcast Transcript Located in the heart of South America is the Amazon, the world’s largest river. It isn’t just big, it is by almost any measure you can think of the world’s largest river, and it is so by a wide margin. In addition to the river itself, the Amazon basin is the location of …
Podcast Transcript Located at the northernmost end of the Adriatic Sea lies the city of Venice. Venice is truly unlike any other city in the world. It is a collection of 118 small islands connected by bridges and ferries. Its unique geography allowed Venice to become one of the most powerful cities in the world, …
Podcast Transcript In October 1962, a U-2 spy plane discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The subsequent 13 days were some of the tensest in human history. The United States and the Soviet Union came closer to nuclear war than at any point in the cold war. It was only a last-minute cooling of …
Podcast Transcript In 1887, the German physicist Heinrich Hertz discovered radio waves. While the first practical use of this discovery was communication, there were also some who realized that radio waves could serve another purpose. It was possible to use these radio waves to detect objects at a distance. It was something that revolutionized warfare …
Podcast Transcript In the early 1950s, a new type of music burst forth, which had its roots in blues, gospel, country, and swing. This new music took the world by storm and was as controversial as it was successful. This music has spawned countless variations, some of which are so different that it is hard …
Podcast Transcript In 19th century America, a movement began to take areas of exceptional natural beauty and preserve them. This idea of setting aside land for the purpose of preservation is something that was never really taken seriously before. These areas became known as national parks, and they spawned a movement of land preservation that …
Podcast Transcript Every since the lands of the New World were mapped, people dreamt of creating a canal through Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For almost 500 years, that dream was just that. A dream. Creating such a canal would require one of the greatest engineering projects in human history. It …
Podcast Transcript There are four things that are considered to be the Great Inventions of Ancient China: gunpowder, the compass, the printing press, and paper. Despite the incredible impact that all four things have had on the world, the greatest cultural and social impact might very well be paper. Even in a world awash in …