0:00:04 > 0:00:07Saturday, November 16th,
0:00:07 > 0:00:101532, Peru.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13Two worlds were about to collide.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18Spanish adventurers had come for gold and glory.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Now they had to face
0:00:22 > 0:00:25the most powerful man in the Americas.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Atahualpa - emperor of the Incas.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38The Spanish friar told Atahualpa
0:00:38 > 0:00:42that the book contained the holy words of God.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Written words and paper were unknown to him.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49All he saw were dull scratchings.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54SHOUTS IN SPANISH
0:00:55 > 0:01:00The unwitting rejection of Christianity became the excuse
0:01:00 > 0:01:04for slaughter and plunder on an epic scale.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08The 16th century saw Europeans
0:01:08 > 0:01:12go far beyond plundering gold and silver.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Fortunes would be made by giving consumers
0:01:21 > 0:01:25warmth, beauty
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and new flavours.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Buccaneers would become businessmen,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35merchants would create the first modern companies
0:01:35 > 0:01:37to rival old kingdoms.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40In 150 years,
0:01:40 > 0:01:45mankind starts to move from wealth and simple plunder
0:01:45 > 0:01:48to capitalism. It's a bloody story,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52and its consequences are all around us today.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Half an hour before sunrise,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22August the 3rd, 1492.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25An expedition sets sail from southern Spain.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30The three ships had a Spanish crew of 90,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33led by an Italian captain...
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Christopher Columbus.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41They were heading for the Orient,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44the land of silk and money.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50The only way for Europeans to get to the East
0:02:50 > 0:02:53had been a 5,000-mile trek overland.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Muslim traders controlled that route.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Any European who could find a direct sea route
0:03:03 > 0:03:06would cut out the middlemen and make a fortune.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Columbus's plan was risky.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17He would go west, off the map of the known world.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26So, when Columbus said that he could get to Japan
0:03:26 > 0:03:30within four weeks of sailing from the Canary Islands -
0:03:30 > 0:03:34he reckoned that the distance was 2,400 miles -
0:03:34 > 0:03:37this sounded like a wonderful gamble.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Of course, even Columbus knew, when he set sail,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46that his calculations were wildly optimistic.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53They sailed for the four weeks he'd reckoned on,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56but no land was seen.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The crew didn't share their captain's optimism.
0:04:00 > 0:04:06None of them had been this far out into the dark Atlantic before.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09There was one thing that kept them going.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15The King and Queen of Spain had offered a vast reward
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to whichever sailor first caught sight of land -
0:04:18 > 0:04:2310,000 silver coins a year for the rest of his life.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28And yet, as the weeks passed,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31there were endless false sightings of land
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and the sailors became more and more despondent,
0:04:35 > 0:04:40and Columbus had to beg and cajole them to keep going.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44More than five weeks into the voyage,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47still nothing but endless sea.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55But then, at 2am on the 12th of October, 1492,
0:04:55 > 0:05:00a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana finally spotted something.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08Tierra?
0:05:08 > 0:05:09Tierra!
0:05:13 > 0:05:15'Tierra!'
0:05:16 > 0:05:17Tierra!
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Tierra! Tierra a la vista!
0:05:21 > 0:05:24MEN SHOUT
0:05:41 > 0:05:43LAUGHS
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Soy yo! Soy yo!
0:05:47 > 0:05:50That fabulous royal reward was his -
0:05:50 > 0:05:53he'd won the ultimate lottery!
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Oye!
0:05:55 > 0:05:56Or had he?
0:05:56 > 0:05:59No, said Columbus.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04As it happened, he himself had seen a light four hours earlier.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06It must have been on the island.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10So the king's reward was his.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16De Triano would never get over the betrayal.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21It's said that, years later, he died in obscurity,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24hanging himself from a yardarm.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01He was convinced he had arrived in the Far East.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03This might be China
0:07:03 > 0:07:06or Japan or possibly India.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10In fact, he'd landed somewhere in the Bahamas.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20He planted the Spanish flag
0:07:20 > 0:07:22and declared the name of the island to be...
0:07:22 > 0:07:23San Salvador.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26..San Salvador - Christ the Saviour.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Its real name was Guanahani - that's what the natives called it.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33The natives...
0:07:33 > 0:07:38the still deeply confused Columbus called them Indians.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40And the name stuck.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18Alto!
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Aguarden, aguarden.
0:08:30 > 0:08:31Columbus wrote...
0:08:33 > 0:08:36"They ought to make good and skilled servants,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40"for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44"I think they can very easily be made Christians,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47"for they seem to have no religion.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49"Weapons, they have none.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53"For I show them swords, which they grasp by the blade..."
0:08:53 > 0:08:56"and cut themselves through ignorance.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01"I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men
0:09:01 > 0:09:04"and govern them as I pleased."
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Columbus seems to have identified the three things
0:09:09 > 0:09:13that would define Europe's relationship with...
0:09:13 > 0:09:15well, wherever he thought he was.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Religion, conquest and slavery.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31The Spanish sailors had spotted what they wanted...
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Quiere cambiar?
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Quiere cambiar?
0:09:36 > 0:09:40..gold. In little rings hanging from the noses of the natives.
0:09:42 > 0:09:43They traded glass beads from Venice
0:09:43 > 0:09:46for as much of it as they could find.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52So, what did the islanders think of the Spanish?
0:09:52 > 0:09:53We will never know.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Within 18 years,
0:09:56 > 0:09:5998% of the island's population...
0:09:59 > 0:10:01would be dead.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12After 13,000 years of being cut off from the rest of humanity,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15the people here had no immunity
0:10:15 > 0:10:19to typhus or smallpox or the common cold or many other diseases,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21and they dropped like flies.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23The Spanish didn't understand this.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27They'd just come here looking for gold and silver.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31There's also evidence that the native Americans
0:10:31 > 0:10:35would give the Spanish something to bring home -
0:10:35 > 0:10:36a new strain of syphilis.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46But the most important thing that Columbus brought back
0:10:46 > 0:10:48was headline news.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55There is a world out there that we Europeans can take.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59And take it, they did.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Over the next four decades,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Spain's conquistadors ripped into Central America,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10asset-stripping the Aztecs
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and everybody else they found.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Columbus's tomb in Seville Cathedral is a monument to the man
0:11:23 > 0:11:25who started all of this,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29the man still said to have "discovered America".
0:11:29 > 0:11:32In fact, he went to his grave
0:11:32 > 0:11:35thinking that he'd gone to the Far East.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37His maths were hopeless.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41He had absolutely no idea where he'd got to,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43and he was out by only...
0:11:43 > 0:11:46one continent and the entire Pacific Ocean.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Christopher Columbus had made
0:11:49 > 0:11:51the most important mistake in human history.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57The chance of getting rich drove European ships
0:11:57 > 0:12:00in every direction over the next century.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03What began as a path to plunder
0:12:03 > 0:12:06would grow into a web of international sea trade.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The very beginnings of a new economic order.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20But, by 1517, the news of Columbus's discovery of a new world
0:12:20 > 0:12:25still had very little impact on most ordinary people in Europe.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Their daily lives were dominated by a much more immediate power...
0:12:31 > 0:12:33..the Catholic Church.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42The average European lived in a world constrained by poverty,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44ignorance of the outside world
0:12:44 > 0:12:48and fear of famine, violence, disease.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52The best hope of a better life was in the afterlife.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56And the keys of heaven were strictly in the hands of the Church.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Danke schon.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Liebe Frauen, meine Herren, bitte schon.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04SPEAKS IN GERMAN
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Salvation was sold in the form of indulgencies -
0:13:08 > 0:13:12printed certificates for the absolution of sins.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Virtual passports to heaven...
0:13:15 > 0:13:17in exchange for hard cash.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24And one of the Church's best salesmen of salvation
0:13:24 > 0:13:26was a man called Johann Tetzel.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Liebe Frauen, liebe Herren, kommen Sie herein...
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Johann Tetzel's sales patter was effective,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35but it wasn't subtle.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38You fear the fires of hell...
0:13:38 > 0:13:40pay up.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Your poor, dead parents are down there in purgatory
0:13:44 > 0:13:48in the flames, in agony, begging for release.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Pay up.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54And if you think that's unfair, here's one of Tetzel's jingles.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Wenn die Munze im Kastlein klingt, die Seele in den Himmel springt.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03"When the coin in the coffer rings,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08"the soul from purgatory springs."
0:14:08 > 0:14:10And of course, all those coins were going
0:14:10 > 0:14:13to the great ones of the Church.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Pope Leo X was in a dash for cash.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24He was rebuilding St Peter's Basilica,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27the biggest church in the world.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34But to some, the Pope's sale of indulgences to pay for this
0:14:34 > 0:14:36looked cynical and greedy.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45On October the 31st, 1517, a German monk
0:14:45 > 0:14:48is said to have strode up to Castle Church
0:14:48 > 0:14:50in Wittenberg, Saxony,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and nailed 95 arguments against the Church's behaviour
0:14:53 > 0:14:56to the oak door. His name...
0:14:56 > 0:14:59was Martin Luther.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10He was by now furiously angry.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12He wanted a public fight.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15And this was a way of taking the argument
0:15:15 > 0:15:17out of the church and onto the streets.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21And in words that everybody would understand,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the Pope, he said, is immensely wealthy.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Why should he not build St Peter's Basilica
0:15:27 > 0:15:28with his own money,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31rather than the money of the faithful poor?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37There had been protests against Church power before.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43But this time, a device which had been created by Johannes Gutenberg
0:15:43 > 0:15:47helped turn Luther's protest into a full-blown revolution -
0:15:47 > 0:15:49the printing press.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56Until then, books had been copied by hand, at huge expense.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Now hundreds of copies could be made.
0:16:00 > 0:16:06By 1500, more than 15 million books were in circulation in Europe.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11One in every three books sold in Germany
0:16:11 > 0:16:13was written by Martin Luther,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15every single one of them
0:16:15 > 0:16:18a blow to the Church's authority.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Now the Pope struck back.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23He damned Luther as a heretic
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and excommunicated him from the Church,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30which meant not only that he could be burned at the stake as a heretic
0:16:30 > 0:16:33but, more importantly, that he could burn in hell forever.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Luther never walked away from a fight,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41so here in Wittenberg, underneath an oak tree
0:16:41 > 0:16:43and in front of a cheering crowd,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46he took the document from the Pope, damning him -
0:16:46 > 0:16:47it was called a Papal Bull -
0:16:47 > 0:16:49and he set fire to it.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52CROWD CHEER
0:16:52 > 0:16:56And then, just in case the Pope hadn't got the message,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59he described him as "the Antichrist".
0:17:13 > 0:17:15On April the 16th, 1521,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Luther was put on trial for his life.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24He faced Europe's German-speaking leaders of Church and State,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27led by the Holy Roman Emperor,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Charles V,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32by far the most powerful monarch in Europe.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37Sind Sie Martin Luther aus Wittenberg?
0:17:39 > 0:17:42- Ja.- Und haben Sie...
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Luther was asked to confirm he was the author of the offending books.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Ja.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51This is a genuinely dangerous moment.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55When he's asked to recant,
0:17:55 > 0:17:56he replies,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59if I deny these books,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03all that I do is to add strength to tyranny.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07That's the tyranny of the Pope.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11He is saying to the German princes,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15"Come on, we can do this together."
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Gott hilfen mir. Amen.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21SHOUTING AND ARGUING
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Some of the north German princes joined his revolt
0:18:26 > 0:18:30as a way to break free from Rome's grip on power.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34They became known as the Protestants.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41One of them, Frederick of Saxony,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43saved Luther from being burned at the stake.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Luther found himself here, at the Castle of die Wartburg,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58where he spent a year in hiding. He grew his hair
0:18:58 > 0:19:02and grew a beard and called himself Junker Jorg.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05While he was here, he translated the Bible into German,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08so that everyone could hear and understand it.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10And he gave the Germans
0:19:10 > 0:19:15an extraordinary treasure chest of biting phrases
0:19:15 > 0:19:18and unforgettable words. In a sense,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20he was also their Shakespeare.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25But while Luther was in hiding,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the protest he inspired was spinning way out of his control.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33In 1524,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35violent revolts erupted
0:19:35 > 0:19:39amongst impoverished peasants across central Europe.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Luther was horrified.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47A protest against Church corruption had turned into a social revolution.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Despite attempted treaties and compromises,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Protestants and Catholics went to war for 125 years.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Protestant prince would fight Catholic prince.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Dynasty would fight dynasty. Families fought each other.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12In Europe's wars of religion, 11 million people would die.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17More Europeans fled from their homes
0:20:17 > 0:20:20than at any time, from the collapse of the Roman Empire
0:20:20 > 0:20:23until the horrors of the 20th century.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28But the cost of these religious wars
0:20:28 > 0:20:32would also be paid by other people around the world.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41Catholic Spain funded her religious wars in Europe
0:20:41 > 0:20:43with gold from the Americas.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48By 1532, Spain had entered America's greatest empire.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55Tawantinsuyu - the 3,000-mile long land of the Incas.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Saturday, November the 16th, 1532.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06The central square of Cajamarca,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08in what is now Peru.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Francisco Pizarro and 168 Spanish soldiers
0:21:15 > 0:21:18were hiding in buildings around the square.
0:21:20 > 0:21:26They'd set a desperate trap to capture the Inca emperor, Atahualpa.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32The Inca emperor was curious about these foreigners
0:21:32 > 0:21:34who'd asked to see him.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Atahualpa's scouts had been tracking Pizarro's progress,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and reporting back on these poor, incompetent creatures
0:21:42 > 0:21:46encased in metal shells and riding large llamas.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Clearly no kind of threat,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52but Atahualpa thought they might be worth a look.
0:21:53 > 0:21:5980,000 of Atahualpa's crack troops were camped around the town.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03The Spanish were outnumbered by more than 400 to 1.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Behind their walls, crouching down,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10many of the Spanish, as they confessed afterwards,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14were wetting themselves in sheer terror.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16HORSE WHINNIES
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Their only chance was an ambush.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Pizarro gambled on having weapons unknown in the Inca world -
0:22:24 > 0:22:28steel swords, guns, horses
0:22:28 > 0:22:30and cannon.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35And luckily for the Spanish,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38none of Atahualpa's entourage was armed.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41The Incas felt no threat,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45no need for weapons on a purely ceremonial occasion.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52At four o'clock, Friar Vicente de Valverde came out of hiding.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Este libro...
0:22:59 > 0:23:00Through an interpreter,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03the friar told Atahualpa that his book contained
0:23:03 > 0:23:05the holy words of God.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14It meant nothing to the Inca.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21There was no such thing as a book in his world.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26The Pope had decreed that the people of the New World
0:23:26 > 0:23:30were human and were worthy of respect...
0:23:30 > 0:23:33unless they rejected Christianity.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Salid! Salid Cristianos!
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Come out, Christians! Come out, Christians!
0:23:44 > 0:23:49Pizarro used Atahualpa's rejection of the Bible
0:23:49 > 0:23:53as his excuse to launch the attack.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57SHOUTING
0:24:19 > 0:24:22In two hours of carnage and confusion,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25at least 2,000 Incas died.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Most were trampled to death in their attempts to escape.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Not a single Spaniard died.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42And Pizarro took Atahualpa hostage.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59Atahualpa was outraged to find himself imprisoned.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01In his eyes, he was the ruler of the world.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05But he soon realised what Pizarro wanted.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12SPEAKS IN QUECHUA
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Atahualpa raised his hand,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18as high as he could, in the room where he was being held.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20It's thought to be this room.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25And he said he would fill the room to that height with gold.
0:25:25 > 0:25:31And then he would fill it to that height in silver twice over.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Now, we don't know what Pizarro said in response.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38I suspect he was simply grinning.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49It took eight months to collect the ransom.
0:25:49 > 0:25:5113,000 pounds of gold
0:25:51 > 0:25:54and 26,000 pounds of silver.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01Once the Spanish had the gold, they'd no more use for Atahualpa.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10They brought the emperor to the square in Cajamarca.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11He was given a choice -
0:26:11 > 0:26:15convert to Christianity and be garrotted,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18or refuse and be burned alive.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Atahualpa converted.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25His last words were to Pizarro.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30He asked him to take care of his children.
0:26:30 > 0:26:31Pizarro agreed.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39GROANING
0:26:44 > 0:26:46CHOKING
0:26:47 > 0:26:49SNAPPING
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Atahualpa's empire crumbled.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Civil war and European diseases now cleared the way
0:27:25 > 0:27:28for the Spanish to take over the Inca empire.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33In the century that followed,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38more than £100 million of silver and gold were shipped to Spain.
0:27:38 > 0:27:44In today's money, Spain's plunder would be worth 10 trillion dollars.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Only 40 years after Columbus first set sail,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Spain was rich beyond imagination.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58But what did Spain do with its plunder?
0:27:58 > 0:28:03It gilded its churches and palaces and spent the rest of the fortune
0:28:03 > 0:28:06on religious war, which Spain lost.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Within 60 years, Spain was glittering...
0:28:10 > 0:28:12but bankrupt.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19This is a story in which nobody sees what's right in front of them.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24Atahualpa was blind to the threat the Spanish offered to him.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Pizarro thought that, by conquering the Incas,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29he would become rich and happy.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34In fact, the gold mania so infected his own soldiers,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37they ended up murdering Pizarro.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40And the Spanish never even saw
0:28:40 > 0:28:44the real wealth of Peru all around them...
0:28:45 > 0:28:47..the humble potato.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50New World crops, like potato and maize
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and tomatoes, have given billions of people all over the planet
0:28:54 > 0:28:58a cheap and hardy source of nourishment for centuries.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02They've made a greater contribution to the world's prosperity
0:29:02 > 0:29:08than all the gold and all the silver that was ever ripped out of Peru.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Natural resources would be more important than gold
0:29:13 > 0:29:16in transforming the world's economy.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21Perhaps the most dramatic example of this is Russia.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28In 1570, it was an impoverished outpost on the edge of Europe.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34Today, Russia is by far the biggest country in the world.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Most of that is Siberia,
0:29:38 > 0:29:44the vast stretch of forests and mountains once known as "Sib Ir" -
0:29:44 > 0:29:45"the sleeping land".
0:29:45 > 0:29:52The man who woke up Siberia was the man who made modern Russia.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Ivan Grozny.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Ivan the Terrible.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Tsar Ivan faced a dilemma.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10How could he make his country
0:30:10 > 0:30:13an important power on the European stage
0:30:13 > 0:30:18when it only had basic agriculture and a few natural resources.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27The answer was hidden in the forests.
0:30:29 > 0:30:30Fur.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34From the 1550s onwards,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38temperatures around the world began to drop dramatically.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41We call this the Little Ice Age.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44It's the time when the Thames started to freeze hard,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47when Iceland was cut off from the rest of the world
0:30:47 > 0:30:48from time to time by sea ice,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52there were huge snowfalls in Spain and Portugal.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54And before modern fabrics,
0:30:54 > 0:30:59wearing fur was one of the few ways you could stay warm.
0:30:59 > 0:31:00And the richer you were,
0:31:00 > 0:31:05the better the quality of the fur you could afford.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Ivan turned to private enterprise.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13He called in a family of trading tycoons, the Stroganovs.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Ivan gave them a charter to exploit the forests
0:31:17 > 0:31:19north and east of Moscow.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23GASPS
0:31:23 > 0:31:28The Stroganovs then hired some "private contractors".
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Mercenaries, led by a Cossack called Yermak.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44The fastest way for Yermak to get fur
0:31:44 > 0:31:47was simply to take it from the native hunters.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Yermak pushed further east,
0:31:55 > 0:32:00into lands ruled by Kuchum, the Khan of Sibir.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04A direct descendant of Genghis Khan.
0:32:07 > 0:32:13Most of his men still carried bows and arrows, spears and swords.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18Yermak's men had modern muskets.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26Some of Kuchum's men had never seen a gun before.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31One of them described their horror.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35There's a flash of fire...
0:32:39 > 0:32:41..a great smoke and thunder.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45It's impossible to shield yourself from them.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Guns gave the Europeans victory
0:33:02 > 0:33:04as surely as they had in South America.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11But the Khan of Sibir escaped into the forest.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Yermak claimed the land for Russia...
0:33:20 > 0:33:22..and sent a tribute to Ivan the Terrible -
0:33:22 > 0:33:275,200 of the finest Siberian furs.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30When Ivan saw these furs,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33he must have realised that everything had changed.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37All the furry animals near Moscow were long gone.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41But Siberia offered a bonanza of fur.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44A black fox fur, for instance,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47was worth more than its weight in gold,
0:33:47 > 0:33:52and Siberia's furs were limitless.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Limitless trading wealth...
0:33:54 > 0:33:58meant limitless power.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09To thank Yermak, Ivan made him a gift of a suit of armour
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and dubbed him the Prince of Siberia.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Yermak pushed deeper into the wilderness for two more years.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27By then, the Russians were exhausted and out of food.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35On the night of August the 5th, 1584,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Yermak made camp by the Irtysh River.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48But Kuchum had been tracking the Russians every step of the way.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52YELLING
0:35:10 > 0:35:14It's said Yermak ran into the river to escape.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19But his armour weighed him down.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Yermak was drowned by Ivan's gift to him.
0:35:29 > 0:35:30ROARS
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Kuchum's victory would be short-lived.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46An unstoppable flood of Russian settlers and raiders
0:35:46 > 0:35:48would follow Yermak into Siberia.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57It took the Russians only 60 years to push 4,000 miles across Asia,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Siberia was now Russian.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14It's impossible to imagine modern Russia without Siberia.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18It would be just another Eastern European country.
0:36:18 > 0:36:24And as for the wealth, 80% of Russia's gas and coal
0:36:24 > 0:36:30and 90% of its oil reserves are found in Siberia -
0:36:30 > 0:36:33the basis of its modern power.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41But when Europeans hit other advanced cultures,
0:36:41 > 0:36:44they had a much rougher time.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Japan had the chance to open up
0:36:57 > 0:37:01and then to spread her power around the world,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03just like any European country.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08But Japan said no.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17And, strangely, we can thank European religion for that.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28The Japanese had been turning Christian,
0:37:28 > 0:37:33ever since Jesuit priests arrived from Portugal in 1549.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37By the early 1600s,
0:37:37 > 0:37:42at least a quarter of a million Japanese were Catholic.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45The Jesuits must have thought they were
0:37:45 > 0:37:48close to making Japan a Catholic country.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53And, as go-betweens in trade, their influence was huge.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00April, 1600.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Osaka Castle.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08A shipwrecked Englishman called William Adams
0:38:08 > 0:38:13was brought before Japan's most powerful warlord,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Tokugawa Ieyasu.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19The Jesuits were watching.
0:38:20 > 0:38:26They did not welcome the arrival of an English Protestant heretic.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30They had some good, Christian advice for the Japanese.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Crucify him.
0:38:32 > 0:38:38Luckily for Adams, Ieyasu ignored their advice.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Ieyasu was a man of great intellectual openness and curiosity
0:38:45 > 0:38:47about the outside world.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53Adams' hair-raising tales about his two-year voyage to Japan
0:38:53 > 0:38:57intrigued and amused Ieyasu.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00LAUGHS
0:39:02 > 0:39:04SPEAKS IN JAPANESE
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Ieyasu soon had Adams teaching him maths and geometry.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14He badly wanted an ocean-going fleet of his own,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18and Adams, who'd served with Drake against the Armada,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20had the skills he needed.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Under Adams, the Japanese built two perfect replicas
0:39:23 > 0:39:28of the kind of European ships that were travelling the world.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Soon, Ieyasu was depending on Adams very heavily.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36So much so, he told him, he could never again leave Japan.
0:39:41 > 0:39:48In 1603, Ieyasu became Shogun, the military leader of all Japan.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51And he honoured Adams in a way
0:39:51 > 0:39:55no other foreigner had ever been before or since.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Adams was made a samurai.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03SPEAKS IN JAPANESE
0:40:03 > 0:40:06"William Adams, the navigator, is dead."
0:40:07 > 0:40:11"Samurai Miura Anjin is born."
0:40:12 > 0:40:17Despite the mutual respect shown by Adams and Ieyasu,
0:40:17 > 0:40:22Japanese tolerance of Christians was about to be tested to the limit.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24The Jesuits helped to build
0:40:24 > 0:40:27a trading empire for Portugal and Spain.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30But their deeper goal was
0:40:30 > 0:40:32a religious empire for the Catholic Church.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43In 1615, Japanese Catholics supported a rival to Ieyasu.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45In the siege of Osaka Castle,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50the furious shogun massacred 40,000 of them.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56And the Jesuits were driven from Japan.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Christianity was banned, foreigners were expelled,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04and all Japanese were prohibited from leaving their own country
0:41:04 > 0:41:06on pain of death.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Japanese ships from now on were built
0:41:09 > 0:41:12with a special hole in the stern,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14so that if they went too far out to sea,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17the ocean swell would capsize them.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21These were ships built to stay close to the land.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23The curiosity about the outside world
0:41:23 > 0:41:27that William Adams had discussed with Ieyasu
0:41:27 > 0:41:30was now replaced by sakoku -
0:41:30 > 0:41:34the closed or "locked country" policy.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45Japan remained closed for more than 200 years.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50Europeans had destroyed any chance of trade with Japan...
0:41:51 > 0:41:54..because of their obsession with religion.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Many people have portrayed the Japanese decision
0:42:01 > 0:42:03to slam the doors on the outside world
0:42:03 > 0:42:06as one of the great historical mistakes.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08How ridiculous!
0:42:08 > 0:42:10The British at the same time
0:42:10 > 0:42:12went off and created a worldwide empire.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16But there is another way to think about this.
0:42:16 > 0:42:23The closed-country policy gave the Japanese 250 years of peace.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Guns virtually disappeared.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28There were none of the terrible epidemics
0:42:28 > 0:42:30that ravaged other countries,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34and, above all, the intensity of Japanese culture,
0:42:34 > 0:42:39the "Japaneseness" of Japan, its buildings, its food,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41its taste, its art,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45really derive from this period above all.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48So, if this is one of the great historical mistakes,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50there have been worse ones.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57The first Englishman to embrace Japanese culture,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00William Adams, is still fondly remembered in Japan.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05This memorial to him is in an area of Tokyo called Anjin-Cho,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09in memory of Anjin-san, Mr Navigator.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17But the setback in Japan couldn't stop the growth of world trade.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Europe's entrepreneurs created
0:43:20 > 0:43:24a powerful new way to make money - companies.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Their rivalry would only increase
0:43:26 > 0:43:29the competition for rare and exotic goods.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32Ginger, cloves,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35cinnamon travelled around the world,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38making merchants fortunes.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40And there was one spice,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43fabulously expensive from Europe to India,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45which was prized above all,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49rumoured to be a cure for the plague...
0:43:49 > 0:43:50nutmeg.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56But nutmegs grew only in a few tiny islands,
0:43:56 > 0:44:00sandwiched between Borneo and New Guinea...
0:44:02 > 0:44:04..the Banda Islands.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12The Dutch controlled nine of the ten islands,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16with forts, ships and thousands of men.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19The English controlled just one -
0:44:19 > 0:44:21their very first colony -
0:44:21 > 0:44:23the island of Run.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29It still looks much as it did in 1600, just a two-mile strip
0:44:29 > 0:44:31of steep hills and nutmeg trees.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32But in those days,
0:44:32 > 0:44:37a single sack of nutmeg could buy you a town house in London.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Run was held by the world's first multinational corporation,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48the East India Company of London.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51In January 1617, Nathaniel Courthope's job
0:44:51 > 0:44:54was to keep the island from the Dutch competition.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58He trained his cannon on a gap in the reefs.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00He had two ships -
0:45:00 > 0:45:03the rival Dutch East India Company had a dozen.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10This looks like a traditional naval battle.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13It's really a hostile corporate takeover.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21The Dutch East India Company had a stranglehold
0:45:21 > 0:45:24on the world trade in nutmeg and other spices.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26The future was Dutch.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30As for the British, they were, frankly, comparative tiddlers.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40Amsterdam was the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company,
0:45:40 > 0:45:41the VOC.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44The Dutch had overtaken the Portuguese and the Spanish
0:45:44 > 0:45:47in the Asian spice trade, for a good reason.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52Unlike the Spanish kings, who spent their wealth,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55the Dutch merchants joined together in companies
0:45:55 > 0:46:00and reinvested their earnings in more ships, more expeditions,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04until soon, they had the biggest navy on earth.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10With nothing but rainwater to drink on Run,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15an English ship tried to run the blockade to get fresh water.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19But it was captured.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28Finally, some of Courthope's own men deserted, taking the last ship.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34The only means of escape was now gone.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Months of stalemate followed.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Then a deserter from the Dutch navy appeared out of nowhere
0:46:59 > 0:47:01and asked for protection.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02Stand down.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Courthope took him in...
0:47:08 > 0:47:10..though his men were wary.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18The English survived on rainwater and scraps for three more years.
0:47:18 > 0:47:24All the while, the Dutch deserter lived quietly amongst them,
0:47:24 > 0:47:28until Courthope received a message.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33It was from native Banda islanders offering to fight the Dutch.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38On the night of October the 18th, 1620,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Courthope went to meet the rebels.
0:47:47 > 0:47:53But the deserter finally succeeded in his act of corporate espionage.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06The Dutch were waiting for Courthope.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13GUNSHOTS
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Nathaniel Courthope was never seen again.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40With their leader gone, the English surrendered.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49The English trade in nutmeg was over.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51The Dutch East India Company was on its way
0:48:51 > 0:48:55to becoming the largest commercial power in the world.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05But there was one final consequence
0:49:05 > 0:49:08of Nathaniel Courthope's heroic last stand
0:49:08 > 0:49:10on Britain's very first colony.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14When the British and Dutch finally agreed a peace treaty,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17the British were able to ask for something back,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20in return for handing over the rights to Run.
0:49:20 > 0:49:26And what they got was the rights to another diddly little island
0:49:26 > 0:49:29on the other side of the world - it was called Manhattan.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35And a certain amount of capitalism carries on there, even today.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46In Holland, new wealth from the spice trade
0:49:46 > 0:49:49produced a new class of people -
0:49:49 > 0:49:50the middle class.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54And with the money came the search for status symbols...
0:49:54 > 0:49:56fashion...
0:49:56 > 0:49:58paintings...
0:49:58 > 0:49:59porcelain.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03On February the 1st, 1637,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06a Dutch textile merchant called Pieter Wynants
0:50:06 > 0:50:11had invited his extended family to Sunday lunch at his Haarlem home.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16The subject of conversation that day
0:50:16 > 0:50:20was the latest craze, tulips.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:50:23 > 0:50:27This had started with a few super-rich connoisseurs,
0:50:27 > 0:50:32who delighted in the splodges and dribbles of colour
0:50:32 > 0:50:34on the petals of a flower
0:50:34 > 0:50:37which had been admired for centuries.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42The rarest and most expensive were wildly coloured
0:50:42 > 0:50:45and striped, the result of a virus in the bulbs.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50You never knew when you'd get a beautiful aberration,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52worth a great deal of money.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59The Dutch started buying tulip bulbs like lottery tickets.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04They knew all about speculation.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Dutch merchants had created
0:51:07 > 0:51:11the world's first stock exchange in Amsterdam in 1607.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14But the booming market in tulip bulbs
0:51:14 > 0:51:17meant anyone could make a fortune.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22During the meal, Hendrick Jan Wynants
0:51:22 > 0:51:24suggested to Geertruyt Schoudt
0:51:24 > 0:51:28that she should buy a pound of tulip bulbs from him
0:51:28 > 0:51:32for 1,400 florins, about the price of a house.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Geertruyt was reluctant, but she was tempted.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49All round Europe, the Dutch were famous for their love of gambling,
0:51:49 > 0:51:53and tulips seemed a sure bet. Prices were rising every day.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57Tulip sales usually happened in the back rooms
0:51:57 > 0:52:01of taverns, like The Golden Grape in Haarlem.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06Each round of selling began with a round of wine,
0:52:06 > 0:52:07paid for by the seller.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11BUZZ OF CONVERSATION
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Many buyers didn't have the money to pay for the bulbs.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19They just gave one another IOUs.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23And the more they drank, the faster the prices rose.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31This was the world's first great speculative bubble.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35A pound of tulips were now changing hands for the price of a house,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38a farm, a pair of ships.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40These people might look sane,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44but they were in the grip of a disorder of the brain.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48They had caught "tulip mania".
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Geertruyt was still hesitating
0:52:54 > 0:52:57until another guest, Jacob de Block,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00offered to be her guarantor for eight days
0:53:00 > 0:53:01while she got the money together.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:53:07 > 0:53:11Finally, with this no-risk arrangement in place...
0:53:11 > 0:53:13THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:53:17 > 0:53:23Then another guest offered Geertruyt 100 florins profit on the spot
0:53:23 > 0:53:27if she'd sell the bulbs straight to him.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:53:32 > 0:53:35But her backer, Jacob de Block, and his wife,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38convinced her to hold on to the bulbs.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41They knew that if she didn't pay them back in time,
0:53:41 > 0:53:45the tulips would become theirs for an eight-day-old price.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50And with the price of tulips now rising by the hour...
0:53:50 > 0:53:53THEY SPEAK IN DUTCH
0:53:53 > 0:53:56..the de Blocks could make quite a profit.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Two days later, bulb sales were still rocketing.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15The money and wine were flowing as ever...
0:54:15 > 0:54:20until the auctioneer tried to sell a pound of Witte Croonen,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22white crown bulbs,
0:54:22 > 0:54:26for the going rate of 1,250 florins.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Then something mysterious happened -
0:54:30 > 0:54:33there were no buyers.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35He tried 1,200 florins.
0:54:37 > 0:54:391,150?
0:54:40 > 0:54:421,100.
0:54:46 > 0:54:481,000 florins?
0:54:57 > 0:55:00The fever had broken.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02The patient had woken up.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Few people ever wanted all of those bulbs -
0:55:05 > 0:55:08they were only buying them to sell them on again.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12And so, the minute that confidence slipped,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15that that great drunkenness of optimism was over,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18everybody was desperately trying to get rid of them.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20Sell! Sell! Sell!
0:55:20 > 0:55:23That's what happens in all of the speculative bubbles,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26whether it's the Wall Street Crash or the dot.com bubble -
0:55:26 > 0:55:28they all end the same way...
0:55:28 > 0:55:30pop!
0:55:32 > 0:55:36The tulip market had collapsed in just four days.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41ANIMATED CHATTER IN DUTCH
0:55:41 > 0:55:43The Wynants family soon called in a lawyer.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45They're all giving their version
0:55:45 > 0:55:48of who'd promised what during that Sunday lunch.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53Jacob de Block and his wife reneged on their offer to help Geertruyt.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57She was left holding the bulbs.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01It's not known if she ever saw them bloom.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16But tulip mania didn't destroy the Dutch system -
0:56:16 > 0:56:19the stock exchange and the companies and the trading
0:56:19 > 0:56:22and the willingness to speculate.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24We call it capitalism.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29And it's lasted far longer than the European empires
0:56:29 > 0:56:31and it's been worth infinitely more
0:56:31 > 0:56:35than all the gold and silver that Europe plundered.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37It started here.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39And the tulips?
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Well, the Dutch turned them into an export trade,
0:56:43 > 0:56:45which they dominate to this day.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54In less than a century and a half,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58Europeans had gone from piracy to private enterprise.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00They'd rebelled against a church...
0:57:02 > 0:57:05..dominated world trade...
0:57:05 > 0:57:07..and some had grown rich.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Now these changes would have
0:57:10 > 0:57:12unexpected consequences right around the world.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17In the next chapter of this history of the world,
0:57:17 > 0:57:18monarchies topple...
0:57:20 > 0:57:22..slaves rebel...
0:57:25 > 0:57:29..medicine and technology make life better for millions.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32The Age of Enlightenment.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34The Age of Revolution.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40If you'd like to know a little bit more about how the past is revealed,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44you can order a free booklet called How Do They Know That?
0:57:44 > 0:57:49Just call 0845 366 0255
0:57:49 > 0:57:54or go to bbc.co.uk/history
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and follow the links to the Open University.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd