0:00:18 > 0:00:19All aboard!
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Coast is embarking on a new quest...
0:00:24 > 0:00:28connecting the capital to Cornwall,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32linking Scottish Isles to Welsh Valleys
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and taking us far beyond home waters
0:00:35 > 0:00:39to the Baltic Sea and to the shores of Sweden.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45A new journey with familiar faces.
0:00:45 > 0:00:53For this, our first adventure, we're bound for Belgium, but setting out from London's commercial heart.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Alice is in search of the British seaside landlady.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00So did you all have loads of rules?
0:01:00 > 0:01:04- Only if people were late. - Late for what?- Meals.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11In beautiful Bruges, a seaport stranded by time and tide,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Mark is hunting down the bricks that built Britain.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15Perfect!
0:01:15 > 0:01:18This is Coast and Beyond.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47We're heading for one of Europe's most prosperous ports,
0:01:47 > 0:01:55crossing the Channel to Antwerp. But our journey starts in our own trading capital - London.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07Tidal rivers bring the coast into the heart of many of our big cities
0:02:07 > 0:02:11and with the water comes wealth.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17For as long as we've been a trading nation, the sea's been our commercial highway
0:02:17 > 0:02:22and the winding Thames links London directly with that global thoroughfare.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26# Dirty old river Must you keep rolling... #
0:02:32 > 0:02:36It was sea trade that made the Capital rich.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42The Thames shaped the city and its influence still runs deep.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48Now, in the Docklands of London, ships have been replaced by skyscrapers.
0:02:48 > 0:02:55It's a story of spectacular rise and fall that may yet have a twist in its tale.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The world once unloaded its goods in London.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Now, could that trade be re-invented by a new generation?
0:03:06 > 0:03:15The 19th-century businessmen who carved out these huge enclosures were bold entrepreneurs.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Sometimes they built before they had customers.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23London's docks helped make Britain a superpower.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27They were the engine room of an Empire.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Sugar and hardwood from the Caribbean.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Tea from China.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Even, in the days before refrigeration, ice from Norway.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41It all landed here.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48"Being in the docks," said one worker in the 1960s, "was like geography come to life."
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And London's geography also changed.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Around the docks grew the East End.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07But as fast as the docks grew...
0:04:08 > 0:04:13..the ships would outgrow them.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Once there were ocean liners berthed at the end of the road.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Now there's London City Airport.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29It was container ships, those great seagoing warehouses, that changed everything.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34In the '60s, when containers first appeared on the commercial seaways,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37many of London's docks simply couldn't cope.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Eventually the cargo ships stopped coming.
0:04:45 > 0:04:52But there's a new bid to bring the big ships back to the Capital, 20 miles downstream.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55MUSIC: "London Calling" by The Clash
0:05:02 > 0:05:05# London calling Through the far away towns... #
0:05:05 > 0:05:13This is Mariake, a dredger laying the foundations for a brand new port.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The first of its kind for 20 years.
0:05:16 > 0:05:24This ship is sucking up 12,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel from the estuary every day.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35The Mariake is a giant vacuum cleaner, clearing a channel in the bed of the Thames,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39a passage deep enough to accommodate supersized container ships.
0:05:44 > 0:05:50This dredged material is being pumped onto an ever-growing artificial island.
0:05:50 > 0:05:57Eventually it's going to be a wharf some two miles long for loading and unloading ships.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05A colossal project, at least a decade in the making - London Gateway.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Its builders are taking their cue from those early 19th century entrepreneurs.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Confident that if they build the dock, the ships will eventually come.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26London's aiming to catch up with huge European ports like Antwerp, where I'm heading on my journey.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33It'll reconnect the capital with the mighty estuary
0:06:33 > 0:06:37that brought wealth and power into the heart of Britain.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Crossing The Thames Estuary, we find the Kent Coast.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01This is home to some of Britain's first seaside resorts
0:07:01 > 0:07:06and the jewel in its crown - the golden sands of Margate.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17Most see the beach as a place to relax, but others see a business opportunity.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Alice is seeking out the story of some seaside entrepreneurs
0:07:21 > 0:07:25who sparked a sexual revolution around British shores.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31I'm in search of the mysterious, almost mythical seaside landlady.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35In the late 19th century, the seaside landlady was a pioneer,
0:07:35 > 0:07:41breaking down the social barriers that prevented women from owning businesses,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44decades before the women's rights movement.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52In 1938, the Holiday With Pay Act changed workers' lives.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58By the 1950s, 17 million people a year came to the coast.
0:08:00 > 0:08:07From Bridlington to Brighton, working-class families were able to afford their week on the beach,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12thanks largely to the seaside boarding houses and their tireless landladies.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16I've been running this boarding house now for 13 years.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18I do all the cooking, washing and ironing.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21As for the food, I get sick of the sight of the food.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23But there's no getting away from it,
0:08:23 > 0:08:28landladies had a bit of an image problem.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35They were characterised as rule-making,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39clock-watching tyrants, the butt of seaside humour.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47So do they deserve this dragon image?
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Time to meet the ladies.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Between them, these ladies have more than 100 years' experience of running guest houses.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07- Hello.- Lovely to meet you, you must be Patsy, hello.
0:09:07 > 0:09:14So, first things first, were they the kind of landladies that laid down the law to their guests?
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Only if people were late.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18- Late for what?- Meals.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Because we had it on a set time, it was dead-on one o'clock, five o'clock.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26'Tough love maybe, but their guests couldn't get enough of it.'
0:09:26 > 0:09:29That's Maude and Hubert, they came year after year.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31- Maude and Hubert.- Yes.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Maude and Hubert said to my mum, "We love coming here,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38"we're very fond of Brenda and Steve, they look after us so well"
0:09:38 > 0:09:43My mother said, "Well, I wouldn't go to the same place every year."
0:09:43 > 0:09:45We went everywhere with some of the people,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47they just treated us like holidaymakers.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51They took us on day trips to France, any entertainment.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54We were one of THEIR family, you know.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57I've got some photographs here, what I really like about them
0:09:57 > 0:10:00is that the guests are all lined up on the steps of the guest houses.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03So was there great camaraderie amongst the guests?
0:10:03 > 0:10:08- Oh, yes, of course there was. - They'd be very shy Saturday night, but by Sunday afternoon, they...
0:10:08 > 0:10:11you couldn't get in the dining room for the noise.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15It wasn't just Mum and Dad in one room, it was Mum, Dad,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17two children or three children in one room,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20because it was desperate after the war.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24People would say, "Can't you just put a bed up in the bathroom?"
0:10:24 > 0:10:25- Really?- Which we have done.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29We did have a dead body once, and it was a bit like Fawlty Towers.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Get it out of the way, quick, you know.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33Actually it was a relation,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37a distant relation had come to stay, and we'd given him bacon and eggs
0:10:37 > 0:10:42in our quarters, and he suddenly fell forward into my bacon and eggs.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45No! Were they that bad, your bacon and eggs?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47He was dead. Yeah, there you are!
0:10:47 > 0:10:50- Look at the size of our kitchen. - Tiny!
0:10:50 > 0:10:54But we used to cater for 25 meals in that.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Really? Do you miss it, Hazel?
0:10:56 > 0:11:00No, the day we sold up, I didn't miss a thing.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I didn't realise until I took an office job
0:11:02 > 0:11:05and I'd finished that I'd worked so hard.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19The seaside dreams of millions were built on that hard work.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27But the delights of the B&B couldn't compete with cheap breaks abroad,
0:11:27 > 0:11:33and increased regulations brought the golden era of the seaside landladies to a close.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Yet for so many, our holiday memories are inseparable
0:11:37 > 0:11:40from the redoubtable women who made them possible.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43They gave us all a home from home by the sea.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The Channel has always been our great natural border.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03A barrier in times of war, but also our link
0:12:03 > 0:12:06to the trading ports of Northern Europe.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I've crossed the Channel to Dunkirk.
0:12:12 > 0:12:18The most northerly French port, its name evokes British fighting spirit.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Its beaches still bear the scars of conflict.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28In the aftermath of two World Wars, a new trade alliance
0:12:28 > 0:12:34grew up along these shores, dedicated to breaking down borders.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36It would become the European Union.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42The founding principle of the original union was to make war
0:12:42 > 0:12:46not only unthinkable but materially impossible.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It's made it rather difficult to find any borders.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57This is the border marker, there's an F on this side for France...
0:12:58 > 0:13:05A broken N, that must be the Netherlands, and here, a date, 1819.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Well, that is not the Netherlands any more.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12190 years ago when this marker was put in the sand,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17the country you're about to enter didn't even exist.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21If that seems a bit confusing, the change in the landscape at least
0:13:21 > 0:13:24leaves you in no doubt you've entered a new country,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29as wild open spaces transform into something a little more concrete.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Welcome to Belgium.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Looks like they've had the builders in.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41MUSIC: "Ca Plane Pour Moi" by Plastic Bertrand
0:13:46 > 0:13:49One of Europe's most densely populated coastal countries,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53it also has one of its shortest coastlines,
0:13:53 > 0:13:54less than 50 miles.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59But boy, do the Belgians make the most of it!
0:13:59 > 0:14:02# Ca plane pour moi Ca plane pour moi
0:14:04 > 0:14:06# Ca plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi... #
0:14:06 > 0:14:10There are no fewer than 16 major holiday resorts
0:14:10 > 0:14:13packed in along this tiny coast.
0:14:15 > 0:14:21And what links it all is the Kusttram - the coast tram.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Starting near the border town of De Panne,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31the track runs more or less the length of the Belgian coast,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34loops around and comes back down again.
0:14:34 > 0:14:4085 miles, all told, making it the longest single-track tram in the world.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45No need for walking boots when you're taking the tram.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I think a change of outfit is in order.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I'm curious to know how the tramline helps the Belgians
0:14:54 > 0:14:56cram so much into their coast,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00so at a station in a rare break between high-rises,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02I'm meeting tram man Dirk Schockaert.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04- You must be Nick.- I am Nick.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07This is one of the most extraordinary rail stations
0:15:07 > 0:15:10I've ever been to in the world. It's on a beach!
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Yes, it's a tram stop in the middle of nowhere.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Yeah. Why was the tramline built, and when?
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The tramline was created in 1885. In the beginning,
0:15:19 > 0:15:25we had three train stations at the coast, so all the rich tourists came
0:15:25 > 0:15:29from the inside of the country to do their holiday here at the coast,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and they were stuck at their place.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36So, they were thinking, "Well, we will create a tramline,
0:15:36 > 0:15:41"so that we can transport people," mostly rich tourists.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45And for example, I have here an old poster, touristic poster.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48That's wonderful! The image in the picture
0:15:48 > 0:15:51is very much of a seaside paradise waiting to be opened up.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Yes, at that time our coast was like that.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59And now, there are everywhere buildings.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00I'd better give you that.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Oh...it shot past.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04We missed that one!
0:16:26 > 0:16:28We're on the Belgian coast.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38Now the city of Bruges is connected to the port of Zeebrugge by a mighty canal.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43But 700 years ago, it was a different story.
0:16:43 > 0:16:52Mark is exploring how mediaeval Bruges once had a much closer connection to the coast, and to us.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56For me, this is a very emotional journey.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01I first came here to Bruges aged 13.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05I was obsessed with medieval history.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Now I'm back to rekindle my old passion for the place,
0:17:12 > 0:17:18but also to explore an intriguing connection to England I discovered all those years ago.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24The city's canals give us a clue to its rich maritime past.
0:17:24 > 0:17:31Sea trade made the burghers of Bruges very rich in the 13th and 14th centuries.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Believe it or not, this was once the main canal
0:17:36 > 0:17:40into the heart of Bruges, where ships from all round the world
0:17:40 > 0:17:44came and unloaded their cargos in the water hall
0:17:44 > 0:17:47in the middle of the town square.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53700 years ago, a bird's-eye view of Bruges
0:17:53 > 0:17:55would have been radically different.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59A sea inlet reached the outskirts of the city,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02linking is directly to the North Sea
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and historic ports like Ipswich and King's Lynn.
0:18:09 > 0:18:16Those links between East Anglia and Bruges I discovered for myself as a 13-year-old
0:18:16 > 0:18:20armed only with a roll of paper and a wax crayon.
0:18:24 > 0:18:30Sint-Salvator Cathedral is a wonderful place for a spot of brass rubbing.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Unfortunately, it's now discouraged in Belgium.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46But I did a few earlier - 40 years earlier.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52The thing about these brasses is they show the sheer wealth and
0:18:52 > 0:18:58prosperity of Bruges. This is a brass of one of these merchants.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01There he is with his wife and his daughter,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03and you can see down at the bottom there
0:19:03 > 0:19:05is an image of a ship.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10But these brasses also tell us about trade between England
0:19:10 > 0:19:15and Bruges, because in Ipswich there's an almost identical brass.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18It shows Thomas Pownder,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22a cloth merchant, a very wealthy man. There's his merchant's mark.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26He was not satisfied with inferior English brasses,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31but went all the way here to Bruges to get his memorial, and this is it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42The link between Bruges and Eastern England I'd stumbled upon as a boy was centuries old,
0:19:42 > 0:19:47part of a trade alliance known as the Hanseatic League.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53This enormous medieval room
0:19:53 > 0:19:58would have been a warehouse stacked high with East Anglian wool.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02On their return the empty ships were so unstable,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06they had to be filled with Flemish bricks.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Bricks were in big demand 700 years ago in England,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19because back then we weren't making any of our own.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24I'm hoping historian David Andrews can tell me why.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Well, the Romans of course, had made bricks,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31but with the collapse that came after the fall of the Roman Empire
0:20:31 > 0:20:34the technology was lost throughout much of Northern Europe,
0:20:34 > 0:20:35maybe parts of the Mediterranean as well.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38So when is brick-making rediscovered?
0:20:38 > 0:20:41In the 12th century, the Cistercians are making bricks,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and the Cistercians built this wonderful barn here.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49- It's like a cathedral, isn't it, with a sort of east window in brick?! - With tracery in brick, yes.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Cistercian monks may have revived the art of brick-making,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58but in England we were a bit slow on the uptake.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04Rather than make our own, we bought them from the Low Countries.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08We had ceramic technologies, we could make pottery, we could make roof tile
0:21:08 > 0:21:11but we don't seem to have bothered with brick.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And what do these Flemish bricks actually look like?
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Well, I've got one from Essex here.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21So these are really grotty, I mean, you can see how soft they are.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23You could put the powder everywhere.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Yes, they aren't marvellous bricks, but they work
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and they're quite long-lasting and durable.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32'After 700 years, this Essex brick has come home'
0:21:32 > 0:21:38to where it was made from the polder clay, the layer of mud
0:21:38 > 0:21:42left behind when the sea retreated from the land.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48'Art Vandendorpe is going to show me how to turn clay into bricks.'
0:21:48 > 0:21:53He's restored some of Bruges' most ancient buildings
0:21:53 > 0:21:56using the oldest instruction book there is.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03So this is the original description of how bricks were made in those days.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07They take the clay and they mixed them with sand,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10they put it on the table and they make the brick.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13And then they put them here in the clamp.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16- One million.- In one clamp? So that's from the polders.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20- Yes, from here.- Just from underneath the riverbank.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23# Bricks, lay 'em down in a straight line
0:22:23 > 0:22:25# Bricks, build them into a wall
0:22:25 > 0:22:29# Bricks, very useful objects and they're not expensive at all. #
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Perfect! Bits of old brick, the odd shell -
0:22:33 > 0:22:35that's what makes the brick strong.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41'After several hundred years of the Flemish showing the way,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45'English brick-makers had just about got the hang of it.'
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Oh, this is an English brick!
0:22:48 > 0:22:50'Unlike me!'
0:22:50 > 0:22:53But it was the clay, the very stuff the bricks of Bruges
0:22:53 > 0:22:58were made of, that finally cut the city off from the sea.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02When the inlet silted up, gone went that trading route to Europe.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Leaving Bruges high and dry,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10but preserved in all this medieval splendour!
0:23:25 > 0:23:29The end of Belgium's coastal tramline delivers me to Knokke.
0:23:34 > 0:23:41It looks pretty conventional on the outside, the seafront dominated by this grand 1930s casino.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46I'm told all is not what it seems here -
0:23:46 > 0:23:49apparently there's something surreal to see.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57And it's tucked away in a back room.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01- Hello.- Hello.- I'm Nick.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04- Delphine. Nice to meet you. - Very nice to meet you.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09In the 1950s, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte came to stay in Knokke.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13And this is what he left behind.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17LAUGHS
0:24:17 > 0:24:20My goodness! My goodness!
0:24:20 > 0:24:22It's quite a thing if you see it for the first time.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Erm, yeah, it certainly is, isn't it?
0:24:29 > 0:24:33If you don't know Magritte's name, you might well recognise his images.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38This 360-degree mural displays some of his best-known work.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43It's a dreamscape, isn't it?
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Not necessarily a very healthy dream - we've got a woman with
0:24:47 > 0:24:51a fish's head, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa resting on a feather.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53How did the citizens of Knokke react?
0:24:53 > 0:24:55They rather like it, I think.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00In 1953,
0:25:00 > 0:25:05the casino owner here persuaded the surrealist and former wallpaper designer
0:25:05 > 0:25:09to make a rare visit to the coast and decorate the walls of this establishment.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Magritte called the end result the enchanted domain.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Enchanting maybe, odd certainly, but look closer.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Magritte's vision seems strangely in tune with the Belgium we've experienced.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39The surrealist re-imagined the world in the name of art.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42But another local visionary who reimagined the world for
0:25:42 > 0:25:46practical reasons is waiting at the end of my journey.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53Because it was along this coast that a 16th-century map-maker
0:25:53 > 0:25:57of huge significance spent his formative years.
0:25:57 > 0:26:03He also happens to be a hero of mine. His name - Gerard Mercator.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09Ships like this navigate safely today because of a method of
0:26:09 > 0:26:11map-making devised by Mercator.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Even in here, surrounded by all this hi-tech equipment, this modern map
0:26:16 > 0:26:20carries the name of a man born 500 years ago.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Mercator cracked a complex puzzle.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Paper maps are flat, but as you step back from the world,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30it's clear the planet isn't flat at all.
0:26:30 > 0:26:31He worked out the maths
0:26:31 > 0:26:35to project the 3D world onto a two-dimensional sheet.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Mercator's projection meant seafarers could for the first time
0:26:40 > 0:26:45navigate precisely around the three-dimensional globe.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50In Antwerp, you can see the original chart that changed the world.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54This is it, this is the map that turned Mercator
0:26:54 > 0:26:58into the first modern map-maker, it was completely revolutionary.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01It's really a navigational device.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05What he did was to keep all the lines of longitude parallel.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Of course, normally on the globe they all converge at the two poles,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13but what he did was prise them apart and straighten them.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16What you end up with is quite a distorted map, but the sheer
0:27:16 > 0:27:21brilliance of this map is in what it does with the use of compasses.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25If you lie a compass on this map for example between Bristol and Cuba,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and want to get the bearing, you take your bearing off the map,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and then you can stand on the deck of your ship and the identical
0:27:31 > 0:27:34bearing will take you straight from Bristol to Cuba.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36No other map projection will do that.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38It was a work of sheer brilliance.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Mercator called it the squaring of the circle.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Mercator's genius vision, his projection of the earth onto
0:27:52 > 0:27:57accurate navigation charts, opened up the globe to Europeans.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Trade blossomed and mighty estuaries became gateways to the world.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20People, goods and ideas flow between nations connected by their coastlines.
0:28:20 > 0:28:27It gives us a common bond with our neighbours, stories we continue to explore around our coast and beyond!
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd