1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:04,146 I'm Jonathan Mackley. 2 00:00:04,147 --> 00:00:06,660 When I was trained as an historian we were taught to 3 00:00:06,661 --> 00:00:09,896 think of history as just the story of humankind. 4 00:00:09,897 --> 00:00:13,123 But if you think about it, there's much more to 5 00:00:13,124 --> 00:00:14,124 the story. 6 00:00:15,087 --> 00:00:18,042 We should trace our history into Deep Time, 7 00:00:18,043 --> 00:00:21,273 to the formation of our planet, our Solar system, 8 00:00:21,274 --> 00:00:23,357 even the Universe itself. 9 00:00:25,553 --> 00:00:28,599 In this series we're taking a new look at important 10 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,767 eras in human history by flashing back at key moments 11 00:00:35,223 --> 00:00:40,036 to show how events deep in time, exploding stars, 12 00:00:40,037 --> 00:00:43,426 the clash of continents secretly shaped the stories 13 00:00:43,427 --> 00:00:45,010 we thought we knew. 14 00:00:46,591 --> 00:00:49,429 By revealing the surprising links between human 15 00:00:49,430 --> 00:00:53,116 history and the deep past we'll show how our 16 00:00:53,117 --> 00:00:56,617 civilization and innovations, our voyages, 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,480 and battles are driven not only by the decisions 18 00:01:05,483 --> 00:01:08,900 we make but by physics, geology, biology, 19 00:01:11,478 --> 00:01:15,561 chemistry, by forces that can be too small to see 20 00:01:16,802 --> 00:01:20,272 or so far back in time that the only way to understand 21 00:01:20,273 --> 00:01:24,190 their influence is to think in a whole new way. 22 00:01:31,738 --> 00:01:35,227 Civilization. It's the hallmark of humanity. 23 00:01:35,228 --> 00:01:37,847 The thing that makes us unique among all species 24 00:01:37,848 --> 00:01:38,931 on the Earth. 25 00:01:42,798 --> 00:01:45,048 But why did it first arise? 26 00:01:47,598 --> 00:01:49,657 What pushed our ancestors to abandon 27 00:01:49,658 --> 00:01:51,241 their nomadic lives 28 00:01:52,698 --> 00:01:56,865 and build the fantastic civilizations of the ancient world? 29 00:01:59,410 --> 00:02:01,737 Most historians begin the story of civilization 30 00:02:01,738 --> 00:02:05,505 about five thousand years ago but to truly understand it 31 00:02:05,506 --> 00:02:09,673 we're going to be begin at the beginning of everything. 32 00:02:15,140 --> 00:02:16,943 The Big Bang. 33 00:02:16,944 --> 00:02:20,944 When all matter, all energy that will ever exist 34 00:02:23,405 --> 00:02:27,238 bursts into being in a trillionth of a second. 35 00:02:31,011 --> 00:02:35,375 13.8 billion years ago there was the mother of all 36 00:02:35,376 --> 00:02:37,949 explosions, The Big Bang. 37 00:02:37,950 --> 00:02:41,372 A tiny little singularity of space and time 38 00:02:41,373 --> 00:02:44,759 blew up to create the galaxies, the planets, 39 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:46,593 the stars, you and me. 40 00:02:52,054 --> 00:02:54,437 After The Big Bang, matter and energy 41 00:02:54,438 --> 00:02:58,521 spread out across the Universe where the force of 42 00:02:59,532 --> 00:03:03,199 gravity pulls it together into dense clumps. 43 00:03:04,789 --> 00:03:07,489 Intense pressure ignites fusion reactions 44 00:03:07,490 --> 00:03:11,407 that transform those clumps into shining stars. 45 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,367 Then 4.5 billion years ago our Sun and 46 00:03:25,371 --> 00:03:28,038 the planets around it take form. 47 00:03:35,537 --> 00:03:37,204 This is early Earth. 48 00:03:41,603 --> 00:03:44,936 It's a place you would hardly recognize. 49 00:03:47,435 --> 00:03:49,233 You couldn't survive a moment on it's 50 00:03:49,234 --> 00:03:51,817 1800 degree Centigrade surface. 51 00:03:59,175 --> 00:04:02,425 As things cool down and oceans condense 52 00:04:12,878 --> 00:04:16,461 the first bacteria, the first life appears. 53 00:04:21,523 --> 00:04:23,973 From the early stages of life, certain organisms 54 00:04:23,974 --> 00:04:27,179 learn to access energy from the Sun through the 55 00:04:27,180 --> 00:04:29,347 process of photosynthesis. 56 00:04:34,150 --> 00:04:35,868 These bacteria begin to pump something 57 00:04:35,869 --> 00:04:38,886 into the atmosphere that will make human history 58 00:04:38,887 --> 00:04:40,887 possible on this planet. 59 00:04:44,701 --> 00:04:45,701 Oxygen. 60 00:04:50,929 --> 00:04:54,068 Then, after almost four billion years of life 61 00:04:54,069 --> 00:04:59,052 on Earth, in a sudden fluffy of evolutionary change 62 00:04:59,053 --> 00:05:02,733 called the Cambrian Explosion life as we know it 63 00:05:02,734 --> 00:05:04,234 bursts into bloom. 64 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,920 By the Cambrian Explosion of 600 million years ago 65 00:05:15,921 --> 00:05:18,439 the record in the rocks of the Earth reveals 66 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,857 a huge array of multi-cellular organisms. 67 00:05:31,076 --> 00:05:35,243 And there after, evolution picks up more and more quickly. 68 00:05:38,861 --> 00:05:41,287 500 million years ago plants such 69 00:05:41,288 --> 00:05:45,205 as ferns and mosses begin to colonize the land. 70 00:05:47,893 --> 00:05:50,079 It's the first wave of vegetation that will grow 71 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,280 to include all the crops and trees that we'll use 72 00:05:53,281 --> 00:05:55,448 to build our civilization. 73 00:06:00,045 --> 00:06:02,878 Then come animals like amphibians. 74 00:06:08,967 --> 00:06:12,967 Life explodes in diversity laying the groundwork 75 00:06:14,448 --> 00:06:16,865 for everything we know today. 76 00:06:42,982 --> 00:06:46,769 As all this is happening, the land itself 77 00:06:46,770 --> 00:06:48,603 is always on the move. 78 00:06:54,978 --> 00:06:58,728 Continents drift across the planet's surface, 79 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:05,544 eventually they take the familiar shapes 80 00:07:05,545 --> 00:07:08,628 on which human history will play out. 81 00:07:09,487 --> 00:07:13,154 Africa and India start crashing into Eurasia 82 00:07:14,139 --> 00:07:17,182 and as part of this great collision, the mountains 83 00:07:17,183 --> 00:07:19,845 of Northern's Africa and Spain. 84 00:07:19,846 --> 00:07:22,929 And the Alps, and the Himalayas rise. 85 00:07:25,818 --> 00:07:28,151 Two great rivers, the Tigris 86 00:07:30,593 --> 00:07:33,260 and the Euphrates being to flow. 87 00:07:35,815 --> 00:07:39,982 The Persian Gulf and the Red Sea thrust far into the land. 88 00:07:43,116 --> 00:07:47,283 And a region we call Mesopotamia comes into being. 89 00:07:49,156 --> 00:07:51,351 A region that will play an outsized role 90 00:07:51,352 --> 00:07:55,519 in the great drama of civilization that is to come. 91 00:08:02,698 --> 00:08:07,297 And so the stage is set for the rise of civilization. 92 00:08:07,298 --> 00:08:10,739 It begins in Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago 93 00:08:10,740 --> 00:08:13,026 when people there figure out a new way to 94 00:08:13,027 --> 00:08:15,951 harvest Deep Time's greatest gift. 95 00:08:15,952 --> 00:08:18,021 The ancient energy from The Big Bang 96 00:08:18,022 --> 00:08:21,161 which called into matter that was gathered up by gravity 97 00:08:21,162 --> 00:08:22,245 into our Sun. 98 00:08:24,989 --> 00:08:27,727 There, extreme temperatures and pressures 99 00:08:27,728 --> 00:08:32,154 initiate nuclear reactions that release energy 100 00:08:32,155 --> 00:08:34,072 and radiate it to Earth 101 00:08:37,287 --> 00:08:39,787 as life giving light and heat. 102 00:08:45,484 --> 00:08:48,484 Plants store this energy as glucose, 103 00:08:50,433 --> 00:08:54,600 then herbivores access that glucose by eating plants, 104 00:08:58,625 --> 00:09:01,581 and the carnivores access that energy two steps on 105 00:09:01,582 --> 00:09:03,665 by eating the herbivores. 106 00:09:07,777 --> 00:09:10,503 The story of the Universe, the story of life, 107 00:09:10,504 --> 00:09:13,004 in fact, is a story of energy. 108 00:09:15,106 --> 00:09:18,402 Believe it or not, all the energy that we consume 109 00:09:18,403 --> 00:09:23,012 on the Earth today our cereals and our bacon and eggs 110 00:09:23,013 --> 00:09:25,846 originally came from The Big Bang. 111 00:09:33,693 --> 00:09:37,036 As humans evolved over 100,000s of years 112 00:09:37,037 --> 00:09:41,204 we harvested this energy by simply hunting and gathering. 113 00:09:43,063 --> 00:09:47,230 For 99% of human history we basically lived as nomads, 114 00:09:49,862 --> 00:09:53,501 chasing the deer and the buffalo, getting energy 115 00:09:53,502 --> 00:09:55,419 from wherever we could. 116 00:09:57,416 --> 00:10:01,583 When the deer and the buffalo left, we had to leave too. 117 00:10:04,658 --> 00:10:07,241 But about 8000 BC, 118 00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:15,860 in a few select places 119 00:10:15,861 --> 00:10:18,473 some people begin to experiment with a new way 120 00:10:18,474 --> 00:10:20,224 of harvesting energy. 121 00:10:26,161 --> 00:10:29,066 They growing their own crops. 122 00:10:29,067 --> 00:10:32,256 An act so seemingly simple it's hard to believe 123 00:10:32,257 --> 00:10:34,840 it will kickstart a revolution. 124 00:10:37,743 --> 00:10:38,743 But it will. 125 00:10:39,775 --> 00:10:44,728 These are the first seeds in the rise of civilization. 126 00:10:44,729 --> 00:10:47,516 And, at first, it is only happening in one region 127 00:10:47,517 --> 00:10:50,017 on Earth, here in Mesopotamia. 128 00:10:52,658 --> 00:10:53,658 Why? 129 00:10:56,038 --> 00:10:59,161 A major reason is that the hills above Mesopotamia 130 00:10:59,162 --> 00:11:01,694 provide the motherload of native plants 131 00:11:01,695 --> 00:11:03,612 that can be cultivated. 132 00:11:05,115 --> 00:11:07,320 Including several species of a plant that's 133 00:11:07,321 --> 00:11:09,760 going to become mankind's most vital resource 134 00:11:09,761 --> 00:11:12,094 for all of recorded history. 135 00:11:13,532 --> 00:11:16,987 A plant whose roots go far back into Deep Time. 136 00:11:16,988 --> 00:11:18,488 Which plant is it? 137 00:11:21,139 --> 00:11:22,139 It's grass. 138 00:11:25,726 --> 00:11:29,893 It's not an exaggeration to say no grass, no civilization. 139 00:11:33,719 --> 00:11:36,723 Around the world, every major civilization has been 140 00:11:36,724 --> 00:11:40,891 a collaboration between humans and a particular grass. 141 00:11:43,288 --> 00:11:46,871 Millet in North China, rice in South China, 142 00:11:48,630 --> 00:11:52,797 in Meso-America, corn, in the Middle East, wheat and barley. 143 00:11:56,735 --> 00:12:00,152 You don't get civilization without grass. 144 00:12:02,765 --> 00:12:06,182 For most of Deep Time grass didn't exist. 145 00:12:08,470 --> 00:12:12,784 It first arises about 100 million years ago 146 00:12:12,785 --> 00:12:15,079 when certain plants evolve to spread their pollen 147 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:16,163 in a new way. 148 00:12:19,249 --> 00:12:22,166 Not through bees and other insects, 149 00:12:24,296 --> 00:12:26,046 but through the wind. 150 00:12:27,952 --> 00:12:31,952 But once it appeared, grass carpeted the planet. 151 00:12:34,596 --> 00:12:36,833 Grass has the ability of being able to spread 152 00:12:36,834 --> 00:12:40,205 relatively quickly into ecologies and environments 153 00:12:40,206 --> 00:12:42,706 and populate them quite fully. 154 00:12:47,549 --> 00:12:49,321 And here's the forces of Deep Time help 155 00:12:49,322 --> 00:12:52,239 determine where civilization began. 156 00:12:54,663 --> 00:12:57,350 For one thing, the hills around Mesopotamia happen to 157 00:12:57,351 --> 00:13:00,841 have two kinds of wild grass that are easily cultivated 158 00:13:00,842 --> 00:13:04,175 and highly nutritious, wheat and barley. 159 00:13:07,711 --> 00:13:10,316 So early farmers here have a major advantage 160 00:13:10,317 --> 00:13:13,858 over people elsewhere on the planet. 161 00:13:13,859 --> 00:13:16,769 But they still had work to do. 162 00:13:16,770 --> 00:13:18,922 So over the centuries they took an early version 163 00:13:18,923 --> 00:13:21,029 of local wheat and they carefully selected it 164 00:13:21,030 --> 00:13:23,665 for the traits they wanted. 165 00:13:23,666 --> 00:13:25,713 One of those traits is larger seeds. 166 00:13:25,714 --> 00:13:29,102 Another is what's called non-shattering seeds. 167 00:13:29,103 --> 00:13:30,665 So that when the wheat is harvested, 168 00:13:30,666 --> 00:13:35,579 the seeds don't fall off and get scattered and lost. 169 00:13:35,580 --> 00:13:39,080 So slowly, over time, by careful selection 170 00:13:40,417 --> 00:13:43,667 humans coaxed this to evolve into this. 171 00:13:53,041 --> 00:13:57,788 And it wasn't just local grasses that could be tamed. 172 00:13:57,789 --> 00:13:59,857 Wandering the hills of Mesopotamia, 173 00:13:59,858 --> 00:14:02,010 our lucky farmers would've seen the ancestors of 174 00:14:02,011 --> 00:14:05,178 modern cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs. 175 00:14:09,187 --> 00:14:10,898 A collection of creatures that happened to have 176 00:14:10,899 --> 00:14:13,232 the right stuff to be tamed. 177 00:14:15,011 --> 00:14:18,271 Instead of hunting them for their meat, 178 00:14:18,272 --> 00:14:20,939 farmers could learn to raise them. 179 00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:24,100 Ensuring easy, reliable access to animal protein 180 00:14:24,101 --> 00:14:26,601 for the first time in history. 181 00:14:28,184 --> 00:14:32,351 But why were these animals all found in Mesopotamia? 182 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,967 Part of it was sheer luck. 183 00:14:42,904 --> 00:14:46,719 But another part was that Deep Time placed Mesopotamia 184 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,387 at one of the vital crossroads of the world. 185 00:14:53,524 --> 00:14:57,107 As plate tectonics assembled the old world, 186 00:14:59,588 --> 00:15:03,816 Mesopotamia found itself in the sweet spot 187 00:15:03,817 --> 00:15:07,567 where Asia, Europe, and Africa came together. 188 00:15:12,384 --> 00:15:15,659 Any wild animal migrating in any direction 189 00:15:15,660 --> 00:15:18,327 was likely to come through here. 190 00:15:20,073 --> 00:15:22,014 And if it liked these conditions 191 00:15:22,015 --> 00:15:23,348 it stuck around. 192 00:15:27,215 --> 00:15:29,608 But what exactly is it about this collection of animals 193 00:15:29,609 --> 00:15:32,971 in ancient Mesopotamia that meant they could be domesticated 194 00:15:32,972 --> 00:15:37,055 and help humanity launch our first civilizations? 195 00:15:42,243 --> 00:15:44,527 Have you ever thought about why some animals became farm 196 00:15:44,528 --> 00:15:46,695 animals and others didn't? 197 00:15:51,179 --> 00:15:53,797 The first part of the answer is that all of our farm 198 00:15:53,798 --> 00:15:55,881 animals are plant eaters. 199 00:15:57,842 --> 00:15:59,175 And this is key. 200 00:16:01,449 --> 00:16:04,165 It's way too expensive to keep and feed animals 201 00:16:04,166 --> 00:16:06,188 that eat other animals. 202 00:16:06,189 --> 00:16:10,061 Much less one that might view you as lunch. 203 00:16:10,062 --> 00:16:13,465 So, if you're looking for animal to domesticate, 204 00:16:13,466 --> 00:16:14,883 pick a herbivore. 205 00:16:18,928 --> 00:16:20,921 But just because an animal eats grass 206 00:16:20,922 --> 00:16:23,554 doesn't mean it can be domesticated. 207 00:16:23,555 --> 00:16:25,321 When was the last time you saw someone plow 208 00:16:25,322 --> 00:16:27,072 a field with a zebra? 209 00:16:30,209 --> 00:16:32,346 Some animals are simply untamable, 210 00:16:32,347 --> 00:16:34,264 they're too aggressive. 211 00:16:39,845 --> 00:16:42,245 What else do cows, goats, and sheep 212 00:16:42,246 --> 00:16:45,413 have in common that make them tamable? 213 00:16:46,541 --> 00:16:49,323 They're all herd animals. 214 00:16:49,324 --> 00:16:51,432 That will sometimes even stampede in their 215 00:16:51,433 --> 00:16:53,850 eagerness to follow a leader. 216 00:17:00,059 --> 00:17:03,145 Take that instinct, substitute yourself for the 217 00:17:03,146 --> 00:17:04,729 natural herd leader 218 00:17:06,256 --> 00:17:09,420 and you're on your way to turning a wild beast 219 00:17:09,421 --> 00:17:12,171 into a very useful animal indeed. 220 00:17:16,088 --> 00:17:18,214 But of the hundreds of large mammal species 221 00:17:18,215 --> 00:17:22,327 on Earth, only 16 will submit to a human being 222 00:17:22,328 --> 00:17:23,745 leading the herd. 223 00:17:27,241 --> 00:17:29,971 And so it's truly remarkable that among the select 224 00:17:29,972 --> 00:17:33,246 group, four of the most important animals that can 225 00:17:33,247 --> 00:17:36,851 be domesticated happened to exist in one small 226 00:17:36,852 --> 00:17:39,185 region of the ancient world. 227 00:17:42,124 --> 00:17:45,157 So thanks to favorable wild crops and animals, 228 00:17:45,158 --> 00:17:48,119 it is here in Mesopotamia that humankind begins 229 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:50,037 the journey to farming. 230 00:17:50,942 --> 00:17:55,109 Which is the key to civilizations and empires to come. 231 00:18:02,313 --> 00:18:05,980 But this still leaves the question: why now? 232 00:18:08,258 --> 00:18:10,551 If fully modern humans had been around for 233 00:18:10,552 --> 00:18:14,719 100,000 years and farming just started 10,000 years ago, 234 00:18:16,735 --> 00:18:19,568 what on Earth were we waiting for? 235 00:18:24,874 --> 00:18:28,207 It turns out we were waiting for warmth. 236 00:18:30,509 --> 00:18:34,509 2.6 million years ago an era of ice ages begins. 237 00:18:38,463 --> 00:18:41,099 Producing distinct cold eras 238 00:18:41,100 --> 00:18:44,767 punctuated by periods of warm interglacials. 239 00:18:48,147 --> 00:18:52,314 Modern humans evolved during the last glacial period. 240 00:18:54,485 --> 00:18:56,152 And when did it end? 241 00:18:57,902 --> 00:19:00,652 You guessed it, 10,000 years ago. 242 00:19:10,293 --> 00:19:13,460 The fact is, plants like warm weather. 243 00:19:14,590 --> 00:19:16,693 And it was only 10,000 years ago, 244 00:19:16,694 --> 00:19:18,543 when the most recent Ice Age ended, 245 00:19:18,544 --> 00:19:20,469 that conditions in Mesopotamia finally 246 00:19:20,470 --> 00:19:23,470 came together in just the right way. 247 00:19:28,472 --> 00:19:30,640 If you want to produce grain 248 00:19:30,641 --> 00:19:34,105 you need a growing season that's at least 90 days long. 249 00:19:34,106 --> 00:19:38,580 You need summertime temperatures in the mid-20 Celsius. 250 00:19:38,581 --> 00:19:41,917 You need it slightly cooler at night. 251 00:19:41,918 --> 00:19:46,085 And you need abundant, but not excessive, rainfall. 252 00:19:48,512 --> 00:19:50,794 It's at the point when we see the glaciers start 253 00:19:50,795 --> 00:19:54,545 to retreat last time, about 10,000 years ago, 254 00:19:57,137 --> 00:20:01,304 that we start seeing the beginnings of agriculture. 255 00:20:03,967 --> 00:20:06,358 So climate change helps answer the question 256 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,276 of why farming started when it did. 257 00:20:11,943 --> 00:20:14,610 Now, flash forward from 8,000 BC 258 00:20:19,801 --> 00:20:20,801 to 3800 BC. 259 00:20:28,142 --> 00:20:30,358 People in hills above Mesopotamia have been farming 260 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:32,109 for over 6,000 years. 261 00:20:35,914 --> 00:20:39,164 And things have been going pretty well. 262 00:20:43,658 --> 00:20:46,491 But a disastrous change is coming. 263 00:20:55,171 --> 00:20:57,921 There was a general drying out. 264 00:20:59,935 --> 00:21:04,492 You didn't have as much the annual rains and floods, 265 00:21:04,493 --> 00:21:07,743 there were hotter temperatures overall. 266 00:21:10,443 --> 00:21:14,016 A climate crisis that starts around 3,800 BC 267 00:21:14,017 --> 00:21:17,878 threatens to wipe out Mesopotamia's ideal conditions 268 00:21:17,879 --> 00:21:21,462 and bring the farming experiment to an end. 269 00:21:24,716 --> 00:21:28,657 The Sahara desert advanced into former grasslands 270 00:21:28,658 --> 00:21:31,707 and what we essentially see are the early agriculturalists 271 00:21:31,708 --> 00:21:35,250 needing to innovate, they need to adapt. 272 00:21:43,021 --> 00:21:45,901 And it turns out that ancient geology 273 00:21:45,902 --> 00:21:48,652 would be a key to their survival. 274 00:21:54,206 --> 00:21:55,777 100 million years ago, 275 00:21:55,778 --> 00:21:58,674 as part of the endless process of continental drift, 276 00:21:58,675 --> 00:22:01,084 Africa and India begin drifting north 277 00:22:01,085 --> 00:22:03,585 crashing into Europe and Asia. 278 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,111 The collision of Africa and India with Eurasia 279 00:22:11,112 --> 00:22:15,279 pushed up a series of mountains known as the Alpine Belt. 280 00:22:16,799 --> 00:22:20,187 This includes the mountains of Northern Africa and Spain, 281 00:22:20,188 --> 00:22:22,290 and the Alps and the Himalayas, 282 00:22:22,291 --> 00:22:24,728 and the mountains of Indonesia. 283 00:22:24,729 --> 00:22:26,760 And we think of these as different mountain ranges, 284 00:22:26,761 --> 00:22:29,132 but they're all connected physically because 285 00:22:29,133 --> 00:22:30,810 they were caused by the crashing of 286 00:22:30,811 --> 00:22:33,311 Africa and India into Eurasia. 287 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:41,818 And these mountains are crucial 288 00:22:41,819 --> 00:22:43,986 to the rise of agriculture 289 00:22:45,362 --> 00:22:49,647 because moist air passing over them is forced to rise 290 00:22:49,648 --> 00:22:53,398 where it cools, condenses, and falls as snow. 291 00:23:01,310 --> 00:23:04,945 Then, during the hot, dry Summer months, 292 00:23:04,946 --> 00:23:06,779 the snow slowly melts. 293 00:23:15,481 --> 00:23:17,852 This feeds major river systems 294 00:23:17,853 --> 00:23:20,603 just when farmers need the water. 295 00:23:23,845 --> 00:23:26,210 So without these tectonic collisions, 296 00:23:26,211 --> 00:23:28,069 without the creation of these mountain ranges, 297 00:23:28,070 --> 00:23:31,014 we wouldn't have these tremendous river systems 298 00:23:31,015 --> 00:23:35,182 that have been so vital for subsequent human history. 299 00:23:37,699 --> 00:23:38,963 Here in Mesopotamia, 300 00:23:38,964 --> 00:23:40,553 two of these Alpine Belt rivers, 301 00:23:40,554 --> 00:23:43,484 the Tigris and the Euphrates, 302 00:23:43,485 --> 00:23:47,652 flow down right into this region of early farming. 303 00:23:52,637 --> 00:23:56,921 Now, in 3,800 BC as this region dries out, 304 00:23:56,922 --> 00:23:58,703 these rivers allow people to create 305 00:23:58,704 --> 00:24:02,595 one of humanity's most important inventions. 306 00:24:02,596 --> 00:24:05,679 A key stepping stone to civilization. 307 00:24:09,972 --> 00:24:11,469 They begin to channel the rivers 308 00:24:11,470 --> 00:24:14,356 into a maze of canals and ditches 309 00:24:14,357 --> 00:24:18,493 that soak their fields throughout the summertime. 310 00:24:18,494 --> 00:24:20,089 Now they don't need rain, 311 00:24:20,090 --> 00:24:23,267 which has become erratic and unreliable. 312 00:24:23,268 --> 00:24:25,851 Now all they need is the river. 313 00:24:33,707 --> 00:24:35,276 We can just imagine these early experiments 314 00:24:35,277 --> 00:24:38,724 and sort of ditch digging that must've gone on. 315 00:24:38,725 --> 00:24:41,664 Early on this is done on a very small scale. 316 00:24:41,665 --> 00:24:44,778 These villages are maybe 10, 20, 30 families, 317 00:24:44,779 --> 00:24:46,446 something like that. 318 00:24:51,231 --> 00:24:53,834 People here have stumbled onto a solution 319 00:24:53,835 --> 00:24:58,002 that not only saves farming but causes yields to explode. 320 00:25:01,004 --> 00:25:05,064 Now thanks to irrigation there's a major food surplus. 321 00:25:05,065 --> 00:25:07,973 So for the first time in history some people 322 00:25:07,974 --> 00:25:10,725 do not have to spend their entire lives obtaining food. 323 00:25:10,726 --> 00:25:13,429 They can devote themselves to making things 324 00:25:13,430 --> 00:25:16,347 like sunbaked bricks and clay pots. 325 00:25:17,446 --> 00:25:21,363 In other words, now some people can specialize. 326 00:25:25,781 --> 00:25:30,653 Very quickly these initial professions explode. 327 00:25:30,654 --> 00:25:33,352 Arguably pottery is the first sort of profession 328 00:25:33,353 --> 00:25:37,133 that appears because everybody needs to store their stuff. 329 00:25:37,134 --> 00:25:40,531 You need stuff to eat out of and drink out of, and so on. 330 00:25:40,532 --> 00:25:42,674 All the things that these early towns need 331 00:25:42,675 --> 00:25:44,870 now start to appear, 332 00:25:44,871 --> 00:25:46,174 and suddenly you've got builders, 333 00:25:46,175 --> 00:25:48,333 you've got toolmakers, 334 00:25:48,334 --> 00:25:52,016 irrigation diggers and bricklayers also, 335 00:25:52,017 --> 00:25:54,537 early priestly, sort of classes begin to appear. 336 00:25:54,538 --> 00:25:56,287 People with specialized leadership 337 00:25:56,288 --> 00:25:58,455 functions start to appear. 338 00:25:59,335 --> 00:26:00,872 As this happens, 339 00:26:00,873 --> 00:26:04,623 another new thing appears for the first time. 340 00:26:05,701 --> 00:26:08,816 Here in Sumer, the village of Uruk mushrooms 341 00:26:08,817 --> 00:26:12,376 into a hub of thousands of people. 342 00:26:12,377 --> 00:26:13,627 The first city. 343 00:26:18,824 --> 00:26:20,883 And the more people gather together, 344 00:26:20,884 --> 00:26:25,605 marshaling the energy of the surrounding countryside, 345 00:26:25,606 --> 00:26:28,856 the more complex human society becomes. 346 00:26:32,510 --> 00:26:36,677 It's a phenomenon seen across all scales in the Universe. 347 00:26:39,153 --> 00:26:43,295 The more matter and energy gather together in one place, 348 00:26:43,296 --> 00:26:46,402 the more chances there are for new interactions. 349 00:26:46,403 --> 00:26:48,486 For new acts of creation. 350 00:26:49,697 --> 00:26:52,734 Whether it's dust and gas pulled together by gravity 351 00:26:52,735 --> 00:26:55,505 into stars and solar systems, 352 00:26:55,506 --> 00:26:58,966 or elements gathered together into molecules, 353 00:26:58,967 --> 00:27:00,639 these hubs of complexity are 354 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,855 what drive the Universe forward 355 00:27:03,856 --> 00:27:07,273 and make it an interesting place to live. 356 00:27:10,385 --> 00:27:13,451 The idea of hubs being regions of complexity 357 00:27:13,452 --> 00:27:15,831 where interesting things can happen 358 00:27:15,832 --> 00:27:17,499 permeates even life. 359 00:27:19,407 --> 00:27:22,204 Animals and plants could not have developed 360 00:27:22,205 --> 00:27:25,384 had it not been for a lot of stuff coming together 361 00:27:25,385 --> 00:27:29,621 and being present in about the same place. 362 00:27:38,907 --> 00:27:41,619 In the emerging cities of Mesopotamia 363 00:27:41,620 --> 00:27:44,370 complexity brings new challenges. 364 00:27:46,352 --> 00:27:50,205 People must find a way to prevent crime, 365 00:27:50,206 --> 00:27:51,623 resolve disputes, 366 00:27:52,804 --> 00:27:53,971 and pass laws. 367 00:28:02,246 --> 00:28:03,413 So in 3,500 BC 368 00:28:04,765 --> 00:28:07,459 the first large governments appear on Earth. 369 00:28:07,460 --> 00:28:09,954 A collection of city-states called Sumer 370 00:28:09,955 --> 00:28:13,061 right here on the banks of the Tigris. 371 00:28:20,243 --> 00:28:22,576 Each city is ruled by a king 372 00:28:23,595 --> 00:28:27,550 and an elite of priests, scribes, and soldiers. 373 00:28:27,551 --> 00:28:31,514 These men establish laws, punish criminals, 375 00:28:31,515 --> 00:28:33,015 and provide order. 376 00:28:34,306 --> 00:28:38,473 This stability and structure helps civilization to grow. 377 00:28:40,715 --> 00:28:44,882 But these elite also tend to prey on their subjects, 378 00:28:46,738 --> 00:28:48,821 so now you get hierarchy. 379 00:28:50,085 --> 00:28:53,946 Using the same principle by which farmers herd cattle, 380 00:28:53,947 --> 00:28:57,030 people begin dominating other people. 381 00:29:03,604 --> 00:29:06,440 We clearly see a leadership elite on the top, 382 00:29:06,441 --> 00:29:08,631 below that there will be what appears 383 00:29:08,632 --> 00:29:11,584 to be a military class, sort of a second tier. 384 00:29:11,585 --> 00:29:13,846 Then we'll see the great mass of peasant farmers 385 00:29:13,847 --> 00:29:15,506 and eventually as conflict increases 386 00:29:15,507 --> 00:29:16,924 we'll see slaves. 387 00:29:21,479 --> 00:29:23,665 This whole process of civilization 388 00:29:23,666 --> 00:29:27,083 farming, irritation, cities, hierarchies, 389 00:29:28,102 --> 00:29:30,769 begins in Sumer around 3,500 BC. 390 00:29:32,820 --> 00:29:36,403 But it doesn't stay isolated here for long. 391 00:29:37,616 --> 00:29:39,369 We know just a few centuries later, 392 00:29:39,370 --> 00:29:42,697 along the great Nile Valley in North Africa, 393 00:29:42,698 --> 00:29:44,792 the second great civilization will appear, 394 00:29:44,793 --> 00:29:46,626 that of ancient Egypt. 395 00:29:48,193 --> 00:29:50,637 Further to the east in the Indus Valley, 396 00:29:50,638 --> 00:29:52,561 essentially modern Pakistan today, 397 00:29:52,562 --> 00:29:55,883 the third great civilization appears. 398 00:29:55,884 --> 00:29:58,758 Much further away on the eastern end of Eurasia, 399 00:29:58,759 --> 00:30:01,040 there's another civilization. 400 00:30:01,041 --> 00:30:03,342 Initially along the northern river of China, 401 00:30:03,343 --> 00:30:05,485 the great Yellow River, the Huáng Hé, 402 00:30:05,486 --> 00:30:08,357 another hub is appearing. 403 00:30:08,358 --> 00:30:10,905 So far, all four ancient civilizations 404 00:30:10,906 --> 00:30:13,565 cluster in river valleys. 405 00:30:13,566 --> 00:30:15,316 The reason is simple, 406 00:30:16,862 --> 00:30:19,059 early agriculture is just too primitive 407 00:30:19,060 --> 00:30:23,504 to create a food surplus on rain watered land. 408 00:30:23,505 --> 00:30:27,565 Irrigation is still the only way to go. 409 00:30:27,566 --> 00:30:31,733 But humanity is about to break its dependence on rivers. 410 00:30:35,441 --> 00:30:37,327 Because around this time 411 00:30:37,328 --> 00:30:39,295 people discover that some of the animals 412 00:30:39,296 --> 00:30:41,359 they first domesticated for food 413 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,527 have another gift to give. 414 00:30:44,441 --> 00:30:45,941 The gift of power. 415 00:30:50,110 --> 00:30:52,145 Human beings are relatively weak. 416 00:30:52,146 --> 00:30:55,008 Over periods of sustained exertion 417 00:30:55,009 --> 00:30:59,168 we can generate about 75 watts of power. 418 00:30:59,169 --> 00:31:01,103 And for thousands of years we had to rely 419 00:31:01,104 --> 00:31:04,271 on our own muscles to get things done. 420 00:31:06,902 --> 00:31:09,628 Imagine today if every time you needed to switch on 421 00:31:09,629 --> 00:31:11,342 a light and keep it glowing, 422 00:31:11,343 --> 00:31:14,176 you had to turn a crank like this. 423 00:31:15,590 --> 00:31:19,757 It does the job, but it takes a lot of time and energy. 424 00:31:20,663 --> 00:31:22,562 Well it turns out that human muscle 425 00:31:22,563 --> 00:31:25,347 is enough to farm rich river valleys 426 00:31:25,348 --> 00:31:29,015 that become naturally fertilized every year. 427 00:31:30,362 --> 00:31:33,009 If I stay on a river bank which floods every year 428 00:31:33,010 --> 00:31:35,396 and brings new soil fertility every year 429 00:31:35,397 --> 00:31:38,228 I, even as a weak, puny little human being 430 00:31:38,229 --> 00:31:40,637 will be able to product a high level of crops. 431 00:31:40,638 --> 00:31:43,055 A high yield on a river bank. 432 00:31:48,592 --> 00:31:51,776 But rain watered land needs something else 433 00:31:51,777 --> 00:31:55,102 to keep it fertile year after year. 434 00:31:55,103 --> 00:31:57,825 You need to dig down and turn the soil over, 435 00:31:57,826 --> 00:32:00,159 to dredge up rich nutrients. 436 00:32:01,086 --> 00:32:03,836 In other words, you need to plow. 437 00:32:04,865 --> 00:32:07,621 And people, with their 75 watts of power, 438 00:32:07,622 --> 00:32:11,455 are just too weak to do that on a large scale. 439 00:32:12,639 --> 00:32:14,306 But around 3,500 BC, 440 00:32:19,136 --> 00:32:20,936 people discover that they can train 441 00:32:20,937 --> 00:32:25,264 some of the animals they've been raising as food 442 00:32:25,265 --> 00:32:29,432 to pull plows and dredge up the soil's deep fertility. 443 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,004 You could go down 6, 8, maybe even 10 inches 444 00:32:35,005 --> 00:32:36,081 in some cases, 445 00:32:36,082 --> 00:32:39,234 and access a huge amount of soil nutrition 446 00:32:39,235 --> 00:32:41,751 which allowed us then to produce much great crops 447 00:32:41,752 --> 00:32:43,506 and much higher yields. 448 00:32:43,507 --> 00:32:45,578 And we could move into areas that simply could not 449 00:32:45,579 --> 00:32:48,235 support agriculture when we were simply using 450 00:32:48,236 --> 00:32:52,781 human labor as the basis of it, the cultivation. 451 00:32:52,782 --> 00:32:56,321 It an energy revolution. 452 00:32:56,322 --> 00:32:59,719 By yoking a horse or an ox to a plow, 453 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,988 mankind multiplies his power four to eight times. 454 00:33:11,991 --> 00:33:13,298 Civilization is liberated 455 00:33:13,299 --> 00:33:15,145 from the trap ancient river valleys 456 00:33:15,146 --> 00:33:16,896 and begins to spread. 457 00:33:17,744 --> 00:33:19,900 Now, for a 1,000 years, 458 00:33:19,901 --> 00:33:21,763 the area around Sumer will produce 459 00:33:21,764 --> 00:33:24,523 a stream of new city-states. 460 00:33:24,524 --> 00:33:27,857 Each with their own governments and elites. 461 00:33:35,626 --> 00:33:37,043 Then in 2,350 BC, 462 00:33:38,497 --> 00:33:41,214 a powerful new leader appears. 463 00:33:41,215 --> 00:33:45,658 He sparks a revolution that will reorganize civilization, 464 00:33:45,659 --> 00:33:48,045 giving it the form it will take in most places 465 00:33:48,046 --> 00:33:50,463 right up to the 20th century. 466 00:33:52,699 --> 00:33:54,866 A form we call the empire. 467 00:33:56,971 --> 00:33:59,304 His name is Sargon of Akkad. 468 00:34:01,241 --> 00:34:03,129 The great Sargon of Akkad comes along, 469 00:34:03,130 --> 00:34:06,459 conquers each of these cities one by one 470 00:34:06,460 --> 00:34:10,689 to create a much larger socio-political military structure. 471 00:34:10,690 --> 00:34:13,190 The world's first true empire. 472 00:34:14,229 --> 00:34:16,185 And this just becomes the standard model then 473 00:34:16,186 --> 00:34:19,019 for the next two, three millennia. 474 00:34:22,173 --> 00:34:23,859 Sargon's forced unification 475 00:34:23,860 --> 00:34:28,027 of Mesopotamia into the world's first empire is violent. 476 00:34:31,971 --> 00:34:34,352 But once the violence subsides 477 00:34:34,353 --> 00:34:37,468 the benefits become obvious. 478 00:34:37,469 --> 00:34:39,223 This region was physically blessed 479 00:34:39,224 --> 00:34:41,474 by the forces of Deep Time, 480 00:34:42,831 --> 00:34:44,426 but the hubs of energy were scattered 481 00:34:44,427 --> 00:34:46,177 across the landscape. 482 00:34:52,584 --> 00:34:55,803 Uniting these individual cities into empires 483 00:34:55,804 --> 00:34:59,970 is like networking a bunch of individual computers together. 484 00:34:59,971 --> 00:35:01,618 It multiples their power and 485 00:35:01,619 --> 00:35:03,652 increases the exchange of goods, 486 00:35:03,653 --> 00:35:06,403 services, information, and ideas. 487 00:35:09,281 --> 00:35:10,829 Huge amounts of labor can be mustered 488 00:35:10,830 --> 00:35:12,663 to irrigate more land. 489 00:35:15,084 --> 00:35:18,417 Trade can move safely across vast areas. 490 00:35:19,565 --> 00:35:22,757 And since petty, local wars come to an end, 491 00:35:22,758 --> 00:35:27,030 empires bring arguably their greatest gift: 492 00:35:27,031 --> 00:35:28,031 peace. 493 00:35:33,964 --> 00:35:36,791 Not far away, on the Nile, 494 00:35:36,792 --> 00:35:40,185 a similar process has been taking place. 495 00:35:40,186 --> 00:35:42,713 As god-kings called pharaohs, 496 00:35:42,714 --> 00:35:45,297 extend their rule across Egypt. 497 00:35:49,954 --> 00:35:52,197 Egypt's system is such a success, 498 00:35:52,198 --> 00:35:55,279 it becomes the most stable civilization in history. 499 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:58,697 Lasting almost unchanged for 2,500 years. 500 00:36:01,502 --> 00:36:03,145 But can Deep Time help explain 501 00:36:03,146 --> 00:36:06,729 why Egypt will be so stable and unchanging? 502 00:36:09,792 --> 00:36:14,457 Rise up above the Great Pyramid and look around. 503 00:36:14,458 --> 00:36:16,968 Two thousand miles to the south, 504 00:36:16,969 --> 00:36:21,136 the Nile begins in the mountains of central Africa. 505 00:36:26,371 --> 00:36:29,289 Three hundred miles to the north, 506 00:36:29,290 --> 00:36:32,457 it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. 507 00:36:35,001 --> 00:36:38,084 On either side stretch harsh deserts. 508 00:36:40,528 --> 00:36:42,319 All of this is a function of how Africa 509 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,000 crashed into Europe, 510 00:36:44,001 --> 00:36:47,584 a process that began 100 million years ago. 511 00:36:49,207 --> 00:36:53,125 And a byproduct of this Deep Time Geology 512 00:36:53,126 --> 00:36:55,089 will help Egypt's rulers keep their land 513 00:36:55,090 --> 00:36:56,840 united for millennia. 514 00:37:06,216 --> 00:37:07,696 One major reason for this has to do with 515 00:37:07,697 --> 00:37:09,780 travel and communication. 516 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:13,320 In the ancient world, 517 00:37:13,321 --> 00:37:16,683 early boats can easily float down most rivers. 518 00:37:16,684 --> 00:37:19,654 But they're too primitive to sail back up, 519 00:37:19,655 --> 00:37:22,655 making most rivers a one-way street. 520 00:37:24,942 --> 00:37:26,609 But not so in Egypt. 521 00:37:28,545 --> 00:37:30,895 To the north, over the Mediterranean, 522 00:37:30,896 --> 00:37:33,553 cool winds blow south to replace hot air 523 00:37:33,554 --> 00:37:35,371 rising over the desert, 524 00:37:35,372 --> 00:37:39,039 creating a powerful breeze that never stops. 525 00:37:40,030 --> 00:37:42,580 So here, boats that float down the Nile 526 00:37:42,581 --> 00:37:43,998 can sail back up, 527 00:37:44,854 --> 00:37:47,521 pushed by the continuous breeze. 528 00:37:49,649 --> 00:37:51,187 It's very easy to make the return journey 529 00:37:51,188 --> 00:37:52,419 and just come back down again. 530 00:37:52,420 --> 00:37:55,174 So trade and exchange, connections if you like, 531 00:37:55,175 --> 00:37:56,508 between Upper and Lower Egypt 532 00:37:56,509 --> 00:37:59,176 are facilitated through geology. 533 00:38:00,292 --> 00:38:01,628 Meanwhile, 534 00:38:01,629 --> 00:38:04,033 deserts on either side act as great walls 535 00:38:04,034 --> 00:38:06,617 to protect Egypt from invasion. 536 00:38:08,867 --> 00:38:10,301 Here's this Nile civilization 537 00:38:10,302 --> 00:38:13,629 sealed off through it's quirks of geology and geography, 538 00:38:13,630 --> 00:38:16,037 enjoyed millennia of relatively uninterrupted 539 00:38:16,038 --> 00:38:18,871 peaceful, successful civilization. 540 00:38:21,185 --> 00:38:22,852 Quite extraordinary. 541 00:38:27,142 --> 00:38:28,260 In northern India, 542 00:38:28,261 --> 00:38:31,720 another new culture called the Harappan civilization, 543 00:38:31,721 --> 00:38:35,260 begins to spread along the Indus River valley. 544 00:38:35,261 --> 00:38:39,428 Laying the foundations for the great civilizations of India. 545 00:38:52,057 --> 00:38:55,690 And finally, along the Yellow River in China, 546 00:38:55,691 --> 00:38:59,358 a fourth great civilization is taking shape. 547 00:39:01,369 --> 00:39:04,271 The same basic pattern repeats itself 548 00:39:04,272 --> 00:39:06,623 in China at roughly the same time. 549 00:39:06,624 --> 00:39:08,149 It starts building cities, 550 00:39:08,150 --> 00:39:10,117 it develops agriculture along a 551 00:39:10,118 --> 00:39:11,831 similar pathway in terms of having 552 00:39:11,832 --> 00:39:14,499 large scale irrigation networks. 553 00:39:15,578 --> 00:39:18,374 But thanks to a quirk of Deep Time, 554 00:39:18,375 --> 00:39:22,155 China will forever develop as a world apart. 555 00:39:28,173 --> 00:39:30,844 Egypt, Mesopotamia, and North India 556 00:39:30,845 --> 00:39:33,517 are relatively close together. 557 00:39:33,518 --> 00:39:35,060 So these three civilizations 558 00:39:35,061 --> 00:39:38,811 are linked together in a huge culture matrix. 559 00:39:40,383 --> 00:39:42,303 But Deep Time has separated China 560 00:39:42,304 --> 00:39:46,471 by 3,000 miles of Alpine Belt mountains and deserts. 561 00:39:50,262 --> 00:39:51,512 Think about the journey you'd have to make 562 00:39:51,513 --> 00:39:55,013 to get from China through various deserts, 563 00:39:56,012 --> 00:39:58,429 the enormous mountain ranges, 564 00:40:00,735 --> 00:40:02,301 all products of the tectonic collision 565 00:40:02,302 --> 00:40:04,135 of India with Eurasia. 566 00:40:05,739 --> 00:40:07,039 You'd have to get through the highest 567 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:08,786 mountains on Earth to be able to then 568 00:40:08,787 --> 00:40:11,131 send your caravans eventually down into 569 00:40:11,132 --> 00:40:12,599 the Indus Valley, 570 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,517 let alone to Mesopotamia and Egypt. 571 00:40:19,605 --> 00:40:21,376 China's isolation is illustrated 572 00:40:21,377 --> 00:40:23,943 by a major different between East Asians 573 00:40:23,944 --> 00:40:26,111 and everyone else on Earth 574 00:40:28,204 --> 00:40:31,454 and it has to do with how people write. 575 00:40:33,543 --> 00:40:35,366 In both the Middle East and in China, 576 00:40:35,367 --> 00:40:38,196 writing begins as pictographs and hieroglyphs 577 00:40:38,197 --> 00:40:40,582 in which things and ideas are represented 578 00:40:40,583 --> 00:40:43,750 by thousands of individual characters. 579 00:40:44,765 --> 00:40:47,218 But Middle Eastern scribes eventually reduce writing 580 00:40:47,219 --> 00:40:50,886 to a mere 30 phonetic symbols, or even less, 581 00:40:52,292 --> 00:40:54,125 making it very simple. 582 00:40:55,453 --> 00:40:57,120 Phonetic alphabets are quickly copied 583 00:40:57,121 --> 00:40:59,871 across the Middle East and India. 584 00:41:01,890 --> 00:41:05,171 But thanks to their Alpine Belt isolation, 585 00:41:05,172 --> 00:41:07,839 the Chinese are unaware of this. 586 00:41:09,272 --> 00:41:11,959 So even today, throughout the Far East, 587 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,248 people still have to memorize thousands 588 00:41:14,249 --> 00:41:18,416 of different characters in order to read and write. 589 00:41:19,771 --> 00:41:22,045 Geographical isolation leads to the emergence 590 00:41:22,046 --> 00:41:25,229 of two profoundly different ideas about what 591 00:41:25,230 --> 00:41:26,586 writing should look like. 592 00:41:26,587 --> 00:41:29,712 Both equally rich, both capable of incredible expression, 593 00:41:29,713 --> 00:41:32,406 but both profoundly different, 594 00:41:32,407 --> 00:41:36,324 it appears, in purpose and in actual structure. 595 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:44,365 Despite being unaware of the 596 00:41:44,366 --> 00:41:46,972 other three ancient civilizations, 597 00:41:46,973 --> 00:41:51,272 China still exists on the same land mass as they do, 598 00:41:51,273 --> 00:41:54,440 so some things inevitably get through. 599 00:42:01,252 --> 00:42:05,628 Take a crop that is actually Chinese, the orange. 600 00:42:05,629 --> 00:42:07,932 The wild ancestor of all orange trees 601 00:42:07,933 --> 00:42:10,621 comes from South China, 602 00:42:10,622 --> 00:42:14,205 but it didn't stay isolated there for long. 603 00:42:15,076 --> 00:42:17,060 Oranges, which start in China, 604 00:42:17,061 --> 00:42:18,978 end up all over Eurasia 605 00:42:20,187 --> 00:42:23,535 and by the Roman times in the Mediterranean. 606 00:42:23,536 --> 00:42:26,375 So, presumably, there were trading routes. 607 00:42:26,376 --> 00:42:27,881 One little bit at a time, 608 00:42:27,882 --> 00:42:29,350 farmers that tended to walk 609 00:42:29,351 --> 00:42:31,210 and hand seed over to their friends 610 00:42:31,211 --> 00:42:33,160 that walked and handed seed over to their friends, 611 00:42:33,161 --> 00:42:35,047 and over very long periods of time 612 00:42:35,048 --> 00:42:39,215 there were some exchanges between these two broad areas. 613 00:42:41,771 --> 00:42:44,959 Across Eurasia, this happens again and again, 614 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,960 with food, technologies, even ideas. 615 00:42:49,311 --> 00:42:51,407 Each great civilization reaps the benefits 616 00:42:51,408 --> 00:42:53,908 of everyone else's innovation. 617 00:42:56,099 --> 00:42:57,810 So for the next 3,000 years, 618 00:42:57,811 --> 00:43:01,236 all four great, old world civilizations 619 00:43:01,237 --> 00:43:05,404 will march forward at roughly the same level of development. 620 00:43:08,977 --> 00:43:11,100 But things will play out very differently 621 00:43:11,101 --> 00:43:13,133 for the civilizations arising across 622 00:43:13,134 --> 00:43:17,691 the Atlantic Ocean in Central and South America. 623 00:43:29,068 --> 00:43:31,153 American civilizations that culminate 624 00:43:31,154 --> 00:43:34,760 with the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Incas, 625 00:43:34,761 --> 00:43:37,511 independently invent agriculture, 626 00:43:38,576 --> 00:43:42,705 then build impressive cities and empires. 627 00:43:42,706 --> 00:43:46,239 They create stunning art and architecture 628 00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:49,358 and invent novel forms of writing 629 00:43:49,359 --> 00:43:52,109 and amazingly accurate calendars. 630 00:43:53,633 --> 00:43:55,340 But even still, they're cut off 631 00:43:55,341 --> 00:43:59,091 from major advances that sweep the old world. 632 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,801 They don't have things like wheeled vehicles, 633 00:44:02,802 --> 00:44:05,989 or steel weapons, or gun powder, 634 00:44:05,990 --> 00:44:08,252 and so they will lag thousands of years behind 635 00:44:08,253 --> 00:44:10,503 the people in Afro-Eurasia. 636 00:44:15,292 --> 00:44:18,162 Can the break up of the ancient super-continent Pangaea, 637 00:44:18,163 --> 00:44:20,021 help explain why the old world 638 00:44:20,022 --> 00:44:22,605 got jump start on the Americas? 639 00:44:23,879 --> 00:44:26,075 Pangaea begins to break into smaller pieces 640 00:44:26,076 --> 00:44:27,909 175 million years ago, 641 00:44:28,947 --> 00:44:31,614 but they're all different sizes. 642 00:44:33,076 --> 00:44:35,566 Big chunks break off, much smaller chunks break off, 643 00:44:35,567 --> 00:44:37,626 they go in different directions, 644 00:44:37,627 --> 00:44:39,761 eventually we end up with what we call the 645 00:44:39,762 --> 00:44:41,822 Eurasian land mass, if you like, 646 00:44:41,823 --> 00:44:45,892 which is a very big chunk of continent. Enormous. 647 00:44:45,893 --> 00:44:50,260 Once India and Africa also drive into that land mass, 648 00:44:50,261 --> 00:44:52,298 you've got this vast, world zone 649 00:44:52,299 --> 00:44:54,716 that we'll call Afro-Eurasia. 650 00:44:56,741 --> 00:44:59,611 At almost 33 million square miles, 651 00:44:59,612 --> 00:45:02,945 Afro-Eurasia dwarfs any other land mass. 652 00:45:04,540 --> 00:45:07,126 And humans will discover that for life in general, 653 00:45:07,127 --> 00:45:10,029 and civilization in particular, 654 00:45:10,030 --> 00:45:12,030 size has its advantages. 655 00:45:17,630 --> 00:45:19,415 Because it's so big, 656 00:45:19,416 --> 00:45:23,166 Afro-Eurasia has the most plants and animals. 657 00:45:24,774 --> 00:45:26,691 The most river valleys. 658 00:45:28,487 --> 00:45:31,070 And the largest temperate zone. 659 00:45:32,405 --> 00:45:35,988 Civilizations here have a lot to work with. 660 00:45:37,647 --> 00:45:40,905 There was a lot of different resources 661 00:45:40,906 --> 00:45:44,268 potentially available within Afro-Eurasia 662 00:45:44,269 --> 00:45:47,019 that could then gradually spread. 663 00:45:48,977 --> 00:45:52,064 Even today 85% of the human race 664 00:45:52,065 --> 00:45:53,898 lives in Afro-Eurasia. 665 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,585 This double continent also has another 666 00:45:58,586 --> 00:46:01,503 advantage inherited from Deep Time. 667 00:46:05,305 --> 00:46:07,921 Most of Afro-Eurasia is spread 668 00:46:07,922 --> 00:46:10,589 in the East-West direction 669 00:46:10,590 --> 00:46:14,129 and so crops that developed at one latitude 670 00:46:14,130 --> 00:46:17,515 could spread along a band that would get 671 00:46:17,516 --> 00:46:19,542 about the same amount of sunshine, 672 00:46:19,543 --> 00:46:21,460 about the same climate. 673 00:46:23,790 --> 00:46:24,964 The same is true for 674 00:46:24,965 --> 00:46:27,298 technologies and even ideas. 675 00:46:29,454 --> 00:46:32,598 So every civilization in Afro-Eurasia 676 00:46:32,599 --> 00:46:35,432 advances at roughly the same pace. 677 00:46:39,075 --> 00:46:43,729 But compared to Afro-Eurasia's 33 million square miles, 678 00:46:43,730 --> 00:46:47,120 the second largest chunk of Pangaea, the Americas, 679 00:46:47,121 --> 00:46:51,047 is only about 16.4 million square miles 680 00:46:51,048 --> 00:46:54,465 and lacks the diversity of the old world. 681 00:46:59,236 --> 00:47:01,099 As far as the grasses were concerned 682 00:47:01,100 --> 00:47:03,583 the early Americans had no wheat, 683 00:47:03,584 --> 00:47:06,084 no barley, no rice, no millet. 684 00:47:07,395 --> 00:47:11,554 The only major grain in most of the Americas was corn. 685 00:47:11,555 --> 00:47:13,717 And they had a similar problem with major animals. 686 00:47:13,718 --> 00:47:15,658 There was no draft animal, 687 00:47:15,659 --> 00:47:17,891 nothing you could use for a plow, 688 00:47:17,892 --> 00:47:21,059 nothing you could use to pull a wagon. 689 00:47:23,351 --> 00:47:25,067 Even more challenging, the Americas 690 00:47:25,068 --> 00:47:28,318 are aligned North-South, not East-West. 691 00:47:29,939 --> 00:47:33,961 This creates radically different climate zones. 692 00:47:33,962 --> 00:47:37,240 Crops, and even people, they grow used to the climate 693 00:47:37,241 --> 00:47:41,324 of North Dakota probably won't do will in Panama. 694 00:47:42,529 --> 00:47:44,234 Even today if you were to take a road trip 695 00:47:44,235 --> 00:47:47,195 from say, Alaska, to Chile, 696 00:47:47,196 --> 00:47:49,180 think of the range of environments 697 00:47:49,181 --> 00:47:50,827 different geologies and so on 698 00:47:50,828 --> 00:47:53,620 you would have to pass through as you do that. 699 00:47:58,352 --> 00:47:59,990 Still, as civilizations 700 00:47:59,991 --> 00:48:02,798 first arise in both the old and new worlds, 701 00:48:02,799 --> 00:48:06,582 the amazing is not how different they are 702 00:48:06,583 --> 00:48:07,750 but how alike. 703 00:48:12,506 --> 00:48:15,447 By 500 BC the old world civilizations 704 00:48:15,448 --> 00:48:17,906 have begun to spread from their original hubs 705 00:48:17,907 --> 00:48:21,335 of the Middle East, India, and China. 706 00:48:21,336 --> 00:48:22,942 They'll eventually link together 707 00:48:22,943 --> 00:48:25,360 into a vast worldwide system. 708 00:48:29,538 --> 00:48:31,907 That system was rooted in history's 709 00:48:31,908 --> 00:48:35,741 greatest revolution, the invention of farming, 710 00:48:38,679 --> 00:48:40,867 which still underlies our civilization 711 00:48:40,868 --> 00:48:42,701 and our success today. 712 00:48:46,713 --> 00:48:49,232 In one sense, the rise of civilization began 713 00:48:49,233 --> 00:48:50,566 10,000 years ago 714 00:48:52,732 --> 00:48:56,065 when Mesopotamia's people began farming. 715 00:49:01,078 --> 00:49:02,793 But, in another sense, 716 00:49:02,794 --> 00:49:04,747 agriculture and civilization have roots 717 00:49:04,748 --> 00:49:06,665 going back much further 718 00:49:10,034 --> 00:49:13,816 to the evolution of plants like grass 719 00:49:13,817 --> 00:49:17,317 and animals like sheep, goats, and cattle. 720 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,341 To the tumultuous sweep of climate change, 721 00:49:23,342 --> 00:49:25,009 the birth of rivers, 722 00:49:27,004 --> 00:49:28,837 the rise of mountains, 723 00:49:30,583 --> 00:49:32,916 the collision of continents, 724 00:49:34,463 --> 00:49:37,296 the formation of the solar system, 725 00:49:39,609 --> 00:49:42,442 the energy of the Big Bang itself. 726 00:49:45,776 --> 00:49:49,943 In short, the whole immense saga known as Deep Time.