In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth the First of England was locked in a battle for global dominance with Spain. She picked her favorite advisor, Walter Raleigh, to claim land in North America. In the coming years, Raleigh’s men made several voyages and explored the area known as the Outer Banks, in what is now North Carolina. There, they identified one isl ... Show More
Jul 2021
Lost Colony of Roanoke | The Vanishing | 2
<p>On April 26, 1587, 117 colonists sailed from England to establish a permanent settlement on the east coast of North America. After a long voyage fraught with storms and spoiled food, they landed on the island of Roanoke, in the Outer Banks region of what is now North Carolina. ... Show More
35m 32s
Jul 2021
Lost Colony of Roanoke | Searching for Traces | 3
<p>The mystery of what became of the first English colonists has baffled historians for centuries. But over the past decade, archaeologists have uncovered some compelling clues, including parts of a 16th century gun, and fragments of English pottery at a place called “Site X,” bo ... Show More
40m 59s
Jul 2021
The Fight for the First U.S. Olympics | A Tale of Two Cities | 1
<p>In the late 1800s, European fascination with the culture of ancient Greece, and a growing interest in physical education and fitness, led to the idea of resurrecting the Olympic Games of antiquity. A French nobleman named Pierre de Coubertin took up the cause, and under his le ... Show More
37m 36s
Aug 2021
Colonies and the Quest for Resources in Early Modern Europe: Interview with Dr. Keith Pluymers
<p>Friend of the Show Dr. Keith Pluymers returns to tell us about how people thought about and fought over resources, especially wood, in early modern England. Scarcity, Keith argues, is more about perception than an actual lack of resources. Different groups within society had d ... Show More
52m 39s
Aug 2021
Sargon of Akkad and the World's First Empire
<p>More than 4,000 years ago, a ruler came to power in the fractious, war-torn lands of Mesopotamia. He ruled a small state north of the region's ancient heartland, a place called Akkad, but over the course of his life, Sargon built something sprawling and unique: the world's fir ... Show More
49m 53s
Jan 2021
Agriculture and Complex Societies in the Americas, 4000-1500 BC
<p>Agriculture was invented in no fewer than three, and probably four, places in the Americas. It went along with sedentary living and complex societies, but in complicated ways: fishing villages along the Andean coast grew into the cities of Norte Chico, but hunter-gatherers pro ... Show More
47m 22s
Mar 2022
Kathryn de Luna on Africa, Bantu, and Historical Linguistics
<p>About one in every five people alive on the planet today speaks a language belonging to the Bantu family, and Bantu-speaking peoples have shaped the history of Africa in profound ways. But how did they expand from their original homeland, and how can we tell? Professor Kathryn ... Show More
51m 39s
Dec 2021
Hittites, Trojans, and the Late Bronze Age World: Interview with Professor Trevor Bryce
<p>The late Bronze Age world of the Near East was an incredibly rich and complex place, full of long-distance trade, the exchange of ideas, bickering kings, and empires rising and falling. Among those empires, one of the most powerful and enigmatic was that of the Hittites, whose ... Show More
45m 21s