Genghis Khan may have built a formidable land empire, but his grandson Kublai Khan mastered the seas. So how did a nomadic leader come to have such a formidable navy – and conquer China in the process? Emily Briffett spoke to Jack Weatherford about his new book on the subject, Emperor of the Seas, to find out more.
(Ad) Jack Weatherford is the author of Emp ... Show More
Today
Magna Carta: king v barons
In the early 13th century, England was a kingdom under pressure, as the challenges posed by King John’s reign had left the realm restless. By 1215, tensions had reached boiling point. What began as isolated grumblings among nobles soon evolved into an organised challenge to royal ... Show More
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Untold LGBTQ stories of the National Trust
In 1895, when the National Trust was founded, homosexual acts of ‘gross indecency’ were still illegal in Britain. And yet, as Michael Hall reveals in his new book, A Queer Inheritance: Alternative Histories in the National Trust, the organisation had queer connections from its ve ... Show More
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Why Greenwich is the home of time
Why is a small observatory in south east London so important to the story of how we tell the time? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Emily Akkermans, Curator of Time at the Royal Museums Greenwich, shares the history behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). From 17th-century efforts to solve th ... Show More
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The First Emperor of China
In the third century BC, China was a land fractured by war - a patchwork of rival kingdoms struggling for dominance. Out of this chaos rose a single, extraordinary figure who would reshape the course of history: Chin Shrr Hwong, the First Emperor of China. His achievements were m ... Show More
58m 24s
Mar 2025
Genghis Khan and the Mongols, Part 1 of 2
We're in the Mongol lands of Central Asia in the late 1100s. This is a place of nomadic warriors, a region divided between tribes. But one man will emerge to unite them. Armed with the greatest military mind of his age, he will lead the Mongol peoples far beyond their own borders ... Show More
55m 14s
Jul 2024
Zheng He's Treasure Odyssey
Rerun: China’s greatest naval explorer, Zheng He, set sail on the first of seven epic voyages on 11th July, 1405. He led a fleet of 255 ships, with an estimated 28,000 people on board.
A eunuch, and a Muslim, he had risen through the ranks to become a right-hand man of the Empero ... Show More
12m 1s
Aug 2025
#304 - Qing 39: Twilight of the Dragon
As both the Qianlong Emperor's extensive reign and the Eighteenth Century itself comes to a close, the Qing Empire faces - in spite of its outward posturing of timeless grandeur and invulnerability - an ever more uncertain future. By this time his successor, the Jiaqing Emperor, ... Show More
41m 15s
Aug 2025
#476 – Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
Jack Weatherford is an anthropologist and historian specializing in Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep476-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact ... Show More
4h 39m