WEBVTT 00:00:01.768 --> 00:00:03.612 We are pioneers. 00:00:04.826 --> 00:00:06.283 We explore, 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:09.443 discover, 00:00:10.750 --> 00:00:11.912 question. 00:00:13.450 --> 00:00:18.021 Now mankind unlocks mysteries of the natural world. 00:00:23.315 --> 00:00:25.588 New powers unleashed, 00:00:27.449 --> 00:00:28.721 [yelling] 00:00:35.906 --> 00:00:37.387 transforming 00:00:39.233 --> 00:00:41.763 all we are. 00:00:45.471 --> 00:00:54.869 Amidst the chaos of an unforgiving planet, most species will fail, but for one, all the pieces will fall into place, 00:00:56.977 --> 00:01:02.100 and a set of keys will unlock a path for mankind to triumph. 00:01:04.347 --> 00:01:09.025 This is our story, the Story of All of Us. 00:01:15.806 --> 00:01:26.032 Narrator: The planet is a battle ground. Ancient people and beliefs crash head on into a new age of science and commerce. 00:01:26.817 --> 00:01:33.924 In North America, what will become a land of cities and highways, lies under a blanket of forests. 00:01:38.415 --> 00:01:41.739 Now pioneers push into the unknown. 00:01:45.136 --> 00:01:47.627 New England, 1676 00:01:48.918 --> 00:01:56.667 Two generations after the Mayflower, 150,000 settlers cling to the edge of a vast wilderness, 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.006 among them, the Lewis family. 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:07.381 Puritans from England, they have been here for 30 years. 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:11.441 The Wabanaki have been here 12,000. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:21.652 In the 17th century, there are around 55 million hunter gathers, 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:30.213 living across almost 1/3 of the planet, 00:02:31.952 --> 00:02:38.359 a way of life dating back to the dawn of mankind, now under threat 00:02:38.881 --> 00:02:42.489 as newcomers move onto their lands. 00:02:43.305 --> 00:02:45.845 [screaming] 00:02:46.583 --> 00:02:53.713 In the New World, Native Americans outnumber settlers by nearly six to one. 00:02:53.958 --> 00:02:57.141 It's war. 00:02:58.756 --> 00:03:03.366 [screams] 00:03:04.582 --> 00:03:08.563 The Wabanaki kill nine of the Lewis family, 00:03:08.794 --> 00:03:10.766 [fighting, yelling out] 00:03:11.012 --> 00:03:14.063 but some of the children survive, 00:03:14.216 --> 00:03:16.016 [screaming] 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:21.031 including a three year old girl, Mercy Lewis, 00:03:24.446 --> 00:03:33.447 16 years later, a witness in a trial that marks the passing of an era. 00:03:36.263 --> 00:03:37.597 1692 00:03:38.150 --> 00:03:40.830 Salem, Massachusetts, 00:03:41.385 --> 00:03:45.403 a community in meltdown. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:52.167 65 year old Martha Corey, 00:03:53.705 --> 00:04:01.912 devout Christian and church-goer, on trial for her life. 00:04:03.188 --> 00:04:10.022 Sheridan: The Puritans of that time were, you know, lived on the lip of the wilderness. 00:04:10.237 --> 00:04:23.865 They were terrified of the wilderness and wildness, of wild men and the Indians, so that kind of fear allows for a witch trial to kinda take hold and a hysteria to take over. 00:04:24.094 --> 00:04:30.633 Narrator: Mercy Lewis and nine women and girls claim Corey is a witch, 00:04:30.695 --> 00:04:35.909 haunting their dreams, hurting them without touching them. 00:04:36.122 --> 00:04:38.872 [screams] 00:04:39.072 --> 00:04:48.947 Mercy testifies: I believe in my heart that Martha Corey is a most dreadful witch, biting, pinching, and choking me. 00:04:49.532 --> 00:04:54.684 Narrator; All considered evidence of witchcraft. 00:04:56.299 --> 00:05:01.695 The people of Salem are Puritans. They live by the Bible, 00:05:01.972 --> 00:05:11.905 in fear of the devil, blaming him for famine, disease and conflict. 00:05:13.074 --> 00:05:19.710 Shea: The fascinating thing about the Salem Witch Trials is they occur at a crucial tipping point in the history of America. 00:05:20.216 --> 00:05:24.418 Supernatural explanations are first and foremost in their mind. 00:05:24.695 --> 00:05:32.319 Van Alst: They see the Devil alive with the Indians, so if you could imagine sitting in your little living room, 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.321 with your tiny tallow candle, and your Indian windows cracked a little bit for the breeze, 00:05:35.321 --> 00:05:41.375 every snap of branch you hear, every rustle of a leaf you hear is either the Devil or the Indians. 00:05:41.375 --> 00:05:49.310 This is their nightly experience. 00:05:49.787 --> 00:05:58.917 Narrator: For 300 hundred years, the West has been gripped by a witch hunting frenzy. 00:05:59.764 --> 00:06:02.454 [scream] 00:06:03.453 --> 00:06:13.202 45,000 put to death, 80% women. 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:25.137 The Puritans take their belief in witchcraft to the New World. 00:06:26.337 --> 00:06:31.410 Five people in Salem have already been accused. 00:06:31.532 --> 00:06:36.483 Now it's Martha Corey's word against her teenage accusers. 00:06:36.529 --> 00:06:43.804 Teen accuser: I have often seen the operation of Martha Coery, and she very often afflicted me by her acts of witchcraft. 00:06:43.896 --> 00:06:49.126 Judge: Martha Corey, tell me why you hurt these persons. 00:06:50.033 --> 00:06:54.125 Narrator: Martha's only hope 00:06:54.125 --> 00:06:56.883 is that the judge will see through the girls' hysteria. 00:06:57.129 --> 00:07:00.648 [man speaking: the Devil coming to rule] 00:07:00.707 --> 00:07:02.824 [screams] 00:07:08.994 --> 00:07:12.463 Martha: I know nothing. I am a Gospel woman. 00:07:12.494 --> 00:07:14.279 [screaming, crying] 00:07:14.478 --> 00:07:18.791 Martha: I am a Gospel woman. 00:07:20.174 --> 00:07:22.913 GIrl: You are a Gospel witch! 00:07:27.573 --> 00:07:37.301 [sounds of a wagon] 00:07:40.471 --> 00:07:45.647 Narrator: In Salem, over 100 hundred people are accused of witchcraft, 00:07:45.739 --> 00:07:49.828 among them a four year old girl. 00:07:51.611 --> 00:07:56.366 20 executions. 00:07:57.767 --> 00:08:09.252 Fourteen years later, one teenager withdraws her testimony, claiming to have been deceived by Satan. 00:08:14.022 --> 00:08:18.458 [voice: It's time.] 00:08:18.458 --> 00:08:30.041 [music] 00:08:45.931 --> 00:08:50.904 Narrator: Mercy Lewis never speaks of it again. 00:08:51.135 --> 00:08:57.424 Salem is among the last of the mass witch hunts. 00:08:57.993 --> 00:09:04.719 The era of fear and superstition is ending. 00:09:05.058 --> 00:09:13.750 Now, the hunt for profit is opening up the wilderness, beckoning a new breed of pioneer, 00:09:15.226 --> 00:09:19.773 in search of the earth's natural resources: 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:28.137 hunters, frontiersmen. 00:09:31.984 --> 00:09:40.526 Dolin: Much like explorers and adventurers of today, they had a certain mettle to them, but they were also driven by the desire to make money. 00:09:40.526 --> 00:09:44.214 Profit is a amazing motivator. 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:53.457 Narrator: Half a world away from New England, one of the most inhospitable place on the planet, 00:09:53.765 --> 00:09:56.187 Siberia, 00:09:57.371 --> 00:10:04.472 one and a half times the size of the USA, covering 10% of the Earth's land. 00:10:06.780 --> 00:10:10.878 Semyon Dezhnev 00:10:11.848 --> 00:10:13.580 hunter, explorer 00:10:15.718 --> 00:10:21.440 2,000 miles away from home, 00:10:22.163 --> 00:10:26.279 in search of a commodity that will reshape the world: 00:10:26.541 --> 00:10:28.023 fur, 00:10:28.483 --> 00:10:35.002 worth four times more than gold. 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:41.825 The world is in the grip of a mini ice age. 00:10:43.748 --> 00:10:49.620 Ash from volcanic eruptions blocks out the sun, cooling the earth, 00:10:50.774 --> 00:10:55.657 the coldest conditions in 10,000 years. 00:10:57.765 --> 00:11:03.208 Dolin: People wanted to wear furs because they kept them warm, especially in cold climates, 00:11:03.208 --> 00:11:10.703 but they also wanted furs because they were a beautiful statement of their place in society. 00:11:10.842 --> 00:11:16.982 Narrator: Dezhnev's hunting party needs 6,000 calories a day to survive. 00:11:17.151 --> 00:11:22.352 They'll eat anything, tree bark, even reindeer feces. 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:30.959 Dezhnev: I suffered all kinds of want and destitution. I ate larch and pine bark and accepted filth. 00:11:36.188 --> 00:11:41.698 Narrator: But this is also the home of the Evenki, 00:11:42.114 --> 00:11:43.742 [screams] 00:11:44.173 --> 00:11:56.603 hunter gathers living in near isolation, 00:11:58.573 --> 00:12:00.060 until now. 00:12:00.428 --> 00:12:04.459 Wunderlich: The fact is they are not empty wildernesses; there are people living there, 00:12:04.459 --> 00:12:12.051 and these people oftentimes get in the way of the progress of the seeking out of commodity. 00:12:12.128 --> 00:12:16.226 Narrator: Early journals record the Evenki mindset. 00:12:16.272 --> 00:12:27.999 Evenki man speaking: We own the land here. We do not wish to become slaves. 00:12:30.245 --> 00:12:51.593 Narrator: The Evenki are swift and silent hunters, 00:12:51.593 --> 00:12:58.075 arrow tips made from reindeer antlers that can pierce a human skull, 00:12:58.275 --> 00:13:05.194 [swiping sounds] 00:13:07.117 --> 00:13:16.931 but no match for a weapon that shapes the future of mankind. 00:13:18.838 --> 00:13:25.628 Across the planet, pioneers clash with ancient cultures, conquer new lands. 00:13:26.382 --> 00:13:32.717 What gives them the edge? 00:13:34.317 --> 00:13:38.529 the gun 00:13:39.976 --> 00:13:42.113 Invented in China, 00:13:42.774 --> 00:13:45.129 developed in Europe, 00:13:45.483 --> 00:13:49.935 now being mass produced using cast iron. 00:13:50.751 --> 00:13:54.003 Production skyrockets 10,000%. 00:13:54.572 --> 00:14:05.998 Machowicz: It is a game changer. There is always going to be somebody who wants to improve on the idea; make it bigger, faster, stronger, more lethal. 00:14:05.998 --> 00:14:15.117 [gunshots] 00:14:16.317 --> 00:14:29.453 Muzzle velocity 700 miles per hour, seven times faster than an arrow. 00:14:34.099 --> 00:14:37.844 [music] 00:14:39.937 --> 00:14:43.426 Dezhnev records the battle in his diary: 00:14:43.610 --> 00:14:49.397 I killed some of their best men in that fight, and we wounded many others. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:49.550 --> 00:14:54.175 Narrator: The wilderness is being tamed, 00:14:55.098 --> 00:14:59.230 hunter gatherers being displaced, 00:14:59.814 --> 00:15:05.876 a conflict playing out across the planet. 00:15:07.645 --> 00:15:11.225 Dezhnev makes it home a rich man. 00:15:12.133 --> 00:15:16.240 The trade in fur opens up two continents. 00:15:17.056 --> 00:15:24.562 Russia seizes control of Siberia and Alaska and quadruples in size. 00:15:25.515 --> 00:15:31.628 In North America, the fur trade opens up the wilderness. 00:15:32.828 --> 00:15:38.322 Dutch traders establish a court to shift fur to Europe, 00:15:38.630 --> 00:15:47.568 80,000 pelts a year, worth $48 million today, creating a new commercial capital: 00:15:48.152 --> 00:15:49.607 New York. 00:15:49.808 --> 00:15:56.650 Wuderlich: It is almost inconceivable of us to think back to two superpowers, Russia and America, 00:15:56.650 --> 00:16:06.522 and both of them were given their real economic starts on the back of small free animals. 00:16:07.491 --> 00:16:13.975 Narrator: The resources of the natural world drive a new age of commerce: 00:16:14.514 --> 00:16:19.853 Fur, sugar, coffee, tea, and tobacco. 00:16:21.053 --> 00:16:25.019 but transporting them is a deadly job, 00:16:25.604 --> 00:16:30.296 through uncharted seas. 00:16:31.512 --> 00:16:38.278 One in five journeys ends in disaster. 00:16:39.262 --> 00:16:47.104 The world's oceans are graveyards. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:55.833 Meigs: The great challenge in navigating the seas was knowing where you are so you don't crash into stuff and die, 00:16:55.833 --> 00:16:58.907 and ships were doing that all the time. 00:16:59.122 --> 00:17:02.960 Sheridan: These guys were sailing into a horror movie. They have no idea what is happening, 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.510 and they are moving into mystery. 00:17:05.510 --> 00:17:08.059 It's got to have been terrifying. 00:17:08.151 --> 00:17:14.019 Narrator: Sailors navigate by measuring the angles between the moon and the stars 00:17:14.019 --> 00:17:19.828 and comparing with star charts, but these charts are basic and inaccurate. 00:17:19.936 --> 00:17:26.664 Sheridan: In those days, celestial navigation and being accurate, you know, meant the difference 00:17:26.664 --> 00:17:28.661 between life and death. There was a real element of " 00:17:28.661 --> 00:17:33.830 "we're gonna sorta fuddle along and roll the dice and hope that we more or less end up where we are going," 00:17:33.830 --> 00:17:36.454 and that's dangerous. 00:17:36.838 --> 00:17:41.172 Narrator: Now, one man will transform navigation, 00:17:41.172 --> 00:17:46.819 astronomer to the English King, John Flamsteed. 00:17:47.527 --> 00:17:55.270 He'll unlock the keys to global trade and exploration 00:17:55.901 --> 00:17:59.408 by building his mural arc. 00:17:59.854 --> 00:18:05.238 Sheridan: Flamsteed's arc changed our understanding of the night sky in a way that kind of like 00:18:05.238 --> 00:18:11.299 the Hubble telescope, you know, has revealed so much more of the universe to us. 00:18:11.484 --> 00:18:15.928 Narrator: Superstition is giving way to science. 00:18:16.497 --> 00:18:27.044 Gates: The universe is not a place of arbitrariness; there are laws, and the universe itself is a kind of mechanism. 00:18:28.906 --> 00:18:34.133 Narrator: Mankind enters a new era, 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:39.954 discovering single-celled organisms, 00:18:40.877 --> 00:18:44.855 and the secrets of the beating heart. 00:18:45.270 --> 00:18:51.112 For the first time, we understand gravity. 00:18:52.697 --> 00:18:56.483 and prove that the earth orbits around the sun, 00:18:56.637 --> 00:19:00.658 Meigs: After fire, the written word, agriculture, 00:19:00.658 --> 00:19:08.351 the scientific method is probably mankind's greatest gift to the future. 00:19:08.889 --> 00:19:14.541 Narrator: For 14 months, Flamsteed has been building his mural arc, 00:19:14.541 --> 00:19:21.139 a telescope moved by a precision-gearing system that measures the angle of the stars in the night sky. 00:19:21.339 --> 00:19:22.683 [45, 46] 00:19:22.898 --> 00:19:27.751 The king invests in the project, but the money runs out. 00:19:28.582 --> 00:19:33.913 Flamsteed spends his life savings to bring his dream alive, 00:19:34.144 --> 00:19:42.729 a quarter of a million dollars in today's money. 00:19:43.297 --> 00:19:45.325 [cirius] 00:19:45.709 --> 00:19:50.827 [cirius crossing] 00:19:52.058 --> 00:19:55.200 [Now!} 00:19:57.031 --> 00:20:00.757 Flamsteed gives each star a unique marker, 00:20:00.941 --> 00:20:09.978 28,000 measurements recording their exact position, tripling the number the known starts to nearly 3,000, 00:20:10.332 --> 00:20:14.882 the greatest breakthrough in navigation since the compass. 00:20:14.882 --> 00:20:16.031 [7] 00:20:17.093 --> 00:20:23.047 Star charts, 15x more accurate than before, 00:20:23.693 --> 00:20:27.013 saving money and lives. 00:20:28.289 --> 00:20:36.791 Sheridan: Flamsteed's a hero. He changed the world irrevocably by creating these accurate measurements. 00:20:36.791 --> 00:20:42.560 It's like these sailors went from having a rough, you know, hand-drawn map to having a satellite, 00:20:42.560 --> 00:20:47.158 photograph, beautiful, GPS-inspired image. 00:20:49.143 --> 00:20:55.681 Narrator: New measurements that, one day, will help guide men to the moon. 00:20:56.235 --> 00:21:02.164 Meigs: So often, we think about the progress of science. We think about that a-ha moment, that flash of insight, 00:21:02.164 --> 00:21:11.321 we don't recognize that so much of science is dogged, hard work, and Flamsteed was the ultimate grinder. 00:21:11.598 --> 00:21:16.623 Narrator: Science opens a new age of exploration. 00:21:16.961 --> 00:21:21.407 Captain James Cook, 00:21:21.914 --> 00:21:26.303 mankind's greatest explorer. 00:21:27.350 --> 00:21:31.708 Cook speaking: I had ambition, but only to go farther than anyone had been had before, 00:21:31.708 --> 00:21:35.211 but as far as it was possible for men to go. 00:21:35.272 --> 00:21:39.958 Sheridan: Cook's journey depended upon the observations of Flamsteed, 00:21:39.958 --> 00:21:43.275 and he could have never done what he did without them. 00:21:43.290 --> 00:21:48.083 Narrator: A third of the world unmapped until now. 00:21:48.822 --> 00:21:54.458 On three journeys, Cook will reach some of the most remote corners of the planet, 00:21:54.458 --> 00:21:57.534 and open up a new continent. 00:21:58.596 --> 00:22:05.395 Meigs: Cook's voyages really showed us what the world looked like. No longer were there 00:22:05.395 --> 00:22:11.348 vast areas on the map, where you might just say, "There be dragons." 00:22:11.641 --> 00:22:19.620 Narrator: Onboard the Endeavor, a crew of 74, living on decks less than four feet high, 00:22:20.128 --> 00:22:25.165 an era when half of all sailors die from disease, 00:22:25.350 --> 00:22:30.846 they cross an uncharted ocean that covers a third of the planet, 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:35.701 the Pacific. 00:22:36.071 --> 00:22:46.187 Now, after 20 months at sea, Cook and his crew step onto a mysterious new continent, 00:22:46.402 --> 00:22:52.649 Australia. 00:22:52.649 --> 00:22:58.358 [water, waves] 00:23:00.435 --> 00:23:08.376 Australia's Aboriginal people settled the continent 50,000 years ago, 00:23:08.376 --> 00:23:13.188 [waves] 00:23:14.049 --> 00:23:18.265 the oldest living culture in the world, 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:20.786 250 languages 00:23:21.171 --> 00:23:23.452 600 dialects. 00:23:23.821 --> 00:23:30.216 They invent sharpened axes 15,000 years before Europeans. 00:23:30.709 --> 00:23:34.023 Cook speaking: Tell them we mean them no harm. 00:23:34.023 --> 00:23:35.540 [voice in Polynesian language] 00:23:35.786 --> 00:23:45.799 Cook's Polynesian translator, Tupaia, tries to negotiate the first encounter. 00:23:46.045 --> 00:23:53.225 [angry voice] 00:23:54.178 --> 00:23:59.677 Cook: Neither us nor Tupaia could understand one word they said. 00:23:59.677 --> 00:24:01.881 [voices] 00:24:02.481 --> 00:24:06.516 They again came to oppose us. I fired a musket between the two. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:08.791 [gunshot] 00:24:17.374 --> 00:24:21.635 Cook will claim their land for the British Empire. 00:24:23.096 --> 00:24:30.999 Hyland: When Cook found the Australian Aborigines, he had no idea whatsoever of what their culture was about. 00:24:30.999 --> 00:24:38.755 This is the one most sophisticated, complex cultural traditions in the world. It's one of the most ancient. 00:24:38.755 --> 00:24:48.028 Cook missed all that. He just thought that these were kind of a shy people, he thought they were inferior, he had no idea what he was encountering. 00:24:48.120 --> 00:25:00.848 Narrator: But what Cook and his crew discover is an ecosystem like no other, 00:25:03.064 --> 00:25:05.739 the biggest island on earth, 00:25:06.462 --> 00:25:10.775 a continent with its own unique evolution, 00:25:11.175 --> 00:25:22.197 85% of its mammals found nowhere else on Earth. 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:28.662 To record, a man who will become one of the world's leading botanists, 00:25:28.832 --> 00:25:33.518 Joseph Banks, 00:25:33.518 --> 00:25:38.682 young, ambitious, on an adventure of a lifetime. 00:25:39.221 --> 00:25:47.894 The new science of botany that he pioneers unlocks secrets of the natural world that still aid mankind today. 00:25:47.986 --> 00:25:53.663 Meigs: Joseph Banks was like a rock star of science in his day. He was a huge celebrity, 00:25:53.663 --> 00:25:59.502 and he lived this glamorous life, sailing around the oceans, cataloging native people, 00:25:59.502 --> 00:26:09.187 interesting species, discoveries, and when he came home to England, he gave lectures that were as popular as a rock concert today. 00:26:09.387 --> 00:26:14.601 Narrator: On the expedition, Banks collects over 30,000 plants, 00:26:14.770 --> 00:26:19.983 25% more plant species now known to science, 00:26:19.983 --> 00:26:23.925 more specimens in his lifetime than any other botanist. 00:26:24.063 --> 00:26:30.541 Meigs: He made these explorations for pure discovery, not really for financial gain, 00:26:30.541 --> 00:26:36.331 and he really popularize the idea in Europe that science was an end of itself, 00:26:36.331 --> 00:26:39.910 it didn't always have to serve commerce to be important. 00:26:39.910 --> 00:26:48.459 Narrator: After one week in Australia, the Endeavor sets sail for Britain, carrying an irreplaceable cargo. 00:26:48.459 --> 00:26:53.516 animals and plants unknown to science. 00:26:54.378 --> 00:26:57.531 Ahead, a 20,000 mile journey. 00:26:59.024 --> 00:27:06.987 11pm: Five weeks into the voyage. 00:27:06.987 --> 00:27:09.923 [items topple over] 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:14.908 24 miles from the coast, the Endeavor hits a reef. 00:27:15.462 --> 00:27:19.893 [voices - run aground] 00:27:33.782 --> 00:27:40.759 [Going down!] 00:27:41.789 --> 00:27:44.970 Banks records the terror on board: 00:27:45.092 --> 00:27:46.691 [voices yelling] 00:27:46.691 --> 00:27:59.772 Fear of death now stared us in the face. Probably the most of us must be drowned. I prepared myself for the worst. 00:28:01.602 --> 00:28:09.406 Off the coast of Australia mankind's greatest explorer fights to save his stricken ship. 00:28:10.190 --> 00:28:14.817 If Cook can't refloat it the reef will tear the hull apart. 00:28:15.141 --> 00:28:26.442 Few sailors can swim. This was a alarming and terrible circumstance. It threatened the immediate destruction of the ship. 00:28:26.995 --> 00:28:41.611 Sam Sheridan: Its horrendous, there is a shock. There is chaos, the ship is grinding on the rocks. Time is of the essence if they don't get the ship floating soon their going to die. 00:28:41.826 --> 00:28:59.892 To lighten the ship and refloat her, they throw overboard personnel possessions, canons, casks and ballast. Even fresh drinking water. 00:29:00.984 --> 00:29:06.875 Only the precious scientific samples are saved. 00:29:06.875 --> 00:29:08.019 [voices] 00:29:08.311 --> 00:29:12.958 There is no rescue coming, you are completely alone, completely isolated. 00:29:12.958 --> 00:29:28.279 For us it would be like if we were on Mars and our space ship is breaking apart. Our chances of survival are terrible. Its a terrifying event. 00:29:29.309 --> 00:29:42.517 23 hours later, a rising tide helps the ship lift free. 00:29:43.702 --> 00:29:48.781 We are free men. 00:29:49.274 --> 00:30:02.494 Below them a 1,400 hundred mile long maze. The Great Barrier Reef. One of the wonders of the natural world. 00:30:02.494 --> 00:30:12.255 The largest living structure on Earth. The only organism visible from space. 00:30:13.025 --> 00:30:21.592 Over three epic voyages, Cook maps Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean and the Americas. 00:30:27.268 --> 00:30:32.137 More of the world than any other explorer. 00:30:32.137 --> 00:30:37.884 [waves] 00:30:38.207 --> 00:30:39.403 [lighting] 00:30:39.403 --> 00:30:46.826 As Cook opens up the planet, on the other side of the world and American inventor is playing with fire. 00:30:46.826 --> 00:31:03.704 Bringing the scientific revolution to America. Benjamin Franklin, innovator, entrepreneur,and Americas first storm chaser. 00:31:03.704 --> 00:31:09.799 Using a child's toy to unlock one of the keys to the future. 00:31:10.706 --> 00:31:19.538 Brian Williams; I think his role as a scientist is as important as is his role as a statesman and a founder. 00:31:19.538 --> 00:31:29.244 He was the first American to make science palpable, tangible to the American people. Because of how he spoke and wrote about it. 00:31:29.244 --> 00:31:42.074 Since the dawn of mankind humanity has lived in fear of the most destructive forces in nature. Lighting 00:31:42.074 --> 00:31:42.075 00:31:42.367 --> 00:31:56.343 World wide 16 million lighting storms a year kill 24,000 people. Each strike wields the power of a ton of TNT. 00:31:58.281 --> 00:32:10.327 With a temperature of 50,000 degrees fahrenheit five times hotter than the sun. 00:32:10.327 --> 00:32:15.918 As a journalist Franklin knows the devastation lighting can cause. 00:32:15.918 --> 00:32:17.019 [screams] 00:32:17.096 --> 00:32:26.588 Grain stores, houses and churches destroyed. 00:32:27.419 --> 00:32:36.068 Only 60 years after the Salem witch trials, many still believe its the wrath of God. 00:32:36.068 --> 00:32:43.319 But Franklin will challenge this to prove that lighting is a form of electricity. 00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:48.953 And help unlock one of the keys to man kinds future. 00:32:50.045 --> 00:32:57.918 Franklin: I was never before engaged in any study that so totally engrossed my attention and time. 00:32:57.918 --> 00:33:05.350 Surely the thunder of heaven is no more supernatural than the rain, hell or sunshine of heaven. 00:33:05.396 --> 00:33:09.845 The battle between superstition and science that defines the age. 00:33:10.107 --> 00:33:22.887 Prof. H.W. Brands: Franklin was very much part of the enlightenment. The enlightenment was based on the idea that there are natural explanations for the phenom of nature. 00:33:22.887 --> 00:33:35.954 Mark Frauenfelder: I think Franklin was finally pounding the nails into the coffin of superstition. This was a time when lighting was still considered by many people to be Gods vengeance. 00:33:35.954 --> 00:33:48.716 To test his theory a especially adapted kite. With a metal wire at the top, and a metal key at the base. 00:33:48.716 --> 00:33:54.572 [voices] 00:33:58.434 --> 00:34:04.252 [lighting] 00:34:05.837 --> 00:34:15.454 An experiment that could unlock the secrets of the skies. Or electrocute them. 00:34:15.454 --> 00:34:17.190 [lighting] 00:34:19.621 --> 00:34:25.294 Mankind, driven by a new curiosity to explain the unknown. 00:34:26.187 --> 00:34:39.549 Benjamin Franklin in search in the secrets of lighting, helping unlock the keys to our electric world. 00:34:45.566 --> 00:34:55.326 From clouds, static electricity. 00:34:57.434 --> 00:35:04.447 You will find it streams out plentifully from the key at the approach of your knuckle. 00:35:04.663 --> 00:35:08.629 The first proof that lighting is electricity. 00:35:09.613 --> 00:35:21.498 Mark Frauenfelder: He looked at the world differently he wanted explanations that were rational and made sense and couldn't be attributed to supernatural forces. 00:35:21.498 --> 00:35:22.729 [voices] 00:35:22.729 --> 00:35:22.729 00:35:22.729 --> 00:35:26.981 Franklin turns his discovery into a practical invention. 00:35:26.981 --> 00:35:38.710 The worlds first lighting rod. Its life saving design virtually unchanged to this day. 00:35:40.756 --> 00:35:55.287 From a stream of electrified air. To identifying positive and negative charges. An experiment that helps unlock a power that will transform our lives. 00:35:55.287 --> 00:36:01.711 The birth of the electric world. 00:36:01.942 --> 00:36:10.954 Light bulbs, television, air conditioning, computers. 00:36:11.754 --> 00:36:13.955 [phone ringing] 00:36:14.432 --> 00:36:19.837 Every aspect of human life, transformed. 00:36:21.252 --> 00:36:32.059 George Wunderlich: Just a little over 200 hundred years ago we've gone from that spot where electricity was the great unknown. 00:36:32.059 --> 00:36:42.143 To a time where we can't imagine something as simple as the batteries in our cell phone. This is a relative short period of time in the history of humanity. Yet look what it has brought us. 00:36:42.359 --> 00:36:53.451 Those positive and negative symbols you see on the terminals you see are because of Franklins discoveries. Amazing! 00:36:56.806 --> 00:37:03.935 Twenty years after Franklins experiment, another kind of revolution rocks America. 00:37:04.397 --> 00:37:10.802 An isolated rebellion in a New England lumber yard will erupt into war. 00:37:10.802 --> 00:37:21.468 That drive for self determination, that drive to control their own destiny. That drive to control their own economy, overcame all fear. 00:37:21.468 --> 00:37:38.362 New Hampshire 1772, millionaire Ebenezer Mudgett. Determined, rebellious, a self made tycoon. 00:37:38.654 --> 00:37:46.615 He has made his fortune from mankind's first and oldest first resource, wood. 00:37:46.615 --> 00:37:53.040 The key to our lives since the dawn of man. 00:37:53.040 --> 00:38:00.846 The vast forests that was once haunted the dreams of America's settlers. Are now there greatest source of profit. 00:38:00.970 --> 00:38:09.662 950 million acres, over 50 billion trees. And the King of England believes the best belong to him. 00:38:11.631 --> 00:38:23.000 A third of all British ships are built in New England. One warship uses 6,000 trees and cost the equivalent of a modern aircraft carrier. 00:38:23.415 --> 00:38:38.602 Prof. Al Camarillo: You are going to maintain that kind of maritime trade and exploration and acquisition of new colonies. You better have the resources to keep the Navy in tact. 00:38:39.017 --> 00:38:46.117 In Boston there is on British redcoat for every four citizens. 00:38:47.533 --> 00:39:00.036 A city under occupation. Goods from the new world are worth over four billion dollars a year to Britain. 00:39:01.344 --> 00:39:03.046 [screams] 00:39:03.215 --> 00:39:07.068 But colonists protest against heavy taxes. 00:39:07.068 --> 00:39:11.222 [gun shots] 00:39:11.991 --> 00:39:23.033 A face of with British soldiers, kills five civilians. The Boston Massacre. 00:39:23.587 --> 00:39:31.573 Two years later Ebenezer Mudgett, is at the center of a conflict over American timber. 00:39:31.573 --> 00:39:41.555 The biggest trees are set aside for British ships, by law. The best wood in America, off limits to the colonists. 00:39:42.139 --> 00:39:54.815 That is where we see in America the chaffing between the government in London and the goverend here. That chaffing why can't I as the local control my commodity. 00:39:54.815 --> 00:40:00.713 On property I want to control, who gives the King the right to do that? 00:40:00.713 --> 00:40:06.675 But Mudgett resists. 00:40:08.306 --> 00:40:20.126 The battle lines are drawn. County sheriff and British loyalist, Benjamin Whiting has been tipped off. 00:40:22.695 --> 00:40:36.371 Mudgett has kept the best wood to sell to the colonies. 00:40:36.371 --> 00:40:40.990 He is charged with stealing form the King of England. 00:40:41.113 --> 00:40:48.434 Across America the spirit of rebellion is about to trans form the future of mankind. 00:40:48.434 --> 00:40:51.972 [screams] 00:40:56.111 --> 00:41:07.883 An age of knew knowledge sparks a struggle for freedom. 00:41:13.422 --> 00:41:25.306 New Hampshire lumber merchant Ebenezer Mudgett sends a message to the King of England and his agents. 00:41:27.183 --> 00:41:37.470 In his sights Sheriff Whiting and Deputy Quigley. 00:41:37.470 --> 00:41:42.983 [voices] 00:41:50.907 --> 00:41:58.400 The punishment one strike for every tree he is charged with stealing. 00:42:03.385 --> 00:42:08.455 It is called the pine tree riot. 00:42:08.455 --> 00:42:10.239 [music] 00:42:10.993 --> 00:42:14.859 Rebellion is spreading across the colonies. 00:42:14.967 --> 00:42:32.750 Brian Williams: When their time arrives the ordinary become extraordinary. The Mudgetts of the world are those who have had enough and decide I am going to bet all that I have and all that I am on something else. 00:42:37.720 --> 00:42:43.283 A year later, in Boston rebels destroy one million dollars worth of tea. 00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:49.755 One of the most famous acts of resistance in American history. 00:42:49.955 --> 00:43:00.716 1775 Lexington, ordinary Americans patriots, prepare to defend themselves against the most powerful army in the world. 00:43:02.439 --> 00:43:08.684 The British are under orders to arrest rebel leaders, and seize their weapons. 00:43:08.776 --> 00:43:15.242 The future of 13 colonies hangs in the balance. 00:43:15.242 --> 00:43:18.410 [gun shots] 00:43:18.410 --> 00:43:26.440 [music] 00:43:27.994 --> 00:43:34.073 The war of independence has begun. 00:43:34.581 --> 00:43:37.548 Mudgett will be on the front line. 00:43:37.994 --> 00:43:50.492 Richard Machowicz: When mankind truly taste freedom, they develop an appetite for freedom. And the want to be to use that freedom to build their own lives. 00:43:50.523 --> 00:44:02.369 A year later, July 4th 1776, Philadelphia Pennsylvania the second Continental Congress votes to adopt a radical document. 00:44:03.015 --> 00:44:11.798 The Declaration of Independence, edited by scientist turned politician Benjamin Franklin. 00:44:12.059 --> 00:44:19.238 Proclaiming the 13 colonies free and independent from Great Britain. 00:44:19.238 --> 00:44:30.893 We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. 00:44:31.016 --> 00:44:36.829 Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 00:44:37.614 --> 00:44:43.412 George Wunderlich: When he put his finger under that key, he was in charge of his own destiny. 00:44:43.412 --> 00:44:51.526 And when he sat there with congress to write the Declaration of Independence, to sign it, to think about it, to act upon it he was making exactly the same statement. 00:44:51.526 --> 00:45:00.165 I we should declare our own destiny, we're in charge, not someone else. He challenged the old way. 00:45:00.549 --> 00:45:10.895 In less than two centuries mankind has opened up the wilderness and mapped the planet, prospering from its natural resources. 00:45:11.018 --> 00:45:15.745 The scientific revolution has given rise to the modern world. 00:45:15.776 --> 00:45:22.830 James Meigs: You have to remember that during this period of the enlightenment, when these scientific ideas were coming to the fore. 00:45:22.830 --> 00:45:30.153 The church was the ultimate authority and the crown was the ultimate authority about how the world worked and what you should believe. 00:45:30.153 --> 00:45:34.977 And what was so revolutionary about the scientific method, is it was essentially democratic. 00:45:34.977 --> 00:45:43.535 It said that no power, no person, no organization, no ruler can tell you what reality is. 00:45:44.227 --> 00:45:48.894 Narrator: Fear and superstition replaced by reason. 00:45:48.894 --> 00:45:52.767 Liberated by a new way of thinking. 00:45:53.383 --> 00:45:59.798 Launching a new age, that will change the lives of everyone on the planet. 00:45:59.798 --> 00:46:03.091 The age of industry.