How The Global Quest For Gold Shaped History | The Power Of Gold (Part 2) | Timeline

[Music] Gold is one of the wonders of the natural world it's beauty captures our hearts and minds but the value of gold awakens our greed we will go to incredible lengths to get it gold drives war and conquest and for the conquered it brings violence and slavery it has built and destroyed empires [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] high in the Peruvian Andes and people are starting a long day's work Santa Filomena is miles from anywhere over the past 20 years this settlement has grown up for one reason only gold [Music] fifteen hundred men women and children live and work here more arrived every week in the heart of Santa Filomena is an old gold mine abandoned by an American mining company in the 1950s there is still enough gold in the rock to send men down the old shafts deep underground they collect it by hand and carry it back to the surface it's hard and dangerous work here the struggle for gold is not about riches but survival / general okay tienen en como es que laminaria tes an answer Roya en un lugar es donde vamos bastante pobre sono say su Natividad Alta mentiroso pero que la de Saroyan familia que realmente necesita at the surface the long process of extracting gold begins the rocks must be broken down into tiny pieces stage by stage the hard stone is reduced to gravel then dust [Music] there's little machinery at Santa Filomena this industry is powered by human muscle the rock is ground into a men work through all the hours of daylight mercury is added to the slurry the mercury combines with gold from the ground up rock it forms a mixture known as an amalgam which can be removed all the gold from hundreds of liters of slurry and many man-hours of work is contained in the amalgam simple detergent removes the last traces of impurity when the amalgam is heated the mercury begins to evaporate leaving just the gold 60 kilograms of rock for loads carried up from deep underground a whole day's work stone breaking and grinding at the end just four grams of gold not every society as valued gold as we do for centuries people in sub-saharan Africa had plenty of gold but they lacked vital necessities for life like salt Arabs learned of the African gold over a thousand years ago rather than conquest they turned to an even more effective weapon trade they brought salt across the Sahara when they reach the goldfields they conducted an ancient trading ritual called Dumbarton the Arabs simply left their salt in a designated place the two sides never met face to face the Africans came out of hiding with their gold if the Arabs were satisfied the gold was theirs with the deal done the Africans could take the salt something far more important to them than shiny metal [Music] camels allowed the Arabs to travel across the sahara desert in search of gold [Music] the land known as Africa's Gold Coast was an Arab monopoly camel caravans across the desert became major trade routes gold flowed back to the Middle East the Islamic world thrived as a great center of culture and business [Music] golde brought wealth to the Khalif some Sultan's [Music] they lived in great splendor [Music] the Islamic armies conquered new territories but it was their trading empire that became the most powerful in the world by the year 1300 it seemed Islam was well ahead of the West Europe could hardly have been a greater contrast it faced a century of violence and disaster Gold was often forgotten amid the catastrophe it was described as the age of Satan for a hundred years war and civil unrest raged across the continent climate change brought colder and wetter weather for three years in a row the harvest failed Western Europe suffered its worst famine ever [Music] then a new terror spread from the east bubonic plague the black death spread rapidly it killed a third of the people in Europe a toll of at least 20 million [Music] it would take three centuries for the population to rebuild itself but the economic effect of the plague was surprising there were fewer people to work the laborers and tradesmen were in greater demand wages rose people had more to spend this fueled a consumer boom gold was in demand again to make more money as mints across Europe increased production supplies of gold diminished [Music] by the mid 15th century Europe had exhausted its known sources of gold people began to look further afield that meant going east to the legendary riches of Asia a hundred and fifty years earlier Marco Polo had ventured overland from Venice to China it had been a revelation Marco Polo's writings were Europe's best intelligence about the mysteries of the Orient [Music] he had marveled of the world he found the Chinese were advanced highly organized and had plenty of gold Marco Polo also described Japan despite never going there he talked of a large island with fair-skinned people untouched by trade with the rest of the world and gold so plentiful the Japanese even made palaces from it he inspired a new generation of European explorers most famous of all the son of a weaver from Genoa Christopher Columbus Columbus was a sailor and dreamer he read Marco Polo avidly the descriptions of Japan as an island with measureless amounts of gold enthralled him fired by this he planned a radical voyage Columbus wanted to follow Marco Polo to the east but by sea not land Portuguese navigators had already sailed the lengths of Africa entering the Indian Ocean and opening a sea route east to Asia but Columbus was convinced he could sail west and reach Japan more easily but he needed financial and political backing Columbus visited royalty all over Europe with his plan after years of trying he won over Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain Columbus signed a treaty with them and his voyage of discovery could be made Columbus set out west into the Atlantic with a crew of just 87 he had little but his fate and a copy of Marco Polo to guide [Music] after two months at sea they touched land it was not Japan but a small island off Cuba on the shore they met natives carrying gold Columbus was convinced he was now close to his goal but he was disappointed [Music] Annunziata : is a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus she believes he knew he wasn't in Japan but had stumbled across a new territory unknown to Europeans : in santero KOCO nació en durante en el primer Vyasa cavia legado unas Tierra's pero obviamente para la santé manifest ok New Era's en el loco estaba buscando porque ella estaba en den and Roca Lazar centros de Mercado and a era mucho intercambio muchacha de mercantil yo via mint Annette de barajas L no encontramos los centros de Mercado Columbus didn't let this new geography dampen his hopes for gold his Diaries mention it 65 times [Music] they show he remained optimistic from the great heat which I suffer he wrote this country must be rich in gold Columbus made a further three voyages and set foot on a new continent but he never found the large quantities of gold he dreamed of he died an unfulfilled man the king of Spain had sent him across the ocean to get gold at All Hazards despite being remembered as the man who discovered America the golden prize was won by others [Music] it was francisco pizarro who took the quest for gold to new extremes [Music] in Peru the nation he conquered he is remembered as the founder of the capital city Lima he was an adventurer an illiterate maverick but ruthless in his quest for gold [Music] Pissarro made several journeys across the atlantic by this time the Spanish had a colony called Hispaniola from there he was able to make his way south to an unexplored continent [Music] when Pissarro and his 200 men landed in Peru they had little idea what was ahead [Music] this mountain land was home to the Incas [Music] they had an advanced agriculture which supported a complex society [Music] they could grow enough food to provide for a population of three and a half million [Music] it was an organized and efficient culture [Music] the Inca Empire was the most powerful civilization in South American history [Music] it build towns cities and great roads across the mountains but most important of all for the Spanish conquistadors the Incas had gold [Music] at the head of the Empire was the Inca himself Atahualpa after landing on the Peruvian coast Pizarro and his men made their way inland it was a hard march across the mountains kisara got word at a jalapao was in the town of cajamarca they made their way straight there the conquistadors arrived in the town but found no sign of the Inca and his royal court [Music] it seemed strangely quiet [Music] at a halt and his nobles were in the nearby spa relaxingg by the hot springs after fighting a long and bloody civil war Pasado's and his brother to find the inca atahualpa refused to meet them that day [Music] Pasado's envoy's return to the town the Spanish hid in the main square they spent an uncomfortable night the 200 conquistadors knew there was an Inca army of thousands somewhere close by the morning would bring a meeting of two civilizations [Music] the following day a massive procession approached the square [Music] lo que que un presente es en todo está con Guerrero's or salado's agua Espada's estado de una multa tutti dance antes de ballerinas de jugar ace de musique O's de actores que Minnehaha shangela Fiesta Zelinka porque el plan de da wall para sa hacer una gran fiesta Yanina apparent episode atahuallpa was carried in on a golden glitter the square was packed with people Posadas priest approached the Inca and offered him a Bible the meeting was short atahuallpa threw down the Bible in a rage Pissarro signaled his men lucida permanent nd rosetta santiago del cerro been a UNT roller caboose sukegoro gianetti's estando a multitude a desde apartamentos in sterile panic panic o massive o el panic OMS as the panic turned into a massacre analyst mataró Mucha gente Japanese yorozuya para llamar a continuous Dixie era una past and Jose Marti atahuallpa was seized from his golden litter it seemed the impossible had happened in one day a small band of Spanish invaders had overpowered tens of thousands of Incas and a while I was kept prisoner here for nine months talking to Pizarro he soon realized the Spanish thought of little but gold cuarto cuarto tregurtha wall papprizzio narrow yoni perma missing toes opossum toes nemesis intent on door Oh Cooper are you divert on tormentas to imperio con el Pavo a romero pero fue lo sufficient demente estroux TOCOM para ver con or oh hey no oh mucho Oro atahuallpa offered to fill his prison room with gold he said it would reach up to a line he marked on the wall he was true to his word [Music] the Spanish were amazed as the room filled up it was about he worth 270 million dollars at today's prices but atahuallpa was betrayed the goals that he thought would save his life actually signed his death warrant to the conquistadors he stood in the way of Peru's riches they executed him [Music] without a helper dead the Spanish were free to conquer the rest of the Inca Empire they marched on the imperial capital Cusco [Music] without an emperor the Incas put up little resistance [Music] Kuzco fell to the conquistadors [Music] its inhabitants faced torture and killing as the Spanish rampaged around the city [Music] they looted its temples shrines and even its tombs for gold having stripped the city they then set about raising it to the ground destroying the center of Inca power Pissarro had his golden reward but not for long the conquistadors modeled the Conqueror of Peru was murdered by rivals as he died Pissarro is reported to have called to Jesus and then marked the sign of the Cross in his own blood [Music] Posadas legacy was immense the colony he found it became part of the territories known as New Spain these opened up vast supplies of gold but building this new world was a cruel and bloody business many more thousands of Incas died in rebellions the Inca people became little more than slaves mining gold for their Spanish masters one goal eluded the invaders the lost world of El Dorado legend across South America spoke of whole cities of gold and even a lake sacred to the moon God filled with treasure [Music] many conquistadors searched but El Dorado was always someone else perhaps a myth perpetuated by locals keen to get rid of the Spanish era Cuba Ralph we Mexico una en cuenta que esta gente que ahora vamos a la única yakiniku ryan-romney hurry the city's own name Asaro para que sería even without El Dorado there was plenty of gold for years the Spanish shipped it back across the ocean [Music] and the Spanish gold arrived in Seville the Seville became absolutely central to that whole flow of precious metals and I think it's very interesting if you stand on the banks of the river there in the early morning I think you can imagine what the bustle must have been as the first galleons came up the river from the sea and there the gold was offloaded it more than doubled the world supply seville prospered and built monuments like the Torre del Oro the tower of gold and in its Cathedral a huge golden altar it serves as a testament to how central gold became in Spanish culture at the time so important it was a fabulous religious symbol [Music] but these shows of wealth concealed the problems that Spain had with all its riches from a new world [Music] we now understand the true nature of the wealth that came into Seville and into the new Spanish Empire the question is how much good did that do Spain what really happened to it and I think the short answer is that to a large extent the money was squandered and this was squander of one of the biggest windfalls in history the gold plundered and then mined in the Americas should have made Spain the economic powerhouse of Europe [Music] but the Spanish became involved in a series of failed attempts to assert their influence the emperor charles v was convinced he could maintain a holy empire across europe that would make spain the bastion of the catholic faith he fought a series of wasteful Wars pursuing his dream [Music] it's an interesting story because it repeats itself in the history of gold that rulers and even wealthy people who thought they had it made when they have the gold almost always ended up in the ditch it's it's dangerous stuff it's great to get but it does something terrible to you to make matters worse the Spanish developed a taste for luxury goods imported from the east Asia shipped out its merchandise in huge quantities the Spanish paid in gold [Music] the trade seemed to be one way the Spanish may have wanted spices silks and porcelain from the East but all Asians wanted was gold [Music] and when they got it they kept hold of it trade went on between the west and Asia mostly for spices and textiles and Europe shipping gold back to Asia economic theory says that if you got enough money ultimately you're gonna want to do something with it but the Asians just kept absorbing the cold regime in the belt this seems to be a habit of Easterners that they're naturally savers and Westerners like to blow it as Asia held on to all this gold there was little left to invest in Spain's own industries and trade the golden opportunity was lost the ability of Asia to absorb gold remains today in terms of world trade India is still the largest importer of gold the allure is partly cultural partly practical [Music] Gold is an important part of Hindu wedding ceremonies but it's not just ornament it can be hoarded kept safe for hard times while Asia sat on its gold medal Europe used it gold circulated daily as money it was a backbone of trade great fares grew up across Europe where all types of goods were bought and sold a lot of gold changed hands that became a problem merchants developed their own system of payments amongst themselves they began to write notes to each other promising to pay certain amounts of gold they were like IOUs Bills of exchange as they were known became quite complex they began to replace gold in a lot of transactions and for good practical reasons pues qué satisfied Evo dinero desde many El Campo Lian embarrass or desde Cartagena de Indias Amin al campo siena see that material decay a button Cavazos Mulas Colorado's convulses in the oral Edie Oro y Plata lo cual es muy more so y el mismo tiempo smoothly goes porque el ataque AD possiblys robos in attack is de patatas is addressed in the busy trade fairs of the time Bills of exchange caught on they didn't just pay for goods but began to change hands as if they were a currency in their own right they worked because in the end they could always be changed back to gold they may trade more efficient and it flourished in la Parisienne del VI t para capital which it is necessary o que ellos consume interesting and confianza casey papel en un ballo y para que tenga a v8 in tengan vellore es que este raz Paul dado promoter EDA's uno de las que su Marco dividend 2000 n Banco a quantum s flirty Masaru más importantes here is spelled of energy they were forerunners of modern banknotes they weren't valuable in themselves like a gold they worked because the person or institution issuing them would honor them they relied on trust and reputation [Music] early notes issued by the Bank of England were based on the good reputation of the bank to make payment if demanded and this payment would be made with gold the holder of a banknote could ask for it to be exchanged for gold at any time the precious metal was still trusted above anything else [Music] but banknotes were only used for large transactions gold and silver coins still made up most everyday money [Music] even coins made of precious metal rely on people trusting the mint where they are made the Royal Mint built a reputation over centuries for coins that contain the right amounts of metal in the correct purity [Music] but in the 17th century this reputation was under threat the threat didn't come from the mint itself shortchanging the public with bad coins it came from a widespread practice known as clipping taking just a little bit of the coin away doesn't drastically affect the weight but when numerous people start to successively clip the coin the weight is reduced dramatically it's the weight of the coin that gives it its value then the coin no longer has the value of two shillings and sixpence but probably in this case the value is two shillings the clippings could then be melted down and sold on as bullion in some cases back to the mint itself [Music] the damage to the integrity of British coins was serious the secret weapon against the Clippers was an invention from France the mechanical coin press made the minting process much more sophisticated charles ii ordered these machines for the Royal Mint it's at that time that making coins by machinery becomes the norm instead of the old-fashioned way of making coins by hand it changes the whole nature of the mint from being like a series of craft workshops into a modern factory mint with an ordered sequence of operations the new machines were installed at the home of the mint in the Tower of London the screw press changed the direction of British coinage a clever design modification was introduced to thwart the Clippers if you have a thin coin without a well-defined edge you can't always be sure whether anything's been clipped from it or not but once you have a machine struck coin with a proper milled age or a proper lettered edge then the coins had a degree of protection against these people the Clippers as they went as they were called but even with the new machines most of the old coins in circulation were still clipped the government came up with a bold plan they would replace the whole currency it was to be known as the great recoil [Music] but the plan caused chaos people panicked they worried that the new coins wouldn't be worth as much they held onto them business ground to a halt there were even riots in some places in the end it took three years to complete the recoiling and even longer to rebuild trust in the currency the Royal Mint hired a new man to help deal with the crisis they made an interesting choice Sir Isaac Newton is better known as a great scientist but he worked at the mint for 30 years Newton brought his analytical mind to the problems faced by the mint and by money in general his work was to influence the way the economy in Britain and the rest of the world was run for generations but Newton didn't just stay in an ivory tower at the mint [Music] he was also obsessed with stamping out the Clippers he kept a network of spies and informants across London's underworld he bought intelligence so he could hunt down the Clippers Nutan for most of us life was a reckless a real have long-haired scientists in the laboratory and all of a sudden one day he decided he wanted to be in the real world dropped everything he'd been doing came to London lived as a gentleman got himself a job in the mint and became master of the mint and as a result of that became very interested in gold and because he was a mathematician a scientist anything that he had to say on gold or economics everybody listened to Newton's greatest work came when he started looking at the financial relationship between gold and silver this was always a tricky area the relative prices between the two fluctuated it was difficult to keep a stable currency which could in turn upset the economy Newton decided to fix the price of gold at a new level the price he said remained more or less constant until the 20th century [Music] even though he may not have completely realized it Newton had stumbled across an idea that became known as the gold standard the fixed value of gold created a measure for everything else the economy would revolve around gold it was like discovering financial gravity [Music] Gold would become the world's economic yardstick for over two centuries it represented order and stability and would protect humans from their own worst excesses it seemed like a great solution in Santa Filomena gold is the cause of as many problems as the solution [Music] children play at processing gold copying the work their parents do [Music] only a few years ago child labor was a serious problem in Santa Filomena [Music] but work still start young Gold production is everything here there's nothing else repairing some of the damage done in the search for gold is the work of katya romero things used to be worse la más importante la situación de Nino yes que hacer una Rabelais air messes puesto a la contamination por Mercurio el más es puesto por la falta de escuela entonces save an Bank a brand o es oportunidad no Desiree are say y también el hecho de que salen volt ah de manera muy temprano de trabajo por no Aveiro Tros espacio para hey now the settlement has a school there's a chance that education can build a future away from gold [Music] but it may not be a healthy future [Music] the old abstraction here uses mercury it is highly toxic in water the soil and air and to the touch well as soon as effect effect El Sistema neurologic oh no hey Pierre da capacidad de se que en la sangre ici digamos esta personas no Sally oh no sir veteran del espacio contaminate our Pony egg are a tener combustion a bonito in Assyria de efectos que affinity amended and a no Suez Arroyo no yo way de llevar a sanam we're tape okay [Music] despite the poisonous mercury and derelict mineshafts people still come to make their lives in Santa Filomena poverty and gold are powerful drivers [Music] the owner of this metal is as potent in the 21st century as it ever was and the costs are still high [Music] [Music] in the next program we reach the age of a Gold Rush prospectors strike gold in California the world's supply increases five times over Newton's gold standard becomes international Gove helps to build a new industrial world a time of trade and prosperity a golden age but would it last [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 557,795

Keywords: Timeline - World History Documentaries, economic history, enrichment, gold and greed, gold as an investment, gold character, gold coins, gold discoveries, gold mining industry, gold pride, gold rush, gold stories, gold trade, gold's economic importance, gold's role in art, gold's role in literature, historical obsession, historical pride, human enrichment, mythological gold, timeline

Id: wyxKV0B72Hk

Length: 49min 11sec (2951 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 11 2018