Episodes
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Concrete
Darrington, United States. The town of Concrete in the foothills of the northern Cascades once housed the largest concrete plants in the state. Nearly half of the concrete for the Grand Coulee Dam (the largest concrete structure in the world) came from here, as well as material for other…
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Burning Man Festival Site
Burning Man is an annual carnival of creativity that takes place on the playa of the Black Rock Desert, in northwest Nevada. It typically attracts 60,000 people, and is considered by many to be the biggest and best party in the world. Participants pay a few hundred dollars admission, and spend a...
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Burro Schmidt Tunnel
Inyokern, United States. This 2,000-foot long tunnel, approximately seven feet in diameter, was chiseled through a mountain by William Henry "Burro" Schmidt with hand tools and explosives. Begun in 1906 as a means of transporting ore from his mine to the processing site, Schmidt devoted the...
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Bridal Cave
Camdenton, United States. A tourist cave with a wedding theme. Thousands of couples have taken their vows in the natural chapel within this cave.
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Branson
Branson, United States. This resort city in the Ozarks calls itself "The Live Music Show Capital of the World." This city contains over 30 live performance theaters playing an average of 60 stage shows at any given time. While Branson is traditionally known for its country western music...
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Braddock
Braddock, United States. Braddock, Pennsylvania is a deflated old steel town which became known for a recent and unusual redevelopment effort. From a peak population of 18,000 after World War II, there are now just over 2,000 residents. In 2005, a new young mayor, John Fetterman, was elected and...
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Thames Barrier – Holding Back the Sea
London, United Kingdom. Holding the North Sea at bay to protect London from flooding, the Thames Barrier is an extraordinary feat of engineering. It is also constantly under threat, in a world where time and tide are slowly, inexorably, winning. How long can it hold? Nobody knows.
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A Line Through Time: The Prime Meridian, Greenwich
London, United Kingdom. Standing at the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, this short audio viewpoint explores the line from which global time and longitude are measured. It explains how and why this point was fixed here, and considers how Britain’s drive to measure the world continues to shape how we...
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It looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys
The Hague, The Netherlands. The Gevangenenpoort, Prisoner’s Gate, here in The Hague, from 1420 until 1828, was used for housing people who had committed serious crimes while they awaited sentencing. It has since then been home to a literary club, a museum, and an art gallery. It’s also the…
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Will the real Amazon please stand up?
Terme, Türkiye. We find ourselves a few kilometers outside of the small town of Terme, on the southern shores of the Black Sea, in Turkey. Just ahead, we can see a statue of an Amazonian warrior, raising a bow and arrow.
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The contested origins of Fortaleza
Fortaleza, Brazil. The Brazilian state of Ceará is one of the poorer regions of Brazil. The GDP per capita is just a third of that of the people in the state of Sao Paulo, and not even a fifth of those in the district around the capital of Brasilia.
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Echoes of empire: On Itaparica, where Dutch ambition met Machiavellian brutality
Vera Cruz, Brazil. Standing on Itaparica Island today, with the sea breeze brushing past the ramparts of the old fort of São Lourenço, it’s easy to be lulled by the slow rhythms of Bahia. But beneath these waters and stones lies a deeper, darker current; one that stretches back to a fleeting…
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A secretary’s plea for a colonial vision
The Hague, The Netherlands. You are standing in the Binnenhof, the heart of the Dutch Republic. Imagine this is the winter of 1642; narrow windows filter the pale northern light into the vaulted chambers. Stone floors echo with quiet footsteps. The thick oak doors are shut, but beyond them, the...
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How a dinnerless palace ended a colonial reign
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was the spring of 1642, and the corridors of the Dutch West India Company headquarters were quiet, dimly lit by daylight slanting through small windows, the air heavy with the scent of parchment and pipe smoke. Behind closed doors, a handful of directors, merchants,...
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Tension at the top: From Fort Maurits to the heart of a colonial power struggle
Teotônio Vilela, Brazil. Stand on the windswept grounds of Fort Maurits today, near the banks of the São Francisco River in northeastern Brazil, and it’s hard to imagine the colonial drama that once unfolded here, where cannon fire echoed across the mangroves and Dutch banners flew over newly...
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What if the Dutch had stayed?
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. We are at Praça do Córrego da Batalha, in the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes. A córrego is a brook, or stream. The square marks the beginning of an avenue also called Córrego da Batalha, as well as the ascent to the Guararapes Hills. Everything in the...
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Slave-Smuggling, Power, and the Humanist Prince of Dutch Brazil
Cidade Velha, Cabo Verde. We’re at the pelourinho in Cidade Velha, in the south of the island of Santiago, in Cape Verde. The historic centre of Cidade Velha is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town of Ribeira Grande, renamed Cidade Velha, ‘Old Town’, in the late 18th century, was the first...
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How Livorno’s Jews Quietly Shaped Dutch Brazil
Livorno, Italy. We’re standing in front of the new synagogue of Livorno. It was completed in 1962, just around the corner from where the old synagogue used to stand, which was destroyed during World War 2. That synagogue was originally built in 1607, when it became the central place of worship…
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From monopoly to compromise
Bergen, The Netherlands. We’re at the former offices of the Noorderkwartier, one of the chambers of the Dutch West India Company, in Hoorn. In the 17th century, its officers were swayed by anonymous pamphlets attempting to influence policy on trade with Brazil.
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The Poti: Catholics and Calvinists
Pedro Régis, Brazil. It's true that the Paraíba coast is one of the most popular destinations for tourism in Brazil. There are many beautiful beaches along the coast of Paraíba, one of which is where we are now, the beach called Baía da Traição. Today, the warm sea and long stretch of sand...
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A Dutch Amazon
We are on the banks of the Xingu River, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. When we think of the Dutch occupation of Brazil in the 17th century, we usually think of the Brazilian north-east, where the invaders financed by the Dutch West India Company stayed for 24 years, but they also came to...
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Becoming part of the lexicon
Recife, Brazil. We stand here before the statue of the goddess Athena, or, if you’re more Roman inclined, Minerva, at the head of the Maurício de Nassau Bridge, in Recife. The goddess of wisdom, the arts, and strategy arrived here in 1917 as part of a major urban reform. Recife wanted to present...
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The spectacle
The Hague, The Netherlands. The German John Maurice de Nassau-Siegen enlisted in the Dutch army at the tender age of 16. Though from a respectable family with royal connections, his father had spent most of his resources supporting the Dutch independence war against Spain, which meant that for...
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A good trade
Middelburg, The Netherlands. We’re in the town of Middelburg, at the location of the West India house, once the home of the offices of the Zeeland chamber of the Dutch West India Company. The current building houses a fancy stroopwafel store.
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The German polymath
Cape Town, South Africa. The term ‘polymath’ dates back to at least 1603, when it was first used in the title of a published work, by the German Johann van Wowern. He defined polymathy as "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... ranging freely through all the fields of…
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The department of government expansion
Venice, Italy. 17th century Europeans, specifically the capitalist elite, were recognizably cosmopolitan. They moved between countries, had commercial fingers in international pies, and exploited the imperial periphery for the good of their people, but mostly for the good of themselves.
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Death of a prince
Kranenburg, Germany. We’re standing in front of the tomb of John Maurice de Nassau-Siegen. We’re in the village of Hau, on the border of Kleve, and just a few kilometers away from the border with the Netherlands. John Maurice de Nassau’s life story is not quite one from rags to riches, but it’s...
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Nassau in love
Kranenburg, Germany. This lovely wooded area here in Kleve, was home to the Prinzenhof, the Prince’s Court. Built for John Maurice de Nassau Siegen in the second half of the 17th century, it was badly damaged during the Second World War, before being demolished, though the associated gardens remain.
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Introducing the Pre-Adamites
Albany, United States. After the United States declared its independence from the United Kingdom on July 2, 1776, Albany became the capital of the state of New York the next year. The city had already been chartered, given official status as a city, in 1686, making it the oldest city in the…
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Dutch Brazil in academia
João Pessoa, Brazil. We find ourselves in front of the rectory of the Federal University of Paraíba, a public higher education institution in the north-east of Brazil, which will be 70 years old in 2025. From this campus in the capital João Pessoa, young researchers are conducting contemporary...
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To do battle
Recife, Brazil. If you're visiting the city of Recife and want to enjoy an urban landscape that combines modernity and tradition, an appropriate area to visit, is the neighbourhood of Casa Forte, in the northern part of the city, where you'll find this beautiful square with the same name…
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Selective memories
The Hague, The Netherlands. The Dutch colonial past in Brazil, spanning from 1630 to 1654, is a subject of extensive documentation, yet its significance is perceived differently in Dutch and Brazilian historiographies. The Dutch National Archives, located in The Hague, and where we find ourselves...
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Memories of the Dutch
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. We are now at the Ricardo Brennand Institute, located in the Várzea neighbourhood in Recife. This space occupies an area of approximately 80000 square metres, is home to a sculpture park, an art gallery, and a museum. Inaugurated in 2002 to simulate a large…
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The man with the wooden leg
São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe. One of the earliest documented pirates to use a wooden peg leg was Cornelis Jol. Technically, Jol was an admiral in the Dutch West India Company, which highlights the dualist nature of particularly the earlier Dutch colonial adventure, as Jol’s specialty was…
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The colonial governor who ‘went native’
Bartica, Guyana. Jan van der Goes was one of the commanders sent by the Zeeland chamber of the West India Company to the colony of Isekepe, or Essequibo, which he governed for around 12 years, from 1626 onwards, from the relative comfort of Fort Kyk-Over-Al, Dutch for ‘overseeing everything’, on…
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The role of women in Dutch Brazil
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. We are at Monte das Tabocas, in the municipality of Vitória de Santo Antão, in the Metropolitan Region of Recife. Here, on August 3, 1645, the Battle of Tabocas was fought, the first armed conflict between the Portuguese and the Dutch, which culminated in the...
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The army remembers
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. The expulsion of the Dutch from the Northeast of Brazil, after 24 years of occupation, from 1630 to 1654, fuels all sorts of myths in the national imagination. There are those who worship the Dutch, and in particular the Dutch governor-general between 1637 and…
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Same same, but different
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. On the site of the two decisive battles between the Portuguese and the Dutch, the so-called Guararapes Battles, in 1648 and 1649, we find the church we see here. A tribute to the victory of the Portuguese-Brazilians, dedicated to Our Lady of Joy.
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Playing with blocks
Recife, Brazil. We find ourselves in front of the Santa Isabel Theatre, in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood, in the centre of Recife. Inaugurated in 1850, it was named in honour of Princess Isabel, daughter of the second and last Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II, who reigned between 1840 and 1889,...
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Just the facts, ma’am
Recife, Brazil. During the period in which the Dutch West India Company colonised territories in the north-east of Brazil on behalf of the Dutch government, a large volume of reports, letters, notices, laws, petitions, and other documents were produced, and sent back and forth between Holland and...
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Becoming governor of Dutch Brazil
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We’re standing in front of the home of Albert Coenraetszoon Burgh, who was essential in the appointment of John Maurice de Nassau-Siegen as governor-general of Dutch Brazil.
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To colonize, or be colonized
Ludwigsbrunn, Germany. John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, was born on June 17, 1604, in Dillenburg. Today, Dillenburg is in Germany, but at the time of Maurice’s birth, it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which saw itself as the natural successor to Rome, and, at its height, covered a land...
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Resilience as strategy
Pedro Régis, Brazil. We are in Potiguara indigenous territory, in front of the headquarters of the Potiguara Indigenous Cultural Association Toré Forte, in Baía da Traição, on the coast of the state of Paraíba. The group has inhabited the coast of north-eastern Brazil at least since the arrival…
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A novel set in Maurice’s Recife
Recife, Brazil. We are in the Bairro do Recife, in the centre of the capital of the state of Pernambuco. This area was once known by another name: During part of the 17th century, this was Mauritius. The name was bestowed by Governor Maurice de Nassau, who administered Dutch Brazil between 1637…
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370 years since the Dutch surrender
Recife, Brazil. We're at the Pernambuco State Museum (MEPE), located in the Graças neighbourhood, in Recife's North Zone. It was founded in 1930 and has a collection of over 12000 items. In August and September 2024, MEPE hosted the exhibition 1654 - 370 Years of the Dutch Surrender in Pernambuco.
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The Dutch woman annoying Dutch men
Recife, Brazil. We are in the Port of Recife, where the Dutch woman Sara Hendricx landed in 1637. She arrived in Brazil dressed as a man on a ship belonging to the Dutch West India Company, the private company that explored possessions in America and Africa on behalf of the Dutch State in the…
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Sins beneath the equator
Tamandaré, Brazil. We’re in the tiny town of Porto Calvo, the oldest parish in the state of Alagoas. The Portuguese expelled the original population from the area in the 16th century, and started cultivating sugarcane. Then, in 1609, its most famous son, and perhaps Brazil’s most famous traitor,...
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Resistance is not futile
Recife, Brazil. We stand in front of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, in the neighborhood of Apipucos, north of Recife. The little church is worth a visit, but we're here because on this very land, in the 17th century, Jerônima de Almeida, a remarkable woman, ran a sugar mill, while pushing…
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The Flemish play Brazilian football
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is host to 4 major soccer clubs, but the most successful club of the city, in fact the most popular soccer club in the country, with some 22% of the Brazilian population a fan, is Flamengo. Flamengo was founded in 1895, first as a rowing club, and it took...
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The great facade
Recife, Brazil. Even today, in the 21st century, many of Brazil's politicians continue to make decisions that determine the future of the country from offices located in palaces built by colonisers. The governor of Pernambuco, for example, runs the state from the Palácio do Campo das Princesas, a...