Wildlife Takeover: How Animals Reclaimed Chernobyl | Wildlife Documentary Where humans move out, wildlife moves in… What would happen if the world were suddenly without people – if humans vanished off the face of the earth? How would nature react - and how swiftly? On the edge of Europe, a deserted location reveals the surprising answer. An abandoned village can change in a very short time into a sanctuary for plants, birds and animals. Shy and rare species, some thought to be on the brink of extinction are found in robust good health. This is Chernobyl, deserted by people after the worst nuclear disaster in history and now reclaimed by a remarkable collection of wildlife and the descendents of pets that were left in the city when the people went away. This film unmasks the surprising faces of the new inhabitants. In houses where people once lived and laughed, unexpected wildlife is making itself at home. The adventures of a likeable cast of non-human characters give viewers a rare glimpse into an alternative world. Here wild animals face challenges in an environment totally outside their experience, while once-domestic species must rediscover their wild natures within. Where is this place of abandonment and sanctuary? The location is well known and draws a cloud of uncertainty over the future for these animal characters.

Secrets of the Ancient Empires - The First Beliefs (History Documentary)

Many anthropologists report that in some ancient cultures gods were involved in every aspect of life - if a cow goes dry, a god has caused this, and must be pleased, when the sun rises in the morning, a god has caused this, and must be thanked. Even in modern Western cultures, many people see supernatural forces behind every event.

Religions each have identifiable and exclusive sets of beliefs or creeds, an example, the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church, both consider themselves to be the true heir to the Early Christian beliefs and practices.

Surveys of religious believers have often found that the official doctrine and descriptions of the beliefs offered by religious authorities do not always agree with the privately held beliefs of those who identify as members of a particular religion.

The Liberators of Bulgaria (Documentary)

This is a story of forgotten heroes - of Emperors, war correspondents and ordinary people. The film takes us back to 19th century Europe. It tells about the role of the American journalist Januarius MacGahan who was the word, and of Russian Emperor Alexander II, who was the sword of the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 from the Ottoman bondage. MacGahan, an accredited and well respected 19th century war correspondent is a part of an international committee, headed by the American diplomat Eugene Schuyler and specially formed to visit the sites of massacres over civil population in the Bulgarian lands of the Ottoman. The year is 1876, when Bulgarians are still heavily suppressed, yearning for freedom and education and have made an attempt to proclaim their Independence by organizing uprisings. At that time the Ottoman Empire tries to cover the traces of brutality, and sets a total censorship on international correspondence as well as full control over the press and the telegraph. However, the reports on the atrocities, or as they are called, "Letters from Hell" reach the British press, exposing the real number of victims and the extent of violence. The articles, published in the London Paper Daily News caused huge response from the public, raised the awareness of the Western society and Russia, and by sequence of events lead to the Liberation and the Independence of Bulgaria in March 1878. As a military correspondent, MacGahan was reporting the war, but died infected from typhus, after trying to save his friend. The story of Januarius MacGahan has a transcendental message about the power of truth and the importance of individual decision making within a complex geopolitical, social and economic set of circumstances. It shows that pure journalism, teamed with responsible governance has the power to influence the turn of history, while serving people's generic search for peace and freedom. The film was produced with the kind collaboration of the American Embassy in Bulgaria, Office of Governor Ted Strickland, as well as the great help of the residents of New Lexington, Ohio.

Director Plamen Petkov  Producer KOTRAG Productions Ltd. & Miroslava ParsonsEditing

Director Assen Tassev Camera Tsvetomir Mihaylov Music Ivan Lechev

THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN Part 5

A documentary on the 900 year history of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, has a two-fold nature. It is one of the most ancient religious Catholic Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048. The order has always been recognized by nations as independent and only subject to international law. The order maintains armed forces and is ruled by a prince. The order also maintains medical staff around the World including the USA to provide free health care and humanitarian aid to poor people of all religious faiths.

THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN Part 4

A documentary on the 900 year history of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, has a two-fold nature. It is one of the most ancient religious Catholic Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048.

The order has always been recognized by nations as independent and only subject to international law. The order maintains armed forces and is ruled by a prince. The order also maintains medical staff around the World including the USA to provide free health care and humanitarian aid to poor people of all religious faiths.

THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN Part 3

A documentary on the 900 year history of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, has a two-fold nature. It is one of the most ancient religious Catholic Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048.

The order has always been recognized by nations as independent and only subject to international law. The order maintains armed forces and is ruled by a prince. The order also maintains medical staff around the World including the USA to provide free health care and humanitarian aid to poor people of all religious faiths.

KNIGHTS OF Malta order of ST JOHN Part 2 

A documentary on the 900 year history of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, has a two-fold nature. It is one of the most ancient religious Catholic Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048.

The order has always been recognized by nations as independent and only subject to international law. The order maintains armed forces and is ruled by a prince. The order also maintains medical staff around the World including the USA to provide free health care and humanitarian aid to poor people of all religious faiths.

David Anthony, Wheeled vehicles, horses, and Indo-European originsPaper presented at the seminar "Tracing the Indo-Europeans: Origin and migration", organized by Roots of Europe - Language, Culture, and Migrations, University of Copenhagen, 12-14 December 2012

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language:
How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes
Shaped the Modern World

The exhibition Secrets of the Silk Road explores the history of the vast desert landscape of the Tarim Basin, located in Western China, and the mystery of the peoples who lived there. Located at the crossroads between East and West, oasis towns within the Tarim Basin were key way stations for anyone traveling on the legendary Silk Road. Extraordinarily well-preserved human remains found at these sites reveal ancient people of unknown descent. Caucasian in appearance, these mummies challenge long-held beliefs about the history of the area, and early human migration. The material excavated suggests the area was active for thousands of years, with diverse languages, lifestyles, religions, and cultures present. This exhibit provides a chance to investigate this captivating material to begin to uncover some of the secrets of the Silk Road. Dr Victor H. Mair, Curatorial Consultant for "Secrets of the Silk Road," and co-author, The Tarim Mummies, discusses the ongoing discovery of these extraordinary mummies, what we have learned-and what remains to be uncovered.

David W. Anthony, Professor of Anthropology and Anthropology Curator of the Yager Museum of Art and Culture at Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, presents "Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes" at the Penn Museum's symposium "Reconfiguring the Silk Road: New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity."

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language:
How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes
Shaped the Modern World

This documentary traces the Ottoman Empire from its beginnings in the 14th century to its incarnation as one of the largest empires in history, spanning three continents.Ottoman Empire: The War Machine is a documentary on the six century reign of the Ottoman Empire.

Noah's Ark (Hebrew: ???? ???; Biblical Hebrew: Teyvat Noa?) is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative (Genesis chapters 6–9) by which the Patriarch Noah saves himself, his family, and a remnant of all the world's animals when God decides to destroy the world because of mankind's evil deeds God gives Noah detailed instructions for building the ark: it is to be of gopher wood, smeared inside and out with pitch, with three decks and internal compartments; it will be 300 cubits long, 50 wide, and 30 high; it will have a roof "finished to a cubit upward", and an entrance on the side.
The Hebrew word for the ark is teba. It occurs only twice in the entire bible, here and in the Book of Exodus, where it is used for the basket in which the infant Moses is placed by his mother. (The word for the ark of the covenant is quite different in Hebrew). In both cases, therefore, teba has a connection with salvation from waters. The etymology of the term is unclear, but most scholars connect it with an Egyptian word meaning a chest, box or coffin. It is made of "gopher" wood, a word appears only here in the entire bible, and is divided into qinnim, a word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere, leading some scholars to amend this to qanim, reeds, the material used for the boat of Atrahasis, the Babylonian flood-hero. Noah is instructed to kapar (smear) the ark with koper (pitch): in Hebrew the first of these words is a verb formed from the second, and this is the only place in the bible where "koper" means "pitch". God spells out to Noah the dimensions of the ark, 300 cubits by 50 by 30, approximately 137 by 23 by 14 meters (440 feet long, 73 feet wide, and 43 feet high), with three internal divisions (which are not actually called "decks", although presumably this is what is intended), a door in the side, and a sohar, which may be either a roof or a skylight.

The story of the flood is closely connected with the story of the creation, a cycle of creation, un-creation, and re-creation, in which the ark plays a pivotal role. The universe as conceived by the ancient Hebrews was made up of a flat disk-shaped habitable earth with the heavens above and Sheol, the underworld of the dead, below. These three were surrounded by a watery "ocean" of chaos, protected by the firmament, a transparent but solid dome resting on the mountains which ringed the earth. Noah's three-deck ark represents this three-level Hebrew cosmos in miniature: the heavens, the earth, and the waters beneath. In Genesis 1, God created the three-level world as a space in the midst of the waters for mankind; in Genesis 6-8 (the flood story) he fills that space with waters again, saving only Noah, his family and the animals with him in the ark.

The parallels - both similarities and differences - between Noah's ship and that of the Babylonian flood hero Atrahasis have often been noted. Noah's is a rectangle, while Atrahasis was instructed to build his in the form of a cube; Atrahasis has seven decks with nine compartments on each level, Noah has three decks, but is not given any instructions on the number of compartments. The word used for "pitch" is not the normal Hebrew word but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story.

It's one of the greatest stories ever told. The legend of Helen of Troy has enchanted audiences for the last three thousand years. But is there any reality to the myth? Horizon has unprecedented access to the scientist with the answers.Since 1988 Professor Manfred Korfmann has been excavating the site of Troy. He has never before spoken at this length. He has made amazing discoveries - how large the city was, how well it was defended and, crucially, that there was once a great battle there at precisely the time that experts believe the Trojan war occurred.But who had attacked the city and why?Horizon then follows a trail of clues - the ancient tablets written by a lost civilisation, the sunken ship rich in treasure, and the magnificent golden masks and bronze swords of a warrior people. The film reaches its climax in a tunnel deep beneath Troy, where Korfmann has made a discovery that may reveal, once and for all, the truth behind the myth.The story that emerges is one of great passion - but not, it seems, about love.

The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolings, or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian" (Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling, meaning "descendant of Charles", cf. MHG kerlinc) derives from the Latinised name of Charles Martel: Carolus. The family consolidated its power in the late 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the throne.

By 751, the Merovingian dynasty, which until then had ruled the Franks by right, was deprived of this right with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and a Carolingian, Pepin the Short, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first emperor in the west in over three centuries. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the territories of France and Germany.

The area that was eventually to become known as France, however, grew in prosperity under the Carolingian Period due to economic activity brought on by greater international trade.

Qin Shi Huang 259 BC -- 210 BC. was the king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC, during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC He ruled until his death in 210 BC at the age of 49. Calling himself the First Emperor after China's unification, Qín Sh? Huáng is a pivotal figure in Chinese history, ushering in nearly two millennia of imperial rule. After unifying China, he and his chief advisor Li Si passed a series of major economic and political reforms. He undertook gigantic projects, including building and unifying various sections of the Great Wall of China, the now famous city-sized mausoleum guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army, and a massive national road system.

BBC and A&E Myth of the Spanish Inquisition.

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española), was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval Inquisition which was under Papal control. The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave.

Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to fund the Inquisition such as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.

The body was under the direct control of the Spanish monarchy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, though it had ceased effective operation sometime earlier after a long decline.

Babylon [from the Akkadian b?b-ilû, meaning "Gateway of God"] was a city of ancient Mesopotamia, the ruins of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad, in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The earliest source to mention Babylon may be a dated tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad (ca. 24th century BC short chronology). The so-called "Weidner Chronicle" states that it was Sargon himself who built Babylon "in front of Akkad"

The Eastern Canaan Amorites conquered and settled in Babylon, making it their capital in 1959 BC. From there, the old Babylonian Kingdom was born. The Kingdom then expanded into a mighty Mesopotamian Empire under the rule of its famous king: Hammurabi, sometime in the 18th century BC.
At that time, Babylon flourished and became the cultural and economical capital of the entire Fertile Crescent. It also became the seat of the renown Code of Hammurabi, the first code of law in Human History.

It was the "holy city" of Babylonia approximately 2300 BC, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from ca. 1770 to 1670 BC, and again between ca. 612 and 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.
It is recorded that Babylon's legal system developed a form of negligence law, and Babylon was probably the first culture to develop negligence law. In the common law world, the law of negligence was not fully rediscovered until the 20th century.

The video is a slideshow of pictures, mostly paintings, depicting the city of Babylon.
Some even show an exaggeratively tall Tower of Babel.

While the Tower of Babel is considered fictional by some, many notable scholars say that it has been influenced by an actual ziggurat: the Etemenanki, built by the 6th century BC Neo-Babylonian dynasty rulers Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II.

History channel 2006 Leif and his crew travelled from Greenland to Norway in 999, and after being blown off course to the Hebrides where they stayed for much of the summer, Leif arrived in Norway where he became a hirdman of King Olaf Tryggvason. Leif also converted to Christianity, and was given the mission of introducing the religion to Greenland. The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, both thought to have been written around 1200, contain different accounts of the voyages to Vinland. The two only known strictly historical mentions of Vinland are found in the work of Adam of Bremen c. 1075 and in the Book of Icelanders compiled c. 1122 by Ari the Wise. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif apparently saw Vinland for the first time after being blown off course on his way to introduce Christianity to Greenland. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Leif had heard the story of merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson who claimed to have sighted land to the west of Greenland after having been blown off course. Leif in turn approached Bjarni and bought his ship, gathered a crew of thirty-five men, and mounted an expedition towards the land Bjarni had described. Leif's father Erik was set to join him, but dropped out after he fell from his horse on his way to set sail, an incident he interpreted as a bad omen. Leif followed Bjarni's route in reverse, and landed first in a rocky and desolate place he named Helluland (Flat-Rock Land; possibly Baffin Island). After venturing further by sea, he landed the second time in a forested place he named Markland (Forest Land; possibly Labrador). Finally, after two more days at sea, he landed in a place Leif named Vinland (Wineland). There, Leif and his crew built a small settlement which was called Leifsbúdir (Leif's Booths) by later visitors from Greenland. After having wintered over in Vinland, Leif returned with a cargo loaded with grapes and timber to Greenland in the spring. On the return voyage, Leif rescued an Icelandic castaway and his crew, an incident that earned Leif the nickname "Leif the Lucky". Modern recreation of the Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows. Research done in the early 1960s by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad, and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, identified a Norse settlement located at the northern tip of Newfoundland. Known as L'Anse aux Meadows, it has been suggested to be one of Leif's settlements, particularly the Leifsbúdir settlement. It was their work that found definite proof that Norsemen had reached America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Later archaeological evidence suggest that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station and waypoint for voyages there. That does not necessarily contradict the identification of L'Anse aux Meadows with Leifsbúdir, as the two sagas appear to describe Vinland as a wider region which included several settlements. The Saga of Erik the Red mention two other sites in Vinland; a settlement called Straumfjord in the north, and one called Hóp in the south.

He was one of history's shrewdest military minds, a human chameleon who combined brutality with personal charm. Latest underwater forensic techniques reveal the truth about history's most notorious pirate, Sir Henry Morgan. Three years into his quest to find the real Henry Morgan, salvage specialist Klaus Keppler made a sensational discovery -- battleships from Sir Henry's time, the 1660s. The ships were lying in only 5 meters of water in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Haiti, all accessible and perfectly preserved. We join Keppler and his team as they scour the ocean floor and unlock the secrets behind history's most notorious pirate. Lovable rogue, brutal mercenary, successful businessman, alcoholic and loyal servant of the British Crown, The Real Henry Morgan tells a tale that puts 'Treasure Island' to shame

Jamaica - Pirate Sin City explores the history and fate of the notorious port, then slips beneath the waves for a look at the remains of the city. Hear from world-famous marine archaeologist Bob Marx, who has been diving on the sunken city since 1965. Donnie Hamilton, who conducted key expeditions in the mid-1980s, explains how recovered artifacts are used to help reconstruct what life was like in Port Royal during its heyday. And get an up-close look at the ongoing search to find the remains of the Ranger, Black Bart's ship.

In the late seventeenth century it was known as "the wickedest city on earth." A haven for adventurers, sailors and pirates--including the infamous Captain Morgan Port Royal, Jamaica was the second largest port in the New World. But on June 7, 1692, an earthquake and tidal wave shook the city of 8,000 residents, and the delicate spit of land on which it was built sank beneath the Caribbean. But the natural disaster that spelled an end to Port Royal was a godsend for modern archaeologists.