History books traditionally depict the pre-Columbus Americas as a pristine wilderness where small native villages lived in harmony with nature.But scientific evidence tells a very different story: When Columbus stepped ashore in 1492, millions of people were already living there. America wasn’t exactly a New World, but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities,
Taking Control Vladimir Putin, after eight years as president of Russia and four more as prime minister, is stubbornly holding onto power. He has announced his intention to return as president and declared his party the winner in parliamentary elections that are widely seen as fraudulent. In Moscow 100,000 protesters have taken to the streets in the largest demonstrations since Putin took office.
Throughout history, the most harrowing stories of human survival--like that of the Donner Party in the 1840s--have involved people whose only means of staying alive was to cannibalize the deceased around them. On Friday the 13th of October, 1972, just such a story began when a charter plane carrying 45 rugby team members crashed in the remote Andes Mountains. For 72 days, the world thought they we
In May 2007, Odyssey announced the discovery of the "Black Swan," a Colonial period site located in the Atlantic Ocean. Yielding over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts, it is believed that this recovery constitutes the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a deep-ocean site. Odyssey Marine Exploration has completed
The 900-day siege of Leningrad created heroes as well as victims, and gave the city a taste for independence. Dr John Barber relives the city’s struggle, and explains why Stalin felt so threatened by the former capital that he purged 2,000 of its inhabitants.Stalin was always suspicious of Russia’s former capital. Its huge cultural, scientific and economic importance, its historical role as t
Since being unearthed in 1974, experts have attempted to resolve an enduring enigma about one of archaeology’s greatest finds. Now, with the help of 21st century technology, the once mighty army with its life size warriors rises from the dust of two millennia.The Terracotta Army (literally “soldier and horse funerary statues”) or the “Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses”, is a collection of terrac
What does it take to build a car that can go from zero to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and hit a top speed of 211 mph?National Geographic heads to the small farming community in Italy that is home to the main factory for the Lamborghini Murcielago SV to find out.See how a workforce of 130 people makes the Murcielago’s lightweight carbon fiber frame and a 640-horsepower V-12 engine.Much of the work
For most Americans this is entirely new history. Slavery by Another Name gives voice to the largely forgotten victims and perpetrators of forced labor and features their descendants living today.Slavery by Another Name is a 90-minute documentary that challenges one of Americans’ most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.The fil
National Geographic goes on a fun and fascinating adventure that would be the envy of any kid in the world inside the Lego factory in Billund, Denmark.The Documentary covers many aspects of the production of the ubiquitous plastic blocks including the design team coming up with ideas on how the classic City Police Station set should be revamped and how the ‘Concept Factory’ began to combine the