Less than 200 Spaniards march into an encampment of over 80,000 Inca warriors. How will they play their cards, and what was Atahuallpa thinking?

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/iIHHigeQab8

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @richardlikeshistory

X: @Skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Human sacrifice in the Inca Empire

(1:57) The Conquistadors come to Cajamarca

(7:22) The two Hernandos meet Atahuallpa

(12:02) A plot is hatched

(13:51) Atahuallpa and his entourage come unarmed

(15:53) Atahuallpa meets the Bible

(19:01) Chaos and slaughter

Who really was the first circumnavigator of the globe? The name every child in the West knows is Magellan, but he died in the Philippines before making it back to Portugal. So who was it? Could it be that we never even knew his real name?

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/gyhXVEj4PxE

Please go and see Filipino director Lav Diaz's film 'Magellan' if you get the chance. My description of it really does it absolutely no justice. For reference, it has an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is almost certainly the most accurate portrayal of Magellan's life ever to take the screen. No English is spoken in the film. It's all in local Filipino and Indonesian languages, Portuguese, and Spanish, so it really feels like an authentic window into the past.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory

⁠X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) The spread of Islam

(3:48) The Straits of Malacca and the Spice Islands

(12:03) The Venetian Spice Monopoly

(14:42) The situation in Iberia

(15:41) Manuel I makes his gamble

(17:36) Enter Dom Afonso Albuquerque

(18:59) Enter Fernão de Magalhães

(20:01) Enter Enrique of Malacca

(21:02) Manuel I is having none of it

(21:57) Enter Don Carlos

(23:33) Magellan sets off

(24:31) The mystery of Tierra del Fuego

(25:35) Mutiny and the Pacific Voyage

(26:43) The Philippines

(31:26) The First Circumnavigator

Most people have no idea that China even had an empress. And what an empress she was. Wu Zetian was part Daenerys Targaryen, part Cersei Lannister - a dragon queen with a vicious streak, and an eye for capable advisers and good scholarship. Joining her in this episode is the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, whose journey from Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an) to the world-famous university of Nalanda (near Patna in India's northeast) in Wu's time was the stuff of legend.

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/VtrwvFUCLKY

Also, here is the link to the 'Empire' podcast's episode on Wu as well: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5iRb679pji7fXa9g93zoUF?si=ebBZCTt_SMSSjzhPERlIGw

Also, please check out Tristan G. Brown's lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dT8Wm5oI_oYou can tell just by looking at him on this video that this man goes to sleep every night knowing he is doing what he loves :)

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) The Dynasties of China

(3:07) Nalanda and the Buddhist Golden Age

(6:26) Buddhism in China

(9:10) Wu Zetian: China's Queen Cersei

(10:02) Xuanzang: the Traveller Monk

(17:34) Wu's early life

(20:57) Navigating the Emperor's death

(24:50) Cersei rears her head

(29:04) Wu at the top

(31:46) Wu's legacy

I'm very excited to present the first episode (PART 1/3) of a new mini-series! Strap yourselves in for some violence (TRIGGER WARNING), terrible human tragedy, and more treasure than you could ever imagine.

This is the tragic story of how European diseases crippled the Inca Empire before the conquistadors even set foot on their lands - meaning Francisco Pizarro was one lucky bastard.

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/atuUkFp5Sh8

Here is a also link to the first episode of the 'Fall of the Incas' series recorded a couple of years ago by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland on "The Rest is History". Listening to them inspired me to do my own version of this cataclysmic period.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6h0MXSTuQH5yPkSQSYo4CO?si=i-i7-nZcTN-96Dr5ObxT-g

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @richardlikeshistory

X: @Skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais ⁠

(0:00) Origins of the Inca

(7:54) What was Tawantinsuyu really like?

(11:54) European disease decimates America

(14:28) European malaria

(20:33) Smallpox: the wave of death

(24:24) Civil War ravages Tawantinsuyu

(29:58) Pizarro arrives in Peru

The curious story of how Madagascar came to be the centre of global vanilla production.

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/saMmAdQibuI

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Vanilla's origins

(2:31) Enter the French

(3:59) Origins of the Malagasy people

(4:34) The pollination problem

(5:13) Edmond Albius: the enslaved boy wonder

(7:25) Modern synthetic vanilla

You have probably used the phrase "draw a line in the sand" at least once in your life. This is the fascinating story of how this idiom came to enter the English language, with a healthy dose of treasure hunting and Spanish conquistadors to boot.

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/XDpn1D4-A9I

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Francisco Pizarro

(4:43) Charles I: The Big Boy in Europe

(7:12) Charles I has beef with everyone

(10:41) The Americas: Charles I's treasure chest

(13:24) Convincing Panama that the Incas are real

(16:14) Pizarro draws a line in the sand

Ever wonder how the Spanish Empire got so rich? Well, the truth is even more strange than you can imagine, and the answer isn't gold, but a different precious metal - one that inspired the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise, and cult classics in the West like 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (a particular childhood favourite of mine). Please share the podcast and subscribe if you enjoyed this one :) You can also find me under "Homo complexus" on YouTube and Apple Podcasts.

Here is the YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/QZab3OYqmIk

Please also have a look at Thomas Kole's breathtaking 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan here (you will be dumbstruck, I guarantee you): https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl/

For more on Hernán Cortés and his conquest of Tenochtitlan, tune in to the 8-part miniseries presented by "The Rest is History" podcast. First episode linked below :)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/31UJnWYKW4mDSULtKyQXOk?si=c353584694ad4fc6

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Cristóbal Colón

(5:01) Hernán Cortés

(10:50) Tenochtitlan

(15:40) Potosí: the silver mountain

(19:02) The Land of Silver

(EXTENDED VERSION)

In this opening episode, we will sweep through the mists of time, from Greece, to Rome, to Islam's Golden Age - which spanned a full six centuries from roughly 750 - 1350 AD. What would Europe look like today if it weren't for the treasure trove of knowledge housed in Baghdad in the 10th century? And, more importantly, how have we all been affected by the polymath geniuses of the Central Asian Steppe, like Ibn Sina, that the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad patronised? Leave your comments below. And please share the podcast and subscribe if you enjoy the episode :)

Here is the YouTube link for this episode as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Nqf7ovSm4

If anyone is super interested in this stuff go and read "The Golden Road" by William Dalrymple. It's such a good book. Dr. Roy Casagranda also has an excellent lecture on Ibn Sina here (all of Roy's stuff that I have seen so far is truly excellent, and free for us all to enjoy on the internet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8s_qxWcN9I

Also, here is further justification for why flattened maps suck and are actually deeply insidious in my opinion (since there is so much more land mass in the northern hemisphere, incidentally also where all major colonial powers come from): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIID5FDi2JQ&t=6s

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Intro to Ibn Sina

(1:23) Ancient Greece

(4:18) The Roman Empire

(6:48) The fall of Rome

(7:52) The Eastern Roman Empire

(10:40) Europe's Dark Age

(12:28) Ibn Sina: Europe's Saviour

(12:45) Flattened maps suck!

(14:00) Early Islam

(15:53) The Abbasids in Baghdad

(19:24) The Barmakids

(21:55) Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine

(26:44) Islamic Spain

(28:32) Michael Scot (not The Office)

(30:27) Final Ode to Ibn Sina

In this opening episode, we will sweep through the mists of time, from Greece, to Rome, to Islam's Golden Age - which spanned a full six centuries from roughly 750 - 1350 AD. What would Europe look like today if it weren't for the treasure trove of knowledge housed in Baghdad in the 10th century? And, more importantly, how have we all been affected by the polymath geniuses of the Central Asian Steppe, like Ibn Sina, that the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad patronised? Leave your comments below. And please share the podcast and subscribe if you enjoy the episode :)If anyone is super interested in this stuff go and read "The Golden Road" by William Dalrymple. It's such a good book. Dr. Roy Casagranda also has an excellent lecture on Ibn Sina here (all of Roy's stuff that I have seen so far is truly excellent, and free for us all to enjoy on the internet):    • The 1,000-year Legacy of Ibn Sina – Dr. Ro...  Also, here is further justification for why flattened maps suck and are actually deeply insidious in my opinion (since there is so much more land mass in the northern hemisphere, incidentally also where all major colonial powers come from):    • Why all world maps are wrong  

For a longer discussion on this topic, see the EXTENDED version of this episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PSlDB65VOJLfZrD613mZL?si=P0XtgootTgebgqCFRqqzzQ

(which is also on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Nqf7ovSm4)

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠

X: @skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais

My name is Richard, and I want history to be fun and interesting for everyone, because when told accurately, it is genuinely one of the most fascinating and deeply human topics that exist. Perhaps even the most.

Other places to find me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SapiensRichard

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homo-complexus/id1896160168

If you want to get in touch:

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @richardlikeshistory

X: @Skerkwagga1939

Produced by Richard Marais