History In Five Minutes Podcast

What would have happened if China discovered America before Europe? More importantly, what would have happened if it colonized America? We can't know, but what we do know is that China discovered much of the world at the high of its naval power 600 years, a full century before Europe. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 59

Marco Polo is more than a game you play at the YMCA pool -- he spent 20 years traveling throughout the farthest domains of the Mongolian Empire, wrote a best-selling travel account, and permanently altered Europe's mental map of the world. Find out in this episode how he helped usher in the Age of Exploration two centuries later. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 58 (PDF)

We all know that the Dark Ages in Europe began after the fall of Rome and continued until the Renaissance in the 1400-1500s. But what if what we all know is all wrong? Find out when, how, and why the European dark ages began, and why it was much different than we expect, and much shorter than we think. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 57 (PDF)

England fell apart in the fourth century after the Roman withdrawal and the Anglo-Saxon invasion. They managed to put the pieces back together four hundred years later. Who helped them? Believe it or not, the Irish! Click here to read Thomas Cahill's book on this top, "How the Irish Saved Civilization." Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 56 (PDF)

Did you know there was a Dark Ages before the Dark Ages? There was such an event in 1177 BC, and it was so monumental that it inspired Homer's 'The Iliad' Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes Click here to check out Eric Cline's book "1177: The Year Civilization Collapsed" TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 55 (PDF)

Did all Americans fight for the cause of liberty in the American Revolution, or was it a war of few, or even the 1%. In other words, did the common man really care whether they were a British subject? Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes Recommended Resources:  John Adams HBO miniseries on DVD. This miniseries does a great job of depicting all the differing ideologies that made the Revolutionary War and the creation of the United States such a difficult task. TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 54 (PDF)

The Mediterranean Sea did far more to connect people in history than it did to separate them. After all, they were united by olive oil, wine, and plenty of piracy. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 53 (PDF)

When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they did not assimilate into the culture quickly. In fact, becoming fluent in the language took the kings and aristocracy nearly 400 years! What kept them so stuck in their old customs, and what caused them to finally learn English? Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 52 (PDF)

In this third part of our series on history's greatest alchemists, we step out of Europe and the Middle East and explore the life of Ge Hong, a government official best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and attempts at immortality. Did he stumble onto the recipe for limitless life? Check out Travis' History of Alchemy Podcast by clicking here.  Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 51 (PDF)

The foremost intellectual in the medieval Islamic world was a theologian, juristic, mystic, and philosophy. He wrote a landmark treatise in which he attempted to construct a unified explanation of human knowledge. But what was the branch of knowledge that he thought tied in all the sciences together? Alchemy, of course! Check out Travis' History of Alchemy Podcast by clicking here.  Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 50 (PDF)

Think that Isaac Newton was only interested in advancing science and banishing all forms of superstition or empirical research? Think again! Find out how the father of modern physics and mathematics spent far more of his time attempting to unlock the secrets of transmuting base metals into gold and figuring out the date for the end of the world. Check out Travis' History of Alchemy Podcast by clicking here.  Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 49

Archeologists have discovered hundreds of remains of ancient cultures who arrived at America centuries before Columbus, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Chinese, and Polynesians. But who came first, and why didn't they stay? Find out in these week's podcast episode! Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 48 (PDF)

Did slaves actually build Egypt's pyramids or was it really the work of aliens, as the History Channel and wild-haired conspiracy theorists suggest? We hoped for the latter but found it to be the former. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 47 (PDF)

Is there any good reason to believe that an advanced society that existed 11,000 years ago really exist, or do we have to take Plato's word for it? Find out today in this episode. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 46 (PDF)

How did this fake document that was printed in 1897 in Russia and stuffed full of wild conspiracy theories against the Jews end up responsible for anti-semitism in the 20th century, the rise of the Nazi Party, and possibly the Holocaust? Find out in this week's episode, and why the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is sadly influential to this day. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 45 (PDF)

How did an anonymous medieval clergyman try to forge a letter from Emperor Constantine to Pope Sylvester justified all the land holdings of the Roman Catholic Church? Find out in this week's podcast. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 44 (PDF)

How did a Caribbean island of 3 million people manage to conquer the world with its popular culture? Author and podcaster Roifield Brown answers these questions in our latest podcast. Check out Royfield's podcast here.  Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 43 (PDF)

We all know that working conditions were far more terrible in the past than today. There were no rights for laborers, and people routinely dropped dead from their jobs. But is that truth or a myth? If we take a look at the average day of a medieval peasant, it is enough to make us jealous -- minus the bubonic plague, of course. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 42 (PDF)

Did everyone's favorite Renaissance inventor really only sleep 2 hours a day? If so, did anyone else in history do so? How is it possible without dying? We explore all this and more in today's episode. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 41 (PDF)

Why do old maps have enormous serpents, giant squids, Krakken, and other terrifying creatures drawn on its edges? Were the oceans infested with mythological creatures in the past, or is there another reason for their appearance? We find out in today's podcast. Click here to read more about this topic via an article from the Smithsonian, which inspired me to record this episode. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes TRANSCRIPT Click here to download the transcript to Episode 40 (PDF)