How The Ancient Silk Road Pioneered Globalization

NowThis World
Published on Feb 19, 2017

Vasco da Gama: Portuguese Explorer – Fast Facts | History

HISTORY
Published on Feb 8, 2016

Nobleman and explorer Vasco da Gama established a trade route that linked Portugal directly with the Indian spice market. Learn how he managed to sail around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in this video.

Thames Flood Barrier

Largest Dams
Published on Nov 27, 2013

The Thames Barrier is the world’s second-largest movable flood barrier (after the Oosterscheldekering in the Netherlands) and is located downstream of central London, United Kingdom. Operational since 1982, its purpose is to prevent the floodplain of all but the easternmost boroughs of Greater London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. When needed, it is closed (raised) during high tide; at low tide it can be opened to enhance the river’s flow towards the sea. Built approximately 3 km due east of the Isle of Dogs, its northern bank is in Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham and its southern bank is in the New Charlton area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The report of Sir Hermann Bondi on the North Sea flood of 1953 affecting parts of the Thames Estuary and parts of London was instrumental in the building of the barrier.

The Great Wall of Louisiana

Largest Dams
Published on Feb 1, 2016

The IHNC Lake Borgne Surge Barrier also called the Great Wall of Louisiana is a storm surge barrier constructed near the confluence of and across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet near New Orleans. The barrier runs generally north-south from a point just east of Michoud Canal on the north bank of the GIWW and just south of the existing Bayou Bienvenue flood control structure. Navigation gates where the barrier crosses the GIWW and Bayou Bienvenue reduce the risk of storm surge coming from Lake Borgne and/or the Gulf of Mexico. Another navigation gate (Seabrook Floodgate) has been constructed in the Seabrook vicinity where the IHNC meets Lake Pontchartrain to block a storm surge from entering the IHNC from the Lake.

Holland’s Barriers to The Sea

Largest Dams
Published on Apr 19, 2014

The Delta Works in the Netherlands (Holland) is the largest flood protection project in the world. This project consists of a number of surge barriers, for examples: 1- The Oosterscheldekering is the largest of the 13 ambitious Delta Works series of dams and storm surge barriers and it is the largest surge barrier in the world, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long. The dam is based on 65 concrete pillars with 62 steel doors, each 42 metres wide. It is designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea. 2- The Maeslantkering is a storm barrier with two movable arms; when the arms are open the waterway remains an important shipping route however when the arms close a protective storm barrier is formed for the city of Rotterdam. Closing the arms of the barrier is a completely automated process done without human intervention.

The Great Wall of Louisiana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xOWE…

What the lowlands can teach about warding off high water

PBS NewsHour

Published on Oct 29, 2013

Superstorm Sandy showed U.S. coastal cities the damage water can do — a threat the Dutch have lived with for centuries. Their system of dams and dikes, locks and levees is keeping the Netherlands safe in a world with rising seas. Miles O’Brien reports on what Americans can learn from the Dutch model of flood management.

The History of the Dutch Slave Trade 1600- 1863

Timescape Indonesia
Published on Jul 6, 2013

The colonial Dutch empire was one of the wealthiest European empires, with colonies in Aica, the America’s and the Dutch East indies (now Indonesia),much of this wealth came from piracy, slavery and smuggling in the early centuries of this vast empire. This short film primarily explores the Slave trade, which enriched an empire, and changed the social fabric of the nations which it traded with, forever. Explore the brief history of the Dutch slave trade, from its origins to the final end of a once lucrative trade.