The Maya Civilization

In Our Time: History

03/10/16

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46m

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Maya Civilization, developed by the Maya people, which flourished in central America from around 250 AD in great cities such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal with advances in mathematics, architecture and astronomy. Long before the Spanish Conquest in the 16th Century, major cities had been abandoned for reasons unknown, although there are many theories including overpopulation and changing climate. The hundreds of Maya sites across Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico raise intriguing questions about one of the world's great pre-industrial civilizations.

With

Elizabeth Graham Professor of Mesoamerican Archaeology at University College London

Matthew Restall Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Latin American History and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University

And

Benjamin Vis Eastern ARC Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Previous Episode

The Dutch East India Company

March 3, 2016

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46m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC, known in English as the Dutch East India Company. The VOC dominated the spice trade between Asia and Europe for two hundred years, with the British East India Company a distant second. At its peak, the VOC had a virtual monopoly on nutmeg, mace, cloves and cinnamon, displacing the Portuguese and excluding the British, and were the only European traders allowed access to Japan. With Anne Goldgar Reader in Early Modern European History at King's College London Chris Nierstrasz Lecturer in Global History at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, formerly at the University of Warwick And Helen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Next Episode

Bedlam

March 17, 2016

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46m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the early years of Bedlam, the name commonly used for the London hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem outside Bishopsgate, described in 1450 by the Lord Mayor of London as a place where may "be found many men that be fallen out of their wit. And full honestly they be kept in that place; and some be restored onto their wit and health again. And some be abiding therein for ever." As Bethlem, or Bedlam, it became a tourist attraction in the 17th Century at its new site in Moorfields and, for its relatively small size, made a significant impression on public attitudes to mental illness. The illustration, above, is from the eighth and final part of Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress' (1732-3), where Bedlam is the last stage in the decline and fall of a young spendthrift,Tom Rakewell.

With

Hilary Marland Professor of History at the University of Warwick

Justin Champion Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London and President of the Historical Association

And

Jonathan Andrews Reader in the History of Psychiatry at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.