CNN Perspectives - Millennium A Thousand Years of History (1999) Part 2 The Twelfth Century Century of the Axe

Join CNN's MILLENNIUM for a panoramic sweep over the last 1,000 years, watching the people, events and achievements that shaped the world. The 10, one-hour episodes of MILLENNIUM are extraordinary in their range of vision and compelling in their presentation. Yet MILLENNIUM is neither chronological nor all-encompassing. Instead, it is eclectic, a pastiche of things great–or small–that sculpted the world. Each of the 10 episodes of MILLENNIUM focuses on a single century, brought to life by five vignettes from five different locations worldwide. Inspired by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's book, “Millennium,” and filmed in 28 countries, the series is as geographically far-ranging as the world it covers. Its producers and crews spent more than two years and traveled 100,000 miles gathering footage. MILLENNIUM reconstructs the visual images of past ages using this footage, along with vivid re-enactments and computer-generated graphic animation.

Part 2 The Twelfth Century Century of the Axe

All over the world people challenged nature and a century of ambitious building began. At Pueblo Bonito, in the American Southwest, a monumental city rose from the desert. Vast new churches arose all over Northern Europe to celebrate God's glory through Gothic architecture. Spectacular Christian churches were carved out of solid rock in Ethiopia to establish the power of King Lalibela. New cities produced a new way of life in Italy. Citizens gave themselves charters, established their rights, and declared themselves independent republics. Not everyone built. Nomadic tribes such as the Australian aborigines continued to flourish by hunting, gathering and honoring the land.

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