CNN Perspectives - Millennium A Thousand Years of History (1999) Part 8 Eighteenth Century Century of the Furnace

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 8 The Eighteenth Century Century of the Furnace

This was a century in which revolutionary ideas ignited and transformed society. Western scientists undertook heroic expeditions to determine the shape of the world. People began to think about politics and society in new ways. Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt following rational and human ideals now known as Enlightenment. The American War and the French Revolution transformed Europe and North America. India's wealth of natural resources brought mass production of cotton, tea and silk but British Imperialism claimed her riches. China also prospered, colonizing new territories to the north and west.

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