Cities of the Underworld

In every major metropolis, skyscrapers loom above, taxis and vendors clamor at street level, and subways rumble below. But deeper beneath the hectic surface lie other, silent worlds, each with its own mysterious and fascinating history.

Cities of the Underworld peels away the layers of time-often literally hundreds of feet thick-to expose the incredible pasts lurking beneath some of the most populous cities on earth.

Throughout the world, cities such as Paris, New York, Rome and Shanghai all harbor long-submerged networks that once served crucial functions, from eerie catacombs to clandestine hideouts and ancient aqueducts to underground societies.

Cities of the Underworld examines these mysterious realms, from the technological feats of their construction and the myths and lore that have cloaked these subterranean marvels for centuries.
Featuring rare location hi-definition footage, The History Channel shows a world filled with mysteries and secrets just below the ground we walk on.

Watch over 20 hours without interruption below, or choose an episode from the play list.

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Manufactured Landscapes

Jennifer Baichwal's cameras follow Edward Burtynsky (1955- ) as he visits what he calls manufactured landscapes: slag heaps, e-waste dumps, huge factories in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of China, and a place in Bangladesh where ships are taken apart for recycling. In China, workers gather outside the factory, exhorted by their team leader to produce more and make fewer errors. A woman assembles a circuit breaker, and women and children are seen picking through debris or playing in it. Burtynsky concludes with a visit to Shanghai, the world's fastest growing city, where wealth and poverty, high-rises and old neighborhoods are side by side. Alt Link

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Lost in China: Silk Road

Nat Geo takes you down The Silk Road.

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Legacy: The Origins of Civilization

Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization - After thousands of years as a hunter/gatherer, man built the first cities 5,000 years ago on the banks of the Euphrates in Southern Iraq.

Civilization began. City life transformed the human race with the glorious cultures of Mesopotamia such as Ur and Babylon.



India: The Empire of the Spirit - Ancient India is with us today in the living tradition of the Hindu religion, the basis of Indian culture. The traditions that are honored by millions of Hindus in the present were born in the Indus valley 5,000 years ago.



China: The Mandate of Heaven - Many breakthroughs on which the modern world is based were discovered in China long ago - iron-casting, gunpowder, even printing. When introduced to Europe, these things changed Western civilization. This episode presents the synthesis of East and West.



Egypt: The Habit of Civilization - Ancient Egypt was the first great nation on earth and endured for thousands of years. The god-like Pharaoh was the rock on which this civilization was built. Ancient traditions come together in the Muslim culture that is the Middle East today.



Central America: The Burden of Time - Isolated from the rest of the world, the Mayans and Aztecs created sophisticated civilizations that in many ways paralleled ancient Mediterranean empires. God-like kings and a priestly ruling class dominated splendid cities of temples and pyramids.



The Barbarian West - Civilization arose in Asia, but it was the West which would create the first world culture. This final episode traces the origins of western culture through Greece and Rome prevailing by borrowing from the legacies of the original five old world civilizations.

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The Art Of War

Although accounts differ over the Sun Tzu’s origins, according to a biography written by a 2nd century BC historian he was a general who lived in the state of Wu in 6th century BC.

Sun Tzu is most famous for the Art of War, praised as the definitive work on military strategy and tactics prior to the collapse of imperial China. Consisting of 13 chapters, the Art of War is one of the most famous studies on strategies for military success.

The most fundamental of Sun Tzu’s principles is that “warfare is based on deception”, and he believed that “the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”. One of his stratagems emphasizes the importance of knowing your enemy, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat”. Today his work has found new applications in areas totally unrelated to its original military purpose and used as a guide in business, sport, diplomacy, and even in dating! Start with part one or watch the playlist or the video below.

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