Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca, have developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West. The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate...

Kunya-Urgench is situated in northwestern Turkmenistan, on the south side of the Amu Daria River. Urgench was the capital of the Khorezm region, part of the Achaemenid Empire. The old town contains a series of monuments mainly from the 11th to 16th centuries, including a mosque, the gates of a caravanserai, fortresses, mausoleums and a minaret. The monuments testify to outstanding achievements in architecture and craftsmanship whose influence reached...

The history of Japan past and present is the story of the kami, the supernatural, not quite godlike spirits who underlie the Japanese-ness of Japan-who created the Japanese islands at the beginning of time and remain today the ones responsible for health and luck, for success in childbirth and business, for the proper functioning of silicon chips and the uniqueness and unity of the Japanese. This program begins with the creation myth of Japan and...

This episode explores the period from the birth of the Chinese republic in 1911 to the civil war, bloody Japanese occupation, the coming to power of Mao and the Communist Party, the Cultural Revolution, up to the present day. We visit Tiananmen Square, the booming skyscraper cities of Shanghai and Beijing and President Xi’s Belt and Road. How has the tumultuous last 100 years impacted Communist China’s ambitions as a superpower today and its relations...

In early 1998, financial crises sparked protests against the man who had ruled the sprawling archipelago nation of Indonesia with an iron first for more than three decades. On May 12th, security forces opened fire on students at Trisakti University, killing four young people, and Indonesia erupted within hours. Nine days later, Suharto made a speech declaring that he could no longer serve as president. Suharto’s brutal rule had been forged in violence,...

Geographically, Muslim countries cover approximately 50 percent of Africa. This program travels around the continent to inquire into Islamic history and the Muslim way of life, making stops in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa, Senegal, Algeria, Sudan, and many other destinations. The experiences of two particular groups-those sent by Muhammad himself to Ethiopia, during the Muslim-Quraish War, and slaves and prisoners of the Dutch who were...

Samurai general Tokugawa Ieyasu became a towering figure of Japanese history by overthrowing the governing dynasty of Japan and becoming the Shogun (the supreme military leader) of Japan. Ieyasu’s rise to power climaxes in the biggest Samurai battle in history, with 160,000 soldiers fighting for the future of Japan. On the way, there is a story of love for a reckless son, a politician in drag, a night-time Ninja attack, suicide and betrayal. A BBC...

Following the second Sino-Japanese War, China lay in ruins politically and militarily. This program follows the internal conflict between the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang). Civil war ignites in 1946, setting the stage for the Communist Revolution that will transform and modernise China, though at a great and tragic human cost.

"Oh, rats! It's time to take a deeper look at what caused the Black Death--the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history"--