History Dispatches

Since the birth of cinema, Pirates have been a part of the movies. Good pirates, bad pirates, fun pirates - they come in all shapes and sizes. Today we are going to talk about pirates in the movies - by discussing our favorite - and least favorite - pirate movies of that last century.

Sources: the minds of the hosts

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In 711, the Moors crossed from Morocco into Spain - conquering all of Portugal, most of Spain, and even parts of France. What followed was a nearly-800 year long campaign by a variety of European kingdoms to expel the Muslim invaders. This is the story of the Reconquista.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista

https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Andalus

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_rey_Don_Pelayo_en_Covadonga_(Museo_del_Prado).jpg

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In 1867, the United States - led by Secretary of State William Seward - agreed to purchase the territory of Alaska from the Russian government - for $7.2m. Many people mocked the purchase - saying the land was useless. They called it "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox". Little did they understand what had been acquired. This is the story of one of the best buys ever made by the United States government - the purchase of Alaska.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase

https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/treaties/sumners-alaskan-project.htm

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alaska_purchase.jpg

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Just to the east of Athens are silver mines known as the Mines of Laurion. These mines, while abandoned today, were a critical component to the ancient Athenian empire. However, their biggest contribution came in 483 BC, with the discovery of a rich vein, which gave the city a choice: Distribute the profits to the entire city or build a navy. And their choice saved the Athenian Republic. This is the story of the silver mines of Athens.

Sources

https://sites.google.com/email.wm.edu/tour-of-attika/laurion-silver-mines

https://ancient-greece.org/archaeology/lavrion-ancient-silver-mines/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SNGCop_039.jpg - Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

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In 1545, the discovery of silver at the small South American village of Potosi would change the world. Over the next quarter of a century, 150,000 tons of silver would be extracted from the Potosi mines, and silver would fuel Spain’s enormous empire - and facilitate the globalization of the world’s economy. This is the story of the Silver Mines of Potosi.

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