人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E02

Part 2 March 29, 2021, 2:01 p.m.

that stretches two million square miles.
马帮助罗马帝国把其边境从英国
Horses help Rome expand from Britain...
一路扩展到北非
to North Africa...
帮助波斯帝国占据
and the Persian Empire to grow
300万平方英里的国土
as large as three million square miles.
这些帝国恢宏无比
These empires are big...
但是是什么神秘力量使它们变得更大的呢
but what secret force keeps them from getting even bigger?
大历史以一种全新的角度看世界
Big history is a new way of looking at the World.
它揭示了马匹的独特属性
It reveals how the horse's unique design
使之成为人类的挚友
made it man 's best friend.
也是改变我们的语言的导火索
Sparking revolutions in how we speak...
改变我们衣着的缘由
What We Wear...
让宏伟的帝国成为可能的关键
and making massive empires possible.
可为什么这些庞大的古代帝国
But why didn't these enormous ancient empires...
没有变得更大呢
grow even bigger?
证据显示出一条惊人的理论
The evidence suggests a surprising theory...
那些古代帝国由于马匹的缘故
that ancient empires have
被限制了大小
a size limit determined by the horse.
如果从一个帝国的边疆到首都
If the outer edges of an empire are
至少要14天的骑程
more than 14 days ' ride from the capital...
那么维护边境将会变得很困难
it becomes a struggle to maintain control.
对于帝国来说通讯的速度是一切的根本
Speed of communications is essential for an empire.
你必须设法让消息传递到前线
You have to be able to get messages to the frontier...
然后在合理的时间内收到反馈的信息
and get messages back within a reasonable space of time.
要是你做不到你的帝国就会通讯不畅
If you can't do that, your empire is unwieldy.
你没法应对进攻没法应付危机
You can't respond to attacks. You can't respond to crises.
蒙古帝国很好的突破了这些局限
The Mongol Empire expands Well beyond this limit...
疆域扩展了前所未有的1300万平方英里
to an unprecedented size of 13 million square miles.
蒙古帝国控制着那么大的疆土
The Mongols control so much land...
信使或军队要抵达帝国的边境
it could take more than a year for messages or troops...
可能要花超过一年的时间
to travel to the outer edges of the empire.
可是仅在一个世纪内
But Within a century,
叛乱者便分♥裂♥了蒙古帝国
rebellions divide the Mongol Empire...
把它分成了四个较小的领土
into four smaller territories...
每个都在250万平方英里左右
each between two and five million square miles.
无独有偶这些领土
Not coincidentally, about the size
跟罗马帝国的大小相差无几
of the Roman Empire at its height.
在世界的另一边
On the other side of the World,
美洲帝国
the empires of the Americas...
相比之下小的则很多
are tiny in comparison.
其中最大的印加帝国
At its largest, the Inca Empire...
也只有曾经的罗马帝国一部分的大小
is only a fraction of the size of What Rome once Was.
在它的北面
To the north,
阿兹特克占据着77000平方英里
the Aztecs claim just 77, 000 square miles.
为什么这些世界的帝国
Why are these New World empires
跟旧世界的比起来是小巫见大巫呢
dwarfed by those in the Old World?
一个重要的原因是
One important reason:
新世界里没有任何马匹
The New World doesn't have any horses.
实际上
In fact,
印加帝国依靠的是跑步者称作"恰斯吉斯"
the Inca rely on runners, called "chasquis"...
来传递信件和货物
to deliver messages and goods.
如果用骑马的方式从A点到B点
On a horse you can get from point "A" to point "B"...
且此间相隔100英里这还相对容易些
and they're a hundred miles apart, relatively easily.
并非那么困难到达
That's not a huge deal.
而靠人奔跑这可困难至极
People running...that's a very, very big deal.
为什么世界的一边有马
Why did one side of the World have horses
而另一边却没有呢
While the other didn't?
你可能以为那是因为
You might think it's because
马匹无法横渡大洋抵达美洲
horses couldn't get to the Americas...
直到欧洲人用船把它们运过去后才有的缘故
until Europeans brought them here on boats...
可是化石证据表明
but fossil evidence reveals a twist:
马匹原产于美洲
Horses Were born in the Americas.
马匹原本就是美洲的从一开始就是
Horses are ours. They've been ours from the dawn of time.
大历史回溯到5000万年前
Big history connects back 50 million years.
随着地球的降温
As the Earth cools...
潮湿的森林变成了草原
damp forests become grasslands.
现代马的祖先从树林里
The ancestors of modern horses move out of the trees...
迁移到了平原
and onto the plains.
它们适应了新环境
They adapt to their new environment...
进化出长腿和强健的躯体
and evolve long legs and muscular bodies...
使得它们能比掠食者跑得更快
that allow them to outrun predators...
这赋予了它们在今日看来
giving them the speed that Will one day be so critical...
对人类来说至关重要的速度
to human history.
那么那些美洲马怎么了呢
So What happens to these American horses?
它们与最早的美洲人相遇
They cross paths With the first Americans...
那些美洲人在后冰河时期
Who come across the Bering Land Bridge
越过了白令陆桥
during the last ice age...
把这些美洲马当作了盘中餐而非座下骑
and see the horse, not as transportation, but as lunch.
他们几乎把马儿们捕杀殆尽
They likely hunted the horse to near extinction.
但仍有些幸运儿活了下来
But some horses make a lucky break...
从人类踏过的白令陆桥逃了出来
by crossing the same land bridge that brought people in...
最终在对的时间和对的地方
eventually putting them in the right place at the right time
遇到了中亚的人类并被其驯服
for humans in Central Asia to tame them.
这些马经历了胜利的大逃亡
The horse had a really, really good plan of "get out."
要不是这样今日的世界会是如何一番景象呢
If it wasn't for that, where would we be today?
可是美洲的文明
But the civilizations of the Americas...
没有受益于这些关键的动物盟友
Won't have the benefit of this ally.animal ally.
当马匹最终随着15或16世纪的西班牙人
When horses finally return to the Americas...
返回美洲
With the Spanish in the 15th and 16th centuries...
像科尔蒂斯之类的将军一样
generals like Hernán Cortés...
与新世界的无马文明发生冲突
clash With the horseless cultures of the New World...
最终毅然决然的获得了胜利
and Win decisively.
在西班牙人与土著的第一场交锋中
In the first conflicts between native people and the Spaniards...
西班牙人出其不意地
the Spaniards are able to use the horses to
用马匹进行正面进攻
have surprise frontal assaults...
要是土著人也有马匹的话
that would never occur
这种情况根本不会发生
if the native people had had horses.
当土著民看到这些大马
When native people see these horses,
他们有三种反应
they have three reactions-
" 天呐这是何物 "
"Holy cow. What is that?"
" 看它简直所向无敌 "
"Whoa1 Look at all the things it can do"..
" 我也想要一匹 "
"I want one."
从反应一到反应三
And they go from reaction one to reaction three in,
通常只需5分钟
like, five minutes.
而这一切仅在两百年间便发生了
Within 200 years...
西班牙人的马彻底的改变了
Spanish horses transform Native American life...
本土美洲人的生活
throughout the Americas.
一旦他们得到了马适应了马的文化
Once they got the horse and adopted horse culture...
他们就成了骑马的勇士和骑马的猎手
then they became mounted warriors and also mounted hunters...
如今他们早已远远越过了大草原
who now ranged far and wide across the Great Plains.
就像之前的蒙古帝国和罗马帝国那样
And, just like the Mongols and the Romans before them...
这些本土部落比如科曼奇
these native tribes, like the Comanche...
在马背上迅速的扩张着他们的帝国
quickly expand their empires on the backs of horses.
事实上西班牙人还给这个帝国命名了
In fact, the Spanish had a name for it.
他们称之为科曼奇利亚
They called it Comancheria...
一片从南到北大约600英里的区域
an area about 600 miles from south to north...
东西横跨400英里
and about 400 miles from east to west...
受到绝对的统治
and absolutely dominated that area.
所以马匹彻底的改变了
So the horse entirely changed...
不单单是美洲印第安人的文化
not only the culture of the American Indians...
更是整个西方的历史
but the history of the West.
马儿是从哪里得到它们的力量的呢
Where does the horse get its horsepower?
秘密隐藏在宇宙中
The secret lies in the cosmos.
大历史改变了我们看待世界的方式
Big history changes the Way We see the World.
它揭示了马匹的强壮与急速
It reveals that the strength and speed of horses...
与古代帝国大小之间的内在联♥系♥
connects to the size of our ancient empires...
马匹使得消息的快速传递成为可能
Which allows for the spread of ideas...
并且让我们跨越人类的极限
and carries us beyond human limits.
可是马是如何主宰人类历史的呢
But how has horsepower dominated human history?
通过从宇宙中给我提供能源驾驭力量的方式
By giving us the power to harness energy from space.
所有我们通过进食所获得的能量