Oceans: A Human History

Episode Synopsis

The South Seas are a warm version of the Pacific. An infinitely blue continent: expanses of water as far as the horizon, hardly any land. Only the tips of the sunken continent of Sahul rise out of the water and form a unique island world. The early pioneers of the sea had to cross thousands of kilometers to get from one island to the next. As a result, some of the world's oldest civilizations lived here in complete isolation - still evident today in the unique linguistic diversity of countries such as Papua New Guinea and Australia. Later, in the search for the fabled southern continent, the islands served as rest stops and gateways for colonization. The price of isolation was also nuclear weapons testing. Their legacy is their very own customs, such as the barter systems of the Polynesian islands and the ability of their inhabitants to read the sea by observing the animals.