Our history is no more
than a series of incredible events.
Every one of us can influence its course.
(moderate rock music)
The most infinitesimal of our decisions
can influence the future of humanity.
To know the past is to foresee the future.
January 26, 1988.
New Quebec, Republic of Australia.
In the great concert hall of the Eiffel Opera House,
President Jean-Francois Pemmemoi
begins the festivities for the bicentennial
of Captain de Laperouse's arrival on the island.
Just after the disappearance of the Cook expedition in 1770,
the kingdom of France
surpassed England's exploration of the Pacific.
In the image of their former Canadian colony,
the French quickly develops trading posts,
while increasing peaceful exchanges
with the Aboriginal tribes.
During the centuries that followed,
the small French colony in Australia
became a great independent nation,
led by a president of Franco-Aboriginal origins.
But, none of that ever happened.
In 1770, a small grain of sand
decided the fate of Captain Cook's expedition.
Australia was destined to become British.
November 1520.
The explorer Ferdinand Magellan
opens passage to the Southwest,
and discovers the Pacific Ocean.
June 11th, 1770.
Stuck on the Great Barrier Reef,
James Cook's ship is about to sink.
January 26, 1788.
11 ships land at Botany Bay,
establishing the first English penal colony in Australia.
These three inextricably linked events
are key moments during the European expeditions
throughout the Pacific Ocean.
(dramatic cinematic music)
November 1520, somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere.
Having left for Spain a year ago,
the once audacious fleet only has three ships left.
After confronting storms, mutinies, and sickness,
haunted by the fear of falling off the edge of the world
that some still believe to be flat,
the crews are forced to trust their captain,
Fernando de Magalhaes, Magellan.
Serving the crown of Spain, this Portuguese captain
is convinced that he can discover the Western route,
a hypothetical passage
to the south of the American continent,
which would provide access to Asia
while circumventing Africa.
November 27th, 1520.
This strait, which will one day be named in his honor,
reveals a vast, seemingly calm ocean
which he christens the Pacific Ocean.
The 16th century is an extraordinary period for Europe.
The voyage of Christopher Columbus changes everything.
The discovery of a new immense continent
opens up great prospects.
Riding the wave of Magellan,
intrepid explorers brave dangers
to push the limits of the known world.
Discovering new lands to be possessed,
and new colonies to be formed.
In the first half of the 16th century,
the Spaniards conquer most
of the Pacific Coast of South America.
For their part, the Portuguese open up a new spice route
that circumvents Africa and passes by the Cape of Good Hope.
Asia is within reach.
Heavy and powerful Hispanic galleons
criss-cross the waters of the New World.
Hulls full of wealth head to Europe.
At the beginning of the 17th century,
Portuguese exploration
is gradually surpassed by Dutch expansion.
This small country with big ambitions
is sending its captains into the conquest of the unknown.
In 1642, one of them, Abel Tasman, discovers an island
which will later take his name, Tasmania.
He sails along the shores of New Zealand.
Then, he maps the northern coast of Australia
that is called New Holland.
But, these expeditions remain extremely dangerous.
Ships do not fare well during the long trips.
Navigation and observation instruments are rudimentary,
and the catastrophic sanitary conditions wipe out the crews.
[Computerized Woman] Welcome to the memory of humanity.
Every historical event, regardless of how small,
is recorded and connected.
You only need to change one to upset all of the others.
Here, we are able to control time,
analyze and compare billions of events
in order to rewrite history in infinite ways.
For example, let's hop aboard a 17th century boat.
The maneuvers require large crews.
All of these men, confined in tiny spaces,
share their lives, their bunks, and their germs.
Epidemics are commonplace,
and more highly feared than pirates.
During long voyages,
stagnant water and dry biscuits are the norm.
The absence of preservation options for fresh food
causes serious diseases and deficiencies amongst seafarers.
The most prevalent among them is scurvy,
a Vitamin C deficiency that can be fatal.
The best ways to avoid this is to bring lemons on board
or to make numerous stops
to replenish the stock of fresh products.
During the long voyages,
many captains also tried to find a miracle cure;
however, without refrigeration on board,
keeping the crew strong and in good health
remains a real challenge, and a matter of survival.
The 17th century
is one of conquests and commerce.
A true culture of secrecy prevails.
Each captain jealously keeps his discoveries to himself,
like a treasure map, fearing that others
might get richer in his stead.
But, in the second half of the 18th century,
things begin to evolve.
A new wind blows towards Europe.
Everywhere, scholarly societies
and astronomical observatories are flourishing.
Europe is thirsty for knowledge.
For the States, greatness is not only found
in military or economic power,
but also in scientific glory.
And the rivalry among states is fierce,
particularly between the Kingdom of France and England,
which are often at war with each other.
In 1763, France has lost the Seven Years' War.
At the end of the conflict, it is forced to give up
a large number of its possessions overseas.
The rivalry with its sworn enemy pushes the kingdom
to search for new economic opportunities,
so Louis XV commissions an ambitious expedition.
Under the guise of a diplomatic mission,
Louis Antoine of Bougainville
receives the honor of setting sail to Asia
to develop trade and discover new lands.
But that isn't all he will do.
In the 18th century, France bathes in the light
of philosophers and encyclopedists.
Passionate about the sciences, Bougainville brings
an astronomer, a naturalist, and a cartographer aboard.
They will make observations and establish records
which will glorify science and the Kingdom of France.
The scientists are always quick
to go ashore and make observations
while the sailors prefer the security
and speed found on the water.
Cohabitation on the ship is not easy.
April 2nd, 1768.
The expedition arrives near an elevated and steep land,
which is made up of two mountains
connected by a narrow isthmus: Tahiti.
The captain struggles desperately to control his men
who are captivated by the beauty of the Tahitian women
and the idyllic life on the island.
Bougainville's description of this arrival,
written in his diary, is inspiring.
He speaks of paradise on Earth, the Garden of Eden,
yet, things are more complicated than they appear.
Oceania contained numerous
culturally-rich and diverse societies.
The Melanesians and Micronesians in the west,
the Polynesians in the east,
and the Aborigines in Australia.
The settlement of this immense space,
occupying a third of the world's surface,
has progressed from Asia, millennia after millennia.
Aboard boats like the outrigger canoe,
these impressive sailors colonized the islands and atolls,
sometimes thousands of miles away,
well before the first Europeans arrived.
In successive stages, these populations spread their culture
to almost every island in the ocean.
Isolated from one another, each group evolved independently,
creating a culture specific to each island.
A dusting of islands scattered across
the largest ocean on the planet.
[Computerized Woman] Know your position.
To establish their bearings,
cartographists traced a grid on the surface of the globe.
The vertical lines, called meridians;
the horizontal ones are called parallels.
We call latitude any point
that is situated along the meridian,
while longitude is a position on the parallel.
A longitude value, when connected to a latitude,
gives us a precise and unique point on the Earth's surface.
These are what we call coordinates.
You can determine your exact latitude
by observing the sun and the stars,
but measuring longitude is another story.
First, you must determine the meridian
you are using as a reference point.
Next, there are two opposing techniques.
The astronomy method, used with success
during the voyage of Bougainville,
and the second method, which requires the development
of an extremely precise and reliable chronometer.
This latter method was used by James Cook
for his second expedition.
Today, both techniques have been replaced
by the use of satellites and the GPS system.
18th century.
Great Britain dominates
almost all the seas around the globe.
British marine officers,
promoted on merit without consideration of social standing,
are excellent sailors.
James Cook is one of them.
First, hired as a ship boy on merchant vessel,
he joins the Royal Navy in 1755,
and methodically climbs up the ranks.
After two years of service, he becomes a sailing master.
Then, in June 1759, he participates in an expedition
against the city of Quebec.
Blessed with extraordinary cartography skills,
he helps the British fleet sail safely
up the Saint Lawrence River.
At the end of the war,
after catching the attention of the Royal Society,
he is chosen to head a new type of expedition:
traveling to the other side of the world
to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun,
an event which occurs once a century.
The king authorizes this mission
under the condition that the explorer uses this opportunity
to find, and take possession of,
the mythical Southern Continent.
This legendary land, said to exist in the South Pacific,
feeds everyone's fantasies.
It is a kind of new New World.
Chartered for the occasion, the HMS Endeavour,
a robust, shallow-draft merchant ship,
has been adjusted to welcome additional passengers,
a scientific team, including famed naturalist Joseph Banks,
and all their equipment.
Cook personally examines all the details.
He even brings his secret weapon against scurvy:
three tons of sauerkraut and lemon juice.
August 26th, 1768.
The Endeavour sets sail for Cape Horn.
April 13th, 1769, it docks in Tahiti.
Cook sets up a small observatory
to study the eclipse of Venus.
With the first mission accomplished,
he lifts the anchor for the second part of his voyage:
the search for the Southern Continent.
But, the mythical utopia is hidden
under the bow of The Endeavour.
Continuing his journey, Cook arrives in New Zealand.
Here, he maps its coastline with precision.
Then, on March 31st, 1770,
he heads west to present-day Tasmania.
Opposing winds then push him to an unknown land.
The explorer accidentally falls
on the southeast coast of Australia.
On April 29th, the crew goes ashore.
This fjord will later be named Botany Bay
because of the countless plant species
discovered by the expedition's botanists.
Cook resumes his journey along the coast to the north,
meticulously mapping each cliff, each bay.
But, unknowingly, Cook is entering a death trap.
There are no maps of the Great Barrier Reef,
and on June 11th, the crew is paralyzed by a sinister creek.
The Endeavour has just run aground.
In panic, they unload the ship
and fight against the water that is rising in the hull.
The ship is about to sink, and all its crew with it.
For the entire day, the men will struggle
to free the ship from the coral trap.
Everyone takes turns at the pumps.
Now The Endeavour is an arm's length away from sinking.
Suddenly, one of them has an ingenious idea.
Stretch a sail under the hull to temporarily plug the leak.
After a week on the edge of the abyss,
the damaged boat manages to reach the land.
The crew is exhausted, but the expedition is saved.
[Computerized Woman] We have arrived
at a point of divergence.
A point of divergence is a key moment,
a crossroads in our history where our world can swing
from one side to the other.
James Cook and his crew have just avoided a shipwreck
which would have certainly been fatal.
If the expedition had failed,
England would not have discovered
or taken possession of Australia.
A few years later,
the expedition of Jean-Francois de Laperouse
would have been first to draw a map
of the island continent and form a colony there.
Inspired by the enlightenment,
the first French colonists would have been able
to create trading posts, and make peaceful trades
with the Aboriginal peoples, exactly as they did in Canada.
The Aboriginal peoples,
considered legitimate inhabitants of Australia,
might have known less oppression
and been able to conserve their ancestral grounds.
Today, Australia would still be a cosmopolitan country,
but francophone.
July 13th, 1771, England.
The expedition has returned.
Once they finish up some makeshift repairs,
the crew is able to leave Australia
and return home after a three-year absence.
The Endeavour brings with it
more than a thousand species of plants,
hundreds of stuffed insects and animals,
mineralogical samples,
and thousands of observational drawings.
Cook is the author of nautical charts so precise
that they continue to inspire awe even today.
It is an undeniable success.
The Royal Society quickly orders him
to return to the Southern Hemisphere on a new expedition.
The goal is still the same: discover the Southern Continent.
Early December 1772, the expedition sets sail blindly
in a thick fog on an ocean of ice.
January 17th, 1773,
the expedition crosses the Arctic Circle.
One year later, Cook reaches 71 degrees, 10 seconds South,
an absolute record.
But a wall of ice forces him to turn back.
After crossing 60,000 nautical miles,
or three times the circumference of the Earth,
the explorer returns to England.
He has just proven
that the Southern Continent does not exist.
But the admiralty refuses to stop there.
In 1776, at almost 50, Cook leads a third expedition,
this time to find the Northwest Passage
between the Atlantic and the Pacific,
beyond the Bering Strait.
The only maps available turn out to be completely wrong.
The expedition, surrounded by ice,
must turn back in August 1778, and head south to Hawaii.
His arrival coincides with the season
dedicated to the god of peace, Lono.
The Hawaiian priests give the captain
a welcome worthy of a god.
February 4th, 1779, the ship sets sail,
but shortly afterwards, the foremast snaps.
Cook is forced to return to Hawaii.
But the context has changed there.
Hawaii is now in the season of the war god, Ku,
and for the Hawaiians,
the return of Cook upsets the cosmic order.
The situation quickly deteriorates.
Several conflicts arise
between the English and the Hawaiians.
During a punitive raid, Cook and 10 of his men
find themselves surrounded by angry warriors.
The captain does not assess the situation correctly.
He is the first to shoot.
Overtaken, and hit on the head, he collapses on the beach.
From the ship, his men, unable to assist,
watch the terrible scene.
The Hawaiian warriors massacre their captain.
James Cook, captain of the British crown,
has been felled on the explorer's field of honor.
[Computerized Woman] The stuff of heroes.
Captain James Cook enters the pantheon of explorers.
Several centuries later,
NASA baptizes two of its spaceships Endeavor and Discovery
as homage to Cook's ships.
The symbolism is strong.
Astronauts are our explorers of modern times,
continuing the paths of Cook and Bougainville.
Even though the frontiers have changed, the risks have not.
January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger explodes,
just after takeoff, with seven crew members aboard.
In 2003, Columbia disintegrates
while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Venturing out to discover the unknown is perilous business,
but the courage of a handful of fearless pioneers
has allowed all mankind to explore the Earth,
the seas, and the stars.
His heritage is monumental.
His contribution
to the inventory of the world is immeasurable.
This cartographer-explorer
spent 12 years of his life on the Pacific Ocean.
He did not see the birth of many of his children,
all of whom grew up in the absence of their father.
His wife even buried four of their children all by herself,
the price one must pay.
The Age of Enlightenment sheds new light
on native populations.
After the colonization of the American continent,
which was disastrous for the locals,
the philosophers of the 18th century
realized that each society is a fragile ecosystem,
and that unfortunate choices can destroy them forever.
Happily, the diversity of the Pacific cultures
has not been destroyed by the passage of time
as was the case, unfortunately,
for the largest island in the world, Australia.
In August 1770, during his first voyage,
Cook took possession of the East Coast of the island,
deliberately ignoring the fact
that this land was already populated.
This illegitimate claim opened up the path
for colonization on the island continent.
January 26th, 1788 near Botany Bay,
a penal colony is founded, populated by convicts
that England no longer wants on its lands.
In one century, Great Britain exiles 160,000 prisoners
to the other side of the world.
Under the combined pressures of disease,
settlers, and alcohol, the Aboriginal people,
present on these lands since the dawn of time,
watch as its population declines dramatically.
Today, the Aborigines represent less
than 3% of the Australian population.
But that is another story.
[Computerized Woman] Pushing the limits.
In the 18th century,
mankind embarked on a scientific exploration of the world.
The goal was to learn more
about the limits of the continents,
and to develop a list of living organisms
from the smallest mushroom to the largest mammals.
In the course of these voyages,
an impressive quantity of specimens
were assembled and cataloged in encyclopedias and museums.
This colossal task helped push the limits of ignorance.
Today, what is left for us to discover?
Are there still borders to be pushed?
From a geographical viewpoint of Earth, not really.
But what about space,
with its infinitely large and nano-sized worlds?
What do we really know about black holes
and how our brains work?
At a time when the first map of the human genome
has just been published,
in front of the astronomical progress
of artificial intelligence,
and Mars colonization projects,
it would seem that we are at the dawn
of a new wave of explorations.
(dramatic cinematic music)