02: The Golden Ocean | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

Duration: 58'02''

Synopsis

In a series on the Royal Navy's role in British history, Dan Snow shows how the country came out of military and economic disaster to achieve global supremacy.

Further Information

More clips from Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'33''

Dan Snow charts the role the Royal Navy played in Britain's development. How victory over the Arm...

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'27''

Dan Snow presents a series on the Royal Navy's role in British history. Dan looks at the evolution o...

04: Sea Change | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

04: Sea Change | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 58'33''

Dan Snow looks at how the 19th-century Navy used gunboat diplomacy to push British interests furthe...

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'33''

Dan Snow charts the role the Royal Navy played in Britain's development. How victory over the Arm...

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'27''

Dan Snow presents a series on the Royal Navy's role in British history. Dan looks at the evolution o...

04: Sea Change | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

04: Sea Change | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 58'33''

Dan Snow looks at how the 19th-century Navy used gunboat diplomacy to push British interests furthe...

More resources about Empire, Slavery and Race

01: Across the Ocean Sea | Landmarks

01: Across the Ocean Sea | Landmarks

BBC Two | 1992 | 19'09''

In 1992 an American girl flies home from London. While waiting at the airport she encounters the ghost of Christopher Columbus, who tell...

02: For God and for Gold | Landmarks

02: For God and for Gold | Landmarks

BBC Two | 1992 | 18'17''

In 1992 an American girl flies home from London. While waiting at the airport she encounters the ghost of Christopher Columbus, who tell...

1: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

1: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

BBC Two | 2020 | 58'04''

Samuel L Jackson and a team of journalists and divers explore 400 years of slavery. What happened to the 12 million ensla...

1: A Taste of Power | Empire

1: A Taste of Power | Empire

BBC One | 2012 | 59'20''

Jeremy Paxman begins by asking how such a small country got such a big head and came to rule a quarter of the world.

1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj

1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'50''

The first episode recreates the era of the 1930s, when British expatriates attempted to create an idyllic version of English life i...

1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'04''

David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian, ...

1: Origins | Africa's Great Civilisations

1: Origins | Africa's Great Civilisations

BBC Four | 2018 | 52'45''

Henry Louis Gates Jr looks at the discoveries that point to Africa as the genetic home of all currently living humanity.

1: Pilgrims in Arms | Crusades

1: Pilgrims in Arms | Crusades

BBC Two | 1995 | 49'13''

Terry Jones explores the history of the Crusades, to discover exactly what happened when the Pope instigated a popular campaign to conquer Jer...

1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'07''

The development of the triangular trade is described from its ancient origins, through the European involvement in the 16th and 17...

1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain

1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain

BBC Two | 2018 | 58'27''

Dr Yasmin Khan tracks down passengers who travelled from Mumbai to Britain in the 1930s on the luxurious P&O liner The Viceroy...

1: What Sort of Boy? | Rainbow City

1: What Sort of Boy? | Rainbow City

BBC One | 1967 | 24'04''

First episode of a groundbreaking BBC drama series from 1967 about the experience of the West Indian community in Birmingham, featuring E...

1: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

1: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Channel 4 | 2003 | 48'27''

In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations we...

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History

BBC One | 1978 | 19'54''

Programme covers events in India from the 1930s to Independence and Partition in 1947.

2: 1940-1965 | George Alagiah: Mixed Britannia

2: 1940-1965 | George Alagiah: Mixed Britannia

BBC HD | 2011 | 58'53''

George Alagiah tells the story of the GI babies labelled war casualties, the boom in mixed-race couples following mass migrati...

2: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

2: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

BBC Two | 2020 | 56'47''

Samuel L Jackson examines how, for over 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade became the greatest wealth-generating m...

2: Everyday Life on a Plantation Island | History File

2: Everyday Life on a Plantation Island | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'01''

The schools history series reconstructs the day-to-day experience of slavery for Betty Newton, a field hand on a Carib...

2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'00''

In part two, historian David Olusoga explains how the First World War spread far beyond the mud and trench...

2: Freedom | Black and British: A Forgotten History

2: Freedom | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 59'00''

In the second part of his four-part series, historian David Olusoga explores the business of slavery and remembers the bl...

2: Jerusalem | Crusades

2: Jerusalem | Crusades

BBC Two | 1995 | 48'49''

Encased in armour, Terry Jones sets out on the walk to the Holy City - a journey that took the Crusaders two years and killed most of them.

2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire

2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire

BBC One | 2012 | 58'46''

Jeremy Paxman continues by examining how traders, conquerors and settlers spread the British way of doing things.

More from Dan Snow

China and Hong Kong | World's Busiest Cities

China and Hong Kong | World's Busiest Cities

BBC Two | 2017 | 3'15''

Dan Snow investigates Hong Kong's precarious relationship with China.

New York: America's Busiest City

New York: America's Busiest City

BBC Two | 2016 | 59'04''

Anita Rani, Ade Adepitan, Ant Anstead and Dan Snow try commuting New York-style, joining 5.5 million commuters on the iconic Staten Island f...

1066 Unpacked | The One Show

1066 Unpacked | The One Show

BBC One | 2016 | 4'36''

Dan Snow recruits a team of volunteers to demonstrate the movements made by the rivals to the throne and how King Harold's armies attempted to d...

The Battle for the Isle of Wight | Armada: 12 Days to Save England

The Battle for the Isle of Wight | Armada: 12 Days to Save England

BBC Two | 2015 | 3'50''

Dan Snow discusses the English and Spanish tactics in the battle for the Isle of Wight.

Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'05''

A compilation of short films made specially for schools on the rise and fall of the East India Company, which acc...

A History of Syria with Dan Snow | This World

A History of Syria with Dan Snow | This World

BBC HD | 2013 | 59'15''

Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the current civil war has been shaped by the country's tumultuous history, unpicking the h...

Britain and the Start of WW1 | Learning Zone

Britain and the Start of WW1 | Learning Zone

BBC Two | 2013 | 7'30''

Dan Snow recreates a map of Europe on the beach to explain how Britain became involved in World War I.

Episode 2 | D-Day: The Last Heroes

Episode 2 | D-Day: The Last Heroes

BBC One | 2013 | 58'43''

The concluding part of historian Dan Snow's documentary series tells the powerful and heroic stories of those who risked their lives on th...

3: Industrial New York | Filthy Cities

3: Industrial New York | Filthy Cities

BBC Two | 2011 | 59'07''

Dan Snow looks at 19th century New York when migrants arrived in a city consumed by squalor, stench and soot.

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

03: High Tide | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'27''

Dan Snow presents a series on the Royal Navy's role in British history. Dan looks at the evolution o...

6: 1973 Middle East | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

6: 1973 Middle East | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'25''

Peter and Dan Snow unpick the fighting that broke out in 1973. Known by some as the Yom Kippur War, it wa...

7: Culloden: The Jacobites' Last Stand | Battlefield Britain

7: Culloden: The Jacobites' Last Stand | Battlefield Britain

BBC Two | 2004 | 58'17''

Dan and Peter Snow use computer animation and dramatised testimony to relive defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie's h...