Culture spreads through people, but how does that really happen? This data visualisation from Nature Video charts the movement of 120,000 prominent cultural figures – predominantly European and North American – between 600 BC and 2012 CE, by plotting lines between where each one was born and died. While limited by its Eurocentrism – reflecting history as written by the victors – the visualisation proves to be an interesting tool for reimagining history.
Video by Nature
videoDemography and migration
The volunteers who offer a last line of care for migrants at a contentious border
30 minutes
videoHistory
In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy
20 minutes
videoHistory
In the face of denial, this film uncovers the hidden scars of Indonesia’s 1998 riots
21 minutes
videoProgress and modernity
Moving from Tibet to Beijing, Drolma reconciles big dreams with harsh realities
31 minutes
videoArt
A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea
7 minutes
videoDemography and migration
In California’s farmlands, immigrant workers share their stories of toil and hope
17 minutes
videoNature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
videoHistory
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
videoFairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
7 minutes