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Time for some heavy stuff. The Valladolid debates took place in the 16th century, right around the time Spanish were coming over to the New World,...
Let us tell you about the Korean War. It was this war where...well, what happened was...huh. Isn't that the craziest thing.
Gold Rush 2276 Views
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Description:
There’s just something about gold that makes people do some pretty crazy things. What would you do to get your hands on some of that glittery goodness?
Transcript
- 00:08
The Gold Rush, a la Shmoop:
- 00:10
"There's gold in this thar video!"
- 00:13
It's 1849. Spring. Early morning. 187 pounds of dynamite rattle around in your
- 00:20
wagon as you bounce to the mine on unpaved roads.
- 00:24
A year ago, gold was first discovered in California by a guy named James Marshall.
Full Transcript
- 00:30
Word spread quickly, and people from all over the world travelled to central and northern
- 00:35
California. And it wasn't for the weather.
- 00:38
Well... not just for the weather. But gold prospecting wasn't the safest way
- 00:42
to make a quick buck... or even a million of them.
- 00:45
Any idea what 187 pounds of explosive can do to ya?
- 00:52
Many of the very first prospectors -- the "48ers" -- had made many years' wages
- 00:57
in a very short time... ...but the 49ers usually came up empty.
- 01:02
Yet just the chance of finding gold caused hundreds of thousands of people to abandon
- 01:06
their former lives and travel across the world. Just how desperate were people back then...
- 01:12
,,,to risk life and limb and everything they had...
- 01:15
... for a small chance of hitting the jackpot? What would you risk to make a million dollars?
- 01:20
An arm? A leg?
- 01:22
What about ten million... or a hundred million?
- 01:26
Nowadays, reality game shows push contestants
- 01:28
to their limits in exchange for big-money prizes.
- 01:31
How much money would get you to eat a bug, or live on a deserted island?
- 01:36
What if somebody promised you lots of money to take a locked suitcase on a plane to a
- 01:40
foreign country... would you do it?
- 01:44
Where do you draw the line? What would you do for life-changing money?
- 01:49
What sort of chance would you be willing to take?
- 01:52
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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