1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Despite centuries of exploration, 5 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: there is still so much about our planet that we 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: simply don't know. There are lands unseen by human eyes, 7 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: sand and grass undisturbed by human footsteps. Countless explorers have 8 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: traveled across oceans and over dangerous terrain to collect information 9 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: about these unknown parts. They often catalog their journeys with 10 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: diaries or photographs, but the most useful information is often 11 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: found within their maps. Maps show us where we've been 12 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: and where we have yet to go. And because of that, 13 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: you won't be surprised to hear that matt making is 14 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: an art as much as it is a science. And 15 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: nobody knew that better than Turkish cartographer Peery Race. During 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: the early fift hundreds, Peery Race served as an admiral 17 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: in the Turkish Navy. His passion, though, was for something 18 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: a little less violent than war cartography. I know it 19 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: doesn't sound like a hit Netflix series, but for Race, 20 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: nothing fascinated him more than charting. The Earth. He always 21 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: had on hand at least twenty different maps from all 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: over the world and even from different time periods. Some 23 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: came from ancient Greece, while others hadn't existed for more 24 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: than a handful of years. Several were even claimed to 25 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: have originated at the Library of Alexandria, while another had 26 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: been drawn by Christopher Columbus himself. And Race used these 27 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: different charts in his own cartography. Although he had seen 28 00:01:58,360 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: quite a bit of the world as part of the 29 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: Turkish Navy, he still relied on the work of others 30 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: to help him with his own maps. Combining his knowledge 31 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: with that of his forefathers, Race sketched out his own 32 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: map of the world as it had been known up 33 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: to that point. It came to be known as the 34 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: Peery Race Map Creative I Know, and it featured outlines 35 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: of areas such as South America, the western coast of Africa, 36 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: and Europe, to name a few, all of which were 37 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: carefully drawn on gazelle skin. Sadly, though Peery Race didn't 38 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: live to see his map gain the notoriety that it 39 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: has today. After his death in fifteen fifty three, his 40 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: work was lost, including all of the old maps that 41 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: he kept by his side. It wasn't to tell nine 42 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: nearly four centuries later, when a German theologian named Gustav 43 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,679 Speaker 1: Diceman rediscovered it with then Istanbul's tope Copy Palace library. 44 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: He'd been sorting and cataloging the library's vast collection of 45 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: books and artifacts when he stumbled upon a bundle of maps. 46 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: Almost immediately he took them to a local expert for confirmation. 47 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: That expert recognized a key piece of the map, one 48 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: that continues to baffle scholars today. Antarctica. Antarctica is rendering 49 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: on the map is particularly interesting for two very good reasons. First, 50 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: no one had ever stepped foot on the continent until 51 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: its official discovery in eighteen twenty three hundred years after 52 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: the Peri Race maps creation. But second, Race had depicted 53 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: it without its polar ice cap, showing the rocky shores 54 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: of the continent in a way that hadn't been seen 55 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: for over six thousand years, which begs the question how 56 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: did he know what it looked like so long before 57 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: his time. What's more, his map utilized the Mercator projection 58 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: technique that's the standard for modern nautical navigation, but Mercator 59 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: projection wasn't used in Europe until the late fifteen six 60 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: these decades after the Race map had been completed. Where 61 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: he learned to display his map in that format is 62 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: still a mystery. By all accounts, the Peery Race map 63 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: was ahead of its time, so much so that its 64 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: accuracy continues to stump cartographers and researchers around the world today. 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: For example, the Mercator projection could not be verified or 66 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: measured properly until seventeen sixty, when the chronometer was invented, 67 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: and yet Race managed to position the South American coast 68 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: across from Africa's western coast as though he had known 69 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: its exact measurements. His drawings are so realistic that it's 70 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: been theorized the maps he referenced for his own had 71 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: been created by an ancient civilization with advanced technology such 72 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: as flying machines for aerial surveillance. There just isn't any 73 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: other explanation for their precision. Today, the remaining portion of 74 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: the map resides right where they discovered it as part 75 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: of the top copy libraries collect However, due to its 76 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: age and fragility, it is no longer on display. And 77 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: you heard me correctly, the remaining portion, what we know 78 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: of as the Peery Race map, is only a quarter 79 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: of what he had originally drawn. Rest is out there 80 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: somewhere waiting for someone to uncover it and the secrets 81 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: it might reveal. Everything that we know about loss civilizations 82 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: comes from what they've left behind, and sadly, when a 83 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,239 Speaker 1: rival nation invades a place, one of the first things 84 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: they do is destroy the culture they stripped the indigenous 85 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: people of their land, their language, their art, and their 86 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: very identities. Also, they can force their own culture upon them. 87 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: In many cases, the native population doesn't even have a 88 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: way to fight back, and running away was often out 89 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: of the question, so they stayed and were conquered, and 90 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: most of what they had was lost except the Phrygians. 91 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: During the Byzantine Era of the eighth and seventh centuries 92 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: b c e. The Phrygian people lived peaceful lives, and 93 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: darren Coo you a district in central Turkey. The people 94 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: there were farmers, teachers, wine makers, and parents, all trying 95 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: to live their lives while constant war raged on around them. 96 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: But let's not assume that the Phrygians were ignorant about 97 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: the fighting, even though it hadn't reached their doorsteps, yet, 98 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 1: they knew it was coming and that preparations had to 99 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: be made in case it reached them, and eventually it did. 100 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: So they fortified their homes, stables, chapels, and communal eating 101 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: spaces with volcanic rock from the nearby region. No soldier 102 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: would be able to penetrate their defenses. Within their stone walls, 103 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: the people of darren Coo you could still make their 104 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: wine ship, teach and continue their lives as if nothing 105 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: had changed, And as the war got closer, their mason 106 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: repaid off, allowing twenty thousand Phrygian men, women and children, 107 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: along with their livestock to sleep safely at night as 108 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: soldiers fought outside, and those soldiers certainly fought for years 109 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: they clashed while life on the other side of the 110 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: fortified city went on. The Phrygians were so successful at 111 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: protecting themselves that other cities nearby began to follow their example. 112 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: They too, barricaded themselves within stone walls to stay alive 113 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: during the war. The craziest part of all of this 114 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: is that these cities are still standing today, nearly three 115 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: thousand years later. In fact, they've become tourist destinations, but 116 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: don't expect to see them on an aerial map because 117 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: you want and for the same reason that the Byzantine 118 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: and Arab soldiers never saw them in the first place. 119 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: They were two hundred feet underground. It really is an 120 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: amazing story. Seeing no way out of the encroaching war, 121 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: the Phrygians began to dig. They dug out a village 122 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: as expansive as the one that they had lived in 123 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: above ground, with multiple levels as well as ventilation shafts 124 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: to collect air and rainwater. Their goal wasn't simply to survive, 125 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: but to thrive. The school was erected on one level 126 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: while the people slept on another. They ate together, prayed together, 127 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: made wine together, and raised their families, all within their 128 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: underground city and those other nearby towns that did the 129 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: same thing, moving everything underground where their existence could be 130 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: hidden for years until the fighting stopped. Well, They also 131 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: dug and dug. Some of these cities went four or 132 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 1: five levels deep, and as far as the soldiers above 133 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,840 Speaker 1: them knew, everyone had left for greener pastures, unaware that 134 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: they were all still there, literally living right beneath their noses. 135 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: The Phrygians and their neighbors didn't stop there, though. They 136 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: knew their chances of survival would grow if they worked together, 137 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: so they eventually tunneled upwards of five miles in fact 138 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: between each of their cities. If circumstances became too dangerous 139 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,679 Speaker 1: in one area, that population would seek refuge with another. 140 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: Over two hundred of these underground cities still exist today 141 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,840 Speaker 1: in central Turkey. Many of them were still being used 142 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: as safe havens all the way up to the twenty century. 143 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: For example, the Daana massacre of nineteen o nine sent 144 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: hundreds of refugees into the underground chambers of their ancestors 145 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: to evade the attack. They stayed there for a month 146 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: until reinforcements arrived. Today the cities and the tunnels that 147 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: connect them are all abandoned. No one sleeps on the cold, 148 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: hard ground. Then that children are no longer forced to 149 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: study deep below the earth's surface. However, these cities still 150 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: have so much to offer. They are some of the 151 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: best kept artifacts from a resourceful civilization. If we learn 152 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: nothing else from their existence, we can at least take 153 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: away one valuable lesson. When it comes to survival, it 154 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: takes a village. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour 155 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 156 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 157 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 158 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 159 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 160 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 161 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 162 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.