1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Conquistadors are dark figures 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 2: from a modern perspective, warlords from the Spanish Empire who 8 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 2: brought disease and violence to Central and South America. Hernan 9 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 2: Cortes is one of the most infamous, known for his 10 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 2: defeat of the Aztec Empire, but the reality of that 11 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 2: history is more complicated than you might realize. He would 12 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 2: never have been able to defeat the Aztecs without the 13 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 2: help of a different native tribe, the lax Kalinz, and 14 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 2: it was their incredible ingenuity that handed him the most 15 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 2: important victory of the war. Cortes was a man whose 16 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 2: ego could not be contained. When he was sent to 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 2: the New World. He was supposed to submit to the 18 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 2: authority of the governor of Cuba, who just wanted him 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 2: to survey modern day Mexico and report back. Cortes ignored 20 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 2: this order, and in fifteen nineteen took his men further 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 2: inland to conquer the kingdom of tenoche Titlan. Some of 22 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 2: Cortez's men were loyal to the governor of Cuba, and 23 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 2: so Cortes ordered the men who were loyal to him 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 2: to disassemble their ships so that the Cuban loyalists couldn't 25 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 2: sail back to Cuba. But tinoche Titlan proved more difficult 26 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 2: to conquer than Cortes had hoped. It was a massive, 27 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,559 Speaker 2: sprawling metropolis situated in the middle of an even larger lake, 28 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 2: Lake Texcoco. If the Spanish tried to use their horses 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 2: to ride into the city, they would be sitting ducks 30 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 2: on the various bridges that connected the city to the mainland. 31 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 2: Cortes suddenly wished that he had all those ships that 32 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 2: he ordered his men to disassemble, But then again, it's 33 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 2: not as if they could have carried them from the 34 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 2: ocean to the lake. But it turns out that the 35 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 2: Aztecs were pretty cruel leaders, and Cortes quickly made allies 36 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 2: with their neighbors, who had grown tired of Aztec rule. 37 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 2: But it was through these alliances that Cortes learned of 38 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 2: the forests of lax Kala, a mountain province with timber 39 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 2: that could be used to make new ships. Although this 40 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,679 Speaker 2: was sixty miles from the lake, Cortes saw no other options. 41 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 2: Working with several native leaders, he ordered timber to be 42 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 2: cut and carefully shaped for the construction of new ships. 43 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 2: He also had his men returned to where they disassembled 44 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 2: their original ships, recovering the anchors, the sails, and other 45 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 2: pieces that could be used on the new vessels. But 46 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 2: Cortes didn't stop there, ordering the damming of a local 47 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 2: river so that his new ships could be tested before 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 2: they got anywhere near Lake tex Coco. This required that 49 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 2: the natives undertake an entirely separate engineering project before their 50 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 2: work on the ships could even begin, but they were 51 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 2: successful in damning the river and providing a deep enough 52 00:02:58,760 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 2: body of water. 53 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: For one of the new boats to be tested on. 54 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: The Spanish and their indigenous allies constructed an entire brigantine 55 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: there in the mountains, made sure that it could float 56 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: on the river, and then deconstructed the whole thing again 57 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: so that it could be transported down the mountain. Once 58 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: all the pieces were ready, a massive convoy of thousands 59 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: of indigenous men carried the timber from the mountains to 60 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: Cortes's camp on the edge of Lake tex Coco. Once 61 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: they arrived, they got to work assembling the ships again. 62 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 1: This took months of time, and while they worked, Cortes's 63 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,679 Speaker 1: army had to fend off multiple attacks from Tenochtitlan, but 64 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: at least on the lake shore, the Spanishes, horses, cannons, 65 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: and iron weapons gave them an advantage. Even once the 66 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: ships were finished, the indigenous work wasn't done. They next 67 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: dug a nine thousand foot canal from their work site 68 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: to the lake, allowing the ships to be released into 69 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: the water, and then, finally, after months of hard work, 70 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: the invasion could begin. The ships had been outfitted with cannons, 71 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: and as they approached the city they easily blew upon 72 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: part the Aztec navy, which consisted of small canoes that 73 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: fired arrows and darts. They then decimated the city's walls 74 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: and began a siege of the city. For years, tenote 75 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: Teklan had been safe on the water, but now it 76 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: was thoroughly outmatched by the combined ingenuity of the Spanish 77 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: and the local attackers. After weeks of back and forth fighting, 78 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: the Spanish finally overwhelmed the city. Their conquest was brutal. 79 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: Hundreds of thousands of Aztecs were killed. It was the 80 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: end of their empire and the beginning of Spanish rule 81 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: in Mexico. Soon enough, smallpox from the Spanish conquistadors spread 82 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: throughout the remaining Aztecs and the Spanish native allies, decimating 83 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: their populations even further. Cortes wasn't punished for disobeying the 84 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: orders of the governor of Cuba. He had delivered Mexico 85 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: to the king, and so he was made governor. He 86 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: spent the rest of his career conquering Mexico and rebuilding 87 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: tanoche Tilan, which of course became Mexico City. If you're wondering, 88 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: they drained the lake over time to where barely exists today. Curiously, 89 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: when Cortes finally returned to Spain in fifteen forty one, 90 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: he felt that the king never really gave him the 91 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: credit he deserved for accomplishing so much. Maybe the king 92 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: resented him for disobeying orders all those years before, or 93 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: maybe he knew that without the help of his native allies, 94 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: Cortes wouldn't have been able to accomplish what he did 95 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: either way. It was a curious case of landlocked naval 96 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: warfare that altered the course of history forever. In nineteen 97 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: oh four, a Danish art critic was touring the National 98 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: Museum of Norway when they made a startling discovery. One 99 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 1: of the museum's most controversial works had been vandalized. Someone 100 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: had used a pencil to scrawl a phrase in Old 101 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: Norwegian across the top of the painting. Translated to English, 102 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: it read could only have been painted by a madman. 103 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: While the delivery of the message was new, this wasn't 104 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: the first time that kind of criticism had been leveled 105 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: at the piece. The vandalized artwork was Edvard Munk's The Scream. 106 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: It's an unforgettable image and one that you'd probably recognize 107 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: in an instant. A gaunt, alien looking figure stands on 108 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: a long bridge beneath a blazing sky. The figure's hands 109 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: gripped the side of their skull like face, eyes and 110 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: mouth stretched wide in an expression of existential horror. That 111 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: expression is a pretty close approximation for the way viewers 112 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: reacted when The Scream was first displayed in eighteen ninety five, 113 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: many art critics thought the painting was proof that Monk 114 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: was clinically insane. One medical student said that he should 115 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: be locked up in an asylum and kept from ever 116 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: touching a paint brush again, and their reactions horrified Monk, 117 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,679 Speaker 1: partly because they seemed to confirm his own worst fears. 118 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: Mental health problems ran in his face family, and he 119 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: had personally suffered from panic attacks in the past. One 120 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: of those experiences served as the original inspiration for the Scream. 121 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety three, he was out walking with some 122 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: friends at sunset when he looked up and saw the 123 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: sky filled with blood and flaming tongues. He was overcome 124 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: with pain and an inexplicable feeling of anxiety, and heard 125 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: what he later described as an infinite scream passing through nature. 126 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: The experience naturally left Monk badly shaken, and he feared 127 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: that the panic attacks would get worse with time, so 128 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: when people started calling him crazy based on his artwork, 129 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: it got to him. Eventually, the controversies surrounding his work faded, 130 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: and Monk continued to paint, and then, a decade after 131 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: he first revealed the Scream to the public, the inscription 132 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: was discovered. The writing was faint, almost blending in with 133 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: the swirling sky, but once seen it couldn't be ignored. 134 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: Closer inspection proved that it was added after the painting 135 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: was completed, and the museum curators were confident it hadn't 136 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: been there when they added the work to their collection, 137 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: which means that someone, perhaps a prankster or an angry critic, 138 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: snuck into the gallery while the guards were absent and 139 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: defaced the painting. The museum even brought in forensic experts 140 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: to analyze the writing, but they failed to come up 141 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: with any suspects. Meanwhile, Monk became increasingly obsessed with his critics. 142 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: His diaries and letters are full of complaints about the 143 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: people who called him mad, and that fixation eventually became 144 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: a self fulfilling prophecy. He was hospitalized in nineteen oh 145 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: eight after a nervous breakdown, but the treatment seems to 146 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: have helped. After his release, he painted more frequently and 147 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: was reportedly much happier. After he died in nineteen forty four, 148 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 1: the Scream only grew in prominence. Today it's one of 149 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: the most iconic paintings in the world, having been endlessly 150 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: reproduced in political cartoons and memes. It's even become an emoji, 151 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: which is all the proof you can ask for that 152 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: an image is still relevant today, and its stay in 153 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: power suggests that Monk wasn't half as mad as his 154 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: critics believed. Perhaps he was just ahead of his time, 155 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: an artist who foresaw the alienation and anxiety that would 156 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: come to define modern life. And it seems that he 157 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: had a sense of humor about it all, because in 158 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, a group of researchers finally solve the 159 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: riddle of the Scream's mysterious inscription. Using infrared scans and 160 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: handwriting analysis, they concluded that the culprit was none other 161 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,199 Speaker 1: than Edvardmunk himself. It seems that sometime after the painting 162 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: was hung in the museum, he returned to vandalize his 163 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: own masterpiece with those words could only have been written 164 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,599 Speaker 1: by a madman. Whether Monk meant that as a confession 165 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: or a self deprecating joke isn't clear today, but I 166 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: like to think that it was a message to his critics. 167 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: If you think I'm mad right now, just wait, You'll 168 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: all be joining me soon enough, I hope you've enjoyed 169 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for 170 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 171 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 172 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manke in partnership with how Stuff Works. 173 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 174 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 175 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 176 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.