1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: show that takes a spin through history every day of 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: the week. I'm Gay, Blue Sier, and today we're looking 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: at a major turning point in carousel history, the day 6 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: when Europeans discovered the simple pleasure of going in circles. 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: The day was May seventeenth, sixteen twenty. English traveler Peter 8 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: Mundy wrote the earliest known description of a carousel ride. 9 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: He spotted the curious contraption while passing through modern day Bulgaria, 10 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time. 11 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: Monday had happened upon a village fair where he witnessed 12 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: a new kind of mechanical amusement. In his journal, he 13 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: described the ride as a large wagon wheel lying on 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: its side, with eight small seats fastened along the wheel's circumference. 15 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: A column at the center of the wheel was turned 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: by a person walking in a circle, which created enough 17 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: centrifugal force to send the wheel and the children on 18 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: board it on a merry go round. These days, carousels 19 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: or merry go rounds are among the tamest rides you'll 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: find at a carnival or amusement park, and that's a 21 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: bit ironic considering the ride actually got its start as 22 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: part of medieval combat training. By the twelfth century, Turkish 23 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: and Arabian horsemen had begun using a carousel like device 24 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: to help improve their aim while in motion. The device, 25 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: which had actually existed in some form since the sixth century, 26 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: consisted of a rotating center column with long poles reaching 27 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: outward from along its top. Suspended from those poles were 28 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: large hanging baskets or in some cases, wooden planks, like 29 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: you'd find on an old swing. When the center post 30 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: was turned, either by a person, a horse, or a mule, 31 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: the seats would begin to spin in a circle. Today 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: we would call this set up a flying swing carousel. 33 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: Turkish warriors made use of the device in a few 34 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: different ways. One exercise was similar to jousting, except with swords, 35 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: and involved men on horseback riding in a circle around 36 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: the device while trying to knock off the helmets of 37 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: the people seated on it. Another common exercise was to 38 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,239 Speaker 1: throw breakable clay balls filled with perfume back and forth 39 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: between the riders. The goal for those on horseback and 40 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: for those on the carousel was to catch any ball 41 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: thrown their way, and the penalty for missing a catch 42 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: was to reek of perfume until the game was over. 43 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: It was kind of like an early form of paintball 44 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: or dodgeball, except the ball in this case was a smelly, 45 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: makeshift water balloon. This type of military exercise was unique 46 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: to Southwest Asia until it caught the eye of European 47 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: soldiers during the Crusades. The onlookers started calling the spectacle 48 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: the little War or the little Battle, and when the 49 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: Crusaders returned to Europe they took the tradition of horse 50 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: mounted exercises with them. The nickname Little War was translated 51 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: as carouselo in Italian and later as carousel in French. 52 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: Most of the Little Wars in Europe didn't involve a 53 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: spinning machine, but in the sixteen hundreds the French finally 54 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: corrected that oversight. One of the main feats performed in 55 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: a French carousel tournament was an event called the ring tilt. 56 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: French horsemen would hang a small metal ring from a 57 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: tree and then take turns trying to spear the ring 58 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: with a lance while galloping toward it at full speed. Eventually, 59 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: a practice device was built to help participants train for 60 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: these popular competitions. The device took its cue from the 61 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: Turkish original, consisting of wooden beams suspended from arms branching 62 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: out from a central pole. The pole would then be 63 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: rotated by a human or an animal, and the riders 64 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: would try to snag the stationary rings with their lances 65 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,559 Speaker 1: as they went around and round. It was pretty close 66 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: to the fairground ride we know today, with some models 67 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,679 Speaker 1: even using legless wooden horses instead of just beams. That said, 68 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,919 Speaker 1: the French device was still a training tool used to 69 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: develop a military skill. It wasn't an amusement ride, and 70 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: it wasn't for children. However, that wasn't the case over 71 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: in the Ottoman Empire. The Turks who had settled there 72 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: were still building their trademark spinning machines, but they weren't 73 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: just for combat training anymore. The first European known to 74 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: encounter this more festive take on the device was a 75 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: Cornish man named Peter Mundy. He was a lifelong traveler 76 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: and had set out from Constantinople in May of sixteen 77 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: twenty on a four month overland journey back to England 78 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: along the way. He kept track of his adventures in 79 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: a journal, which he later published as a book called 80 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: The Travels of Peter Munday in Europe and Asia. On 81 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: May seventeenth, Monday arrived at the city of philip Apolis, 82 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: the site of modern day Plavdy in Bulgaria. His timing 83 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 1: couldn't have been better, as there happened to be a 84 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: citywide festival going on that day in honor of a 85 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: Turkish holiday. Strangely, Monday's journal entry for the seventeenth begins 86 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: with a lengthy description of some truly heinous execution methods 87 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: that he had witnessed in Constantinople. Eventually, though, the author 88 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: moves on to lighter fare, including descriptions of three fantastic 89 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: machines that have since become staples of modern carnivals and fairs. 90 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: The first device he saw was a kind of super 91 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: tall swing which only adults were allowed to ride. The second, 92 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: was essentially an early version of a ferris wheel, was 93 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: a carousel which had been purpose built not for military 94 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: training but for the enjoyment of little children. Munday delightedly 95 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: described the contraptions for his Western readers, referring to the 96 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: carousel as a great cartwheel, on whose circumference is fastened 97 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: little seats whereon the children being set the wheel is 98 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: put about, they all going around horizontal wise. Munday also 99 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: included a sketch of the man powered married around and 100 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: the other whimsical devices he saw that day. The wheel's 101 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: design was eventually replicated by European craftsmen, with the simple 102 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: wooden seats gradually being replaced by carved wooden horses, a 103 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: nod to the ride's roots as a training device for horsemen. 104 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 1: By the eighteen fifties, the early flying swing carousels had 105 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,119 Speaker 1: given way to platform mounted devices, though they were still 106 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: operated manually, either by a fair ground employee or by 107 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: a pony. That finally changed in eighteen six sixty one, 108 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: when an Englishman named Thomas Bradshaw created the first steam 109 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: powered carousel, which he set up at Aylsham Fair in Norfolk. 110 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: One observer marveled at the ride's newfound speed, calling it 111 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: quote a roundabout of huge proportions driven by a steam engine, 112 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: which whirled around with such impetuosity that it's a wonder 113 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: the daring riders are not shot off like cannonball and 114 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,119 Speaker 1: driven half into the middle of next month. Bradshaw's ultra 115 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: fast carousel was patented in eighteen sixty three, and soon 116 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: after versions of it began popping up at steam fares 117 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: and other gatherings throughout England and Central Europe. Around the 118 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: same time, many European immigrants brought their love of carousels 119 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: to the United States, where the ride received some serious upgrades. 120 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: For one thing, American carousels were much bigger than their 121 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: European counterparts, and the woodwork of their horses tended to 122 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: be more elaborate as well. By the turn of the 123 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: twentieth century, many American carousels had also been converted to 124 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: electric power, allowing lights and organ music to be incorporated 125 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: into the carousels themselves, rather than being operated alongside them. 126 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: It was also during this period that carousel makers started 127 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: to diversify their steeds. Instead of just painted ponies, they 128 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: featured a whole menagerie of zoo animals and mythical creatures. 129 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: The animal's range of motion was also expanded through the 130 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: use of bevel gears and offset cranks, which allowed the 131 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: animals to move up and down in their now familiar fashion. 132 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: All of those eye catching features led to a golden 133 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: age for the carousel. In the early nineteen hundreds, its 134 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: passengers were still just going in circles, but the ride 135 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: itself had come a long long way. I'm Gave Lucier, 136 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 137 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more 138 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: of a history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram 139 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments 140 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: or suggestions you'd like to share, feel free to pass 141 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: them along by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. 142 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show, 143 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 144 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:35,479 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class.