Gajah Mada, Zheng He and a four-hour Majapahit epic for Fall of Civilizations
Episode 21 tells the story of medieval Java's empire of the islands, with readings in Old and Middle Javanese and thirteen voice actors.
Fall of CivilizationsStory of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
21. Majapahit - Empire of the Islands
What does Paul Cooper do after releasing a four-and-a-half-hour episode? On the evidence of the past seven days, he lets it breathe. Nothing new went up, and the channel's attention belongs entirely to "21. Majapahit - Empire of the Islands," now eight days old and well past 380,000 views.
The episode travels to medieval Indonesia, to the volcanic island of Java, and follows how a kingdom there survived in a world of superpowers. The chapters read like a guided tour: the ship carvings of Borobudur and the voyages that reached Madagascar, Javanese shadow puppets, the Mongol fleet Kublai Khan sent to Java, the chief minister Gajah Mada and his Palapa Oath, Admiral Zheng He's Ming treasure fleet, and finally the Hindu-Buddhist court's flight to Bali. Readings in Old and Middle Javanese come from Ferry Sanjaya and Kadha Aditya, thirteen voice actors fill the cast, and it ends, as these episodes like to, with a poem.
Behind it, two older favorites keep turning over. The Egypt episode, more than two years old and near fifteen million views, and the Carthage episode, with Hannibal at its center, are still the channel's next busiest.
With no new upload, the channel's daily views sit somewhat below their usual level, and the subscriber count held steady. Among similar-sized history and explainer channels, Drew Durnil is having a lively week, while Mr. Beat is running quieter than usual. A single episode that runs past four hours keeps a lot of people company for a while.
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The videos drawing views on Fall of Civilizations right now
- Channel
- Fall of Civilizations
- Subscribers
- 1,510,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 949,824
- Videos published this week
- 0
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💡 Test your knowledge
Which Chinese admiral led the Ming treasure fleets in the early 1400s?
Zheng He commanded the Ming treasure voyages across the Indian Ocean under the Yongle Emperor.
