Other

BBC Radio 4 LW

AHOTW100_ShowCover_3000x3000px

A History of the World in 100 Objects

Factual: History

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells humanity's history through objects

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

BBC Radio 4 FM

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (1680 - 1820 AD)

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820): Episode 2: Hawaiian feather helmet

Hawaiian feather helmet

Episode 2

Episode 2: Hawaiian feather helmet

Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)

A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus

BBC Radio 4 - A History of the World in 100 Objects, Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820), Hawaiian feather helmet

Neil MacGregor with a feathered helmet given to Captain Cook by Pacific Islanders.

Neil MacGregor's world history is examining the relationship between Europe and the rest of the world in the 18th century. Today he is with a feathered helmet from Hawaii.

This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is telling the story of European encounters across the globe during the 18th century. 

Today he finds out what happened to Captain Cook as he was mapping and collecting in the Pacific. Neil tells the story through a chieftain's helmet made from a myriad of colourful bird feathers that was given to Cook when he landed in Hawaii in 1778. This is not a story with a happy ending. The anthropologist Nicholas Thomas and the Hawaiian academics Marques Hanalei Marzan, Kyle Nakanelua and Kaholokula help describe Cook's impact in the Pacific and the meaning of the feathered helmet.

Producer: Anthony Denselow.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Neil MacGregor on the misunderstandings that can happen when different worlds collide.

Neil MacGregor goes back to the 18th century to look at the Age of the European Enlightenment, through five objects from different cultures around the world.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

A History of the World in 100 Objects

Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)

Episode 2: Hawaiian feather helmet

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4