Nauru: Environmental Apocalypse in the World’s Smallest Republic
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Source/Further reading:
Britannica, overview: www.britannica.com/place/Naur...
MIT Press Reader, the dark history of Nauru: thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/da...
Guardian, a Short History of Nauru: www.theguardian.com/world/201...
Guardian, Nauru’s Cursed History: www.theguardian.com/world/201...
Nauru civil war: militaryhistorynow.com/2013/0...
Nauru under Japanese occupation: apjjf.org/-Yuki-Tanaka/3441/a...
Nauruan Independence: www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/...
www.rnz.co.nz/collections/u/n...
Nauru’s musical: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...
www.abc.net.au/radionational/...
Refugees: www.theguardian.com/australia...
www.refugeecouncil.org.au/ope...
Keeping the offshore facilities open: www.theguardian.com/australia...
Deep sea mining: www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
Nauru and deep sea mining: www.hakaimagazine.com/news/wh...
@geographicstravel 2 жыл бұрын
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@poorlydunbarvideos1472 2 жыл бұрын
Are ya congested? Sound a bit nasally...have you considered rest?
@ziimoyake260 2 жыл бұрын
Where’s the link to the new channel?
@--enyo-- 2 жыл бұрын
I’m Australian. As soon as the ‘Abyss’ chapter came up I knew what was coming. Gods I hate our government sometimes. Or most of the time. It’s f*cking shameful. Thank you for this video.
@GAndreC 2 жыл бұрын
Why not bring in topsoil from new guine or Australia though?
@teoleno4019 Жыл бұрын
Can we please stop saying "the arrival of Europeans", it was the Anglo Saxons who destroyed this island and many other countries!
@stephaniemaloney4324 2 жыл бұрын
Soon, ALL KZfaq channels will be hosted by Simon.
@beingexemplary06 2 жыл бұрын
Hi
@cheebsgod 2 жыл бұрын
This is vsauce, Simon here
@NiSM0pt 2 жыл бұрын
Still waiting for Simon Tech Tips
@Arirezz 2 жыл бұрын
*SOON*
@timmy2shoez 2 жыл бұрын
I'm about it
@MBrainspaz 2 жыл бұрын
Man I love this info-dump channel. It’s like blending up a dozen wiki articles and pouring them directly into my brain-with a charming voice!
@stevencooke6451 2 жыл бұрын
I do like his voice.
@jasonwright1687 2 жыл бұрын
Except Simon actually uses sources (not just opinion articles that are written for the sole purpose of providing content for a yet-to-be-written article).....
@MadGunny 2 жыл бұрын
@@jasonwright1687 I just read the Wikipedia article on Nauru and it was pretty spot on with this video with its information and timeline.
@nunyabiznesse6917 2 жыл бұрын
UwU
@arthas640 11 ай бұрын
@@MadGunny Wikipedia is generally really good with their sources. The days when some random dumbass wrote whole articles is thankfully almost entirely in the past. Just thumbing through the sources on Wikipedia and I see a government office in Nauru, the CIA, the US State Department, and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs as the first few sources.
@masterchinese28 2 жыл бұрын
The cautionary tale of Nauru has long fascinated me. Glad to see it get the Simon treatment.
@Kay_S_1499_CODM 2 жыл бұрын
Hi there I'm from the island 👋👋and I just want to say thank you for shearing the good and the bad things that happened to my small island home [LOVE FORM NAURU] ❤️😁
@poiwytlee 10 ай бұрын
A close friend of mine was born on Nauru in the 70s. He was really lucky to have been born close enough to those local elites who mined the phosphate to afford to send him to boarding school and to get an international pilots liscense. I'm not sure exactly how it all works but it makes it so he has a unique ability to go a whole lot of places in the world. He currently works in dispact and pilot support for a small international shipping company he's worked for for 25 years. On his days off, he often helps with shipping fresh food and water and basic living and medical supplies into Nauru. He's fascinating, so intelligent, and considers himself lucky to have had the opportunity to leave that he did. He says that to be an international pilot for a lot of Nauraun boys is like how being a Dr is a huge aspiration for a lot of American kids...because one you can leave and two, you can actually (literally) bring home the produce to put on your kitchen table. He has a huge family there (no kids of his own on Nauru). When he brings shipments in just for his family, he accounts for something like 50-100+ people. And he's one of the few people in his family, let alone local community, who are employed and makes reasonable enough currency to feed anyone. It's so fucked up.
@Hughj87 2 жыл бұрын
This is very interesting, my Father grew up on the island and he told me all the amazing and wonderful times he had, when he was old enough he was shipped to a boarding school in New Zealand, and he never returned.
@Hughj87 2 жыл бұрын
@@boringbastard4920 well im not so thanks for the reply
@alecblunden8615 2 жыл бұрын
@@boringbastard4920 You certainly live up the tag.
@yvettemoore1228 2 жыл бұрын
@@boringbastard4920 what a bizarre comment! We’re you born there too? How could you know what the OC said isn’t true? 🤔
@boringbastard4920 2 жыл бұрын
@@yvettemoore1228 forget about it
@sknkwrksowner 2 жыл бұрын
Curious (after watching the video), was he like most kids are and 'oblivious' to the adult nature of conditions overall? I'm assuming your grandparents moved there from elsewhere for work, no? I honestly had never heard of the place until the video (thought it was going to be an island in the Marshall Islands chain).
@alexkay3448 2 жыл бұрын
Nauru's near neighbour, Banaba (which is part of Kiribati) was even more brutally destroyed by phosphate mining. It also suffered severely under Japanese occupation in WWII. Most of the island's inhabitants were evacuated before the Japanese reached them, but 200 remained. On August 20th 1945, the Japanese massacred all but one. After the war, phosphate mining had left the island so uninhabitable that the British moved almost the entire population to an island in Fiji, where most stay today, forcibly disconnected from their ancestral homeland of thousands of years. The population of Banaba went from 2706 in 1963 to just 46 in 1985. Some Banabians have travelled back since then, and the population sits around 300 today, in the three small villages that are still habitable - but only surviving off of imported food and water. Banaba and Nauru, like many Pacific islands, also risk destruction from climate change and rising sea levels. The populations of both islands live entirely in the thin zone of life around the edges, right up against the sea.
@akextremerickert 2 жыл бұрын
Wow crazy
@user-yv2cz8oj1k 2 жыл бұрын
We'd best strip mine them bare before they sink then! (sarcasm on western attitudes)
@DanielS-zq2rr Жыл бұрын
They will become climate change refugees
@sladeb6036 Жыл бұрын
I was with you till the climate change. The worlds climate has always been changing and always will be. It's a power grab.
@arthas640 11 ай бұрын
Being disconnected from their homeland is if anything preferable. Those islands used to have very, VERY small populations since without modern technology they cant get enough water or food. Some islands like that may get 2 inches of rain per month, even without the strip mining they have almost no arable land, and global fish stocks have been declining so they have very little ability to feed themselves, even before modern times those islands struggled to get enough food and water to sustain a small population. Meanwhile modern technology has lead to population booms: Nauru for example had a steady but low population of under 2000, but exploded up to 10,000 in a few decades which is well beyond what they could sustain on the island. That means tons of expensive food imports and desalination equipment as well as careful rationing, not a big deal for islands like Fiji with plenty of tourism, exportable and renewable natural resources, and some ability for local food production but for tiny flat island like Nauru or Banaba they simply cant sustain their population. If they remained on the island they'd just be dirt poor, largely unemployed, and reliant on food aid or some other form of subsidy.
@BugnBuddysMom 2 жыл бұрын
I cannot be the only person who watches Simon's channels and then goes on research benders. My family still curses the day I watched a Biographics video on Lavrentiy Beria... Now to plan my post COVID family vacation...
@yvettemoore1228 2 жыл бұрын
I think Beria was my first one too. What a prince!
@budnelson2495 2 жыл бұрын
There is no chance for a post-covid anything. Governments and corporations involved in outright control of ALL THINGS will never allow it to be. This is a permanent solving of the egos of mankind.
@thomasmarkwylie5688 2 жыл бұрын
I stay in Namibia and there is currently a huge fight about whether or not to allow phosphate mining in our ocean. Right now fishing is a huge employer and money maker, so they are fighting against the phosphate mining. Though, the companies that want to mine are international and high ranking government officials have already gotten huge payments to make it happen
@arynasabalenka3173 2 жыл бұрын
If you are Namibian, why do you have an English name? Aren't Namibians only black Africans, Dutch and German?
@thomasmarkwylie5688 2 жыл бұрын
@@boringbastard4920 insightful.
@thomasmarkwylie5688 2 жыл бұрын
@@arynasabalenka3173 Nope, there are many different cultures in Namibia.
@thomasmarkwylie5688 2 жыл бұрын
@@boringbastard4920 I didn't say I live or have an association with the island .... I said I live in Namibia. Which is in southern Africa.
@boringbastard4920 2 жыл бұрын
@@thomasmarkwylie5688 then i take it back.
@ignitionfrn2223 2 жыл бұрын
1:30 - Chapter 1 - Pleasant island 5:15 - Chapter 2 - My war 8:25 - Mid roll ads 10:00 - Chapter 3 - Age of empires 13:50 - Chapter 4 - The age of excess 17:20 - Chapter 5 - Decline & fall 20:50 - Chapter 6 - Abyss
@dapperden4129 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you.
@FatBlockOfHash 2 жыл бұрын
This comment doesn't have enough like imo...
@sonifer7692 2 жыл бұрын
As an Australian: - absolutely spot on - thanks so much for making this one.
@vainoleppanen8971 2 жыл бұрын
In Finnish "nauru" means "laughter". Seems a little ironic.
@beingexemplary06 2 жыл бұрын
Hello sir
@stevencooke6451 2 жыл бұрын
Irony is a sub-theme on the once "Beautiful Island" it seems.
@bananapeaches6370 2 жыл бұрын
Hahaha was coming to say that hahahha
@Kay_S_1499_CODM 2 жыл бұрын
Hi there I'm from the island in fact I'm on the as of right now 😂😂 and the name Nauru comes from the word nawero which means (I go to the beach) 👍
@NeutralGenericUser 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the excellent research. What happened to Nauru is really sad.
@Bubbaist 2 жыл бұрын
I remember reading a blog by a tourist who had been there. He said that a tour of the entire country lasted an hour and a half.
@jo3d1rt391 2 жыл бұрын
I remember the same thing. For kicks and giggles I tried looking up the price and how to get there and couldn’t find anything.
@markwilkins8314 2 жыл бұрын
@@jo3d1rt391 I’ve flown with them,the oldest and well used 737
@VanillaMacaron551 2 жыл бұрын
@@jo3d1rt391 Visit Australia illegally with even slightly brown skin and we'll send you there to live for years in inhumane detention! Waiting for an international flight at Brisbane Airport one night, I heard repeated calls for passengers who hadn't shown up at the gate for a flight to Nauru. I don't think they wanted to go!
@doggolovescheese1310 2 жыл бұрын
My old friend's wife was from there. He met her when he was in Peace Corps. It's so sad :( She immigrated to America with him and they had a son. The things I remember most about her was her giant heartfelt smile, the natural joy that shined from her and shone through with her son. They all loved to laugh and I don't remeber ever seeing her upset. The Australian "detention center' is beyond criminal and Australia government should be charged with crimes against humanity...even some of Aboriginal population has been sent there >:(
@iriswaterford8881 2 жыл бұрын
When were first nation people sent to Nauru 🇳🇷?
@Maaike2356 2 жыл бұрын
"*some far away location* was doing alright, but things would soon take a turn for the worst." *insert the British*
@108hindu 2 жыл бұрын
and Australian’s, Germans, Japan…..
@108hindu 2 жыл бұрын
@Mod Zilla Erkle IS evil…..
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
@@108hindu I feel like the British were the least morally questionable in this affair.
@angelarch5352 2 жыл бұрын
that one guy who found the phosphate was to blame for all of this not the UK..., oh also greedy corporations that came after (big surprise)
@108hindu 2 жыл бұрын
@@angelarch5352 someone would have found it….
@flushedphoenix81 2 жыл бұрын
Sobering and well balanced as usual Mr Whistler et al. A timely reminder that although resources might be available it isn’t always a good idea to push ahead to get them
@TM-yn4iu 2 жыл бұрын
Ms McIntosh, your comment displays an example of a beautiful, zen like, reaction that I find exemplary. Sobering is a term used looking through a window, but the best to describe what we can't control looking through that window. Again, great!
@TM-yn4iu 2 жыл бұрын
Just my thoughts and words
@fateunleashed9680 2 жыл бұрын
Exactly this in my opinion is why it's especially important to remind ourselves of Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle in that order!
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
Probably a lesson about how not to run a sovereign wealth fund too.
@FatBlockOfHash 2 жыл бұрын
Not seen those words "et al" since my college books, god that brings a world of hurt 😂😂 don't miss those days of assignments seeming to be due every other day hahaha
@TheGoldenPig. 2 жыл бұрын
It feels like this should be an into the shadows video
@HashtagNashtag_ Жыл бұрын
Would be interesting to do a follow-up video in a few years about how the deep sea mining has gone and what if Nauru has improved
@Anonymity4LDAF 2 жыл бұрын
How has no one made a movie about this? It’s stranger than fiction!
@nooneyouknow9399 2 жыл бұрын
Truk is the name for the lagoon. The island is properly known as Chuuk
@dannyb7371 2 жыл бұрын
Nah Chuuk Lagoon is just what it's called now. 5 main islands have different names. Good dive site.
@ianharvey4406 2 жыл бұрын
I think Simon cloned himself several times. One went crazy though and does brain blaze.
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
I'm guessing someone spilled a little cocaine and vodka in that test tube.
@dtaylor10chuckufarle 2 жыл бұрын
On the bright side... at least the US didn't use it as a nuclear test range, so there's that.
@gregraines1599 2 жыл бұрын
For enough money Nauro probably would have let them.
@VanillaMacaron551 2 жыл бұрын
or France, which did a lot of nuclear testing in the Pacific.
@Chris.Row1991 2 жыл бұрын
Or England which just used outback Australia. There's an old thunder box out there as a kind of monument to the tests.
@iriswaterford8881 2 жыл бұрын
@@Chris.Row1991 and the surviving first nations mob have been robbed of their country. Can't go there or die.
@gabrielfestini 2 жыл бұрын
I've been watching all your channels forever and this is one of the best videos! Learning about a passionating story and exploring the societal effects of a place I had never heard is why i love you guys 😊
@IbnShahid 2 жыл бұрын
Wow, that’s an incredible amount of violence, greed and stupidity for such a tiny place. Like Nauru is a microcosm of all the worst aspects of human civilisation.
@sknkwrksowner 2 жыл бұрын
After watching the video then your comment, "Which time?!?" was the first thought I had! lol Had they not apparently had a BUNCH of fertile women, they would have been wiped out 3 or 4 times over given the population size after guns/civil war, then the Japanese occupation. (not trying to be gross, but seriously looking at the remoteness, conditions, and native population drops after civil unrest, etc.)
@SpectacularDisaster 2 жыл бұрын
Love the variety of these channels
@PaladinOfNerds 2 жыл бұрын
And that, children, was the saddest little island in the world...
@kezza6133 2 жыл бұрын
Never got to comment so early on your videos but thank you dude , very educational and entertaining to watch 👌
@paulkurilecz4209 2 жыл бұрын
Actually it is a quite common story of what happens when a natural resource is monetized.
@DonBair 2 жыл бұрын
Hey, that was pretty good, Simon!
@muzzer5327 2 жыл бұрын
Yes! Thank you! Been asking for this!
@elijahmorton4934 2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Simon
@rachitaroy6621 2 жыл бұрын
Simon, my man... Good to see you again 😄
@siggy6044 2 жыл бұрын
Always love hearing interesting tales of places I've never heard of! Any word on a possible video on the Salton Sea? I remember you said it sounded interesting, just curious if there's enough for a video there
@JonMahn 2 жыл бұрын
I thought he did one quite a while ago, but I guess that was the Aral Desert maybe.
@elisabethwestner3953 2 жыл бұрын
Well, this is just about the most depressing thing I've ever heard.
@VanillaMacaron551 2 жыл бұрын
The phosphate stuff is shameful but Australian politicians cruelly incarcerating refugees there to win votes is beyond the pale. "We will decide who comes to our country" said little Johnny Howard PM before he lost government and his own seat, but his totally misnamed Liberal Party kept the whole "tough on refugees" thing going. So they're about to be turfed out of office again (May 22). Meanwhile after realising it was no longer a vote-winner, just this week (April 22) they have released some of the last asylum-seekers into the Australian community after up to a decade in detention. These people are mental and physical wrecks and will probably never recover. Many refugees committed suicide on Nauru. Australia has had an appallingly corrupt and awful govt for the past seven years.
@princessmarlena1359 2 жыл бұрын
This is definitely an interesting story, and excellent cautionary tale.
@togia111 2 жыл бұрын
Love you highlighting the Pacific issues. Thank you from Samoa. But you gotta know. Nothing empty about the Pacific. Should do one on the history of overfishing I'm the Pacific.
@1003JustinLaw 2 жыл бұрын
I was thinking "nice quiet retirement location" until I heard the part about respiratory diseases... sigh, so hard to find somewhere relatively ignored by the wider world.
@cullyx2913 2 жыл бұрын
Excellent episode
@Nupagade246 2 жыл бұрын
Great one. Thankx our bearded friend
@cesarferraz7807 2 жыл бұрын
Pitcairn next! I mean there is even that movie Mutiny on the Bounty. But then with all the rapes and prision building. What a dark and interesting story...
@KalmoK 2 жыл бұрын
Fun fact: 'nauru' is a finnish word and means laughter in english
@MrNicefash 2 жыл бұрын
In Scotland it means " Green Anus"
@TheMAXAnswer 2 жыл бұрын
Always have been interested in the republic smaller than my very humble home"town", but never heard of its history in such detail! Yet another very interesting video!
@joseybryant7577 2 жыл бұрын
The Ziegfeld Theatre would be an interesting topic to cover. Pretty important in early 20th century show-business. Along with the Ziegfeld Follies.
@moshieroo1010 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this very informative video! I have an assignment on the Global Goals, and this helped me understand why certain things are this way. Thanks :)
@Rashed1255 2 жыл бұрын
Sounds a bit like a speed run of Earth
@saifchowdhury3581 2 жыл бұрын
The same shit keeps happening in so many countries in Africa and South America where selected politicians and businessmen become super rich by selling rights of land and resources without proper precautions and plans
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
How much of the blame belongs with the people? To use Argentina for an example, they elect a woman recently as Vice-president who has an outstandingly bad record of corruption in the past, even by Argentine standards. At what point are the people voting to blame? It's also not limited to the likes of Africa and South America. In Australia a mining lease was sold extremely cheap. It since came out that significant corruption was involved in the deal.
@jackfitzgerald2955 2 жыл бұрын
Fun fact: "The white King" left Nauru and went north of the wall
@m39fan 2 жыл бұрын
How could you watch this and not want to cry?
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
Because at some point you reach a limit. To paraphrase a remark by Jason Pargin on the Cracked podcast, if you truly had empathy for every tragedy in the world you'd be so overcome with grief that you wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.
@Buglife.352 Жыл бұрын
Easy
@gemahgiouba8312 2 жыл бұрын
Very well researched topic. I learn alot from this video. I am a Nauruan but I don't even know my own history😅 Thank you for making this video, our leaders need to learn from past mistakes to avoid history from repeating itself.
@TheEvilCommenter 2 жыл бұрын
Good video 👍
@nathanj3114 2 жыл бұрын
"So you say it's all circling the drain. Had to end sometime."
@brandongreen3401 2 жыл бұрын
Great video. A video on Minami-Tori-shima would be cool. A tiny Japanese island that is way out in the ocean.
@boodashaka2841 Жыл бұрын
Minamidaito-jima seems really neat too. It looks almost unreal as well. I know this is a super old comment but still
@MR2Davjohn 2 жыл бұрын
It is so sad what things people do when greed, avarice and selfishness go unchecked.
@veggieboyultimate 2 жыл бұрын
There needs to be a reforestation program in the island. It could help solve at least one part of its problem.
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
The amount of rehab work and the complexity might make it not viable.
@dannydetonator 2 жыл бұрын
@@somethinglikethat2176 Check out holistic farming. If that don't work, big part of Earth will be screwed.
@sknkwrksowner 2 жыл бұрын
It's not that type of ground and one of the main points is NOTHING can grow in the aftermath. It's like copper mining in the US. The ground is basically toxic and damaged beyond repair.
@bobwilliams899 Жыл бұрын
I hope so Simon is the best
@roberttorres8477 2 жыл бұрын
Good morning Simon.
@gladlawson61 2 жыл бұрын
Have you done the shell / oil damage done to I think congo? It would be another good lesson on what not to do. Also can u do ... how they find oil.. drill for it vs fracking. Why we still need it but still need green alternatives at the same time
@gunnargunnarsson5963 2 жыл бұрын
I think that was in Nigeria
@bluegold1026 2 жыл бұрын
Goes to show that, once again, the love of money is the root of all evil.
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
Really? I thought it was demonstratively false and idiotic cliches.
@dannydetonator 2 жыл бұрын
@@somethinglikethat2176 It's actually ignorance. Money, power and unbridled means to get it stems from that.
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
@@dannydetonator I can think of plenty of terrible things that have been done free of ignorance and that were in the objective best interest of the perpetrators. Unfortunately for comment sections everywhere, blanket, one sentence, one size fits all summary to complicated issues are rare.
@iriswaterford8881 2 жыл бұрын
Greed of any kind. Is the root of all evil, whether for money, power, avarice.
@thomasglessner6067 2 жыл бұрын
Simon, I am not going to sleep well tonight after watching this video. Thank you for the video. Really sad history. TG
@daviddenley3512 2 жыл бұрын
Absolutely Shocking!
@spencerthompson1049 2 жыл бұрын
Great Geographics video! Never heard of this place, and what a history!
@gogglespisano24 2 жыл бұрын
Simon, how do you have so many channels and how am I obsessed with them all? You're fantastic. Thanks!
@humanrightsadvocate 2 жыл бұрын
The research done for this video is impressive.
@joeyr7294 2 жыл бұрын
I was just re-watching all the khan vids....but a new post take presence!
@luvondarox 2 жыл бұрын
13:43 My gosh. I thought my phone had jumped to a That Chapter episode. 🤣
@Foiled_Foliage 2 жыл бұрын
....what a horribly sad ending...hope its not about to get any worse.
@29blazehead 2 жыл бұрын
One thing I've noticed with some former colonies is they protest the controlling nation for its exploitation, but then they turn around and do similar things once they are independent. Shows they are very similar in thought, they just wanted to be the big guys.
@IRosamelia 2 жыл бұрын
Botswana being a notable exception 🇧🇼
@blaznskais2048 2 жыл бұрын
I was thinking something similar. It’s hard for me to feel much sympathy for Nauru when they turned around and not only continued the strip mining but ramped it up. And then had the Gaul to try and sue Australia for damages caused by the mining they continued.
@francisbergeron4334 2 жыл бұрын
It's just the natural laws of civilisation at work. Independence, anarchy or any revolutions in a power structure just creates a power vacuum that gets filled by the strongest autoritharian around. So when Nauru became independent, and the previous ''leaders'' left, the most adept opportunist around took power. And the skillset that alowed them to gain their power led them to the same practices as the previous government. It's human nature, sadly.
@dannydetonator 2 жыл бұрын
Have you thought of the bigger picture though? Like, if they were not colonized, ethnically clensed, their habitat, way of life and governance half destroyed in the first place? The rest is just the consequence of that initial trauma, or countless traumas in this case, as i see it. Human nature, yes, but annihilation of balance brings on human nature, and then some. Power and money corrupts accordingly, no doubt about it. Just who is to say, that the majority agreed on mining their own island to hell? Or if they, population, or even their ever corrupt new-baked leaders new the consequences, even if they cared? Ignorance while giving powers to reap quick rewards will always result in tragedy, sooner or later. Just from our morally unfounded 'western' view, lot of you have hardship seeing the hypocrisy saying 'it's their own fault' in the end, no sympathy required. After all, somehow they managed to stay sustained, without killing each other off, living in what's now assumed as unspoiled paradise for millenias, just until the 'civilization' arrived. Funny, that.
@IRosamelia 2 жыл бұрын
@@dannydetonator true, the problem is colonization isn't just economic but cultural. Natives mostly everywhere started living like westerners and having the same desires and behaviors. Hence in post colonial times developing countries have mostly become Animal Farm style dystopias.
@Bambisgf77 Жыл бұрын
That was absolutely riveting 😮… God bless those poor little children who have never known anything but despair.
@fidelio9301 2 жыл бұрын
The Nauru in the 90s sounded awesome. No questions. Boom.
@ill-fatedgamer 2 жыл бұрын
checking it out now
@NickGiffin 2 жыл бұрын
Have you done a video on Love Canal in New York? It would be an interesting topic.
@dieseltoe 2 жыл бұрын
14:55 Nauruans were offered to be resettled on Fraser island (which was a choice of 2 islands off the coast of Oz, dunno the other island).
@VWdude278 2 жыл бұрын
Seth Meyers will be amused that he's being used as an example of the horrors of European colonialism.
@VincentGonzalezVeg 2 жыл бұрын
Matt Damon
@raycarl7933 2 жыл бұрын
I stayed in Nauru twice in ‘79 and ‘80. Somewhere between bizarre and horrible. It was depressing.
@victorberglund 2 жыл бұрын
13:44 Hey you, and welcome!
@rogerszmodis Жыл бұрын
Oh I’m sorry, I can’t divulge information about that customer's secret, illegal account.
@TheNadnerb 2 жыл бұрын
5:49 "So anyway, I started blasting."
@jo3d1rt391 2 жыл бұрын
My mind went straight to the Futurama episode where everybody tries to save the penguins on Neptune I think it is, but in the end the penguins end up blasting each other with guns left behind
@kieronparr3403 2 жыл бұрын
Didn't the Nauru government also buy a fleet of lamborghinis or maseratis? For 29m of road
@markwilkins8314 2 жыл бұрын
I think that was PNG
@SevCaswell 2 жыл бұрын
aht he Second World War, where two nations competed to be the most inhumane and evil...
@ShionWinkler 2 жыл бұрын
"It was a paradise on earth... Then Europe happened..." This seems to be a recurring theme around the world.
@nicholasaudy6064 Жыл бұрын
Better than Japan who massacred a quarter of the population through forced starvation and execution
@Skyte100 9 ай бұрын
Its strange to think the mining became so bad that not even colonizing plants could begin to recover it.
@christophermclughlin9984 2 жыл бұрын
Perhaps you should look at the story of Diago Garcia next
@domtweed7323 2 жыл бұрын
*sweats Britishly*
@resileaf9501 2 жыл бұрын
We're going to have to put a stop to this rampant greed that is quickly destroying our environment and our ability to survive on the only planet we have. Otherwise we're all going to be in the same situation as Nauru.
@iriswaterford8881 2 жыл бұрын
Don't fly or drive a car. Ride a bike or walk. Compost, compost. Grow your own. Don't grumble. Damn I am channelling my mother. Our compost heap grew the best pumpkins, cows give milk, cream & then you can make ice cream (Dad was the best maker), butter. We had some fruit trees, neighbours grew others. Resileaf you are correct greed is destroying this planet.
@mpd2022 2 жыл бұрын
Very fascinating. Ever considered a video on Tuvalu? Might be a good one to do while the nation still exists :/
@patmurphy6849 10 ай бұрын
Thank you Simon. I never knew anything about this poor island. Everyone needs to know what disrespecting the environment can do. Very sad indeed.
@snufkinhollow318 2 жыл бұрын
Another excellent video from Whistler world and another feather in the cap of this writer who, for me, scripts some of the best material on your channels. Some people might disagree with me but one of the things this video makes clear is that Simon's oft made argument that capitalism is generally okay provided that those involved aren't dicks is grand in theory but in practice just doesn't hold water. The main problem being that 'being a dick' is, unfortunately, very much part of being human as regards the current context in which our species exists and interacts with each other, other species and our environment. So, whilst capitalism can be portrayed as, in theory at least, offering an equal playing field for all and having the long-term preservation of that playing field as one of its core values, this cannot work in practice when the players believe that social hierarchies, material wealth and access to natural resources are basic human urges/needs/rights. Indeed, if ever anything encapsulated this in a nutshell, it is this video. Hoisted by your own petard I fear, Mr Whistler, although I'm not expecting to change your mind with this comment. You'll probably just take the piss out of me and others who have made similar comments on Brain Blaze and then forget about it. :D
@illitero 2 жыл бұрын
Agreed. The whole premise of Capitalism's free market is as much of a pipe dream as Communism's thorough regulation due to the inherent corruption of the people that seek power.
@snufkinhollow318 2 жыл бұрын
@@illitero Absolutely.
@Chris.Row1991 2 жыл бұрын
Funny you mention "hoisted by your own petard", he dropped a brain blaze video this morning that talked a bit about it.
@styx4947 2 жыл бұрын
Love that line "there are no excuses Available with Square Space" I don't know why. But I do
@johnn3542 2 жыл бұрын
I've seen other videos about this, enjoying this more in depth one. Wasn't the phosphate from bird poop? Built up over time but migratory birds.
@karfomachet7265 2 жыл бұрын
there is actually a lot they can do using explosives to clear those coral peaks can be flattened and they have been in some places all so top soil can be brought in to fill in them to .
@hbeachley 2 жыл бұрын
Simon reviews pop culture would be my favorite. 😆
@belindal4206 2 жыл бұрын
If you haven’t already, can you do a video on North Sentinel Island / The Sentinelese Tribe?
@JoshuaTootell Жыл бұрын
It is small enough that I can comfortably run a lap of the island
@zombyninja2576 2 ай бұрын
It is possible that they could mine in the deep sea sustainably. They are doing research to help ensure this, but unfortunately there is no way to tell how these sites will be impacted without information about how these sites may be recolonized after this large a disruption
@trinfinitex5911 2 жыл бұрын
How about a video on Mount Rushmore?
@davidhuffman8352 2 жыл бұрын
Wow, crazy story. Didn't know anything about this island. What a tragedy.
@seanb.6793 2 жыл бұрын
Hey Elon Musk! Want to settle Mars? Try fixing Naru and making it liveable and beautiful again.
@somethinglikethat2176 2 жыл бұрын
What will that solve? Realistically it would only add about 20km² of liveable space to the planet. Compare that to becoming a multi-planet species. The whole "billionaires should fix this problem" mentality is deeply flawed.
@VanillaMacaron551 2 жыл бұрын
Rising sea levels will put it underwater within decades. Like Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Pacific nations, the entire populations will have to evacuate to NZ, Australia or elsewhere. These are tiny, sandy islands barely above sea level.
@PeterOlson Жыл бұрын
There is a great This American Life episode about Nauru
@TomTheOwl68 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you. The fate of that Island is incredibly sad.
Ruhi Çenet
Рет қаралды 35 МЛН