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Industrial New York

Episode 3 of 3

Series exploring the sanitary history of cities. Dan Snow looks at 19th century New York when migrants arrived in a city consumed by squalor, stench and soot.

Dan Snow travels back to a seething Manhattan in the throes of the industrial revolution. Millions fled persecution, poverty and famine in Europe in the 19th century in search of the Promised Land. When they arrived what they found was even worse than what they'd left behind.

New York was a city consumed by filth and corruption, its massive immigrant population crammed together in the slums of Lower Manhattan. Dan succumbs to some of the deadly disease-carrying parasites that thrived in the filthy, overcrowded tenement buildings. He has a go at cooking with some cutting edge 19th century ingredients - clothes dye and floor cleaner - added to disguise reeking fetid meat. And he marvels at some of the incredible feats of engineering that transformed not just the city, but the world.

1 hour

Last on

Thu 6 Sep 2018 23:00

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Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Dan Snow
Executive Producer Eamon Hardy
Series Producer Sam Starbuck

Broadcasts

  • Tue 19 Apr 2011 21:00
  • Wed 20 Apr 2011 00:00
  • Sat 4 Feb 2012 02:05
  • Thu 25 Oct 2012 00:20
  • Thu 6 Sep 2018 23:00