Uwe Kersken

Oceanographers have been gripped by a new spirit of discovery and have undertaken the biggest population census of ocean species ever conducted - a "Census of Marine Life". The quest: to find out when and where it all began. Where did the water come from? How was life created in the oceans? And how did it evolve to the enormous diversity we see today? Join National Geographic as we travel more than 4 billion years into the past to uncover how oceans and marine life came to exist.

Erich Kasulke and Rudolf Portmann are comedian stars of the former GDR. When the Wall falls, so does their success. Portmann becomes a successful businessman, while Kasulke tries to continue working on the comedy circuit - without success. When his wife also cheats on him, he decides to start a new life in Berlin. There he quickly meets his old friend Portmann, who has built up a huge company. He offers him a job. But Erich puts the entire company in danger...

Cologne in the 1970s. To all appearances, things could hardly go better for Iwan Herstatt and his bank. Above all, a group of young currency traders ensures brilliant balance sheets. The fact that they are called gold boys is no coincidence.

Behind the myth of Alexander the Great, romanticized by centuries of history, the reality of the character tends to fade. Here's a rereading of the story of a multi-faceted conqueror.

In 1532, Francisco de Pizarro defeated the great Inca emperor Atahualpa's army of 30,000 warriors with just 180 men. Who was this man who brought the powerful empire to its knees? What drove him to pioneer his way to the elevated plains of the Andes, and with a force of just a few men, take on the powerful Inca army?

Around 3,000 BC, the first territorial state in history was created with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. The empire on the Nile was to exist for 3,000 years. The current section focuses on religion, temple economy and the cult of the dead and examines the reigns of Akhenaten and Ramses II. The culture of Ancient Egypt is characterized by religion, temple economy and the cult of the dead. Two pharaohs play an important role in this context: Akhenaten and Ramses II. When Akhenaten ascended the throne around 1,350 BC, religious customs in Egypt had hardly changed for almost 2,000 years. The influential priesthood was organized hierarchically and the rituals were set out in fixed rituals. The temples are not only the spiritual but also the economic centers of the country.

They say it's over 2000 years old, and more than 4,000 miles long. But even today nobody really knows for sure. The Great Wall of China is one of the world's famous buildings but it is still the least known. British writer and historian William Lindesay has lived in China for twenty years. Exploring the Great Wall has become his lifetime obsession.