Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic.
This is a followup to some of my most popular videos, highlighting the seven wonders of
the ancient world, the middle ages, and the modern world.
I didn’t create these lists, they were all already established, but people still got
pretty upset when some of their favorite monuments didn’t appear.
Well, I found a new list of seven wonders that may please most of them.
The New7Wonders campaign was organized by an organization in Switzerland called the
New7Wonders Foundation, which collected 200 global monuments and allowed the public to
vote, receiving over 100 million votes.
There was some controversy however, as it
was possible that voters could vote multiple times,
maybe inflating some of the decisions.
Anyways, they ended up recognizing seven wonders
across the world and we’re going to highlight them here.
Two of them have already been featured, so I’m going to be brief about these first two.
In no particular order, we begin with the Great Wall of China.
Stretching over 13,000 miles, these massive fortifications were built throughout
a period in Chinese history beginning back
in the 7th century BCE and more recently into the 1600s.
That’s a big span of time, in which different
Chinese leaders would develop different stretches of the wall.
This was typically to defend themselves, but also served as funnels to help inspect trade
goods as they entered and left China.
The second wonder that we’ve already covered in videos is the Roman Colosseum.
In the center of Rome, this is the largest amphitheater ever built, once serving as a
place to see theater, public executions, gladiator bouts, and more.
It also holds the title of most popular tourist attraction in the world, with 7.4 million
visitors in 2018 alone.
It gets its name colosseum from a nearby gigantic statue that has since been torn down, which
represented first Emperor Nero but was reworked throughout time to represent each current
Emperor and sometimes even Roman gods.
It’s unsure how the statue eventually crumbled or when, but it’s no longer standing,
all that remains is a few blocks from its foundation.
And now we dive into wonders that are new
to this list, they weren’t included in the prior 3 videos.
We start with the city of Petra, located in Jordan.
Petra is a city, believed to be settled as early as 9,000 BCE.
It was built as a trading hub, for nomadic tribes nearby to use as a central location.
Petra was attacked and was attempted to be invaded many times, but its unique placement
in the mountains made it nearly impenetrable,
until eventually the Roman Empire conquered this place.
It was abandoned and left alone, aside from small nomad tribes, until the 1800s when it
was rediscovered by the wider world.
The area relies on commerce and tourism, which
is made difficult by the political instability of the area.
Now we travel to the city of Chichen Itza, in the Mexican state of Yucatan.
This city was built by the Mayan people in what’s believed to be around 750 BCE.
Up through the 10th century, the city became an important regional capital.
The most prominent feature of Chichen Itza is the Temple of Kukulcan, who is a serpent
god worshipped by the Mayans.
This temple used to be open for visitors to climb on, until a woman fell down the stairs
to her death in 2006.
Surrounding the temple, there are also thirteen ballcourts, where sports used to be held,
including the most well-preserved ballcourt in Mesoamerica.
You can see other buildings and landmarks
in the area, though some are much more well-preserved than others.
This is a major tourism site in the area now, with many official shops as well as local
vendors who travel to the site to sell their goods.
We now head to Peru, to the Inca site of Machu Picchu, originally built as a royal estate
for its rulers in the 1400s.
It seemed to be abandoned after only about 80 years, after the Spanish conquests which
brought an outbreak of smallpox that seemingly killed most of its inhabitants.
It was overgrown and hidden from civilization until the late 1800s or early 1900s and it
wasn’t until 1981 that Peru declared the site a historic sanctuary.
It’s often celebrated for its unique geographic layout, embracing the mountainside surrounding it.
To boost tourism in the area, there are plans by the Peruvian government to construct a
cable car that would take tourists to the site, though these plans are often protested
by people who might see an influx of tourism as a danger to the site.
Now we’re off to Brazil, to Rio de Janeiro and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
Built over the course of nine years, it was completed in 1931.
It was a truly global project, built as a collaboration between Brazilian and French
engineers, with the face sculpted by a Romanian artist.
It’s located at the top of Mount Corcovado and has taken some severe weather damage,
prompting regular restoration work.
The winds cause erosion and several lightning strikes have caused details to chip off, so
stone from the same quarry was brought in to repair it.
A chapel was consecrated beneath the statue by the Catholic Church, allowing weddings
and baptisms to take place there.
The last wonder voted onto this list is India’s Taj Mahal.
It was built in the mid 1600s by the then-Emperor Shah Jahan.
He had multiple wives but built this mausoleum to bury himself and his favorite wife.
It’s a massive complex also containing a
mosque, living areas, and gardens, totaling about 42 acres.
This place is considered a wonder because
of the pure artistic value, every corner intentional and intricate.
While most of it is elaborately decorated,
the actual graves in a lower level are simple, per Muslim law.
So which of these sites would YOU like to visit?
Let me down and in the comments and look forward to next week when we cover the New7Wonders
of Nature, focusing now on wonders created without the help of man.
If the video is already up, you can find it here, otherwise we’ll see you next week!