Faced with an ever-growing demand for precious metals and dwindling extraction sites, the world’s oceans are being seen as a new Eldorado. Thousands of shipwrecks litter the ocean floor with cargoes of these ’precious metals’. With today’s technology, this treasure is in reach.
Underwater archaeology has revealed that 3 million shipwrecks litter the ocean floor, 3,500 of which sunk with cargoes of gold, silver and porcelain onboard. Billions of dollars worth of this material, just sitting there, at the bottom of the sea. With today’s technology, this gold is in reach.
But how can this sunken treasure be recovered? And who has the right to do so? The nation whose territorial waters host the wreck? The country plundered years ago for its resources? Or indeed humanity, as advertised by UNESCO? Between diplomatic battles and great buccaneers, this international investigation uncovers a new gold rush.
One of the biggest wrecks ever discovered in Spain was the ‘Triunfante’, sunk during a French siege in 1795. We follow the process from its discovery to its display in a museum and learn what makes this ship so special.
More info
We investigate the commercialization of the natural world. Protecting our planet has become big business with companies promoting new environmental markets.
More info
Gold, the enduring safe investment and symbol of wealth, comes at a high price. Mined in slave-like conditions, it has been linked to everything from funding civil wars in Africa to causing environmental disasters in Latin America.
More info