Blog personal sobre el estudio de historia del grado de Geografía e Historia de la UNED. Resúmenes, apuntes, esquemas, gráficos y otros materiales disponibles para poder avanzar en el estudio de historia. Se sigue el currículo del grado de la UNED aunque no están todos los temas ni todas las asignaturas. Cualquier aportación o crítica constructiva es bienvenida.
Esta noche es la vigilia del día de Todos los Santos. En Catalunya es tradicional comer castañas calientes, boniatos y panellets. Es una costumbre que viene de muchos años atrás. Sin embargo últimamente se está suplantando con otra tradición de origen anglosajón, Halloween. Esta festividad se enmarca dentro de la tradición del culto a los muertos. No es extraño que tenga lugar justamente en otoño, cuando la naturaleza va muriendo poco a poco y se prepara a cubrirse con el sudario blanco del invierno. Son muchas las tradiciones que concurren en estas fechas: desde las referencias literarias (Don Juan Tenorio de José Zorrilla; El Estudiante de Salamanca de José de Espronceda...), hasta las puramente gastronómicas que nos conducen al aspecto más lúdico de la celebración: LA CASTAÑADA. En efecto, antiguamente, después de cenar, se celebraba la castañada, comida familiar dedicada a los muertos y que era recuerdo de las antiguas comidas funerarias. Se hacía la cena habitual y seguidamente se comían las castañas asadas al fuego del hogar, así como los panellets u otros dulces propios del día, y se bebía vino que tenía que ser dulce o blanco. Las castañas se abocaban encima de la mesa y todo el mundo iba cogiendo a su discreción. Esta costumbre de comer castañas (que por otro lado es el fruto típico de la estación junto con otros frutos secos: almendras, avellanas...), se complementa con la de consumir un tubérculo parecido a la batatata (de la cual es una variedad): el boniato. Y juntos nos llevan a la aparición de uno de los personajes más carismáticos y entrañables de la época: La castañera. Este año un tiempo casi veraniego ha deslucido un poco la tradición de la castañera (me acuerdo hace algunos años, cuando el frío arreciaba, comprábamos las castañas y nos calentábamos las manos).
Otro posible origen de la tradición: En la Edad Media y para recordar a todos vecinos la necesidad de rezar por los difuntos, durante la noche de todos los santos se tocaban las campanas de todas las parroquias y conventos, de tal suerte que el campanero necesitaba de un gran aporte de energía para recuperarse del esfuerzo. Al ser la castaña el fruto mas abundante del otoño, se recuperaban del cansancio con castañas y pequeños tragos de vino blanco, para hacerlas más pasaderas. Como el número de campanarios era muy elevado en aquellos tiempos y al campanero se iban añadiendo las personas y familiares más allegados, en un afán de querer compartir con él sus penas y también sus gozos, finalmente todos acababan comiendo castañas y bebiendo vino. Más adelante, en los pueblos, por la tarde todos los hombres se dedicaban a recoger castañas, boniatos y leña, las mujeres hacían pastelitos parecidos a los actuales “panellets” (unos pastelitos hechos a base de almendra molida y azucarada) y al llegar la noche se reunían todos alrededor del fuego comiéndose las castañas y los boniatos asados a la leña y los pastelitos que habían traído las mujeres y así celebraban el final de la recolecta y rezaban por los difuntos.También existía la tradición de que los niños tenían que dejar castañas escondidas en algún rincón de la casa para que, por la noche, las almas de los que faltaban vinieran a recogerlas y se las cambiaran por “panellets” o membrillo (dependiendo de la zona). A finales del siglo XVIII la costumbre se había extendido de tal manera que la castaña pasa a ser un elemento de comercio y entonces hace su aparición la figura de las castañeras, mujeres que asan las castañas al fuego y las venden en puestos callejeros. Hasta aquí nuestra tradición más tradicional (valga la redundancia). Ahora comentaré una importación extrangera, el Halloween.
Halloween significa "All hallow's eve", palabra que proviene del inglés antiguo, y que significa "víspera de todos los santos", ya que se refiere a la noche del 31 de octubre, víspera de la Fiesta de Todos los Santos. Sin embargo, la antigua costumbre anglosajona le ha robado su estricto sentido religioso para celebrar en su lugar la noche del terror, de las brujas y los fantasmas. Halloween marca un triste retorno al antiguo paganismo, tendencia que se ha propagado también entre los pueblos hispanos. La celebración del Halloween se inició con los celtas, antiguos pobladores de Europa Oriental, Occidental y parte de Asia Menor. Entre ellos habitaban los druidas, sacerdotes paganos adoradores de los árboles, especialmente del roble. Ellos creían en la inmortalidad del alma, la cual decían se introducía en otro individuo al abandonar el cuerpo; pero el 31 de octubre volvía a su antiguo hogar a pedir comida a sus moradores, quienes estaban obligados a hacer provisión para ella. El año céltico concluía en esta fecha que coincide con el otoño, cuya característica principal es la caída de las hojas. Para ellos significaba el fin de la muerte o iniciación de una nueva vida. Esta enseñanza se propagó a través de los años juntamente con la adoración a su dios el "señor de la muerte", o "Samagin", a quien en este mismo día invocaban para consultarle sobre el futuro, salud, prosperidad, muerte, entre otros. Cuando los pueblos celtas se cristianizaron, no todos renunciaron a las costumbres paganas. Es decir, la conversión no fue completa. La coincidencia cronológica de la fiesta pagana con la fiesta cristiana de Todos los Santos y la de los difuntos, que es el día siguiente, hizo que se mezclara. En vez de recordar los buenos ejemplos de los santos y orar por los antepasados, se llenaban de miedo ante las antiguas supersticiones sobre la muerte y los difuntos. La calabaza fue añadida después y tiene su origen en los países escandinavos y luego regresó a Europa y al resto de América gracias a la colonización cultural de sus medios de comunicación y los telefilmes y películas importados. En los últimos años, comienza a hacer furor entre los quinceañeros mediterráneos y latinoamericanos que olvidan sus propias y ricas tradiciones para adoptar la hueca calabaza iluminada. En Hallowe'en (de All hallow's eve), literalmente la Víspera de Todos los Santos, la leyenda anglosajona dice que es fácil ver brujas y fantasmas. Los niños se disfrazan y van -con una vela introducida en una calabaza vaciada en la que se hacen incisiones para formar una calavera- de casa en casa. Cuando se abre la puerta gritan: "trick or treat" (broma o regalo) para indicar que gastarán una broma a quien no les de una especie de propina o aguinaldo en golosinas o dinero.
Hoy hace exactamente setenta y cinco años que Orson Welles hizo un experimento. Demostró, sin lugar a dudas, el triunfo del cuarto poder y la estupidez de las masas. Y lo hizo a través de uno de los medios de comunicación más importantes de la época, la radio. Un melodrama radiofónico, 'La guerra de los mundos', aterrorizó a toda una nación, Estados Unidos. El 30 de octubre de 1938, Orson Welles escenificó una invasión marciana en territorio norteamericano, adaptando al medio radiofónico la novela homónima de H.G. Wells. Muchos ciudadanos creyeron que el ataque era real. El pánico cundió en muchos lugares. Posteriormente se pidieron responsabilidades a la cadena CBS pero finalmente el caso quedó archivado. El suceso forma parte de la historia.
ANNOUNCER: The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
(MUSIC: MERCURY THEATRE MUSICAL THEME)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen: the director of the Mercury Theatre and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles . . .
ORSON WELLES: We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which by chance or design man has inherited out of the dark mystery of Time and Space. Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the thirty-ninth year of the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.
It was near the end of October. Business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work. Sales were picking up. On this particular evening, October 30, the Crosley service estimated that thirty-two million people were listening in on radios.
ANNOUNCER: . . .for the next twenty-four hours not much change in temperature. A slight atmospheric disturbance of undetermined origin is reported over Nova Scotia, causing a low pressure area to move down rather rapidly over the northeastern states, bringing a forecast of rain, accompanied by winds of light gale force. Maximum temperature 66; minimum 48. This weather report comes to you from the Government Weather Bureau. . . . We now take you to the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra.
(MUSIC: SPANISH THEME SONG [A TANGO] . . . FADES)
ANNOUNCER THREE: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, we bring you the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra. With a touch of the Spanish. Ramón Raquello leads off with "La Cumparsita."
(PIECE STARTS PLAYING)
ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity. Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's observation, and describes the phenomenon as (quote) like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun (unquote). We now return you to the music of Ramón Raquello, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York.
(MUSIC PLAYS FOR A FEW MOMENTS UNTIL PIECE ENDS . . . SOUND OF APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER THREE: Now a tune that never loses favor, the ever-popular "Star Dust." Ramón Raquello and his orchestra . . .
(MUSIC)
ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, following on the news given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of the country to keep an astronomical watch on any further disturbances occurring on the planet Mars. Due to the unusual nature of this occurrence, we have arranged an interview with noted astronomer. Professor Pierson, who will give us his views on the event. in a few moments we will take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton, New Jersey. We return you until then to the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra.
(MUSIC . . .)
ANNOUNCER TWO: We are now ready to take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton where Carl Phillips, or commentator, will interview Professor Richard Pierson, famous astronomer. We take you now to Princeton, New Jersey.
(ECHO CHAMBER)
PHILLIPS: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Carl Phillips, speaking to you from the observatory at Princeton. I am standing in a large semi-circular room, pitch black except for an oblong split in the ceiling. Through this opening I can see a sprinkling of stars that cast a kind of frosty glow over the intricate mechanism of the huge telescope. The ticking sound you hear is the vibration of the clockwork. Professor Pierson stands directly above me on a small platform, peering through a giant lens. I ask you to be patient, ladies and gentlemen, during any delay that may arise during our interview. Besides his ceaseless watch of the heavens, Professor Pierson may be interrupted by telephone or other communications. During this period he is in constant touch with the astronomical centers of the world . . . Professor, may I begin our questions?
PIERSON: At any time, Mr. Phillips.
PHILLIPS: Professor, would you please tell our radio audience exactly what you see as you observe the planet Mars through your telescope?
PIERSON: Nothing unusual at the moment, Mr. Phillips. A red disk swimming in a blue sea. Transverse stripes across the disk. Quite distinct now because Mars happens to be the point nearest the earth . . . in opposition, as we call it.
PHILLIPS: In your opinion, what do these transverse stripes signify, Professor Pierson?
PIERSON: Not canals, I can assure you, Mr. Phillips, although that's the popular conjecture of those who imagine Mars to be inhabited. From a scientific viewpoint the stripes are merely the result of atmospheric conditions peculiar to the planet.
PHILLIPS: Then you're quite convinced as a scientist that living intelligence as we know it does not exist on Mars?
PIERSON: I'd say the chances against it are a thousand to one.
PHILLIPS: And yet how do you account for those gas eruptions occurring on the surface of the planet at regular intervals?
PIERSON: Mr. Phillips, I cannot account for it.
PHILLIPS: By the way, Professor, for the benefit of our listeners, how far is Mars from earth?
PIERSON: Approximately forty million miles.
PHILLIPS: Well, that seems a safe enough distance.
(OFF MIKE) Thank you.
(PAUSE)
PHILLIPS: Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen, someone has just handed Professor Pierson a message. While he reads it, let me remind you that we are speaking to you from the observatory in Princeton, New Jersey, where we are interviewing the world- famous astronomer, Professor Pierson . . . One moment, please. Professor Pierson has passed me a message which he has just received . . . Professor, may I read the message to the listening audience?
PIERSON: Certainly, Mr. Phillips
PHILLIPS: Ladies and gentlemen, I shall read you a wire addressed to Professor Pierson from Dr. Gray of the National History Museum, New York. "9:15 P. M. eastern standard time. Seismograph registered shock of almost earthquake intensity occurring within a radius of twenty miles of Princeton. Please investigate. Signed, Lloyd Gray, Chief of Astronomical Division" . . . Professor Pierson, could this occurrence possibly have something to do with the disturbances observed on the planet Mars?
PIERSON: Hardly, Mr. Phillips. This is probably a meteorite of unusual size and its arrival at this particular time is merely a coincidence. However, we shall conduct a search, as soon as daylight permits.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Professor. Ladies and gentlemen, for the past ten minutes we've been speaking to you from the observatory at Princeton, bringing you a special interview with Professor Pierson, noted astronomer. This is Carl Phillips speaking. We are returning you now to our New York studio.
(FADE IN PIANO PLAYING)
ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. Toronto, Canada: Professor Morse of McGill University reports observing a total of three explosions on the planet Mars, between the hours of 7:45 P. M. and 9:20 P. M., eastern standard time. This confirms earlier reports received from American observatories. Now, nearer home, comes a special announcement from Trenton, New Jersey. It is reported that at 8:50 P. M. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton.
The flash in the sky was visible within a radius of several hundred miles and the noise of the impact was heard as far north as Elizabeth.
We have dispatched a special mobile unit to the scene, and will have our commentator, Carl Phillips, give you a word description as soon as he can reach there from Princeton. In the meantime, we take you to the Hotel Martinet in Brooklyn, where Bobby Millette and his orchestra are offering a program of dance music.
(SWING BAND FOR TWENTY SECONDS . . . THEN CUT)
ANNOUNCER TWO: We take you now to Grovers Mill, New Jersey.
(CROWD NOISES . . . POLICE SIRENS)
PHILLIPS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Carl Phillips again, at the Wilmuth farm, Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Professor Pierson and myself made the eleven miles from Princeton in ten minutes. Well, I . . . I hardly know where to begin, to paint for you a word picture of the strange scene before my eyes, like something out of a modern "Arabian Nights." Well, I just got here. I haven't had a chance to look around yet. I guess that's it. Yes, I guess that's the . . . thing, directly in front of me, half buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force. The ground is covered with splinters of a tree it must have struck on its way down. What I can see of the . . . object itself doesn't look very much like a meteor, at least not the meteors I've seen. It looks more like a huge cylinder. It has a diameter of . . . what would you say, Professor Pierson?
PIERSON (OFF-MIKE): What's that?
PHILLIPS: What would you say . . . what is the diameter?
PIERSON: About thirty yards.
PHILLIPS: About thirty yards . . . The metal on the sheath is . . . well, I've never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish-white. Curious spectators now are pressing close to the object in spite of the efforts of the police to keep them back. They're getting in front of my line of vision. Would you mind standing to one side, please?
POLICEMAN: One side, there, one side.
PHILLIPS: While the policemen are pushing the crowd back, here's Mr. Wilmuth, owner of the farm here. He may have some interesting facts to add . . . Mr. Wilmuth, would you please tell the radio audience as much as you remember of this rather unusual visitor that dropped in your backyard? Step closer, please. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Wilmuth.
WILMUTH: Well, I was listenin' to the radio.
PHILLIPS: Closer and louder please.
WILMUTH: Pardon me!
PHILLIPS: Louder, please, and closer.
WILMUTH: Yes, sir -- while I was listening to the radio and kinda drowsin', that Professor fellow was talkin' about Mars, so I was half dozin' and half . . .
PHILLIPS: Yes, yes, Mr. Wilmuth. Then what happened?
WILMUTH: As I was sayin', I was listenin' to the radio kinda halfways . . .
PHILLIPS: Yes, Mr. Wilmuth, and then you saw something?
WILMUTH: Not first off. I heard something.
PHILLIPS: And what did you hear?
WILMUTH: A hissing sound. Like this: sssssss . . . kinda like a fourt' of July rocket.
PHILLIPS: Then what?
WILMUTH: Turned my head out the window and would have swore I was to sleep and dreamin.'
PHILLIPS: Yes?
WILMUTH: I seen a kinda greenish streak and then zingo! Somethin' smacked the ground. Knocked me clear out of my chair!
PHILLIPS: Well, were you frightened, Mr. Wilmuth?
WILMUTH: Well, I -- I ain't quite sure. I reckon I -- I was kinda riled.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Mr. Wilmuth. Thank you.
WILMUTH: Want me to tell you some more?
PHILLIPS: No . . . That's quite all right, that's plenty.
PHILLIPS: Ladies and gentlemen, you've just heard Mr. Wilmuth, owner of the farm where this thing has fallen. I wish I could convey the atmosphere . . . the background of this . . . fantastic scene. Hundreds of cars are parked in a field in back of us. Police are trying to rope off the roadway leading to the farm. But it's no use. They're breaking right through. Cars' headlights throw an enormous spot on the pit where the object's half buried. Some of the more daring souls are now venturing near the edge. Their silhouettes stand out against the metal sheen.
(FAINT HUMMING SOUND)
One man wants to touch the thing . . . he's having an argument with a policeman. The policeman wins. . . . Now, ladies and gentlemen, there's something I haven't mentioned in all this excitement, but now it's becoming more distinct. Perhaps you've caught it already on your radio. Listen:
(LONG PAUSE) . . .
Do you hear it? It's a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I'll move the microphone nearer. (PAUSE) Now we're not more then twenty-five feet away. Can you hear it now? Oh, Professor Pierson!
PIERSON: Yes, Mr. Phillips?
PHILLIPS: Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing?
PIERSON: Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface.
PHILLIPS: I see, do you still think it's a meteor, Professor?
PIERSON: I don't know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial . . . not found on this earth. Friction with the earth's atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and, as you can see, of cylindrical shape.
PHILLIPS: Just a minute! Something's happening! Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific! This end of the thing is beginning to flake off! The top is beginning to rotate like a screw! The thing must be hollow!
VOICES: She's movin'! Look, the darn thing's unscrewing! Keep back, there! Keep back, I tell you! Maybe there's men in it trying to escape! It's red hot, they'll burn to a cinder! Keep back there. Keep those idiots back!
(SUDDENLY THE CLANKING SOUND OF A HUGE PIECE OF FALLING METAL)
VOICES: She's off! The top's loose! Look out there! Stand back!
PHILLIPS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed . . . Wait a minute! Someone's crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . .
(SHOUT OF AWE FROM THE CROWD)
PHILLIPS: Good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing's body. It's large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face, it . . . Ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by . . . possibly gravity or something. The thing's raising up. The crowd falls back now. They've seen plenty. This is the most extraordinary experience. I can't find words . . . I'll pull this microphone with me as I talk. I'll have to stop the description until I can take a new position. Hold on, will you please, I'll be right back in a minute.
(FADE INTO PIANO)
ANNOUNCER: We are bringing you an eyewitness account of what's happening on the Wilmuth farm, Grovers Mill, New Jersey. (MORE PIANO) We now return you to Carl Phillips at Grovers Mill.
PHILLIPS: Ladies and gentlemen (Am I on?). Ladies and gentlemen, here I am, back of a stone wall that adjoins Mr. Wilmuth's garden. From here I get a sweep of the whole scene. I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk. As long as I can see. More state police have arrived They're drawing up a cordon in front of the pit, about thirty of them. No need to push the crowd back now. They're willing to keep their distance. The captain is conferring with someone. We can't quite see who. Oh yes, I believe it's Professor Pierson. Yes, it is. Now they've parted. The Professor moves around one side, studying the object, while the captain and two policemen advance with something in their hands. I can see it now. It's a white handkerchief tied to a pole . . . a flag of truce. If those creatures know what that means . . . what anything means!. . . Wait! Something's happening!
(HISSING SOUND FOLLOWED BY A HUMMING THAT INCREASES IN INTENSITY)
PHILLIPS: A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What's that? There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on! Good Lord, they're turning into flame!
(SCREAMS AND UNEARTHLY SHRIEKS)
PHILLIPS: Now the whole field's caught fire. (EXPLOSION) The woods . . . the barns . . . the gas tanks of automobiles . . . it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right . . .
(CRASH OF MICROPHONE ... THEN DEAD SILENCE)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to continue the broadcast from Grovers Mill. Evidently there's some difficulty with our field transmission. However, we will return to that point at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, we have a late bulletin from San Diego, California. Professor Indellkoffer, speaking at a dinner of the California Astronomical Society, expressed the opinion that the explosions on Mars are undoubtedly nothing more than severe volcanic disturbances on the surface of the planet. We now continue with our piano interlude.
(PIANO . . . THEN CUT)
ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been handed a message that came in from Grovers Mill by telephone. Just a moment. At least forty people, including six state troopers lie dead in a field east of the village of Grovers Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition. The next voice you hear will be that of Brigadier General Montgomery Smith, commander of the state militia at Trenton, New Jersey.
SMITH: I have been requested by the governor of New Jersey to place the counties of Mercer and Middlesex as far west as Princeton, and east to Jamesburg, under martial law. No one will be permitted to enter this area except by special pass issued by state or military authorities. Four companies of state militia are proceeding from Trenton to Grovers Mill, and will aid in the evacuation of homes within the range of military operations. Thank you.
ANNOUNCER TWO: You have just been listening to General Montgomery Smith commanding the state militia at Trenton. In the meantime, further details of the catastrophe at Grovers Mill are coming in. The strange creatures after unleashing their deadly assault, crawled back into their pit and made no attempt to prevent the efforts of the firemen to recover the bodies and extinguish the fire. Combined fire departments of Mercer County are fighting the flames which menace the entire countryside. We have been unable to establish any contact with our mobile unit at Grovers Mill, but we hope to be able to return you there at the earliest possible moment. In the meantime we take you -- just one moment please.
(LONG PAUSE)
(WHISPER) Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have finally established communication with an eyewitness of the tragedy. Professor Pierson has been located at a farmhouse near Grovers Mill where he has established an emergency observation post. As a scientist, he will give you his explanation of the calamity. The next voice you hear will be that of Professor Pierson, brought to you by direct wire. Professor Pierson.
(FEEDBACK. THEN FILTERED VOICE)
PIERSON: Of the creatures in the rocket cylinder at Grovers Mill, I can give you no authoritative information -- either as to their nature, their origin, or their purposes here on earth Of their destructive instrument I might venture some conjectural explanation. For want of a better term, I shall refer to the mysterious weapon as a heat ray. It's all too evident that these creatures have scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. It is my guess that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolute nonconductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. That is my conjecture of the origin of the heat ray . . .
ANNOUNCER TWO: Thank you, Professor Pierson. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a bulletin from Trenton. It is a brief statement informing us that the charred body of Carl Phillips has been identified in a Trenton hospital. Now here's another bulletin from Washington, D.C. Office of the director of the National Red Cross reports ten units of Red Cross emergency workers have been assigned to the headquarters of the state militia stationed outside Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Here's a bulletin from state police, Princeton Junction: The fires at Grovers Mill and vicinity are now under control. Scouts report all quiet in the pit, and no sign of life appearing from the mouth of the cylinder . . . And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special statement from Mr. Harry McDonald, vice- president in charge of operations.
MC DONALD: We have received a request from the militia at Trenton to place at their disposal our entire broadcasting facilities. In view of the gravity of the situation, and believing that radio has a responsibility to serve in the public interest at all times, we are turning over our facilities to the state militia at Trenton.
ANNOUNCER TWO: We take you now to the field headquarters of the state militia near Grovers Mill, New Jersey.
CAPTAIN: This is Captain Lansing of the signal corps, attached to the state militia now engaged in military operations in the vicinity of Grovers Mill. Situation arising from the reported presence of certain individuals of unidentified nature is now under complete control. The cylindrical object which lies in a pit directly below our position is surrounded on all sides by eight battalions of infantry. Without heavy field pieces, but adequately armed with rifles and machine guns. All cause for alarm, if such cause ever existed, is now entirely unjustified. The things, whatever they are, do not even venture to poke their heads above the pit. I can see their hiding place plainly in the glare of the searchlights here. With all their reported resources, these creatures can scarcely stand up against heavy machine-gun fire. Anyway, it's an interesting outing for the troops. I can make out their khaki uniforms, crossing back and forth in front of the lights. It looks almost like a real war. There appears to be some slight smoke in the woods bordering the Millstone River. Probably fire started by campers. Well, we ought to see some action soon. One of the companies is deploying on the left flank. An quick thrust and it will all be over. Now wait a minute! I see something on top of the cylinder. No, it's nothing but a shadow. Now the troops are on the edge of the Wilmuth farm. Seven thousand armed men closing in on an old metal tube. Wait, that wasn't a shadow! It's something moving . . . solid metal . . . kind of shieldlike affair rising up out of the cylinder . . . It's going higher and higher. Why, it's standing on legs . . . actually rearing up on a sort of metal framework. Now it's reaching above the trees and the searchlights are on it. Hold on!
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars. The battle which took place tonight at Grovers Mill has ended in one of the most startling defeats ever suffered by any army in modern times; seven thousand men armed with rifles and machine guns pitted against a single fighting machine of the invaders from Mars. One hundred and twenty known survivors. The rest strewn over the battle area from Grovers Mill to Plainsboro, crushed and trampled to death under the metal feet of the monster, or burned to cinders by its heat ray. The monster is now in control of the middle section of New Jersey and has effectively cut the state through its center. Communication lines are down from Pennsylvania to the Atlantic Ocean. Railroad tracks are torn and service from New York to Philadelphia discontinued except routing some of the trains through Allentown and Phoenixville. Highways to the north, south, and west are clogged with frantic human traffic. Police and army reserves are unable to control the mad flight. By morning the fugitives will have swelled Philadelphia, Camden, and Trenton, it is estimated, to twice their normal population. At this time martial law prevails throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. We take you now to Washington for a special broadcast on the National Emergency . . . the Secretary of the Interior . . .
SECRETARY: Citizens of the nation: I shall not try to conceal the gravity of the situation that confronts the country, nor the concern of your government in protecting the lives and property of its people. However, I wish to impress upon you -- private citizens and public officials, all of you -- the urgent need of calm and resourceful action. Fortunately, this formidable enemy is still confined to a comparatively small area, and we may place our faith in the military forces to keep them there. In the meantime placing our faith in God we must continue the performance of our duties each and every one of us, so that we may confront this destructive adversary with a nation united, courageous, and consecrated to the preservation of human supremacy on this earth. I thank you.
ANNOUNCER: You have just heard the secretary of the Interior speaking from Washington. Bulletins too numerous to read are piling up in the studio here. We are informed the central portion of New Jersey is blacked out from radio communication due to the effect of the heat ray upon power lines and electrical equipment. Here is a special bulletin from New York. Cables received from English, French, German scientific bodies offering assistance. Astronomers report continued gas outbursts at regular intervals on planet Mars. Majority voice opinion that enemy will be reinforced by additional rocket machines. Attempts made to locate Professor Pierson of Princeton, who has observed Martians at close range. It is feared he was lost in recent battle. Langham Field, Virginia: Scouting planes report three Martian machines visible above treetops, moving north towards Somerville with population fleeing ahead of them. Heat ray not in use; although advancing at express-train speed, invaders pick their way carefully. They seem to be making conscious effort to avoid destruction of cities and countryside. However, they stop to uproot power lines, bridges, and railroad tracks. Their apparent objective is to crush resistance, paralyze communication, and disorganize human society.
Here is a bulletin from Basking Ridge, New Jersey: Coon hunters have stumbled on a second cylinder similar to the first embedded in the great swamp twenty miles south of Morristown. Army fieldpieces are proceeding from Newark to blow up second invading unit before cylinder can be opened and the fighting machine rigged. They are taking up position in the -- foothills of Watchung Mountains. Another bulletin from Langham Field, Virginia: Scouting planes report enemy machines, now three in number, increasing speed northward kicking over houses and trees in their evident haste to form a conjunction with their allies south of Morristown. Machines also sighted by telephone operator east of Middlesex within ten miles of Plainfield. Here's a bulletin from Winston Field, Long Island: Fleet of army bombers carrying heavy explosives flying north in pursuit of enemy. Scouting planes act as guides. They keep speeding enemy in sight. Just a moment please. Ladies and gentlemen, we've run special wires to the artillery line in adjacent villages to give you direct reports in the zone of the advancing enemy. First we take you to the battery of the 22nd Field Artillery, located in the Watchtung Mountains.
OFFICER: Range, thirty-two meters.
GUNNER: Thirty-two meters.
OFFICER: Projection, thirty-nine degrees.
GUNNER: Thirty-nine degrees.
OFFICER: Fire! (BOOM OF HEAVY GUN . . . PAUSE)
OBSERVER: One hundred and forty yards to the right, sir.
OFFICER: Shift range . . . thirty-one meters.
GUNNER: Thirty-one meters
OFFICER: Projection . . . thirty-seven degrees.
GUNNER: Thirty-seven degrees.
OFFICER: Fire! (BOOM OF HEAVY GUN . . . PAUSE)
OBSERVER: A hit, sir! We got the tripod of one of them. They've stopped. The others are trying to repair it.
OFFICER: Quick, get the range! Shift thirty meters.
GUNNER: Thirty meters.
OFFICER: Projection . . . twenty-seven degrees.
GUNNER: Twenty-seven degrees.
OFFICER: Fire! (BOOM OF HEAVY GUN . . . PAUSE)
OBSERVER: Can't see the shell land, sir. They're letting off a smoke.
OFFICER: What is it?
OBSERVER: A black smoke, sir. Moving this way. Lying close to the ground. It's moving fast.
OFFICER: Put on gas masks. (PAUSE. VOICES NOW MUFFLED) Get ready to fire. Shift twenty-four meters.
GUNNER: Twenty-four meters.
OFFICER: Projection, twenty-four degrees.
GUNNER: Twenty-four degrees.
OFFICER: Fire! (BOOM)
OBSERVER: Still can't see, sir. The smoke's coming nearer.
OFFICER: Twenty-two degrees (FADE-IN COUGHING) (CUT TO SOUND OF AIRPLANE MOTOR)
COMMANDER: Army bombing plane, V-8-43, off Bayonne, New Jersey, Lieutenant Voght, commanding eight bombers. Reporting to Commander Fairfax, Langham Field . . . This is Voght, reporting to Commander Fairfax, Langham Field . . . Enemy tripod machines now in sight. Reinforced by three machines from the Morristown cylinder . . . Six altogether. One machine already crippled. Believed hit by shell from army gun in Watchung Mountains. Guns now appear silent. A heavy black fog hanging close to the earth . . . of extreme density, nature unknown. No sign of heat ray. Enemy now turns east, crossing Passaic River into the Jersey marshes. Another straddles the Pulaski Skyway. Evident objective is New York City. They're pushing down a high tension power station. The machines are close together now, and we're ready to attack. Planes circling, ready to strike. A thousand yards and we'll be over the first -- eight hundred yards . . . six hundred . . . four hundred . . . two hundred . . . There they go! The giant arm raised . . . (SOUND OF HEAT RAY) Green flash! They're spraying us with flame! Two thousand feet. Engines are giving out. No chance to release bombs. Only one thing left . . . drop on them, plane and all. We're diving on the first one. Now the engine's gone! Eight . . . (PLANE GOES DOWN)
OPERATOR ONE: This is Bayonne, New Jersey, calling Langham Field . . . This is Bayonne, New Jersey, calling Langham Field . . . Come in, please . . .
OPERATOR TWO: This is Langham Field . . . Go ahead . . .
OPERATOR ONE: Eight army bombers in engagement with enemy tripod machines over Jersey flats. Engines incapacitated by heat ray. All crashed. One enemy machine destroyed. Enemy now discharging heavy black smoke in direction of --
OPERATOR THREE: This is Newark, New Jersey . . . This is Newark, New Jersey . . . Warning! Poisonous black smoke pouring in from Jersey marshes. Reaches South street. Gas masks useless. Urge population to move into open spaces . . .automobiles use Routes 7, 23, 24 . . . Avoid congested areas. Smoke now spreading over Raymond Boulevard . . .
OPERATOR FIVE: This is 8X3R . . . coming back at 2X2L.
OPERATOR FOUR: How's reception? How's reception? K, please (PAUSE) Where are you, 8X3R? What's the matter? Where are you?
(BELLS RINGING OVER CITY GRADUALLY DIMINISHING)
ANNOUNCER: I'm speaking from the roof of the Broadcasting Building, New York City. The bells you hear are ringing to warn the people to evacuate the city as the Martians approach. Estimated in last two hours three million people have moved out along the roads to the north, Hutchison River Parkway still kept open for motor traffic. Avoid bridges to Long Island . . . hopelessly jammed. All communication with Jersey shore closed ten minutes ago. No more defenses. Our army wiped out . . . artillery, air force, everything wiped out. This may be the last broadcast. We'll stay here to the end . . . People are holding service below us . . . in the cathedral.
(VOICES SINGING HYMN)
Now I look down the harbor. All manner of boats, overloaded with fleeing population, pulling out from docks.
(SOUND OF BOAT WHISTLES)
Streets are all jammed. Noise in crowds like New Year's Eve in city. Wait a minute . . . Enemy now in sight above the Palisades. Five -- five great machines. First one is crossing river. I can see it from here, wading the Hudson like a man wading through a brook . . . A bulletin's handed me . . . Martian cylinders are falling all over the country. One outside Buffalo, one in Chicago, St. Louis . . . seem to be timed and spaced . . . Now the first machine reaches the shore. He stands watching, looking over the city. His steel, cowlish head is even with the skyscrapers. He waits for the others. They rise like a line of new towers on the city's west side . . . Now they're lifting their metal hands. This is the end now. Smoke comes out . . . black smoke, drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running towards the East River . . . thousands of them, dropping in like rats. Now the smoke's spreading faster. It's reached Times Square. People trying to run away from it, but it's no use. They're falling like flies. Now the smoke's crossing Sixth Avenue . . . Fifth Avenue . . . one hundred yards away . . . it's fifty feet . . .
(BODY FALLS)
OPERATOR FOUR: 2X2L calling CQ . . . 2X2L calling CQ . . . 2X2L calling CQ . . . New York. Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there anyone . . . 2X2L --
ANNOUNCER: You are listening to a CBS presentation of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in an original dramatization of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. The performance will continue after a brief intermission. This is the Columbia . . . Broadcasting System.
MUSIC
PIERSON: As I set down these notes on paper, I'm obsessed by the thought that I may be the last living man on earth. I have been hiding in this empty house near Grovers Mill -- a small island of daylight cut off by the black smoke from the rest of the world. All that happened before the arrival of these monstrous creatures in the world now seems part of another life. . . a life that has no continuity with the present, furtive existence of the lonely derelict who pencils these words on the back of some astronomical notes bearing the signature of Richard Pierson. I look down at my blackened hands, my torn shoes, my tattered clothes, and I try to connect them with a professor who lives at Princeton, and who on the night of October 30, glimpsed through his telescope an orange splash of light on a distant planet. My wife, my colleagues, my students, my books, my observatory, my. . . my world. . . where are they? Did they ever exist? Am I Richard Pierson? What day is it? Do days exist without calendars? Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks? . . .In writing down my daily life I tell myself shall preserve human history between the dark covers of this little book that was meant to record the movements of the stars. . . But to write I must live, and to live, I must eat . . . I find moldy bread in the kitchen, and an orange not too spoiled to swallow. I keep watch at the window. From time to time I catch sight of a Martian above the black smoke. The smoke still holds the house in its black coil. . . but at length there is a hissing sound and suddenly I see a Martian mounted on his machine, spraying the air with a jet of steam, as if to dissipate the smoke. I watch in a corner as his huge metal legs nearly brush against the house. Exhausted by terror, I fall asleep. . .it's morning. . .
(QUIETLY) Morning! Sun streams in the window. The black cloud of gas has lifted, and the scorched meadows to the north look as though a black snowstorm has passed over them. I venture from the house. I make my way to a road. No traffic. Here and there a wrecked car, baggage overturned, a blackened skeleton. I push on north. For some reason I feel safer trailing these monsters than running away from them. And I keep a careful watch. I have seen the Martians. . . feed. Should one of their machines appear over the top of trees, I am ready to fling myself flat on the earth. I come to a chestnut tree. October chestnuts are ripe. I fill my pockets. I must keep alive. Two days I wander in a vague northerly direction through a desolate world. Finally I notice a living creature. . . a small red squirrel in a beech tree. I stare at him, and wonder. He stares back at me. I believe at that moment the animal and I shared the same emotion. . .the joy of finding another living being. I push on north. I find dead cows in a brackish field. Beyond, the charred ruins of a dairy. The silo remains standing guard over the waste land like a lighthouse deserted by the sea. Astride the silo perches a weathercock. The arrow points north.
Next day I came to a city vaguely familiar in its contours, yet its buildings strangely dwarfed and leveled off, as if a giant hand sliced off its highest towers with a capricious sweep of his hand. I reached the outskirts. I found Newark, undemolished, but humbled by some whim of the advancing Martians. Presently, with an odd feeling of being watched, I caught sight of something crouching in a doorway. I made a step towards it, and it rose up and became a man! -- a man, armed with a large knife.
STRANGER: (OFF MIKE) Stop. . . (CLOSER) where did you come from?
PIERSON: I come from . . . many places. A long time ago from Princeton.
STRANGER: Princeton, huh? That's near Grovers Mill!
PIERSON: Yes.
STRANGER: Grovers Mill. . . (LAUGHS AS AT A GREAT JOKE) There's no food here. This is my country. . . all this end of town down to the river. There's only food for one. . . Which way are you going?
PIERSON: I don't know. I guess I'm looking for -- for people.
STRANGER: (NERVOUSLY) What was that? Did you hear something just then?
PIERSON: Only a bird . . . (AMAZED) A live bird!
STRANGER: You get to know that birds have shadows these days. . . Say, we're in the open here. Let's crawl into this doorway and talk.
PIERSON: Have you seen any . . . Martians?
STRANGER: Naah. They've gone over to New York. At night the sky is alive with their lights. Just as if people were still livin' in it. By daylight you can't see them. Five days ago a couple of them carried somethin' big across the flats from the airport. I believe they're learning how to fly.
PIERSON: Fly!
STRANGER: Yeah, fly.
PIERSON: Then it's all over with humanity. Stranger, there's still you and I. Two of us left.
STRANGER: They got themselves in solid; they wrecked the greatest country in the world. Those green stars, they're probably falling somewhere every night. They've only lost one machine. There isn't anything to do. We're done. We're licked.
PIERSON: Where were you? You're in a uniform.
STRANGER: Yeah, what's left of it. I was in the militia -- national guard. . . That's good! Wasn't any war any more than there's war between men and ants.
PIERSON: And we're eat-able ants. I found that out. . . What will they do with us?
STRANGER: I've thought it all out. Right now we're caught as we're wanted. The Martian only has to go a few miles to get a crowd on the run. But they won't keep doing that. They'll begin catching us systematic-like -- keeping the best and storing us in cages and things. They haven't begun on us yet!
PIERSON: Not begun!
STRANGER: Not begun! All that's happened so far is because we don't have sense enough to keep quiet. . . botherin' them with guns and such stuff and losing our heads and rushing off in crowds. Now instead of our rushing around blind we've got to fix ourselves up -- fix ourselves up according to the way things are NOW. Cities, nations, civilization, progress. . . done.
PIERSON: But if that's so, what is there to live for?
STRANGER: Well, there won't be any more concerts for a million years or so, and no nice little dinners at restaurants. If it's amusement you're after, I guess the game's up.
PIERSON: And what is there left?
STRANGER: Life. . . that's what! I want to live. Yeah, and so do you. We're not going to be exterminated. And I don't mean to be caught, either, and tamed, and fattened, and bred, like an ox.
PIERSON: What are you going to do?
STRANGER: I'm going on. . . right under their feet. I got a plan. We men as men are finished. We don't know enough. We gotta learn plenty before we've got a chance. And we've got to live and keep free while we learn, see? I've thought it all out, see.
PIERSON: Tell me the rest.
STRANGER: Well, it isn't all of us that were made for wild beasts, and that's what it's got to be. That's why I watched YOU. All these little office workers that used to live in these houses -- they'd be no good. They haven't any stuff to 'em. They just used to run off to work. I've seen hundreds of 'em, running wild to catch their commuter train in the morning for fear they'd get canned if they didn't; running back at night afraid they won't be in time for dinner. Lives insured and a little invested in case of accidents. And on Sundays, worried about the hereafter. The Martians will be a godsend for those guys. Nice roomy cages, good food, careful breeding, no worries. After a week or so chasing about the fields on empty stomachs they'll come and be glad to be caught.
PIERSON: You've thought it all out, haven't you?
STRANGER: You bet I have! And that isn't all. These Martians will make pets of some of 'em, train 'em to do tricks. Who knows? Get sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed. . . And some, maybe, they'll train to hunt us.
PIERSON: No, that's impossible. No human being. . .
STRANGER: Yes they will. There's men who'll do it gladly. If one of them ever comes after me, why. . .
PIERSON: In the meantime, you and I and others like us. . . where are we to live when the Martians own the earth?
STRANGER: I've got it all figured out. We'll live underground. I've been thinking about the sewers. Under New York are miles and miles of 'em. The main ones are big enough for anybody. Then there's cellars, vaults, underground storerooms, railway tunnels, subways. You begin to see, eh? And we'll get a bunch of strong men together. No weak ones; that rubbish -- out.
PIERSON: And you meant me to go?
STRANGER: Well, I gave you a chance, didn't I?
PIERSON: We won't quarrel about that. Go on.
STRANGER: And we've got to make safe places for us to stay in, see, and get all the books we can -- science books. That's where men like you come in, see? We'll raid the museums, we'll even spy on the Martians. It may not be so much we have to learn before -- just imagine this: four or five of their own fighting machines suddenly start off -- heat rays right and left and not a Martian in 'em. Not a Martian in 'em! But MEN -- men who have learned the way how. It may even be in our time. Gee! Imagine having one of them lovely things with its heat ray wide and free! We'd turn it on Martians, we'd turn it on men. We'd bring everybody down to their knees.
PIERSON: That's your plan?
STRANGER: You, and me, and a few more of us we'd own the world.
PIERSON: I see. . .
STRANGER: (FADING OUT) Say, what's the matter? . . . Where are you going?
PIERSON: Not to your world. . . Goodbye, stranger. . .
PIERSON: After parting with the artilleryman, I came at last to the Holland Tunnel. I entered that silent tube anxious to know the fate of the great city on the other side of the Hudson. Cautiously I came out of the tunnel and made my way up Canal Street. I reached Fourteenth Street, and there again were black powder and several bodies, and an evil ominous smell from the gratings of the cellars of some of the houses. I wandered up through the Thirties and Forties; I stood alone on Times Square. I caught sight of a lean dog running down Seventh Avenue with a piece of dark brown meat in his jaws, and a pack of starving mongrels at his heels. He made a wide circle around me, as though he feared I might prove a fresh competitor. I walked up Broadway in the direction of that strange powder -- past silent shopwindows, displaying their mute wares to empty sidewalks -- past the Capitol Theatre, silent, dark -- past a shooting gallery, where a row of empty guns faced an arrested line of wooden ducks. Near Columbus Circle I noticed models of 1939 motorcars in the showrooms facing empty streets. From over the top of the General Motors Building, I watched a flock of black birds circling in the sky. I hurried on. Suddenly I caught sight of the hood of a Martian machine, standing somewhere in Central Park, gleaming in the late afternoon sun. An insane idea! I rushed recklessly across Columbus Circle and into the Park. I climbed a small hill above the pond at Sixtieth Street. From there I could see, standing in a silent row along the mall, nineteen of those great metal Titans, their cowls empty, their great steel arms hanging listlessly by their sides. I looked in vain for the monsters that inhabit those machines.
Suddenly, my eyes were attracted to the immense flock of black birds that hovered directly below me. They circled to the ground, and there before my eyes, stark and silent, lay the Martians, with the hungry birds pecking and tearing brown shreds of flesh from their dead bodies. Later when their bodies were examined in the laboratories, it was found that they were killed by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared. . . slain, after all man's defenses had failed, by the humblest thing that God in His wisdom put upon this earth.
Before the cylinder fell there was a general persuasion that through all the deep of space no life existed beyond the petty surface of our minute sphere. Now we see further. Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seedbed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastness of sidereal space. But that is a remote dream. It may be that the destruction of the Martians is only a reprieve. To them, and not to us, is the future ordained perhaps.
Strange it now seems to sit in my peaceful study at Princeton writing down this last chapter of the record begun at a deserted farm in Grovers Mill. Strange to see from my window the university spires dim and blue through an April haze. Strange to watch children playing in the streets. Strange to see young people strolling on the green, where the new spring grass heals the last black scars of a bruised earth. Strange to watch the sightseers enter the museum where the dissembled parts of a Martian machine are kept on public view. Strange when I recall the time when I first saw it, bright and clean-cut, hard, and silent, under the dawn of that last great day.
(MUSIC SWELLS UP AND OUT)
Orson Welles: This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that The War of The Worlds has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be. The Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying Boo! Starting now, we couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night. . . so we did the best next thing. We annihilated the world before your very ears, and utterly destroyed the C. B. S. You will be relieved, I hope, to learn that we didn't mean it, and that both institutions are still open for business. So goodbye everybody, and remember the terrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning, glowing, globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch, and if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was no Martian. . .it's Hallowe'en.
(MERCURY THEATRE THEME UP FULL, THEN DOWN)
Announcer: Tonight the Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations coast-to-coast have brought you The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, the seventeenth in its weekly series of dramatic broadcasts featuring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air. Next week we present a dramatization of three famous short stories. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
¿Cuál es el primer ente surgido de las aguas del océano primordial según la cosmogonía solar heliopolitana?
a) El dios que simboliza el aire, Shu. b) La colina primordial o Benben.
c) El demiurgo solar, Atum.
d) El pájaro primordial, o ave Benu.
Explicación: La tierra, en oposición a las aguas primordiales del Nun, es lo primero en aparecer.
¿Cuál de estos títulos de la titulatura faraónica aparece durante el Reino Antiguo?
a) Rey del Alto y Bajo Egipto.
b) Horus.
c) Dos Señoras. d) Hijo de Re.
Explicación: Los títulos solares son los últimos en aparecer en la titulatura faraónica, por influencia de los cultos de Heliópolis.
Explicación: Es Shu (el aire) y no Atum el que se encarga a separa la tierra (Geb) del cielo (Nut).
¿Cuál de estas afirmaciones es falsa?
a) El demiurgo solar creó la primera pareja divina por medio del esputo.
b) El demiurgo solar creó la primera pareja divina masturbándose. c) El demiurgo solar separó al dios de la tierra Geb de la diosa del cielo Nut.
d) El demiurgo solar preside la Enéada, el conjunto de los nueve dioses primordiales según las creencias de Heliópolis.
Explicación: Hay tres manifestaciones del demiurgo solar: Atum, que es humano, Re, que es un halcón con el disco solar y Khepri, que es un escarabajo.
¿Qué reconoces en la fotografía?
a) Al dios Khepri, el Sol naciente.
b) Al dios Atum, el Sol del ocaso.
c) Al faraón resucitado transformado en un escarabajo.
d) Al dios Re, el Sol en el cénit.
Explicación: Hay tres manifestaciones del demiurgo solar: Atum, que es humano, Re, que es un halcón con el disco solar y Khepri, que es un escarabajo.
¿Verdadero o falso? (ej.: FFVV) A) La piedra meteórica adorada en Heliópolis fue reproducida o representada según dos tradiciones formales distintas: con la parte superior en punta o bien redondeada. B) El cartucho dentro del cual se escribe el nombre del rey es un símbolo solar porque representa el circuito del sol. C) El templo solar de Heliópolis nos es bien conocido gracias a los importantes trabajos arqueológicos conducidos en el lugar, que han permitido exhumarlo en gran parte. D) Los obeliscos y las pirámides reproducen y simbolizan la Colina Primordial de las creencias solares heliopolitanas.
VVFV
Explicación: (A) Efectivamente hay dos representaciones de la piedra Benben: con cúspide redondeada y con cúspide en punta.
(B) El cartucho sí simboliza el tránsito del sol.
(C) El templo solar de Heliópolis no sobrevivió a nuestros días. Se ha propuesto su forma a partir de templos solares de tiempos posteriores.
(D) Tanto obeliscos como pirámides son símbolos de la Colina Primordial.
¿En qué localidad de la necrópolis menfita se encuentran las pirámides con textos?
a) Giza.
b) Abusir.
c) Dahshur. d) Saqqara.
Explicación: Sólo los complejos funerarios de Saqqara tienen pirámides con inscripciones de los Textos de las Pirámides.
¿De cuándo datan los Textos de las Pirámides? a) De diversas épocas, desde el Predinástico y la Época Tinita hasta finales del Reino Antiguo, siendo el clero heliopolitano el que armonizó el material diverso.
b) De finales del Reino Antiguo, es decir, del mismo momento en que fueron esculpidos en las subestructuras de las pirámides.
c) De la Época Tinita, pues algunas fórmulas aluden al entierro del rey en una mastaba, como sucedía en ese momento.
d) De comienzos del Reino Antiguo, cuando empezaron a construirse pirámides, aunque no se esculpieron en las subestructuras de las mismas hasta más tarde.
Explicación: Aunque la escritura de los mismos se engloba en un período específico (fines de la Dinastía V, y en las Dinastías VI y VIII), la evidencia indica que muchos estuvieron basados en textos previos. Algunos tan antiguos como de tiempos Predinásticos (porque aluden a prácticas de esos tiempos).
¿Cuál de estas afirmaciones es falsa?
a) Los Textos de las Pirámides se hallan organizados en sucesivas fórmulas.
b) Uno de los temas principales de los Textos de las Pirámides es la transformación del rey difunto en un espíritu regenerado y “efectivo”, o sea, en un akh. c) Según los Textos de las Pirámides, el destino final del rey difunto en su viaje al más allá es el reino de los muertos situado en occidente.
d) Los Textos de las Pirámides se disponen mayormente en columnas verticales esculpidas en las cámaras y corredores de las subestructuras de las pirámides.
Explicación: La afirmación es falsa, porque el destino de los reyes son las estrellas circumpolares del norte. El destino de los particulares es el occidente.
¿A qué fórmula de los Textos de las Pirámides te parece que puede pertenecer esta frase: “Es Unis el que come seres humanos, el que vive de dioses”? Respuesta: Al llamado himno...
caníbal.
Explicación: El himno caníbal es el que habla de Unis consumiendo seres humanos y dioses.
¿Son los Textos de las Pirámides del Reino Antiguo exclusivos de la realeza? a) Sí, sólo se encuentran esculpidos en pirámides, que son tumbas reales.
b) No, también los emplean los particulares en sus tumbas.
Explicación: Los textos de las personas particulares no aluden a eventos míticos, sino que son de naturaleza distinta.
¿Cuál fue el primer monarca egipcio en edificar una pirámide? a) Netjerkhet.
b) Ramsés II.
c) Narmer.
d) Khufu.
Explicación: Se trata de la famosa pirámide escalonada de Saqqara.
¿Cuáles fueron las dos necrópolis reales más importantes de la IV dinastía?
a) Saqqara y Dashur.
b) Giza y Saqqara. c) Giza y Dashur.
d) Meidum y Giza.
Explicación: Giza, evidentemente por tener las pirámides de la mayoría de los faraones de esta dinastía (Khufu, Khafra y Menkaura) y Dahshur por ser el emplazamiento de dos de las pirámides de Snefru (incluyendo su posible tumba final).
¿Fueron esclavos los constructores de las pirámides del Reino Antiguo?
a) Sí, todos ellos. b) No, eran trabajadores.
Explicación: Actualmente se tiene evidencia que los constructores recibían un pago, además de que contaban con facilidades de vivienda y para suministros, en ciudades construidas para ellos.
¿Para qué servía la pirámide satélite? a) Para el ka del faraón.
b) Para enterrar en ella a un sacrificado.
c) Para enterrar a la esposa del faraón.
d) Sólo era un modelo a menor escala de la pirámide del faraón.
Explicación: La pirámide del sur se ha interpretado como un cenotafio que alberga el Ka; posiblemente originada en el templo sur del complejo de Netjerkhet.
¿Quién fue Hemiunu?
a) Un rey de la IV dinastía cuya pirámide se desconoce.
b) El constructor de las pirámides de Snefru.
c) Un escriba autor de textos sapienciales de la IV dinastía. d) Posible arquitecto de la pirámide de Khufu.
Explicación: De acuerdo a los títulos descubiertos en su mastaba (G4000, en Giza), es muy posible que haya sido el arquitecto de la Gran Pirámide.
¿Qué es una mastaba? a) Una tumba de base rectangular con paredes en talud.
b) Un tipo de pirámide con pozo funerario.
c) Una tumba de base cuadrangular y paredes rectas.
d) Un tipo de pirámide escalonada.
Explicación: La mastaba recibe ese nombre (del árabe), por recordar la forma de un banco.
¿Dónde se situaban las principales canteras de caliza con las que se construyó el complejo funerario de Khufu?
a) En Luxor.
b) En Menfis.
c) En Asuán. d) En Giza.
Explicación: La piedra caliza que forma la mayor parte del volumen de una pirámide, proviene de canteras locales, localizadas cerca del sitio de construcción.
¿Qué estructuras principales componen un complejo funerario típico de la IV dinastía?
a) El templo del Valle, la pirámide, el templo funerario, y la residencia real. b) La pirámide, el templo del Valle, la rampa, y el templo funerario.
Explicación: La residencia real (nombrada en la respuesta incorrecta) no forma parte del complejo funerario.
¿Cuántos individuos se enterraban usualmente en la pirámide del rey durante la IV dinastía?
a) El rey y todos los que conocían la estructura de la pirámide. b) Sólo uno: el rey.
c) El rey y sus esposas.
d Sólo dos: el rey y su esposa principal.
Explicación: Las esposas se colocaban en pirámides subsidiarias. Familia y funcionarios se colocaban en mastabas de necrópolis adyacentes.
¿En qué momento del Reino Antiguo alcanza su clímax la construcción de pirámides? a) En la IV dinastía.
b) Durante la III dinastía.
c) En la V dinastía.
d) Al final de la IV dinastía.
Explicación: El mayor volumen y complejidad se alcanza con la pirámides de Khufu, Khafra y Menkaura.
Dasht
Pequeños desiertos pedregosos y arenosos de la Meseta de Irán.
Delta
Depósito de materiales aluviales en la desembocadura de un río, en forma de abanico (delta: letra griega de forma triangular).
Densidad demográfica
Promedio de habitantes por unidad de superficie en un determinado territorio. Se suele expresar habitualmente por el número de habitante por kilómetro cuadrado (habs./km2).
Depresión atmosférica
Centro de baja presión atmosférica (inferior a 1.1015 milibares).
Deriva Noratlántica
Corriente marina cálida que baña las costas de Europa occidental. Es una ramificación de la Corriente del Golfo o Gulf Stream, que fluye hacia las costas de Europa. Gracias a su acción dulcificadora la costa europea es mucho más cálida que la costa norteamericana, en la misma latitud.
Desurbanización
Disminución del tamaño de la población y pérdida de funciones urbanas.
Deuda externa
Suma del capital que un país debe a entidades exteriores.
Dinámica demográfica
Se refiere a los factores relacionados con el crecimiento y tamaño de la población, la composición y la distribución espacial.
Dorsal oceánica
Elevación montañosa marina, alargada y de grandes dimensiones (1 a 2.5 km de altura y más de 1.000 km de ancho) que recorre el Océano Atlántico y el Índico. Marca el límite entre placas tectónicas y por lo general, incluye un gran valle (rift) en su zona central
Dunas
Acumulaciones de arena transportadas por el viento que se encuentran en los desiertos cálidos.
EAU
Emiratos Árabes Unidos.
ECOWAS
Economic Community of West African States.
Energías renovables
Son aquellas que poseen un potencial energético inagotable, al ser de origen fundamentalmente solar (solar térmica y fotovoltaica, biomasa, eólica, geotérmica, maremotriz, hidráulica y minihidráulica). El término se utiliza en contraposición con las energías no renovables, que son aquéllas que utilizan combustibles fósiles, es decir existentes en la tierra en cantidades fijas y, por tanto agotables (carbón, petróleo, gas natural, uranio).
Eólico
Relativo al viento. Califica los procesos y las formas en los que intervienen el viento.
Ergs
Palabra árabe que designa una región formada por asociaciones de dunas (campos de dunas); característico del noroeste del Sáhara.
Erosión eólica
Acción de desgaste del relieve cuyo causante es el viento.
Erosión
Conjunto de procesos del modelado de la superficie terrestre a causa de la actuación de distintos agentes. Erosión: acción de roer.
Escarpe
Pared vertical de rocas de gran dureza y fuerte pendiente.
Esclerófilo
Se dice de aquéllos árboles o arbustos perennifolios de hojas pequeñas y coriáceas (cubiertas de una resina llamada “esclera”), adaptados a la sequía estival en zonas de clima mediterráneo. Pertenecen a este tipo el alcornoque, la encina o el olivo.
Escorrentía
Movimiento de las aguas en los continentes bajo la acción de la gravedad.
Escudo
Zona muy antigua (precámbrica) de la corteza continental. Son zonas estables y rígidas que ante un empuje tectónico se fracturan y no se pliegan. Constituyen el núcleo central de cada uno de los continentes. Presentan formas muy aplanadas. Se les llama también cratones.
Estancia
Gran explotación agraria destinada a la cría de ganado a gran escala. En la actualidad se tiende a reducir su extensión, se instalan cercados, y se intenta crear una ganadería intensiva mediante el cultivo de forrajes y el empleo de piensos preparados.
Estepa
Formación vegetal abierta característica de las zonas semiáridas. Está constituida por plantas xerófilas, herbáceas o leñosas.
EURATOM
Comunidad Europea de la Energía Atómica.
Éxodo rural
Proceso de emigración del campo a la ciudad. Salida masiva de la población residente en pueblos y aldeas, que vive de las actividades agrarias, y que se dirige hacia núcleos urbanos.
A consecuencia de la romanización, Europa tiene una larga tradición urbana.
Hubo retroceso en el período altomedieval.
Causas => Comercio, defensa y [ ] de poder.
Resurge en el siglo XII.
En el siglo XVI aumento en el norte de Europa.
En el Barroco se incorpora nuevos elementos a las morfologías de las ciudades europeas => GRANDES AVENIDAS Y PALACIOS.
Gran auge a finales del siglo XIX Con la industrialización (Ensanches y otros => CRECEN LAS CIUDADES).
Europa es una de las regiones MÁS URBANIZADAS del planeta con una tasa de urbanización del 77,7% en 2008.
3.2. Diferencias regionales (tres zonas):
Con fuerte concentración urbana => cuadrilátero Liverpool-Havre-Bôle y Hamburgo. MEGALÓPOLIS =>130 HAB/KM2 en ZONAS INDUSTRIALES.
Grandes capitales nacionales.
Área mediterránea => ciudades portuarias y turismo (de forma discontinua).
3.3. Tipos de redes urbanas en Europa:
El sistema urbano europeo se caracteriza por tener una densa red urbana.
Modelos => (a) parisino (macrocéfalo) => metrópoli que polariza un extenso espacio regional; (b) renano (policéntrico) => densa red urbana en la que no existe ciudad dominante; (c) periférico (bicéfalo) => red urbana laxa e irregular y se localiza en las regiones periféricas europeas.
Las principales ciudades europeas suelen ser “multifuncionales”.
Otras son especializadas => industria, portuarias, turísticas-culturales, universitarias, financieras, etc.
La DESINDUSTRIALIZACIÓN de las ciudades ha supuesto el incremento de las ACTIVIDADES TERCIARIAS.
Terciarización: (a) Incorporación de la mujer al trabajo (aunque todavía con salarios inferiores) y el elevado nº de nacimientos en 1965 ha favorecido este hecho; (b) Consecuencias => fuerte disminución de los empleados en el sector primario (salvo en Irlanda y otros países de la periferia mediterránea), ligera contracción en el sector secundario después de un ligero aumento ha empezado a perder a favor del sector servicios, incremento de la población dedicada al sector terciario (especialmente en zonas urbanas y turísticas); (c)No obstante hay disparidades dentro de Europa; (d)Algunos ven un cuarto sector relativo a la información: telecomunicaciones, informática, etc.
4. La Unión Europea, gran potencia económica.
4.1. Producciones energéticas y dependencias de hidrocarburos:
- Características:
La producción de energía de la UE, superaba en 2008, los 2.000 millones de tep (tonelada equivalente de petróleo => Equivale a la energía liberada en la combustión de 1 tonelada de crudo de petróleo).
Las fuentes de energía propias de la UE son la energía nuclear, gas natural, combustibles fósiles sólidos (hulla, lignito, turba) y petróleo.
La evolución ha sido de abandono paulatino de los combustibles sólidos a favor del gas natural y energía nuclear.
Las necesidades por el incremento de la demanda tanto para la industria como de la población => obliga a la importación con fuerte dependencia de: carbón de EEUU, Rep. Sudafricana, Australia y Colombia; petróleo de los países de la OPEP y Próximo Oriente; gas de la CEI, Noruega y Argelia.
Habrá un antes y después de la crisis de 1973 => EU busca el ahorro.
- Las transformaciones del sector energético:
Diferentes fuentes de energía.
El carbón se ha visto sometido a profundos vaivenes => comienzos muy buenos hasta la llegada del petróleo pues EU era productora. Hoy se encuentra subvencionado.
Preponderancia de los Hidrocarburos => Si bien hay gran dependencia (importación) de gas y petróleo, la aparición de nuevos yacimientos (llanuras del Po y Lacq y Mar del Norte) ha supuesto el desarrollo de una importante industria de “refinado” (ligado a las zonas portuarias = Rotterdam, Havre, Marsella, estuario del Támesis).
Producción de electricidad => reto de la energía nuclear; hay descenso de la electricidad térmica, mantenimiento de la hidroeléctrica y paulatino incremento de la energía nuclear, aunque también de las “renovables”.
EU busca contrarrestar la dependencia energética (a falta de recursos) a base de intentar aplicar medidas de ahorro.
También se favorecen las energías renovables => eólica, solar, geotérmica, marina…y donde la energía nuclear garantiza buena parte del abastecimiento.
Por ello los retos son => (a) Evitar la dependencia; (b) Urgente necesidad de garantizar precios más competitivos; (c) Compatibilizar del mercado energético con el medio ambiente.
4.2. Desigual distribución de las regiones energéticas:
- Historia:
La Unión Europea: primer productor del mundo => En el año 1996, 44 M. Hab. trabajaban en el sector, suponiendo un 30% de la participación en la economía, y una producción mundial de más de 3 billones de ecus (en aquel entonces no había euro).
EU tiene una larga tradición industrial a partir del S.XIX => en el R.Unido surge la Rev. Industrial, se propagó al resto de regiones del Ruhr o Bélgica entre otros; Ind. Tradicional => siderurgia, naval, textil y metalurgia (centralizado en las principales cuencas carboníferas).
Período de fuerte crecimiento entre 1945-1975 =>abundante mano de obra, efectos del Baby Boom, apertura nuevos mercados (período en el que crecen incluso los países periféricos de EU).
De 1975-2000 => se ralentiza el desarrollo industrial por la crisis del petróleo con mayores costos, el mercado de consumo pierde su poder adquisitivo; hasta los años 90 no habrá recuperación (actualmente sufre una importante caída).
Los retos están en la incorporación de NUEVAS TECNOLOGÍAS y garantizar la CALIDAD DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE.
- El nuevo equilibrio sectorial, reconversión y diversificación:
La crisis de los “70-80” afectará a la industria tradicional con una reducción de empleo drástico en siderurgia, textil, construcción y naval => (a) Producción cae drásticamente (no COMPETITIVIDAD); (b) Consumo del acero desciende (Pérdida de empleo); (c) Competencia cada vez mayor de EEUU, Japón, antigua URSS, y el SE asiático; (d) Se automatiza el sector.
Se inicia un período de “reconversión” abogando por las nuevas tecnologías (I + D) que ha ido creciendo hasta la actualidad => MÁS CALIDAD Y COMPETITIVIDAD.
Entre los sectores dinámicos se encuentra => (a)industria del automóvil con una buena demanda tanto interna como externa; (b) sector químico, de la que EU exporta diversos productos (ácido sulfúrico, sosa cáustica, cloro, abonos, caucho sintético, productos farmacéuticos, productos plastificados, etc.); (c) sector agroalimentario (importantes industrias manufactureras) (d) hasta hace poco la industria de la construcción, en especial en los años “80”. (e) Otros sectores que empiezan = aeroespacial, industria electrónica y eléctrica cada vez más asentadas y espera un futuro prometedor en biotecnología.
- La globalización de la industria europea (concentración empresarial):
Poco a poco, fusiones y adquisiciones entre empresas del sector ha sido una constante desde los “80” => incremento de las multinacionales.
Se busca controlar toda la cadena de producción.
Existe una enorme competitividad =>obliga a un incremento en inversiones en I+D.
Las mayores concentraciones son => las del refinado del petróleo, las quimico-farmaceúticas, la siderometalurgia, electrodomésticos, automóvil y la agroalimentaria.
Sin embargo, en EU, las PYMEs representan el 95% de las empresas del sector, pero a pesar de su movilidad, presenta handicaps => menos inversión en I+D, reconvertirse supone más costes que una grande, etc.
Las consecuencias espaciales (desequilibrio en la distribución de las regiones industriales) => (a)Hay un declive en las tradicionales regiones industriales; (b) Hay un mantenimiento de la excesiva concentración espacial en torno al litoral y las grandes regiones metropolitanas: (c)La industralización en las zonas rurales presenta ventajas (mano de obra, precios de suelo más baratos), pero a día de hoy apenas hay aplicaiones muy puntuales; (d) Hay un desequilibrio entre las regiones periféricas, menos industrializadas y las del Centro-oeste-Norte (más desarrolladas) con excepciones como regiones internas /levante, Toscana, Córcega, etc.).
- La industria comunitaria frente a los nuevos desafíos:
Europa tiene como principal desafío lograr una mayor competitividad (ello supone a veces una mayor especialización de las industrias, pero es más vulnerable).
Europa debe proseguir con la industria de manufacturados abriéndose aún más al mercado internacional y propio.
Europa debe incrementarse la inversión en nuevas tecnologías?para ello se han creado los Programas Marco de Investigación.
Hay grandes desequilibrios regionales que deben superarse
4.3. Los problemas de la producción agraria:
- Diversidad de la agricultura europes, mosaico agrario:
Europa practica la agricultura desde los primeros tiempos (neolítico) =>fuerte tradición agraria europea.
La diversidad climática y de relieves, divide EU en un territorio al N, predominantemente ganadera, con una EU mediterránea de tradición agrícola-cerealista.
La importante competitividad con EEUU y Asia, ha supuesto la agricultura, desde el principio que se conformó la CEE, uno de los principales objetivos de apoyo => la PAC.
- Los problemas de la producción agraria:
Mayor especialización agraria => Europa es una de las grandes potencias agropecuarias (4º del mundo en cereales, 1º en remolacha, 2º en porcino, 60% vino, 15 % trigo, 75 % en aceite de oliva, 34 % en queso, 20 % leche).
Predomina la producción animal.
En agricultura, el 50% de la producción es de cereales. Se puede diferenciar entre => (a) EU septentrional y occidental con explotaciones ganaderas intensivas, lecheras en la costa y mezcladas en las zonas interiores con agricultura cerealista y comarcas vitícolas (muy mecanizada, poca mano de obra, joven y muy cualificada; habitual el cooperativismo y elevada renta); (b) EU mediterránea = tradicional cultivo de secano (vid, trigo, olivo), con agricultura de regadío (dinámica pero de riesgo), mayor porcentaje de la producción vegetal que de carne (mano de obra abundante, menos cualificada y envejecida), dualidad minifundio-latifundio (menos desarrollada salvo alguna excepción).
- Regiones:
CEREALISTAS => mesetas y llanuras del N, el SE de inglaterra, Cuenca de París, Bélgica, Holanda, Jutlandia, Baja Sajonia, llanuras de Polonia y Panónica, Valaquia, Moldavia rumanas, Llanura del Po, y Meseta española?asociada a veces a industria forrajera.
GANADERAS => especialmente dedicado al ganado bovino aunque también porcino, buena parte del Norte y W de EU (Inglaterra, Irlanda, Dinamarca, Alemania, Normandía, N de España, etc. El exceso obligó a la PAC a reducir cuotas y explotaciones (España pasó entre 1994 y 2007 de 140.000 explotaciones a 26.000).
REGIONES MIXTAS-POLICULTIVO-GANADERÍA => zona mediterránea aunque más volcada a la producción vegetal (España e Italia).
REGIONES ESPECIALIZADAS => en monocultivos con altos costos en infraestructuras compensados por elevados rendimientos por hectárea (orientación total al mercado = frutas, legumbres en huertas mediterráneas), cultivos de invernaderos, arrozales de la llanura del Po, Valencia, Delta del Ebro, Alentejo, Macedonia, etc; agricultura periurbana de los polders holandeses (flores), San Remo y Bordiguera; agricultura bajo plásticos o la tropical al SE de España y Canarias; zonas productoras de vino.
PESCA => Europa es una de las principales potencias, mares ricos en fitoplacton que rodea el continente, uno de los primeros mercados en consumo con dependencia de importaciones cada vez más acusada.
Fuentes:
AZCÁRATE, B. et al. Geografía Regional del Mundo. Desarrollo, subdesarrollo y países emergentes. UNED. Madrid. 2010.
