Making North America (2015)

Directed by

Peter Oxley, Gwyn Williams

Genre

documentary

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 42m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This PBS documentary series traces the geological and biological history of North America from the planet's formation to human settlement. The host explains how tectonic shifts, volcanic activity, and erosion created the continent's mountains and canyons. It also covers the emergence of life and the eventual arrival of people.

educationalawe-inspiringinformativeexpansivecuriousfactualcontemplativesteady-paced

What happens

Making North America is a 2015 American documentary film which premiered nationwide on November 4, 2015. The PBS Nova film, comprising three episodes of one hour each, was hosted by Kirk Johnson (Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History); Peter Oxley directed the first episode while Gwyn Williams directed the second and third. The series describes the very beginnings and later developments of the North American continent: from the origin of planet Earth 4.54 billion years ago; to the various movements of tectonic plates and their effect on the sculpturing of the continent's land and mountains, including the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon; to the emergence of life on the continent and its later evolution; and, finally, to the more recent settlement of the land by humans. According to Johnson, "Most people will not have considered a time when there was no North America ... What was there before North America? How did it form? When did it start? How did it come together?" (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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