Original release 12 octobre 1995
Previous episode S1995E84 - Marco Polo: Journey To The East
Number S1995E85
Episode runtime 45 minutes
Country United States
Original language English
Genres Documentary, History
External links TheTVDB page
IMDB page
TheMovieDB page
Last update 10 novembre 2026 - 00:15
on 11 databases

Ponce De Leon: The First Conquistador

He was one of the first and most famous of a breed of men who would carve out an empire in the New World. His name is forever linked to the futile search for the Fountain of Youth. Ponce de Leon is remembered for his misguided quest, but ""the first Conquistador"" deserves better. BIOGRAPHY; travels back in time to stand with the Spanish adventurer on the edge of the New World. Contemporary historians and period accounts bring his remarkable accomplishments to life he sailed with Columbus, discovered Florida and was the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was also extremely successful at laying waste to the existing cultures and planting the seeds of the colonization that followed. Leading experts examine his motivations in the context of the time and culture he lived in, and dramatic re-enactments relive his stirring adventures. Soldier, adventurer and explorer, this is the complete story of the man who chased one of humanity's most illusive dreams and left an indelible mark on the New World."

BetaSeries' opinion

Secrets d'histoire Season 20 Finale: Stéphane Bern's Messalina Episode Ends a Season About Reputations on Trial

Twenty seasons in, "Secrets d'histoire" can still surprise its audience. The Season 20 finale aired on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:10 p.m. on France 3, and Stéphane Bern closed the season with one of the most notorious women of antiquity: Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius. If you watched it, you already know it was more than a parade of Roman scandal. It was a careful re-examination of a woman whose name has been shorthand for depravity for almost two thousand years. If you haven't caught up yet, this debrief shows why the episode, and the whole season, deserves a place in your watchlist.

A finale that puts history's verdict on trial

The question at the centre of the finale was simple: does Messalina deserve the brutal nickname history gave her? Roman writers handed down a woman driven by insatiable desire and a hunger for power. Bern's team took that portrait apart piece by piece. They asked who wrote the story, why they wrote it, and what they gained from it. This is the series at its best. It doesn't simply retell a legend. It looks into how the legend was made. Messalina's world gave the episode plenty of drama: Caligula, Nero, Agrippina and the freedman Narcissus all appear, each with their own agenda in the deadly politics of the Julio-Claudian court. Without spoiling anything for latecomers, the finale's real emotional pull comes from the gap between the caricature and the young woman caught up in a machine much bigger than she was.

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