The History of Rice, Air-Con and How the Mongols Really Won

What if instead of talking about history from the perspective of humanity, we told it from the perspective of the resources that made human expansion possible? This week’s guest has done just that.

Sunil Amrith is a historian and author of the new book The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of The Last 500 Years.

He sat down with Ash to explain why a bumper crop grass was the boost for Mongol expansion, and what the history of rice can tell us about air-conditioning sales in India.