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The tiny island of St Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic is famous above all
as the open prison for Napoleon Bonaparte, banished there after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
But another great wonder of Europe also stayed on St Helena,
a being much less destructive than the French Emperor
and one that in the Europe of 1515 was truly a wonder.
It was an Indian rhinoceros.
He too was in captivity, but in a Portuguese ship stopping off
on the long journey from India to Lisbon, a journey that was a triumph of navigation.
Europe was on the brink of its great expansion that would lead to the exploration,
mapping, and conquest of much of the world, all made possible by new technologies in ships and sails.
There was tremendous interest in recording and disseminating this new knowledge through another new technology, printing,
and all these strands come together in this program's object,
one of the most famous images of Renaissance art.
Because the Indian rhinoceros, in one respect at least, was much luckier than Napoleon.
His portrait was made by Dürer.
When this rhino first arrived, it must have been an incredible shock
that there are parts of the world where animals like this actually live and run free.
I mean, it must have been absolutely astonishing.
A History of the World in 100 Objects.