Witness History – How BRICS got its name

Available for over a year

In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big players in the world economy.

That’s when he came up with the name BRIC – short for Brazil, Russia, India and China.

At first, nothing much happened.

But in 2009, those countries took his idea and ran with it, holding their first summit.

Since then, the group has grown, adding South Africa to form BRICS.

There are now 11 members, and it’s been making headlines again, as U.S President Donald Trump threatens tariffs.

Jim O’Neill speaks to Megan Jones about coming up with the acronym almost by accident and how he didn’t think he’d still be talking about it almost 25 years later.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Jim O’Neill. Credit: Jim O’Neill)

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