Podcast
History of South Africa podcast
Episodes — page 2
- Episode 269 - Bapedi Chief Sekhukhune’s Cruel Fate and the Afrikaner Paradox
The Bapedi have a rich and textured history, as with most of South Africa’s past, where religion and tradition are entwined to create a consciousness of life that is attractive to…
- Episode 268 - The Theodolite and the Hardepad: Thomas Bain’s Silent Mountain Pass Artisans
There is something magical about mountain passes, weaving through majesty, each corner beckoning a driver like a formidable and compelling saga, muffled in mist or bright in the su…
- Episode 267 - Betrayal at the End: Mnyamana, Cetshwayo’s Dutchman, and the Crushing of the Zulu Kingdom
Cornelius Vijn had made a few bad decisions in his life as we all do at some point. Born in Holland in 1856, he made his way to Natal in 1874 where he rapidly learned both English…
- Episode 266: The Wakkerstroom Boer-Zulu Alliance and the death of Prince Napoleon
As the British tried to wrap up their war against the Zulu in South Africa, further afield the happy sound of a baby being born could be heard in Germany. Not just any baby. Alb…
- Episode 265 – John Dunn’s MI5 Connection, Gingindlovu, and the Relief of Eshowe
The last quarter of the 19th Century was in some ways, like the first quarter of the 21st Century - full of tone-deaf business barons gambling building vast riches — financing poli…
- Episode 264 - The Forgotten Battle of Khambula (1879): The Turning Point of the Anglo-Zulu War
The twenty thousand strong Zulu army was camped near Nseka Mountain south of the British camp at Khambula hill — north west of modern day Vryheid. After defeating Lieutenant Colone…
- Episode 263 - How Black Voters Helped Elect Cecil Rhodes: Kimberley and the Cape Franchise, 1879
The battles are coming thick and fast because this is the end of the seventh decade of the 19th Century - the British have just been defeated at the Battle of Hlobane mountain on t…
- Episode 262 - The Battle of Hlobane – Cowardice, Confusion and the Reckoning at Devil’s Pass
By mid-March 1879, Cetshwayo kaMpande made another attempt to open talks with Chelmsford, sending his indunas to negotiate for peace — but the British had no appetite for compromis…
- Episode 261 - Zulu War: Ntombe River Massacre & Prince Hamu’s Defection
Colonel Rowland’s number five column had been sent to guard the roads and garrison the Boer towns in the north eastern Transvaal — part to police the Zulu across the border, but al…
- Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, the Tangled Tale of Woolworths and Disraeli Gears
We’re touring the sub-continent today, choose your mode of transport — Cape Cart, ox-wagon, horse, mule, on foot? Before the arrival of steam locomotion, roads in South Africa were…
- -DELETED- Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, How Woolworths started and Rowlands Folly
We’re touring the sub-continent today, choose your mode of transport — Cape Cart, ox-wagon, horse, mule, on foot? Before the arrival of steam locomotion, roads in South Africa were…
- Episode 259 - After Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift: Ghost Armies and a Unique Truce During a Savage War
It’s the 23rd January 1879, one of the most momentous days in South African history has passed, and the ripple effect will be felt across the world. For missionary Otto Witt it…
- Episode 258 - Rorke’s Drift, Part Two: Dabulamanzi’s Gamble and Chard’s Night of Horrors
Episode 258 Rorke’s Drift part two. It’s important to listen to Episode 257 because that sets everything up for this episode - there’s too much to repeat particularly in the layout…
- Episode 257 - Rorke’s Drift Part I: Defiance, Disobedience and the Aftermath of Isandlwana
Rorke’s Drift was a battle that Cetshwayo kaMpande did not want, because it took place on the western bank of the Mzinyathi or Buffalo River — inside Natal. The British had bee…
- Episode 256 - The Lightning of Heaven Release Spirits as Rorke’s Drift Comes into Play
Lord Chelmsford who had scurried off to the east in support of Major Dartnell only made it back to the slopes of Isandlwana at dusk on the day of 22nd January 1879. As the nervous…
- Episode 255 - A Partial Eclipse of the Sun Spreads a Dark Veil Over Bloody Isandlwana
When we ended last episode a mounted patrol had stumbled on the main Zulu army of twenty thousand men which had which had hunkered down in the Ngwebeni Valley north east of Isandlw…
- Episode 254 - Skop, Skiet and Donner on the Day of the Dead Moon
The morning of January 22, 1879, dawned with a deceptive, stillness across Zululand masking the fact that over 45,000 men were in motion across a 200 kilometer front, each group op…
- Episode 253 - The order of Battle Before Isandlwana and Nyezane and ‘ukhuni’ Wood Heads North
Episode 253 - The order of Battle for Isandlwana and Nyezane as ‘ukuni’ Wood Heads North Three separate British columns are inside Zululand and things are hotting up — and not…
- Episode 252 — Chelmsford’s Fatal Confidence: The Day Before Isandlwana
This is episode 252, it is January 19th 1879, and we’re standing alongside Lord Chelmsford at the British camp based at Rorke’s Drift — and nearby is Henry Francis Fynn Junior.…
- Episode 251 - The Grey Vultures of Ondini Gather Before a March to Isandhlwana where Pride Met Prophecy
Episode 251 and the British Invasion of Zululand is into it’s first week. King Cetshwayo kaMpande had prepared his people for war, and here it was, courtesy of Governor Sir Bar…
