Podcast
History of South Africa podcast
Episodes — page 4
- Episode 237 - Going Native, Coconuts, Hindu immigrants and Church and State in Natal
Although responsible government had come comparatively late for the Cape Colony, the transition in many ways was still too early. It had come twenty years after New Zealand and the…
- Episode 236 - The Twelve Apostles, Rhodes buys Roodepoort, Sticky-Fingered Diamond Thieves and a New Pass System
The sound of mining — And the sound of money — All across Griqualand West, tent towns mushroomed overnight, teeming with fortune seekers from around the world. Tens of thous…
- Episode 235 - Cetshwayo Glamped and Crowned, Shepstone Stalled, Masiphula Poisoned
This is episode 235, and it’s back to high drama circa 1873. Before that just some news .. unbelievable as it may appear, Apple Podcasts has named The History of South Africa pod…
- Episode 234: Babbage’s Final Calculation, the Cape Charts Its Own Course, and the End of Mpande’s Reign
I have to say a big thank you to Adi and Janice who hosted me at their farm Kalmoesfontein this week as part of the Swartland Revolution events they’re running— I was invited to gi…
- Episode 233 - Stafford Parker’s Unique Digger’s Republic and Free State/FNB Links
This is an episode packed with odd resonances, echoes, large whiskers, many presidents and the origin of a modern bank. Now that the diamond fields were being exploited, this b…
- Episode 232 - Diamond Geology as an Art, Dinosaur Veldskoene and Waterboer’s Claim
This is episode 232 - Diamond Geology as an Art, Dinosaur Veldskoene and Waterboer’s claim Just a quick note about that amazing podcaster Nicole Engelbrecht —She is the host &…
- Episode 231 - Protestants and Catholics Struggle for Moshoeshoe’s Soul in 1870
Moshoeshoe, the Basotho king who’d outwitted, outfought and outlived most of his enemies, was nearing his end. He had managed to ensure his chiefdom survived in signing the Treaty…
- Episode 230 - From Knysna’s Burning Forests to Tolstoy’s War and Peace: The World in 1869
This is episode 230, From Knysna’s Burning Forests to Tolstoy’s War and Peace: The World in 1869. Globally, the end of the sixth decade of the 19th Century was full of fire and…
- Episode 229 - Moshoeshoe and the Red Dust: How War and Famine Led to British Rule in Lesotho
Episode 229 - Moshoeshoe and the Red Dust, How War and famine led to British rule in Lesotho - we’re speeding up on the trek along history’s trail. First, a word about the Boer…
- Episode 228 - From Skepticism to Stampede: The Diamond Rush Awakens
A quick shout out, this being the modern equivalent of a tip of the hat to Richard, who has made a significant donation to help me host this series. I was flabbergasted when rece…
- Episode 227 - Diamonds, War, and Destiny: Moshoeshoe, the Boers, and the Stone That Changed South Africa
Episode 227 — a turning point not just in our nation’s past, but in the arc of 19th-century global history. For soon, the earth will yield its glittering secret — the diamond —…
- Episode 226 – The Estate Agent of the Transvaal: Paul Kruger, Mokgatle, the amaMfengu Crossing, and the Battle for Land
The years between 1865 and 1870 would bring a tangle of new challenges for the people of the south. Drought gripped the land with merciless fingers in 1865 and 1866, only to return…
- Episode 225 - Between Diamonds and Desolation: The Griqua's Journey to East Griqualand
This is episode 225, and the Griqua have trekked from Philippolis near modern day Kimberley, to the Maluti Mountains, a place called Nomansland. In March 1861 Faku Ka-Ngqungqushe o…
- Episode 224 - El Niño’s and Al Nina’s and the Griqua Great Trek to Nomansland
This is episode 224 — the sound in the background is the weather - the other sound is the creaking of wagons as another great trek begins. We’re going to trace the arc of South…
- Episode 223 - The Calliper and the Lens: Gustav Fritsch in the Southern Light (1863–1865)
This is episode 223, the calliper and the lens Gustav Fritsch in the southern Light. A very quick thank you to Professor Johan Fourie at Stellenbosch Department of Economics wh…
- Episode 222 - Global events 1863, Namaqualand Copper and Gunny Sack Shacks
This is episode 222 - Zooming out to peer at 1863, and a bit of Namaqualand Copper and Gunny Bags. We’ve just entered the period of 1863 to 1865. It’s also time to take a quick…
- Episode 221 - Free State Judges, the Transvaal Civil War and the Architecture of Deliberation
This is episode 221, 1863, the midst of the Transvaal Civil War. As you heard in episode 220, this was the making of a new president and one who’d take the Trekker Republics in…
- Episode 220 - The Transvaal Civil War of 1862-1864 and Paul Kruger’s Dopping Doppers
All manner of things are going on — thanks to those folks out there who’ve been sending me notes and support, much appreciated. Episode 220 deals with the start of the Transvaa…
- Episode 219 - The Snarled Chronicle of John Orr, Wodehouse Blues and Mercantile Matters
This is episode 219 — a new Governor has sailed into Table Bay. Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse, born in 1811, eldest child of Edmond Wodehouse who married his first cousin Lucy, da…
- Episode 218 - Lifestyle Update 1861 and an Ode to Landscape Motion Intensity and Physiology
We’re doing a little different thing today, having wondered our way through a few thousand years its time to reflect on a few things. How did people go about their day to day l…
