Podcast
History of South Africa podcast
Episodes — page 9
- Episode 138 - The yin and yang of Stretch and Bowker and the Grand Army of Natal marches again
The world was undergoing some other major changes — including the climate. Explosive volcanic eruptions late in the 1790s had led to vast quantities of dust being thrown in the str…
- Episode 137 - The Vlugkommando of April 1838 and a hard rain continues to fall
It’s been a harrowing few months in southern Africa back in 1838. All manner of change has rolled in across the veld, there are worlds colliding, roiling, like thunderclouds, seeth…
- Episode 136 - The place of weeping earns its name and the“Grand Army of Natal” marches off
This is episode 136 — the Zulu army has fallen on the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s rivers, close to where Escourt and Ladysmith are to be found today, but right n…
- Episode 135 - The Zulu army overruns the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s River
As you heard, Piet Retief and 100 Boers and Khoesan agterryes had been killed by Dingana on the 6th February 1838. Missionary Owen watched the killings through his telescope un…
- Episode 134 - Lightning kills 12 Boer horses then the wizards die
This is episode 134 - and its going to be a massacre. It is also crucial as you’ve heard that we dig deep into the events because today there’s a huge debate about what I’m goi…
- Episode 133 - Umkhandlu long thumb nails and tales of ill-gotten grain
It’s a hot day in northern Zululand, in the Mfolozi River valley, where Dingane’s capital emGungungudlovu was situated. When Piet Retief first met the Zulu king, he failed the…
- Episode 132 - Piet Retief rides into Natal and land is on the agenda
Just a quick thank you to AJL, as well as Jacque and Nkosinathi for your kind comments and emails - this series is nothing without my wonderful audience. Gangans — which is Kho…
- Episode 131 - Sharpened horns at the battle of eGabeni and the story of the Liebenberg girls
Mzilikazi Khumalo was trying to piece together his shattered amaNdebele after the attack on Mosega in early 1837 by the Boers and their allies the Griqua and Rolong. Then in mi…
- Episode 130 - Piet Uys’ 1820 Settler Bible and the Qadi cut poles
This is episode 130 and the Voortrekkers are moving inexorably towards Natal, where the Zulu king Dingana awaits. At about the same time and as you’ll hear next episode, a larg…
- EPISODE 129 - Lindley blesses the Boers, a sweep of 1837 and Stockenström’s bitter end
We are trundling along late in 1837, and as you heard last week, Dingane was dabbling in cross border raids, or at least, cross Drakensburg raids, and had dealt Mzilikazi a penulti…
- EPISODE 128 - Dingane smells blood and Retief leads the United Laagers
This is episode 128 and the bell is tolling for Mzilikazi Khumalo of the amaNdebele. We’ll also hear about the introduction of Maize by hunter-traders, and the relationship between…
- Episode 127 - Predikant blues and Piet Retief’s manifesto
When I started this series off a couple of years ago, it was a dive into the deep end — although it was the sixth podcast series I’d launched — this was the biggest gamble. But…
- Episode 126 - A Voortrekker commando takes revenge and the sedulous Susanna Smit
The Voortrekkers had survived the trauma of the Battle of Vegkop, they had narrowly survived and as they huddled together in Thaga ‘Nchu a form of unity was required. These differe…
- Episode 125 - The Battle of Vegkop pits the Voortrekkers against the amaNdebele
Last episode, we heard how the battle of Kopjeskraal near Parys had ended, where Mzilikazi’s second in command Kaliphi and his force of 500 men had been repulsed in a close fought…
- Episode 124 - The difference between Trekboers and Voortrekkers and the battle of Kopjeskraal
Last episode we ended with Hendrick Potgieter and Sarel Cilliers riding to try and find a route to Delagoa Bay, and meeting up with Louis Trichardt. If you remember, Potgieter…
- Episode 123 - The Voortrekkers as Israelites and Mzilikazi is about to become Pharaoh
Just a quick thank you to the folks at East coast Radio, Diane and DW, for promoting this podcast with listeners to that station, I’m honoured to have cracked the nod and been sele…
- Episode 122 - Lord Glenelg moulds a troublous history
Let’s take another look at the push factors driving the Voortrekkers away from their frontier farms. Most had lived on the margins of society for generations, part of the first gro…
- Episode 121 - Lang Hans Janse Van Rensburg’s fatal ivory obsession and the peho slippery snake
Moshoeshoe’s elder sons were now at a site that was to be named Moriah, 24 miles south of Maseru, chosen by the two French missionaries Arbousset and Casalis for its beauty - and t…
- Episode 120 - Ploughs in the Platberg, the BaSotho, the MaBuru, MaNyesemane and the BaKhothu
We join Moshoeshoe just before the arrival of the trekkers, as he sought to build his political power once the Ngwane and other roving bands had been defeated. Mzilikazi was attack…
- Episode 119 - The saga of Moshoeshoe, how his grandfather was eaten, and mystical advisor Tsapi
The story of south Africa is incomplete without scrutinising the kingdom of Lesotho, not only because geographic location means the mountains are part of our tale, but also because…
