History of South Africa podcast

Episode 180 - Missionary Browns’ philanderings and the Redcoats face Christmas armageddon in the Boma Pass

Episode 180 it is then so let’s get cracking. Or crackling, which was the atmosphere in late 1850 as Xhosaland and British Kaffraria was seized by the exploits of prophet Mlanjeni. He’d combined world views, his messianic emergence shook the land as far away as Cape Town. AS a sickly…

21 Jul 24 min

Episode 179 - A messianic prophet emerges in 1850: Mlanjeni the Wardoctor

This is episode 179 and the prophet Mlanjeni is about to emerge. His story is one of the phenomenal tales of our land, he joined an already fairly long list of colonial era fighters who imbued their struggle against encroaching settlers with a combination of christian salvation ethos and a…

14 Jul 20 min

Episode 178 - A string of forts and Captain Maclean’s amaXhosa police recruits take revenge

The mid-nineteenth Century was like the calm before the storm with the discovery of diamonds a decade away, and then the wars between the Boers and Brits, and the Brits and amaZulu a glimmer in the imperial eye. Moshoeshoe was gaining power amongst the Basotho, and to the east, Mpande…

7 Jul 22 min

Episode 177 - The Missionaries position on sex and British administrators refuse to learn

We’re plunging into the developments of the 1850s now and this is episode 177. In numerology the digits 1 and 7 are significant,1 represents new beginnings and leadership, while 7 is often associated with spirituality and introspection. So it’s no mistake this this episode probes spirituality and introspection - and…

30 Jun 20 min

Episode 176 - Cape Conservatives vs Radicals in 1850, a synopsis of souls and climate dystopia

This is the period of the utilitarian liberal, not of the democrat, it’s 1850 and in the Cape, a newly ninted constitution had been drafted by the attorney general, William Porter. This was based on a nonracial qualified franchise - all adult males who had occupied property worth at least…

22 Jun 21 min

Episode 175 - A whip around the world in 1849 and a wide-angle view of Cape Society

This is episode 175 - and we’re back in the Cape circa 1849 and thereabouts. Before we dive into the latest incidents and events, let’s take a look at what was going on globally as everything is connected. In France, citizens are able to use postage stamps for the very…

16 Jun 19 min

Episode 174 - The 1848 British defeat of the Boers at the Battle of Boomplaats near Bloemfontein

This is episode 174. First off, a big thank you to all the folks who’ve supported me and for sharing so many personal stories of your ancestry. Particularly Jane who is a font of knowledge about the Williams family, and John who’s been communicating about the Transkei. Please also sign…

9 Jun 23 min

Episode 173 - Boer women fight off the Bapedi, Mpande interferes in Swazi business and Potgieter’s last trek

This is episode 173 and we’re in what was called the north eastern transvaal, modern day Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Last we heard how Hendrick Potgieter’s Voortrekkers had camped at a new town they named Ohrigstad in 1845, after leaving the are around Potchefstroom. Potgieter wanted to move further away from…

1 Jun 25 min

Episode 172 - The Republic of Potchefstroom, Potgieter treks into Bapedi country and Mswati faces rebellion

This is episode 172 and we’re galloping back to cover the effect of the Boers 33 Articles, approved by the Volksraad on April 9th 1844, and thus installing the little Republic of Potchefstroom. Some of the articles and the fledgling laws and rules were going to crop up throughout the…

26 May 19 min

Episode 171 - Zwangendaba’s exodus from Pongola to Lake Tanganyika and the story of the Ngoni

This is episode 171 and now its time to swing around southern Africa again, because as Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in Canterbury Tales in 1395, “Time and Tide wait for no man”. It’s from the Prologue to the first story called the Clerk’s Tale and the story is imbued with what…

19 May 20 min

Episode 170 - Harry Smith returns as the conquering hero and humiliates Maqoma while translators muddle along

This is episode 170 and the sound you’re hearing is the cheering and the flaming hot emotion because Sir Harry Smith is back in town! The town is Cape Town — Sir Harry won’t hang around there for too long, he as you know from the previous episode, has returned…

12 May 25 min

Episode 169 - The Kat River Settlement seethes and the inglorious treachery of Sandile’s arrest

First off, a big thank you to those listeners who’ve been sending me emails, a great deal of useful information emerges from our discussions which always improves the quality of this podcast, specifically thanks to John for sending me your book and to Doctor Nkosi for the contact in eSwatini…

4 May 23 min

Episode 168 - Earl Grey and the irascible Sir Henry Pottinger leave their mark on South Africa

This is episode 168 and the world by the middle of the 19th Century was shifting gear, changing rapidly. Southern Africa was caught in the currents of world history and within a few years with the discovery of Diamonds, was going to be very much in the current of world…

28 Apr 23 min

Episode 167 - Maitland dithers, Stockenstrom sallies forth into the Transkei and biblical storms change everything

This is episode 167 and the British army is clumping along towards the Amathola fastnesses, the deep ravines and steep riverine environment not the most ideal for an army that dragged everything around on wagons. Leading this army were officers steeped in the traditions of empire, and marching under their…

21 Apr 22 min

Episode 166 - Colonel Lindsay lashes a local lad, Fort Peddie attacked and the Battle of Gwangqa River

The Seventh Frontier war has burst into flame, and across the Ceded Territory and down into the land around Port Elizabeth amaXhosa warriors are on the warpath, the British have been forced into the defensive. If you remember, Sir Peregrine Maitland declared war on the amaXhosa chief Mgolombane Sandile Ngqika…

14 Apr 20 min

Episode 165 - Sandile ambushes a British column, Captain Bambrick’s skull and Somerset’s humiliation

This is episode 165 — and the atmosphere in Xhosaland was ablaze with indignation. A Mr Holliday had complained in Fort Beaufort that an imaDange man called Tsili had stolen his axe, and if you recall last episode, Tsili had been arrested then freed while under military escort by Tola…

5 Apr 19 min

Episode 164 - British sappers cross Block Drift into Xhosaland setting off a chain of events on the eve of war

This is episode 164. Remember when we left off we’d been hearing about the squad of Royal engineers who’d crossed into amaXhosa territory over the Tyhume River in January 1846. They were led by Lieutenant J Stokes — this small team of five were surveying land for the site of…

31 Mar 21 min

Episode 163 - British engineers build forts and semaphores while disabled chief Mgolombane Sandile signs a treaty

This is episode 163, the year, 1845. New Cape Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland had shown he was a man of action — as a veteran of the Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon you’d expect that, particularly as he fought at Waterloo. This new man of action governor had some doubts about…

24 Mar 23 min

Episode 162 - The 1845 Battle of Swartkoppies, Divide and Rule and a Bloemfontein origin story

This is episode 162. First, some housekeeping. A huge thank you to all my supporters, the podcast just passed 1.3 million listens, so there’s a large number of folks out there who’ve found this series useful. I’m so delighted that our crazy tale here on the southern tip of Africa…

16 Mar 23 min

Episode 161 - Moshoeshoe signs a Treaty then collects gunpowder and horses

This is episode 161 — and what’s this I hear? The sound of wind whipping and howling through the mountain recesses, snow-capped mountains, where the rivers have torn deep ravines in the geography, terraphysics scraping rocks, rushing waters plunging from the escarpment into the eastern cape and free state, foaming…

10 Mar 21 min