History of South Africa podcast

Episode 248 - The Eagle and Four Hawks: The Making of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

Sir Bartle Frere’s ultimatum to Cetshwayo kaMpande of 11 January 1879 was about to expire. Last episode I explained the reasons behind Frere’s fevered decision, egged on as he was by Sir Theophilus Shepstone whose shadow looms large over the history of Natal - and South Africa. Cetshwayo’s diplomacy had…

9 Nov 20 min

Episode 247 - A Ball of Sand Fallacy and Frere Demonizes Cetshwayo

Episode 247 launches us into an intense period. We’re going to travel to the border between the Zulu kingdom and the Transvaal because there’s trouble brewing. When you hear what shenanigans were planned by British Governor Sir Bartle Frere, you probably won’t believe it. His partner in crime was Sir…

2 Nov 19 min

Episode 246 - Black Bricks, Armed Maids, and the Bloody Marriage of the Ngcugce

The year is1878 - and Cape Governor Sir Sir Bartle Frere is throwing the empire’s weight around South Africa. Let’s put ourselves in his shoes because some historians say he had a formidable Machiavellian personality, full of fatal overconfidence, too used to having his own way and to ignoring the…

26 Oct 19 min

Episode 245 - Sir Bartle Frere’s Excellent Adventure: A Gentleman’s Guide to Igniting Wars

Sir Bartle Frere had sailed into South Africa in March 1877 - lauded as a great British administrator in India. He arrived just in time to witness Sir Theophilus Shepstone seize, sorry, annex the Transvaal under the noses of the incredulous and in equal amounts, contemptuous Boers. Frere was another…

19 Oct 20 min

Episode 244 - Twitters' Transvaal Annexation, Rider Haggard’s Role and Railways

Episode 244 and Victorian popular fiction author H Rider Haggard features as one of the main characters of this tale. Rider Haggards’ creation called Allan Quartermain appeared in 18 novels - the first in what has become known as is the Lost World genre. George Lucas and Philip Kaufman copied…

12 Oct 17 min

Episode 243 - Guns, Germans and Steal: The Pedi War of 1876

By 1876 the Sotho, Tswana, Venda, Pedi, the amaXhosa had all managed to secure for themselves a fairly easy access to firearms. The Griqualand Diamond fields ignited what could be called a small arms race on the veld. There was supposedly an arms embargo on blacks instituted by the British…

5 Oct 23 min

Episode 242 - Merchant Traders, Natal plantations, African farmers and the Harrismith Sour Veld Land Swindler

Episode 242 is about putting ploughs into the ground, how the rural areas of much of the country was experiencing something of an agricultural revolution. It’s rather a fascinating tale, because there are tremendous contradictions in what we’re going to talk about this episode. As usual, there we will need…

28 Sep 22 min

Episode 241 - Yankee Babies, Monstrous Cobwebs, the Devil’s Cauldron and Rhodes’ Steam Engine

Episode 241 and we’re back with the diamond miners and their Kaias and Cocopans. More about this in a minute. A big thank you to Donald Paterson who’s great-great-great grandfather founded Standard Bank, he’s sent a couple of pictures I’m going to use in my next newsletter. And to Rob…

21 Sep 19 min

Episode 240 - Carnarvon’s Confederation, a Pre-scramble for Africa Geopolitical Mashup & Free State Ships

This is episode 240 and our swivels to the north - a Great Apostle for Confederation and the pre-Scramble for Africa Geopolitical Omlette. Part of this story is a continuation of the Langalibalele Affair in Natal which had created the perception that the authorities there were unable to cope. This…

14 Sep 25 min

Episode 239 - The Central South African Powder Magazine and How Chief Langalibalele Ended up on Robben Island

When we left off last episode amaHlubi chief Langalibalele and a few hundred warriors had sought shelter inside Basotholand, crossing the Drakensberg Mountains through Bushmans Pass in November 1873. When the British tried to send columns to corner him, one of the columns had been stopped by amaHlubi at the…

7 Sep 21 min

Episode 238 - ‘Another Little War’ at Bushman’s River Pass and the British Blow up Bits of the Drakensberg

This is episode 238 and it’s going to be full of legal back and forth, all about the Langalibalele Rebellion, another little war as the London times called it — it’s action at Bushman’s River Pass after which British engineers will be sent to blow up bits of the Drakensberg…

31 Aug 23 min

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 state of Victoria in what was to become Australia. The easterners were only partly reconciled to the rule by a…

24 Aug 17 min

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 thousands by 1873, all descending on a patch of dusty ground that was soon to become a beacon of development on…

17 Aug 21 min

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 as one of their top ten Best so Far podcasts of 2025. They have asked me to…

10 Aug 24 min

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 give a little talk about Jan Smuts of the Swartland and relished the opportunity to delve…

3 Aug 20 min

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 being1870, a plethora of politicians lined up to claim ownership — the ever-ambitious and unrealistic President Pretorius of the Transvaal among…

27 Jul 20 min

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 & creator of True Crime South Africa and the author of Samurai Sword Murder, Sizzlers, and co-author of Killer Stories. Well…

20 Jul 24 min

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 of Aliwal North with the British, who then annexed his territory. Or at least were about to but there were some…

13 Jul 26 min

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 brimbstone, and some technology, social change, significant moments. The construction of the the Port Nolloth-O'okiep railway line…

6 Jul 18 min

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 Basotho War of 1865-1868. The 1850s and 1860s marked a period of profound demographic disruption for…

29 Jun 21 min