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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 p…
Published on 17 hours ago
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 Machiave…
Published on 1 week ago
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 Tra…
Published on 2 weeks ago
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 fir…
Published on 3 weeks ago
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…
Published on 4 weeks ago
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 ther…
Published on 1 month ago
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…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
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 …
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
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.…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
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 af…
Published on 2 months ago