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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 receiving the Paypal pay…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
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 — and with it, fortunes…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
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 with cruel insiste…
Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago
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 of the amaMpondo had…
Published on 5 months ago
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 Southern Africa’s climate,…
Published on 5 months, 1 week ago
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 who invited me to be pa…
Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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 tour of 1863 as is o…
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
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 into the 20th Century, …
Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago
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 Transvaal Civil War, and quit…
Published on 6 months ago
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, daughter of Philip Wode…
Published on 6 months, 1 week ago