Podcast
History of South Africa podcast
Episodes — page 11
- Episode 98 – Nandi dies, Zulu diplomats in the Cape & Shaka raids the amaMpondo
With the defeat of the Ndwandwe Shaka had moved to KwaDukuza near the Mvoti River, about 80km from Port Natal – a day and a half’s journey – or two if you were taking it fairly eas…
- Episode 97 – Shaka shifts South, Mzilikazi raids West and Fynn becomes Zulu
We kick off this episode with Henry Francis Fynn, the trader who’d made his home in Port Natal and was part of a group of Englishmen who’d fought with Shaka against Sikhunyane of t…
- Episode 96 – A “bipolar” Shaka hunts down and exterminates Sikhunyane’s Ndwandwe
We’re dealing with the period 1826 to 1828 and southern Africa was a rich patchwork of expanding trekboers, Shaka setting up his empire in Zululand, the Khoe and basters traveling…
- Episode 95 – Sunset for Somerset and Maqoma eyes guns and horses in 1825
We’re going to join one of the biweekly market gatherings held at Fort Willshire in 1825 where amaXhosa, English settlers, trekboers and khoekhoe met to exchange goods. Then we bid…
- Episode 94 – White and black ants in Botswana and Eastern Cape secession
Port Natal and Delagoa Bay are far away from Cape Town and appeared even further in the early 1820s. The Cape Governor was inevitably more concerned with what lay immediately beyon…
- Episode 93 –Shaka survives an assassination attempt and Farewell gets Port Natal
Shaka met Henry Francis Fynn and Lieutenant Francis George Farewell in August 1824 and the traders were seeking his permission to live and work at Port Natal. Cape Governor Lord Ch…
- Episode 92 – The monsters from the sea and a Robben Island convict advises Shaka
As years go, 1824 was one for the history books. Not that the others weren’t, but 1824 is a one of those seminal 12 months in southern Africa history. It was the year that Shaka’s…
- Episode 91 – An early history of Port Natal and its treacherous sand bar
It’s the steamy coast of south east Africa 1824, Port Natal to be exact. It’s now called eThekweni from the Zulu word for port itheku, although some say it is actually from the…
- Episode 90 – Slaves, Somerset and the SA Commercial Advertiser
This is episode 90 and it is 1823. The small coastal harbour town of Port Elizabeth had been founded but it still had no proper jetties, no lighthouse, nor a breakwater. Passengers…
- Episode 89 – Shaka’s mojo and the debate about the Mfecane
This is episode 89 and it’s the first years of the 1820s and we are still in Zululand. By now Shaka began concentrating his power in the area around Mahlabatini, to Qulusini, which…
- Episode 88 – Somerset’s printing press paranoia and Shaka’s Inkatha power
This is episode 88 it’s the period of 1821/1822 heading into a decade of disaster, drought, despondence and disorder. As we heard last episode, the 1820 Settlers were suffering t…
- Episode 87 – San poison, the world in 1821 and an MP “hectic spectacle"
This is episode 87 and it’s time to talk a bit about the terrifying power of San poison and then a quick revisit to the frontier of 1822 which of course is exactly two hundred year…
- Episode 86– Somerset vs Donkin and dueling missions
This is episode 86 and we left off with things heating up along the Orange River after hearing about the arrival of the 1820 Settlers and back in Cape Town, there were more moves a…
- Episode 85– Honey birds, leopards, gardens of cattle and a bloody ochre harvest
This is episode 85 and as we’ve heard, the English settlers have just arrived in the Albany district – the year is 1820. It had taken three months and now all 5000 new settlers w…
- Episode 84 – The 1820 Settlers ramble among Algoa Bay shrubbery
Between December 1819 and the first quarter of 1820, 21 ships left England and Ireland bound for the Cape carrying five thousand men, women and children. The ships docked at Cape…
- Episode 83 – The amakhosikazi sipper of Cobra venom and the 1820 Settlers
This is episode 83 and Ndwandwe chief Zwide is on the run, being hunted down by Shaka after the defeat on the Mhlathuze. Zwide was sitting at his mother’s umuzi called eziKwitshi…
- Episode 82 – Shaka outfoxes Zwide at the Mhlathuze River
This is episode 82 and we’re picking up the story from where we left off last Episode the Ndwandwe were chasing the AmaZulu down the Mhlathuze Valley, just north of the modern town…
- Episode 81 – Shaka orders ladders, Dingiswayo dies and Mzilikazi emerges
This is episode 81 and we’re following the story of the AmaZulu, the Qwabe, the Mkhize, the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa circa 1819. By this time, the Mkhize and the Qwabe along w…
- Episode 80 – Sambela the Mkhize psychopath and the Zulu cadet system evolves
Last episode we heard how the Xhosa wardoctor had failed in his attempt at chasing the colonials out of his territory – the Albany region, and now return to significant events in t…
- Episode 79 – The Wardoctor is defeated and Willshire does a deal with Hintsa
This is episode 79. Nxele the Wardoctor and 10 000 warriors failed in their attempt at overrunning Grahamstown – now they’re on the run. Three of Ndlambe’s sons were among those…
