Podcast
History of South Africa podcast
Episodes — page 14
- Episode 38 – The First Frontier War of 1781 and why the survivors of the Grosvenor were attacked by the amaXhosa
This is episode 38 and we’re focusing on the first war between the isiXhosa and the settlers which took place in 1781. Rharhabe had proposed an alliance between himself and the Col…
- Episode 37 – How the amaXhosa waged war and Governor Van Plettenberg takes a trip to the Great Fish River
This is episode 37 and we’re continuing the saga of late 18th Century Xhosa kingdoms. By late in the 18th Century, the Zuurveld was home to small groups of San, some khoekhoe chi…
- Episode 36 – The French and British fight over the Cape as bounty hunter Willem Prinsloo crosses the Fish River
This is episode 36 and its time to return to Xhosaland. Before we do that, let’s step back a little and consider the effect of action beyond Africa that was having an influence on…
- Episode 35 – The Mthethwa and Ndwandwe flex their muscles in what eventually will become known as Zululand
This is episode 35 and we’re going to focus on the forerunners of the Zulu – the Mthethwa and Ndwandwe, the Qwabe and how they emerged in the region between the Tugela and Pongola…
- Episode 34 – Trading and raiding, American whalers and the emergence of pre-Zulu chiefdoms in the East
This is episode 34 and we’re going to take a close look at what was going on in the region bounded by the Orange River, the Kalahari Desert and the Indian Ocean. This is where the…
- Episode 33 – By 1771 Cape Town has a name and explorers begin arriving in droves
This is episode 33 and we’re focusing on the Cape after spending last episode partly in Xhosaland. By 1771 the inn on the sea – the town in Table Bay – was being referred to as…
- Episode 32 – An intermingling on the frontiers begins in earnest and a wide-angle view of the mid-to-late 18th C
This is episode 32 and we’re swinging back to the Cape frontier through the last few decades of the 18th Century. I am going to thoroughly probe this period because so many cru…
- Episode 31 – Trade increases between Delagoa Bay and the Tswana and the Dutch Reformed Church makes its mark in the Cape
This is episode 31 and we’ll now take a broader look at what was going on across southern Africa after a few episodes peering closely at the northern Cape. We’ll also take a closer…
- Episode 30 – Shipwrecked women and their Xhosa clan, the art of making amasi and the amatakati
This is episode 30 and we’re covering the mid-18th Century, including tales of shipwrecked sailors, the art of making amasi and dealing with the amatakati or witches. We’ve hea…
- Episode 29 – Murder, massacre and pacification of the Roodezand Khoi while settler rebel Barbier meets a grisly end.
This is episode 29 and we’re dealing with the pacification of the Khoisan in 1739. The Bushman War of that year had broken out as we’ve heard over repeated incursions into Khoi ter…
- Episode 28 – The Bushman War of 1739 and the role of French outlaw Estienne Barbier
This is episode 28, the Bushman War of 1739. Last episode we heard about the growing number of clashes reported in the run up to this full-scale war that did not last long – but ex…
- Episode 27 – The slaughtering in the Sandveld and the causes of the 1739 frontier war
This is episode 27 and we’re dealing with the period in the first half of 1700 – give or take a decade. Last episode we heard how the TrekBoer economy had developed and a new f…
- Episode 26 – The Boers begin expanding across the Cape frontier
As we heard last episode, the direction of trekker expansion was largely a function of the nature of the terrain, along with the availability of water and the quality of pasture. W…
- Episode 25 – The Xhosa social system and the TrekBoer Economy is born
This is episode 25 and we’re following the early history of the Xhosa. They were about to come into direct contact with the Dutch expanding from the Cape Peninsular. Remember las…
- Episode 24 – The foundation of the Xhosa Kingdom, Tshawe, Phalo, Gcaleka and Rharhabe.
This is episode 24, the Foundation of the Xhosa Kingdom, the heroes Tshawe and Phalo. I’ve made use of a number of books and documents in the series so far, but Jeff Perez’s Ho…
- Episode 23 – A trip through ancient Xhosaland
This is episode 23 and its time to shift our attention away from the Dutch in the Cape to the amaXhosa. At the turn of the 18th Century there were signs of increased conflict i…
- Episode 22 – Islam at the Cape, Adam Tas vs the Governor and a radical new land policy
This is episode 22 and we’re dealing with a number of things. First is the arrival in the Cape of an influential Muslim Cleric called Sheik Yusufs al-Taj al-Khwalwari al-Maqasari w…
- Episode 21 – The Nguni move west, maize arrives and smallpox eviscerates the Cape
This is episode 21 and we’re probing the growth of Nguni societies – as well as the terrible smallpox epidemic of 1713. First a note about historical records. As I’ve mentioned…
- Episode 20 – The breakdown of Khoekhoe society in the Cape, corruption and miscegenation
This is episode 20 and the expansion of settlers from the Cape is gaining pace. At the same time, the Xhosa to the north are experiencing political upheavals, while further nor…
- Episode 19 – The French Huguenots arrive in 1688 while to the north the Xhosa deal with shipwrecked European sailors
This is episode 19 and we’re looking at the years between 1679 and 1700 and developments in both the Cape and the interior of the sub-continent. Last episode we heard how new G…
