History of South Africa podcast
By Desmond Latham
Listen to a podcast, please open Podcast Republic app. Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Image by Desmond Latham
Category: History
Open in Apple Podcasts
Open RSS feed
Open Website
Rate for this podcast
Subscribers: 65
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 168
Description
A series that seeks to tell the story of the South Africa in some depth. Presented by experienced broadcaster/podcaster Des Latham and updated weekly, the episodes will take a listener through the various epochs that have made up the story of South Africa.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
Episode 168 - Earl Grey and the irascible Sir Henry Pottinger leave their mark on South Africa
|
Apr 28, 2024 |
|
Episode 167 - Maitland dithers, Stockenstrom sallies forth into the Transkei and biblical storms change everything
|
Apr 21, 2024 |
|
Episode 166 - Colonel Lindsay lashes a local lad, Fort Peddie attacked and the Battle of Gwangqa River
|
Apr 14, 2024 |
|
Episode 165 - Sandile ambushes a British column, Captain Bambrick’s skull and Somerset’s humiliation
|
Apr 05, 2024 |
|
Episode 164 - British sappers cross Block Drift into Xhosaland setting off a chain of events on the eve of war
|
Mar 31, 2024 |
|
Episode 163 - British engineers build forts and semaphores while disabled chief Mgolombane Sandile signs a treaty
|
Mar 24, 2024 |
|
Episode 162 - The 1845 Battle of Swartkoppies, Divide and Rule and a Bloemfontein origin story
|
Mar 16, 2024 |
|
Episode 161 - Moshoeshoe signs a Treaty then collects gunpowder and horses
|
Mar 10, 2024 |
|
Episode 160 - A tour of Philippolis, an 1844 update, the Great Guano discovery and the Merino sheep miracle
|
Mar 03, 2024 |
|
Episode 159 - Boer women as handmaidens to history and the swirling social dust storms in TransOrangia circa 1843
|
Feb 25, 2024 |
|
Episode 158 - Venda kingdoms and the Lemba Yemeni enigma
|
Feb 17, 2024 |
|
Episode 157 - Dick King and Ndongeni Ka Xoki’s epic ride leads another d’Urban to Durban
|
Feb 11, 2024 |
|
Episode 156 - The Battle of Congella leaves 34 British soldiers dead on a moonlit Durban beach
|
Feb 04, 2024 |
|
Episode 155 - The Eastern Cape economy surges and the Americans visit Port Natal as tension rises
|
Jan 27, 2024 |
|
Episode 154 - The Swellekamp grifter and Captain Smith marches from the Umgazi River to Port Natal
|
Jan 21, 2024 |
|
Episode 153 - Dr Livingstone disembarks and Pretorius and Potgieter bury the hatchet
|
Jan 14, 2024 |
|
Episode 152 - The amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg: Horses, plant meds and the Chacma Baboon
|
Jan 07, 2024 |
|
Episode 151 - The polymath Sir John Herschel, his free school system and other 1840 interconnections
|
Dec 31, 2023 |
|
Episode 150 - Dingana assassinated near Ghost Mountain and the cultural appropriation tale of the toyi-toyi
|
Dec 24, 2023 |
|
Episode 149 - Mpande defeats Dingana at the Battle of amaQongqo and Bhibhi the beautiful is killed
|
Dec 17, 2023 |
|
Episode 148 - The AmaZulu routed by amaSwazi Widow Bird warriors and Mpande’s exodus
|
Dec 07, 2023 |
|
Episode 147 - Coloured enters the lexicon in 1838 as Captain Jervis reports his coal find
|
Dec 03, 2023 |
|
Episode 146 - The Battle of oPathe where Bhongoza and Hans Dons earn oral history stripes
|
Nov 26, 2023 |
|
Episode 145 - The seminal Battle on the Ncome known as Blood River
|
Nov 18, 2023 |
|
Episode 144 - Mpande evades Dingane’s assassination plot, the British seize Durban and Pretorius plans a covenant
|
Nov 11, 2023 |
|
Episode 143 - The World in 1838, New Veld Tech and Plough Enhancements
|
Nov 05, 2023 |
|
Episode 142 - Moshoeshoe the beard-shearer and the complex theological soup of the BaSotho
|
Oct 29, 2023 |
|
Episode 141 — An ode to the Orange River and San spoor blows in the wind
|
Oct 21, 2023 |
|
Episode 140 - High Noon at Gatslaager & Mzilikazi barges into the Batswana
|
Oct 15, 2023 |
|
Episode 139 - The Battle of Thukela/Dlokweni, Durban is sacked and the Republiek Natalia proclaimed
|
Oct 07, 2023 |
|
Episode 138 - The yin and yang of Stretch and Bowker and the Grand Army of Natal marches again
|
Sep 30, 2023 |
|
Episode 137 - The Vlugkommando of April 1838 and a hard rain continues to fall
|
Sep 23, 2023 |
|
Episode 136 - The place of weeping earns its name and the“Grand Army of Natal” marches off
|
Sep 17, 2023 |
|
Episode 135 - The Zulu army overruns the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s River
|
Sep 09, 2023 |
|
Episode 134 - Lightning kills 12 Boer horses then the wizards die
|
Sep 03, 2023 |
|
Episode 133 - Umkhandlu long thumb nails and tales of ill-gotten grain
|
Aug 26, 2023 |
|
Episode 132 - Piet Retief rides into Natal and land is on the agenda
|
Aug 20, 2023 |
|
Episode 131 - Sharpened horns at the battle of eGabeni and the story of the Liebenberg girls
|
Aug 13, 2023 |
|
Episode 130 - Piet Uys’ 1820 Settler Bible and the Qadi cut poles
|
Aug 06, 2023 |
|
EPISODE 129 - Lindley blesses the Boers, a sweep of 1837 and Stockenström’s bitter end
|
Jul 29, 2023 |
|
EPISODE 128 - Dingane smells blood and Retief leads the United Laagers
|
Jul 23, 2023 |
|
Episode 127 - Predikant blues and Piet Retief’s manifesto
|
Jul 16, 2023 |
|
Episode 126 - A Voortrekker commando takes revenge and the sedulous Susanna Smit
|
Jul 07, 2023 |
|
Episode 125 - The Battle of Vegkop pits the Voortrekkers against the amaNdebele
|
Jul 02, 2023 |
|
Episode 124 - The difference between Trekboers and Voortrekkers and the battle of Kopjeskraal
|
Jun 25, 2023 |
|
Episode 123 - The Voortrekkers as Israelites and Mzilikazi is about to become Pharaoh
|
Jun 17, 2023 |
|
Episode 122 - Lord Glenelg moulds a troublous history
|
Jun 11, 2023 |
|
Episode 121 - Lang Hans Janse Van Rensburg’s fatal ivory obsession and the peho slippery snake
|
Jun 04, 2023 |
|
Episode 120 - Ploughs in the Platberg, the BaSotho, the MaBuru, MaNyesemane and the BaKhothu
|
May 28, 2023 |
|
Episode 119 - The saga of Moshoeshoe, how his grandfather was eaten, and mystical advisor Tsapi
|
May 21, 2023 |
|
Episode 118 - Voortrekkers cross the Orange River carrying ancestral blood from the orient
|
May 14, 2023 |
|
Episode 117 - The Sixth Frontier War ends in a draw and Trekboers like Louis Trichardt seek the promised land
|
May 07, 2023 |
|
Episode 116 - A murder most foul and the British wilt as the guerrilla war weakens resolve
|
Apr 30, 2023 |
|
Episode 115 - Hintsa becomes a hostage and the Mfengu become British
|
Apr 23, 2023 |
|
Episode 114 - The British clamber up the slopes of the Amatolas chasing Xhosa ghosts and the mysterious Mfengu
|
Apr 16, 2023 |
|
Episode 113 - Guerrilla warfare throws up a challenge while Jannie Hostage and Ou Blouberg plan their escape
|
Apr 09, 2023 |
|
Episode 112 - Hand-to-hand fighting along the Great Fish River
|
Apr 02, 2023 |
|
Episode 111 - Harry Smith arrives in panic-stricken Grahamstown in January 1835 and stiffens settler spines
|
Mar 26, 2023 |
|
Episode 110 - Sir Harry Smith, his petite guerriere espagnole Lady Smith and the revenge of the amaXhosa
|
Mar 19, 2023 |
|
Episode 109 - Maqoma’s war begins as the amaXhosa invade the Colony in December 1834
|
Mar 11, 2023 |
|
Episode 108 - Mzilikazi empties the lower Vaal, Sir Benjamin D’Urban arrives and slaves are emancipated
|
Mar 04, 2023 |
|
Episode 107 - Dr Andrew Smith, his mysterious Dingane expedition and a bit of XGaoXna- Knysna
|
Feb 25, 2023 |
|
Episode 106 - Rustling along the Amatolas in 1830 and Dingane’s black liver
|
Feb 19, 2023 |
|
Episode 105 - The Kat River Settlement of 1829 and how Maqoma was evicted
|
Feb 12, 2023 |
|
Episode 104 - Matiwane’s Ngwane massacred at Mbholompo and Hintsa's ama-Bulu
|
Feb 04, 2023 |
|
Episode 103 - Barend Barends battered and the men in black on the frontier
|
Jan 29, 2023 |
|
Episode 102 - Tales of the Trans Vaal and how Magaliesberg got its name
|
Jan 22, 2023 |
|
Episode 101 - Mnkabayi dresses like a man and Dingane drowns his brother
|
Jan 15, 2023 |
|
Episode 100 - Ordinance 50 shock, Dr John’s mission and Wesleyans vs polygamy
|
Jan 07, 2023 |
|
Episode 99 – Shaka assassinated by muddle-headed brothers Dingane and Mhlangana
|
Jan 01, 2023 |
|
Episode 98 – Nandi dies, Zulu diplomats in the Cape & Shaka raids the amaMpondo
|
Dec 25, 2022 |
|
Episode 97 – Shaka shifts South, Mzilikazi raids West and Fynn becomes Zulu
|
Dec 18, 2022 |
|
Episode 96 – A “bipolar” Shaka hunts down and exterminates Sikhunyane’s Ndwandwe
|
Dec 11, 2022 |
|
Episode 95 – Sunset for Somerset and Maqoma eyes guns and horses in 1825
|
Dec 04, 2022 |
|
Episode 94 – White and black ants in Botswana and Eastern Cape secession
|
Nov 27, 2022 |
|
Episode 93 –Shaka survives an assassination attempt and Farewell gets Port Natal
|
Nov 20, 2022 |
|
Episode 92 – The monsters from the sea and a Robben Island convict advises Shaka
|
Nov 13, 2022 |
|
Episode 91 – An early history of Port Natal and its treacherous sand bar
|
Nov 06, 2022 |
|
Episode 90 – Slaves, Somerset and the SA Commercial Advertiser
|
Oct 30, 2022 |
|
Episode 89 – Shaka’s mojo and the debate about the Mfecane
|
Oct 23, 2022 |
|
Episode 88 – Somerset’s printing press paranoia and Shaka’s Inkatha power
|
Oct 16, 2022 |
|
Episode 87 – San poison, the world in 1821 and an MP “hectic spectacle"
|
Oct 08, 2022 |
|
Episode 86– Somerset vs Donkin and dueling missions
|
Oct 02, 2022 |
|
Episode 85– Honey birds, leopards, gardens of cattle and a bloody ochre harvest
|
Sep 24, 2022 |
|
Episode 84 – The 1820 Settlers ramble among Algoa Bay shrubbery
|
Sep 17, 2022 |
|
Episode 83 – The amakhosikazi sipper of Cobra venom and the 1820 Settlers
|
Sep 10, 2022 |
|
Episode 82 – Shaka outfoxes Zwide at the Mhlathuze River
|
Sep 03, 2022 |
|
Episode 81 – Shaka orders ladders, Dingiswayo dies and Mzilikazi emerges
|
Aug 28, 2022 |
|
Episode 80 – Sambela the Mkhize psychopath and the Zulu cadet system evolves
|
Aug 21, 2022 |
|
Episode 79 – The Wardoctor is defeated and Willshire does a deal with Hintsa
|
Aug 14, 2022 |
|
Episode 78 – 10 000 Xhosa warriors led by Makhanda aka Nxele attack Grahamstown
|
Aug 06, 2022 |
|
Episode 77 – The strange tale of Dr (Ms) James Barry and Makhanda’s War begins
|
Jul 30, 2022 |
|
Episode 76 – The vicious battle of Amalinde and the messianic force of Makhanda
|
Jul 24, 2022 |
|
Episode 75 – Lord Charles Somerset reinforces the Fish River then meets the amaXhoseni and misreads Ngqika
|
Jul 17, 2022 |
|
Episode 74 – The horror story that is Slagter’s Nek of 1816 and its role in Afrikaner nationalism
|
Jul 09, 2022 |
|
Episode 73 – Shaka overwhelmes the Qwabe and the British upend the trekboer Loan Farm tradition
|
Jul 03, 2022 |
|
Episode 72 – Shaka flees south over the Thukela River as Zwide’s Ndwandwe expand their raiding
|
Jun 26, 2022 |
|
Episode 71 – Calendars, the lunar month and the Zulu “houses of the sun”
|
Jun 19, 2022 |
|
Episode 70 – Senzangakhona dies and Shaka takes over as chief of the AmaZulu
|
Jun 12, 2022 |
|
Episode 69 – Senzangakhona’s “Jerusalem of the Zulus”, his beautiful wife Bhibhi and a bit of Delagoa Bay
|
Jun 05, 2022 |
|
Episode 68 – Stockenström’s anguish, Dingiswayo and the beginning of the era of blood, power and iron
|
May 29, 2022 |
|
Episode 67 – Wardoctor Nxele begins to see visions as he synthesises amaXhosa religion with Christianity
|
May 22, 2022 |
|
Episode 66 – The Fourth Frontier war bursts into flame, Chungwa is shot and Stockenstrom is assegai'd
|
May 15, 2022 |
|
Episode 65 – Graham launches his terror campaign in the Zuurveld and Chungwa of the Gqunukhwebe is in his sights
|
May 08, 2022 |
|
Episode 64 – The amaXhosa “strolling” days are numbered as Lieutenant-General Sir John Cradock arrives
|
May 01, 2022 |
|
Episode 63 – Shaka’s isicoco regulation, a “she” rebellion and Lieutenant Colonel Collins collects intel
|
Apr 24, 2022 |
|
Episode 62 – Dingiswayo and Shaka of the amaMthethwa, Ndlambe and Ngqika of the amaRharhabe
|
Apr 17, 2022 |
|
Episode 61 – British Governor Lord Caledon launches the pass law system in the Cape in 1808
|
Apr 08, 2022 |
|
Episode 60 – The Battle of Blaauberg in 1806 and an American landdrost takes control of the Eastern Cape
|
Apr 03, 2022 |
|
Episode 59 – Senzangakhona and his son Shaka, Janssens has a plan and American sailors ogle the eastern Cape
|
Mar 27, 2022 |
|
Episode 58 – A dilemma of principle as religious freedom and a reformed government are introduced in 1803
|
Mar 20, 2022 |
|
Episode 57 – The Batavian Republic takes over the Cape in 1803 with a “Methods in dealing with Savages” handbook
|
Mar 13, 2022 |
|
Episode 56 – The burghers suffer their worst setback since 1652 as the Third Frontier War reignites in 1801
|
Mar 06, 2022 |
|
Episode 55 – Somerville's 1802 description of the baThlaping and their grand capital at Dithakong
|
Feb 27, 2022 |
|
Episode 54 – Doctor William Somerville’s extraordinary expedition to the Orange River in 1801
|
Feb 20, 2022 |
|
Episode 53 – The surge in centralized chiefdoms circa 1800 and the development of an African military system
|
Feb 13, 2022 |
|
Episode 52 – Christmas 1799 brings a fortuitous Amatola downpour and the intertwining of futures
|
Feb 06, 2022 |
|
Episode 51 – The Third Frontier War ends and missionaries trek into a snake’s nest at Ngqika’s Great Place
|
Jan 29, 2022 |
|
Episode 50 – Brigadier General Vandeleur fires grapeshot at the amaXhosa setting off 80 years of warfare
|
Jan 23, 2022 |
|
Episode 49 – The Khoe War of 1799, Gerrit Owies is speared in the back and the Boers face the Hottentot Corps
|
Jan 16, 2022 |
|
Episode 48 – Petrus Pienaar shot dead on his Hantam farm in 1797 and the Afrikaaner rebellion goes into top gear
|
Jan 09, 2022 |
|
Episode 47 – Tales of the Hantam including the bandit van Zijl family and the indefatigable trekboer Elsie Visagie
|
Jan 02, 2022 |
|
Episode 46 – We meet the Afrikaaner Oorlams of Namaqualand and Griqua founder Adam Kok the First
|
Dec 26, 2021 |
|
Episode 45 – The ancient people of the Orange River islands, the Namaqualand Korana and the “Bastaards”
|
Dec 19, 2021 |
|
Episode 44 – Trekboer Coenraad de Buys marries amaXhosa Queen Nojoli aka Yese and Barrow exacts a confounded promise
|
Dec 12, 2021 |
|
Episode 43 – Lady Anne throws dinner parties as John Barrow and the Dragoons take a trip to Graaff-Reinet
|
Dec 05, 2021 |
|
Episode 42 – Lady Anne Barnard, Earl Macartney and the van Reenen meat bank of the 1790s
|
Nov 25, 2021 |
|
Episode 41 – The English take Cape Town, Americans flee and trekboer rebels tear down a flag
|
Nov 21, 2021 |
|
Episode 40 – The Second Frontier War and the Graaff-Reinet rebellion
|
Nov 14, 2021 |
|
Episode 39 – Rebel Coenraad de Buys, lover of Xhosa chief Ngqika’s mother and a preamble to the Second Frontier War
|
Nov 07, 2021 |
|
Episode 38 – The First Frontier War of 1781 and why the survivors of the Grosvenor were attacked by the amaXhosa
|
Oct 31, 2021 |
|
Episode 37 – How the amaXhosa waged war and Governor Van Plettenberg takes a trip to the Great Fish River
|
Oct 24, 2021 |
|
Episode 36 – The French and British fight over the Cape as bounty hunter Willem Prinsloo crosses the Fish River
|
Oct 17, 2021 |
|
Episode 35 – The Mthethwa and Ndwandwe flex their muscles in what eventually will become known as Zululand
|
Oct 10, 2021 |
|
Episode 34 – Trading and raiding, American whalers and the emergence of pre-Zulu chiefdoms in the East
|
Oct 03, 2021 |
|
Episode 33 – By 1771 Cape Town has a name and explorers begin arriving in droves
|
Sep 26, 2021 |
|
Episode 32 – An intermingling on the frontiers begins in earnest and a wide-angle view of the mid-to-late 18th C
|
Sep 19, 2021 |
|
Episode 31 – Trade increases between Delagoa Bay and the Tswana and the Dutch Reformed Church makes its mark in the Cape
|
Sep 10, 2021 |
|
Episode 30 – Shipwrecked women and their Xhosa clan, the art of making amasi and the amatakati
|
Sep 05, 2021 |
|
Episode 29 – Murder, massacre and pacification of the Roodezand Khoi while settler rebel Barbier meets a grisly end.
|
Aug 29, 2021 |
|
Episode 28 – The Bushman War of 1739 and the role of French outlaw Estienne Barbier
|
Aug 22, 2021 |
|
Episode 27 – The slaughtering in the Sandveld and the causes of the 1739 frontier war
|
Aug 15, 2021 |
|
Episode 26 – The Boers begin expanding across the Cape frontier
|
Aug 08, 2021 |
|
Episode 25 – The Xhosa social system and the TrekBoer Economy is born
|
Aug 01, 2021 |
|
Episode 24 – The foundation of the Xhosa Kingdom, Tshawe, Phalo, Gcaleka and Rharhabe.
|
Jul 25, 2021 |
|
Episode 23 – A trip through ancient Xhosaland
|
Jul 18, 2021 |
|
Episode 22 – Islam at the Cape, Adam Tas vs the Governor and a radical new land policy
|
Jul 11, 2021 |
|
Episode 21 – The Nguni move west, maize arrives and smallpox eviscerates the Cape
|
Jul 04, 2021 |
|
Episode 20 – The breakdown of Khoekhoe society in the Cape, corruption and miscegenation
|
Jun 27, 2021 |
|
Episode 19 – The French Huguenots arrive in 1688 while to the north the Xhosa deal with shipwrecked European sailors
|
Jun 20, 2021 |
|
Episode 18 – Early days of coloured single-parent Simon van der Stel and the first Venda miners appear
|
Jun 13, 2021 |
|
Episode 17 – The second Khoe-Dutch war of 1673-1677 and the Cape begins to develop a cosmopolitan nature
|
Jun 06, 2021 |
|
Episode 16 – Krotoa aka Eva and the Khoekhoe disputes of the 1660s
|
May 30, 2021 |
|
Episode 15 – The first Khoe-Dutch war of 1659-60, van Riebeeck lays out a mini-frontier and horses in the Cape.
|
May 23, 2021 |
|
Episode 14 – The first settlers begin farming on Khoekhoe grazing land, Doman plans an uprising and slaves in the Cape.
|
May 16, 2021 |
|
Episode 13 – Harry the Strandloper makes off with the Dutch herd and van Riebeeck orders a new garden at Rondebosch
|
May 09, 2021 |
|
Episode 12 – Jan van Riebeeck’s refreshment station Khoekhoe blues
|
May 02, 2021 |
|
Episode 11 – Jan van Riebeeck sets up the Tavern of the Seas and the amaXhosa/Khoekhoe relationship develops
|
Apr 25, 2021 |
|
Episode 10 – Coree the Khoekhoe learns English and Jan van Riebeeck the surgeon is dispatched to the Cape.
|
Apr 18, 2021 |
|
Episode 9 –KhoeKhoe power networks and the Dutch create the VOC charter company
|
Apr 11, 2021 |
|
Episode 8 - The San art of the Apocalypse, a Dutch maritime revolution and Sir Francis Drake lauds the ‘fairest Cape’
|
Apr 04, 2021 |
|
Episode 7 – Vasco de Gama reports African dogs also bark and the demise of Great Zimbabwe
|
Mar 28, 2021 |
|
Episode 6 - Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, the first Sotho/Tswana and Nguni and a bit of Bartolomeu Dias
|
Mar 20, 2021 |
|
Episode 5 - The Mapungubwe empire emerges from Indian Ocean trade networks in southern Africa
|
Mar 14, 2021 |
|
Episode 4 - Pottery and ivory trade between 250AD and 1000AD as farmers fan out over the coastal lowlands
|
Mar 07, 2021 |
|
Episode 3 – 6000 year-old hunter-gatherer ochre and the first Bantu farmers arrive in Southern Africa
|
Feb 28, 2021 |
|
Episode 2 - A scenic swoop through Southern Africa and the ice-age that almost caused human extinction
|
Feb 21, 2021 |
|
A Geology excursion and Southern African pre-history – wealth hidden in ancient rocks
|
Feb 14, 2021 |