History of South Africa podcast

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 last episode we heard about the growing bizarre behaviour by Gcaleka who was one of Phalo’s sons – and his…

1 Aug 2021 17 min

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 House of Phalo is probably my favourite source material mainly because he lectured me at Rhodes University…

25 Jul 2021 18 min

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 in the region as the Khoekhoe began to feel the pressures of the expanding Dutch settlements…

18 Jul 2021 18 min

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 who was to have a major impact on the colony. We’ll also hear about what was going on across southern…

11 Jul 2021 18 min

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 the use of archaeological surveys and oral history along with specific tools used such as pottery and metal artifacts…

4 Jul 2021 18 min

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 north, the Nguni speaking farmers have spread into the Free State and Transvaal highlands – now known as Gauteng. The…

27 Jun 2021 17 min

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 Governor Simon van der Stel who arrived in 1679 began a rapid expansionist policy in the Cape, including…

20 Jun 2021 20 min

Episode 18 – Early days of coloured single-parent Simon van der Stel and the first Venda miners appear

This is episode 18 and we’re focusing on the 1670s through to the 1680s where a whole lot was going on in the south of Africa. Let me first start with race relations. South Africans probably have no idea that the man who launched the most aggressive drive to expand…

13 Jun 2021 19 min

Episode 17 – The second Khoe-Dutch war of 1673-1677 and the Cape begins to develop a cosmopolitan nature

This is episode 17 and we’re dealing with the second Khoe-Dutch war of 1673 which dealt the Peninsular tribe known as the Cochoqua a terminal blow. The growing population at the Cape meant both the colonisers and the passing fleets needed to be well fed with fresh produce. The colonial…

6 Jun 2021 19 min

Episode 16 – Krotoa aka Eva and the Khoekhoe disputes of the 1660s

This is episode 16 and its about de Kaap and the Peninsular in the 1660s. As we’ve heard, the trading with the Khoe at the Cape is not going as well as the Dutch hoped and Jan Van Riebeeck the fort commander had decided to lay out his formal frontier…

30 May 2021 18 min

Episode 15 – The first Khoe-Dutch war of 1659-60, van Riebeeck lays out a mini-frontier and horses in the Cape.

This is episode 15 and we’re looking at the first Khoe-Dutch war of 1659-1660. Up to now the relationship between the Dutch and the various Khoe tribes on the Cape Flats has been rife and filled with chaos. Things as you’ll hear, are not going to improve or settle down…

23 May 2021 19 min

Episode 14 – The first settlers begin farming on Khoekhoe grazing land, Doman plans an uprising and slaves in the Cape.

This is episode 14 and the first settlers are about to make their way out of the Dutch fort at the Cape after being allocated land to plant their gardens. This action which Jan Van Riebeeck took in 1657 was to have reverberations which are still being felt across the…

16 May 2021 19 min

Episode 13 – Harry the Strandloper makes off with the Dutch herd and van Riebeeck orders a new garden at Rondebosch

This is episode 13 and we’re covering the period between 1652 and 1657. These five years saw the establishment of the Dutch’s refreshment station at the Cape and the increasing frustration of Jan van Riebeeck who commanded the small group of sailors and soldiers who were trying to build a…

9 May 2021 20 min

Episode 12 – Jan van Riebeeck’s refreshment station Khoekhoe blues

This is episode 12 and we’re at the point where Jan van Riebeeck and 88 men and women had setup the refreshment station to provide fruit, vegetables and meat to passing VOC fleets. As we heard last episode, the fort would take a year to complete. The Dutch had arrived…

2 May 2021 17 min

Episode 11 – Jan van Riebeeck sets up the Tavern of the Seas and the amaXhosa/Khoekhoe relationship develops

This is episode 11 and it’s all about Jan van Riebeeck arrival in 1652 and the amaXhosa/KhoeKhoe relationship. South Africa’s modern community is a melting pot of people and part of that melting story started when the Dutch company the VOC decided to build a refreshment station in Table Bay…

25 Apr 2021 18 min

Episode 10 – Coree the Khoekhoe learns English and Jan van Riebeeck the surgeon is dispatched to the Cape.

The Dutch have eclipsed the Portuguese Far East maritime trade and are looking to exploit the Indies as effectively as possible. Back in Southern Africa, the KhoeKhoe have no idea what this century will bring which includes the beginning of the destruction of their way of life in Table Bay…

18 Apr 2021 16 min

Episode 9 –KhoeKhoe power networks and the Dutch create the VOC charter company

IT was only in 1610 that the Dutch discovered the advantages of sailing east from the Cape before swinging north to reach the hub of their trading network in Java. As a result, contacts between the Khoekhoe and the Europeans steadily increased particularly around Table Bay. In the first half…

11 Apr 2021 17 min

Episode 8 - The San art of the Apocalypse, a Dutch maritime revolution and Sir Francis Drake lauds the ‘fairest Cape’

So by the early 1500s Portugal controlled the major ports along northern Mozambique and into modern day Kenya all the way up to Mombasa. However, they did not seek to take over the land so to speak – at least at first. The idea was to build fortified ports so…

4 Apr 2021 17 min

Episode 7 – Vasco de Gama reports African dogs also bark and the demise of Great Zimbabwe

We heard last episode how Portuguese explorer Bartolemeu Dias had rounded the Cape and landed at Mossel Bay in November 1488. He was the first person to sail around the continent to the South and his journey revolutionized commerce in Europe – and southern Africa. Dias dropped anchor in Mossell…

28 Mar 2021 22 min

Episode 6 - Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, the first Sotho/Tswana and Nguni and a bit of Bartolomeu Dias

As we heard last episode Mapungubwe emerged from the increased trade between central south Africa and the East Coast seaboard including ivory, skins and eventually, gold around 1000AD. Unlike areas of Africa further north and north west, slave trade did not impact this region for a number of reasons. The…

20 Mar 2021 18 min