History of South Africa podcast

Episode 110 - Sir Harry Smith, his petite guerriere espagnole Lady Smith and the revenge of the amaXhosa

The Sixth Frontier war had started on 21st December 1834 and this would be a dirty affair - a calamity for the amaXhosa. When it began Hintsa the Xhosa regent did not join in, but something that was first called Maqoma’s war was eventually to be known as Hintsa’s war…

18 Mar 2023 22 min

Episode 109 - Maqoma’s war begins as the amaXhosa invade the Colony in December 1834

It’s December 1834 - the Second of December to be more precise. The British had just emancipated the slaves at the Cape, although real freedom was still some months off as the colonial office decreed that all should first work as apprentices to improve skills before they were set free…

11 Mar 2023 22 min

Episode 108 - Mzilikazi empties the lower Vaal, Sir Benjamin D’Urban arrives and slaves are emancipated

A new Governor was in town, the Cape Sheriff, and he was another Peninsular Campaign Veteran called Sir Benjamin D’Urban. In July 1832 Frontier military commander Colonel Henry Somerset went on leave - his father the former governor Lord Charles had died in 1831 and Henry had to head back…

4 Mar 2023 26 min

Episode 107 - Dr Andrew Smith, his mysterious Dingane expedition and a bit of XGaoXna- Knysna

The small settlement of Port Natal had hardly grown by 1830. Dingane had moved his ikhanda which he named uMgungundlovu to the eMakhosini valley, close to Singonyama or Lion hill, just south of the White Umfolozi River. The traders around Port Natal by now had mostly married Khoekhoe or AmaZulu…

25 Feb 2023 24 min

Episode 106 - Rustling along the Amatolas in 1830 and Dingane’s black liver

So here we are - 1830. Maqoma had been ejected from his beloved region below the Amatola mountains of the Eastern Cape, to be replaced by the new Khoekhoe dominated Kat River Settlement - a buffer zone for a buffer zone. It was a time of punitive patrols sent forth…

19 Feb 2023 22 min

Episode 105 - The Kat River Settlement of 1829 and how Maqoma was evicted

Last we heard about the attack on the Ngwane at Mbholompo west of Umtata, and the destruction of Matiwane’s raiders - sending him home back to Zululand where he was killed by Dingane. After the 1828 battle, Hintsa of the Gcaleka line of the amaXhosa and Nqubencuka who was his…

12 Feb 2023 24 min

Episode 104 - Matiwane’s Ngwane massacred at Mbholompo and Hintsa's ama-Bulu

South Africa’s history is peppered with chaos and warfare, perhaps more so than is apparent in the modern period. It is fairly difficult to explain how our past intermeshes with the present without focusing on moments of extreme violence, these incidents are part of our psychological make-up without most of…

4 Feb 2023 20 min

Episode 103 - Barend Barends battered and the men in black on the frontier

Last episode we heard how Jan Bloem and Kora leader Haip had launched a raid on Mzilikazi’s Ndebele people arraigned along the southern reaches of the Vaal River in 1830 - and Mzilikazi’s bloody response where he not only recovered his cattle but killed 50 Kora. This was the first…

29 Jan 2023 25 min

Episode 102 - Tales of the Trans Vaal and how Magaliesberg got its name

It’s time to delve deeply into the other Ndebele, then what happened when Mzilikazi arrived in the area known as the Trans Vaal - across the Vaal, with his hungry wolves. The development of the highveld to the late 1820s is quite a tale, with the first Tswana people made…

22 Jan 2023 24 min

Episode 101 - Mnkabayi dresses like a man and Dingane drowns his brother

Port Natal was steeped in fear and loathing in late 1828 follow in Shaka’s assassination on the 24th September 1828 which had thrown the traders into a panic. They anticipated that Shaka’s death would lead to a civil war, and that they’d be targeted in the coming political storm. Most…

15 Jan 2023 21 min

Episode 100 - Ordinance 50 shock, Dr John’s mission and Wesleyans vs polygamy

For my listeners who’ve lasted a century of podcasts, thank you folks! The series has far exceeded my expectation when it was launched I thought perhaps a few people would respond and that would be that. But no! This series has managed to climb 6 places on Apple’s South African…

7 Jan 2023 20 min

Episode 99 – Shaka assassinated by muddle-headed brothers Dingane and Mhlangana

First we pick up the point where James Saunders King made his way back to Port Natal following his failed diplomacy on Shaka’s behalf – the result would be catastrophic for Shaka. It provided added incentive for Shaka’s enemies inside the Zulu to move against him, the members of the…

1 Jan 2023 24 min

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 easy. It was a large ikhanda, containing about 1500 huts and accommodating around 3000…

25 Dec 2022 23 min

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 the Ndwande. By 1826 Fynn had been living basically as a Zulu at Mpendwini, near the Mbokodwe…

18 Dec 2022 21 min

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 and raiding along the Orange River, and the amaNdebele on the move into the highveld. Of course 1826 was not…

11 Dec 2022 23 min

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 Cape Governor Lord Charles Somerset adieu. The fair that had been established by Sir Rufane Donkin on the banks of…

4 Dec 2022 23 min

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 beyond the colonial frontiers than in these distant ports. Much of what concerned Lord Charles Somerset – and had concerned…

27 Nov 2022 21 min

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 Charles Somerset had rejected Farewell’s request he annex the region, so that was the only option left for the traders…

20 Nov 2022 19 min

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 main impi south had a disastrous campaign attempting to subjugate the Mpondo and despite their…

13 Nov 2022 22 min

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 word emateku meaning the one-testicled thing. It of course was not a port during pre-settler times and…

6 Nov 2022 20 min