History of South Africa podcast

Episode 58 – A dilemma of principle as religious freedom and a reformed government are introduced in 1803

For on 18th May 1803, ten days after Janssens had reached Algoa Bay on his long journey overland to the frontier from Cape Town, Malta in the Mediterranean became a flashpoint. This little island was the first step on a Mediterranean passage from Europe to India as far as both…

20 Mar 2022 21 min

Episode 57 – The Batavian Republic takes over the Cape in 1803 with a “Methods in dealing with Savages” handbook

Last episode we dealt with the arrival of the new representatives of the Batavian Republic who’d come to take over the Cape Colony from the British. While the British received commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist who was a brilliant organizer and administrator, things did not go well at first…

13 Mar 2022 19 min

Episode 56 – The burghers suffer their worst setback since 1652 as the Third Frontier War reignites in 1801

Last episode we heard about Doctor Somerville’s expedition to Dithakong which was interesting but a failure in terms of its main aim. That was to secure cattle – he came back with only around 160 or so when the Cape needed a few hundred at least. Also on the move…

6 Mar 2022 19 min

Episode 55 – Somerville's 1802 description of the baThlaping and their grand capital at Dithakong

Welcome back to the History of South Africa podcast, with me your host Des Latham - this episode 55. We’ll follow Doctor William Somerville on his way home from the expedition you heard about last episode and there’s a lot of action. First we’ll spend time with the Scots doctor…

27 Feb 2022 19 min

Episode 54 – Doctor William Somerville’s extraordinary expedition to the Orange River in 1801

World events has once again conspired to interrupt the flow of events in southern Africa by the early 1800s. The British were going to withdraw from the Cape of Good Hope and their move began far away in Ireland. As part of the price for Irish agreement to parliamentary union…

20 Feb 2022 20 min

Episode 53 – The surge in centralized chiefdoms circa 1800 and the development of an African military system

This episode we return to the eastern coastal region of what would become Zululand – but first we’ll cover the trekboers quick getaway in the Zuurveld. It’s crazy town time at Ngqika’s Great Place after Ndlambe his uncle makes off westwards and the Khoe in the area decide it’s time…

13 Feb 2022 19 min

Episode 52 – Christmas 1799 brings a fortuitous Amatola downpour and the intertwining of futures

We’re heading into a new and most momentous century – the 1800s. When we left off last episode, Ngqika was still trying to decide what to do about the missionaries camping near his Great Place – somewhere east of King Williamstown and south of Hogsback today. The British had managed…

6 Feb 2022 24 min

Episode 51 – The Third Frontier War ends and missionaries trek into a snake’s nest at Ngqika’s Great Place

So this war was set off by the blunt British instrument called Packenham Vandeleur as we heard in Episode 50. The Zuurveld farmers were now in a defenceless state since their supply of powder and lead had been stopped by the British who were trying to stymie the Graaff-Reinet trekboer…

29 Jan 2022 23 min

Episode 50 – Brigadier General Vandeleur fires grapeshot at the amaXhosa setting off 80 years of warfare

This is episode 50 and the British have mobilized the dragoons to end a trekboer uprising in Graaff-Reinet. That will spark what is known as the Third Frontier War. But first we'll have a quick look at a powerful party that arrived in 1799 that was going to change everything…

23 Jan 2022 22 min

Episode 49 – The Khoe War of 1799, Gerrit Owies is speared in the back and the Boers face the Hottentot Corps

This is episode 49 and Khoe and Oorlam Afrikaaner uprising of 1799. Keep in mind at this point in South African history, Afrikaaners are the mixed race band of former Khoe, mixed race, slaves and Namaqua living in the northern Hantam and at times, raiding Namaqualand. When we left off…

16 Jan 2022 20 min

Episode 48 – Petrus Pienaar shot dead on his Hantam farm in 1797 and the Afrikaaner rebellion goes into top gear

This is episode 48 and we’re following the sagas of the Visagies and others in the Hantam, that rough and ready part of the northern Cape. This chaotic land had spawned another by the name of Petrus Pienaar of the Afrikaaners. Regarded as one of the most influential men of…

9 Jan 2022 20 min

Episode 47 – Tales of the Hantam including the bandit van Zijl family and the indefatigable trekboer Elsie Visagie

This is episode 47 and we are concentrating on a mysterious and contradicted part of southern Africa, the Hantam. We’re also going to meet a German sailor who’d deserted and ran away to the Orange River in the 1780s by the name of Jan Bloem. He worked as an overseer,…

2 Jan 2022 24 min

Episode 46 – We meet the Afrikaaner Oorlams of Namaqualand and Griqua founder Adam Kok the First

This is episode 46 and it’s about Namaqualand, the Oorlam Afrikaaners and the Griquas But first a note about the British occupation. We know that they arrived in 1795, defeated the Dutch forces and then attempted to take control of events on the frontiers. As the Dutch had found, this…

26 Dec 2021 20 min

Episode 45 – The ancient people of the Orange River islands, the Namaqualand Korana and the “Bastaards”

This is episode 45 and it’s time to turn our attention to Namaqualand. This is an area which is not spoken of very often, the wild northern frontier where bandits rode oxen and escaped slaves, white ex-soldiers and black clans joined forces – or fought each other. The brigands and…

19 Dec 2021 19 min

Episode 44 – Trekboer Coenraad de Buys marries amaXhosa Queen Nojoli aka Yese and Barrow exacts a confounded promise

This is episode 44 and we continue to travel about the Zuurveld and beyond with Englishman John Barrow. Remember he’d arrived in Graaff-Reinet with landdrost FR Bressler and their entry into the mud and daub village marked the restoration of Cape control after an interval of two and a half…

12 Dec 2021 19 min

Episode 43 – Lady Anne throws dinner parties as John Barrow and the Dragoons take a trip to Graaff-Reinet

This is episode 43 and we’re dealing with the arrival of the English at the Cape. As you know, the Peninsular had become more important in the eyes of the English as they fought a lengthy war against France at the end of the 18th Century – a war that…

5 Dec 2021 17 min

Episode 42 – Lady Anne Barnard, Earl Macartney and the van Reenen meat bank of the 1790s

This is episode 42 and the English have just seized the Cape. Remember at the time they were in a world war with the French and revolutionary fervour had swept the world with its populist refrain, its’ berets of southern France and Liberte Equalite Fraternite narrative. This had swept the…

25 Nov 2021 20 min

Episode 41 – The English take Cape Town, Americans flee and trekboer rebels tear down a flag

This is episode 41 and we’re dealing with two main things – firstly the shift in power amongst the Xhosa at the end of the 18th Century, then the arrival of the English in South Africa. Remember we’ve been focusing on the Zuurveld as the trekboers and the amaXhosa both…

21 Nov 2021 23 min

Episode 40 – The Second Frontier War and the Graaff-Reinet rebellion

This is episode 40 and we’re dealing with the Second Frontier War. The Zuurveld Boers were indignant at the reluctance of the distant government of the Cape to come to their aid as the amaGqunukhwebe swept onto their farms. Remember Xhosa king Ndlambe was trying to bring them to heel…

14 Nov 2021 22 min

Episode 39 – Rebel Coenraad de Buys, lover of Xhosa chief Ngqika’s mother and a preamble to the Second Frontier War

This is episode 39 and we’re going to meet one of the country’s most incredible characters who’s activities on the frontier in the late 1700s were to be forgotten. Coenraad de Buys was probably one of the most African of all trekboers as you’re going to hear and the saga…

7 Nov 2021 21 min