Podcasts about khoesan

Cape Governor Harry Smith had made his escape from Fort Cox to King Williams' Town, and was now hoping for help in the form of 3000 Zulu warriors. The British had mucked things up on the frontier, and most of their old allies the Khoekhoe of the Kat River Settlement had decided to rise up, along with the amaXhosa. The Boers were also not in any mood to send help, in fact, the destabilisation was in their favour, it drew English troops away from the transOrangia Region. Mlanjeni the prophet had told the Xhosa that this was the time to drive the English into the sea - and Maqoma the amaRharhabe chief of the amaNhlambe was all to ready to do just that. It was new Year, 1851. In a few days, the Taiping Rebellion - or Civil War as some call it - would begin in China. And like the uprising in the Cape, a man who claimed super powers was behind this war in Asia. Hong Xiuquan was an ethnic Hakka man who claimed to be related to Jesus Christ and was trying to convert the local Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity. Xiuquan was trying to overthrow the Qing dynasty and the Taiping rebels were hell bent on should I say, heaven bent on upending the entire country's social order. Eventually the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom based in Nanjing managed to seize a significant portion of southern China. It was to become the bloodiest war of the 19th Century, lasting 14 years. Back on the eastern Cape frontier, the settlers were facing the amaXhosa rage and fury, frustration that had built up over generations burst into the 8th Frontier War. Maqoma had warned the errant missionary George Brown that a war was coming of cruelty never seen before in southern AFrica. Some called it the first war of colour, a general war of the races. The Kat River people rebelled, some Khoekhoe soldiers rebelled, some of the famous Cape Mounted Rifles men mutinied, the amaThembu people under Maphasa, so important to Xhosa tradition, joined the Xhosa. amaNhlambe chief Siyolo, the best soldier amongst the amaXhosa, had cut off the road between King WilliamsTown and Grahamstown. And yet, in this frontier war it wasn't just black versus white - oh no. As you'll hear, Black South Africans fought for the British, and there were incidents of British soldiers who mutinied and joined the amaXhosa. amaNgqika men upset at how they'd been treated by their own countrymen worked for the colonists in this war, not the mention the amaMfengu people who the amaXhosa regarded as illegal immigrants on their land - there was no love lost between these two either. To merely describe this war as blacks versus whites is to commit historical incongruity. Sandile met with Maqoma in the first days of 1851 in order to work out a series of offensive moves against the British. Hermanus Matroos, who you met last episode was leading a powerful battalion sized group of amaXhosa and Khoesan fighters. Willem Uithaalder, former Cape Mounted Rifles cavalryman, was also fighting the British — his knowledge about how to go about focusing attacks was key.

Cape Governor Harry Smith had made his escape from Fort Cox to King Williams' Town, and was now hoping for help in the form of 3000 Zulu warriors. The British had mucked things up on the frontier, and most of their old allies the Khoekhoe of the Kat River Settlement had decided to rise up, along with the amaXhosa. The Boers were also not in any mood to send help, in fact, the destabilisation was in their favour, it drew English troops away from the transOrangia Region. Mlanjeni the prophet had told the Xhosa that this was the time to drive the English into the sea - and Maqoma the amaRharhabe chief of the amaNhlambe was all to ready to do just that. It was new Year, 1851. In a few days, the Taiping Rebellion - or Civil War as some call it - would begin in China. And like the uprising in the Cape, a man who claimed super powers was behind this war in Asia. Hong Xiuquan was an ethnic Hakka man who claimed to be related to Jesus Christ and was trying to convert the local Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity. Xiuquan was trying to overthrow the Qing dynasty and the Taiping rebels were hell bent on should I say, heaven bent on upending the entire country's social order. Eventually the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom based in Nanjing managed to seize a significant portion of southern China. It was to become the bloodiest war of the 19th Century, lasting 14 years. Back on the eastern Cape frontier, the settlers were facing the amaXhosa rage and fury, frustration that had built up over generations burst into the 8th Frontier War. Maqoma had warned the errant missionary George Brown that a war was coming of cruelty never seen before in southern AFrica. Some called it the first war of colour, a general war of the races. The Kat River people rebelled, some Khoekhoe soldiers rebelled, some of the famous Cape Mounted Rifles men mutinied, the amaThembu people under Maphasa, so important to Xhosa tradition, joined the Xhosa. amaNhlambe chief Siyolo, the best soldier amongst the amaXhosa, had cut off the road between King WilliamsTown and Grahamstown. And yet, in this frontier war it wasn't just black versus white - oh no. As you'll hear, Black South Africans fought for the British, and there were incidents of British soldiers who mutinied and joined the amaXhosa. amaNgqika men upset at how they'd been treated by their own countrymen worked for the colonists in this war, not the mention the amaMfengu people who the amaXhosa regarded as illegal immigrants on their land - there was no love lost between these two either. To merely describe this war as blacks versus whites is to commit historical incongruity. Sandile met with Maqoma in the first days of 1851 in order to work out a series of offensive moves against the British. Hermanus Matroos, who you met last episode was leading a powerful battalion sized group of amaXhosa and Khoesan fighters. Willem Uithaalder, former Cape Mounted Rifles cavalryman, was also fighting the British — his knowledge about how to go about focusing attacks was key.

This is episode 174. First off, a big thank you to all the folks who've supported me and for sharing so many personal stories of your ancestry. Particularly Jane who is a font of knowledge about the Williams family, and John who's been communicating about the Transkei. Please also sign up for the weekly newsletter by heading off to desmondlatham.blog - you can also email me from that site. When we left off episode 173, King Mswati the first was running out of patience with his elder brother Somcuba. Voortrekker leader Hendrick Potgieter had also left the area north of the Swazi territory, settling in the Zoutpansberg. It was his last trek. He'd signed a treaty with Bapedi chief Sekwati, which had precluded any proper agreement with the other Voortrekkers around Lydenburg. With Potgieter gone, however, things were about to change. We need to swing back across the vast land to the region south of the Vaal River because dramatic events were taking place in 1848 - clashes between the British empire and the trekkers. By now, the area between the Orange and the Vaal was an imbroglio, elements of every type of society that existed in southern Africa for millennia could be found scattered across the region. Hunters and gatherers, pastoralists, farmers, San, Khoesan, Khoekhoe, BaSotho, Afrikaners, Boers, mixed race Griqua and Koranna, and British settlers could be found here. In some cases different combinations of these peoples lived together cheek by jowel, many combinations of cultures, languages and political systems. A classic frontier situation, with intermingling and very little structured relationship charactersing the mingling. Some of the San, Khoekhoe and even Basotho were now incorporated as servants of the Boers, and each of those groups were divided into rival political commuties. Bands of San still hunted through this area, despite attempts to eradicate them, a kind of ethnic cleansing you've heard about. In the south east, on either side of the Caledon River, rival Sotho states existed, under Moshoeshoe, Moletsane, Sikonyela, and Moroka — each of these had their own tame missionary living alongside as an insurance policy against each other and the British and Boers. By 1848 the new Governor of the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, had begun to experiment with British expansionism that he'd observed in India, assuming British culture and traditions, the empire's institutions, were superior to all other. Smith loved to oversimplify complex problems, and the made him a natural expansionist and a man likely to make big mistakes. Within two months of arriving in Cape Town in December 1847, he had extended the frontiers of the Cape Colony to the Orange River in the arid north west of the Cape. This was between the area known as Ramah and the Atlantic Ocean. He'd annexed the land between the Keiskamma River and the Kraai River Basin in the east, booted out the amaXhosa, and annexed two contiguous areas as seperate British colonies — British Caffraria between the Keiskamma and the Kei River, and a second area that became known as the Orange River Sovereignty between the Orange and Vaal Rivers. Pretorius was so incensed that he began fanning the flames of anti-British opposition, or probably to be more accurate, anti-Smith opposition. This resentment boiled over in July 1848 when Pretorius with commandants Stander, Kock and Mocke led a powerful force of 200 Transvalers and about 800 Free Staters along with a 3 pounder artillery gun into Bloemfontein. The preamble to the Battle of Boomplaats had begun.

This is episode 174. First off, a big thank you to all the folks who've supported me and for sharing so many personal stories of your ancestry. Particularly Jane who is a font of knowledge about the Williams family, and John who's been communicating about the Transkei. Please also sign up for the weekly newsletter by heading off to desmondlatham.blog - you can also email me from that site. When we left off episode 173, King Mswati the first was running out of patience with his elder brother Somcuba. Voortrekker leader Hendrick Potgieter had also left the area north of the Swazi territory, settling in the Zoutpansberg. It was his last trek. He'd signed a treaty with Bapedi chief Sekwati, which had precluded any proper agreement with the other Voortrekkers around Lydenburg. With Potgieter gone, however, things were about to change. We need to swing back across the vast land to the region south of the Vaal River because dramatic events were taking place in 1848 - clashes between the British empire and the trekkers. By now, the area between the Orange and the Vaal was an imbroglio, elements of every type of society that existed in southern Africa for millennia could be found scattered across the region. Hunters and gatherers, pastoralists, farmers, San, Khoesan, Khoekhoe, BaSotho, Afrikaners, Boers, mixed race Griqua and Koranna, and British settlers could be found here. In some cases different combinations of these peoples lived together cheek by jowel, many combinations of cultures, languages and political systems. A classic frontier situation, with intermingling and very little structured relationship charactersing the mingling. Some of the San, Khoekhoe and even Basotho were now incorporated as servants of the Boers, and each of those groups were divided into rival political commuties. Bands of San still hunted through this area, despite attempts to eradicate them, a kind of ethnic cleansing you've heard about. In the south east, on either side of the Caledon River, rival Sotho states existed, under Moshoeshoe, Moletsane, Sikonyela, and Moroka — each of these had their own tame missionary living alongside as an insurance policy against each other and the British and Boers. By 1848 the new Governor of the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, had begun to experiment with British expansionism that he'd observed in India, assuming British culture and traditions, the empire's institutions, were superior to all other. Smith loved to oversimplify complex problems, and the made him a natural expansionist and a man likely to make big mistakes. Within two months of arriving in Cape Town in December 1847, he had extended the frontiers of the Cape Colony to the Orange River in the arid north west of the Cape. This was between the area known as Ramah and the Atlantic Ocean. He'd annexed the land between the Keiskamma River and the Kraai River Basin in the east, booted out the amaXhosa, and annexed two contiguous areas as seperate British colonies — British Caffraria between the Keiskamma and the Kei River, and a second area that became known as the Orange River Sovereignty between the Orange and Vaal Rivers. Pretorius was so incensed that he began fanning the flames of anti-British opposition, or probably to be more accurate, anti-Smith opposition. This resentment boiled over in July 1848 when Pretorius with commandants Stander, Kock and Mocke led a powerful force of 200 Transvalers and about 800 Free Staters along with a 3 pounder artillery gun into Bloemfontein. The preamble to the Battle of Boomplaats had begun.

This is episode 152, we're going to dig into a story that is not often told — the amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg. They emerged by the end of the third decade of the 19th Century as a result of a mish-mash of forces at play on the veld. And what a remarkable story this is so hold onto your horses! Literally as it would appear. What has been re-discovered recently is the identification of a plethora of mounted frontier raiding groups and how these had impacted the interior of Southern Africa, and in particular, the mountains north-east of the Cape Colony. Certain frontier raiding groups often referred to simply as ‘Bushmen' were really comprised of members from many formerly distinct ethnicities, and included the progeny from subsequent inter-marriage. Cultural and ethnic mixing, the advent of the horse, the increased access to guns and ammunition, and the need for identity to adapt to these changes, resulted in a volatile mix indeed. There were freed slaves, Khoesan, San, and English soldiers who'd gone AWOL, as well as descendants of former VOC soldiers who were Swedish, German, Swiss, and Dutch. There's a correlation here with the American Frontier experience, where men and sometimes women, armed with muskets, bows, and spears, wearing feathered headgear or wide-brimmed trekboer hats and riding horses, raided their neighbours for cattle and horses or exchanged these valuable resources for corn, tobacco, dogs and alcohol, much like other nineteenth century frontiers. There the roaming bandits were the Jumanos, the Lakota, the Metis, all became seminal in the B-grade Western movies of the 1950s. South Africa's bandits and raiders were arraigned across a large area, but perhaps the most interesting were those living in the amaTola mountains, a mixture of people who were on the fringes of society. Because horses were only introduced to the Drakensberg in the 1830s and production of hunter-gatherer rock art in that region had almost entirely ceased by the 1880s, horse paintings are comparatively tightly pinpointed in time, unlike virtually all other categories of images in southern African rock art. San paintings of this time reveal quite an astonishing fact, these people had a mixed material culture, the paintings who San and others who were not San working together, carrying firearms, riding horses with their dogs running alongside, carrying spears and bows, and importantly, dancing their trance dances. The area I'm addressing lies between the Mzimvubu River and the Tina River, across the central Drakensburg in other words, across both sides of the escarpment, stretching from Giants Castle in modern Kwa-Zulu Natal to Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape and Matsaile inside Lesotho. Glancing at a map, and tracing folks living in this area in 1840 you'd find the Voortrekkers arraigned inland from Port Natal, around Pietermaritzburg, and up to the headwaters of the Umgeni, the Mooi River and Bushman's River just below Giant's Castle. From here the San Raiders controlled the landscape, along the ridges of the Drakensberg south westerly to Mount Fletcher, in the slopes above the Senqu River or the headwaters of the Orange Riverif you prefer. This overlooked where the Bhaca lived, south east of them, the amaMpondo, further south the Mpondomise, then further the amaThembu, to their east and south the amaXhosa could be found and to their south, the English settlers in Albany. I hope you can feel the proximity of these amaTola raiders because everyone in these areas were somewhat fearful of the gangs of men on horses. The San raiders were based in that mountain redoubt between Giant's Castle and Mount Fletcher and they were surrounded by enemies but also prospective allies. This mountain redoubt was getting a bad name, and soon would be identified on maps from the 1840s onwards as nomansland.

This is episode 152, we're going to dig into a story that is not often told — the amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg. They emerged by the end of the third decade of the 19th Century as a result of a mish-mash of forces at play on the veld. And what a remarkable story this is so hold onto your horses! Literally as it would appear. What has been re-discovered recently is the identification of a plethora of mounted frontier raiding groups and how these had impacted the interior of Southern Africa, and in particular, the mountains north-east of the Cape Colony. Certain frontier raiding groups often referred to simply as ‘Bushmen' were really comprised of members from many formerly distinct ethnicities, and included the progeny from subsequent inter-marriage. Cultural and ethnic mixing, the advent of the horse, the increased access to guns and ammunition, and the need for identity to adapt to these changes, resulted in a volatile mix indeed. There were freed slaves, Khoesan, San, and English soldiers who'd gone AWOL, as well as descendants of former VOC soldiers who were Swedish, German, Swiss, and Dutch. There's a correlation here with the American Frontier experience, where men and sometimes women, armed with muskets, bows, and spears, wearing feathered headgear or wide-brimmed trekboer hats and riding horses, raided their neighbours for cattle and horses or exchanged these valuable resources for corn, tobacco, dogs and alcohol, much like other nineteenth century frontiers. There the roaming bandits were the Jumanos, the Lakota, the Metis, all became seminal in the B-grade Western movies of the 1950s. South Africa's bandits and raiders were arraigned across a large area, but perhaps the most interesting were those living in the amaTola mountains, a mixture of people who were on the fringes of society. Because horses were only introduced to the Drakensberg in the 1830s and production of hunter-gatherer rock art in that region had almost entirely ceased by the 1880s, horse paintings are comparatively tightly pinpointed in time, unlike virtually all other categories of images in southern African rock art. San paintings of this time reveal quite an astonishing fact, these people had a mixed material culture, the paintings who San and others who were not San working together, carrying firearms, riding horses with their dogs running alongside, carrying spears and bows, and importantly, dancing their trance dances. The area I'm addressing lies between the Mzimvubu River and the Tina River, across the central Drakensburg in other words, across both sides of the escarpment, stretching from Giants Castle in modern Kwa-Zulu Natal to Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape and Matsaile inside Lesotho. Glancing at a map, and tracing folks living in this area in 1840 you'd find the Voortrekkers arraigned inland from Port Natal, around Pietermaritzburg, and up to the headwaters of the Umgeni, the Mooi River and Bushman's River just below Giant's Castle. From here the San Raiders controlled the landscape, along the ridges of the Drakensberg south westerly to Mount Fletcher, in the slopes above the Senqu River or the headwaters of the Orange Riverif you prefer. This overlooked where the Bhaca lived, south east of them, the amaMpondo, further south the Mpondomise, then further the amaThembu, to their east and south the amaXhosa could be found and to their south, the English settlers in Albany. I hope you can feel the proximity of these amaTola raiders because everyone in these areas were somewhat fearful of the gangs of men on horses. The San raiders were based in that mountain redoubt between Giant's Castle and Mount Fletcher and they were surrounded by enemies but also prospective allies. This mountain redoubt was getting a bad name, and soon would be identified on maps from the 1840s onwards as nomansland.

This is episode 152, we're going to dig into a story that is not often told — the amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg. They emerged by the end of the third decade of the 19th Century as a result of a mish-mash of forces at play on the veld. And what a remarkable story this is so hold onto your horses! Literally as it would appear. What has been re-discovered recently is the identification of a plethora of mounted frontier raiding groups and how these had impacted the interior of Southern Africa, and in particular, the mountains north-east of the Cape Colony. Certain frontier raiding groups often referred to simply as ‘Bushmen' were really comprised of members from many formerly distinct ethnicities, and included the progeny from subsequent inter-marriage. Cultural and ethnic mixing, the advent of the horse, the increased access to guns and ammunition, and the need for identity to adapt to these changes, resulted in a volatile mix indeed. There were freed slaves, Khoesan, San, and English soldiers who'd gone AWOL, as well as descendants of former VOC soldiers who were Swedish, German, Swiss, and Dutch. There's a correlation here with the American Frontier experience, where men and sometimes women, armed with muskets, bows, and spears, wearing feathered headgear or wide-brimmed trekboer hats and riding horses, raided their neighbours for cattle and horses or exchanged these valuable resources for corn, tobacco, dogs and alcohol, much like other nineteenth century frontiers. There the roaming bandits were the Jumanos, the Lakota, the Metis, all became seminal in the B-grade Western movies of the 1950s. South Africa's bandits and raiders were arraigned across a large area, but perhaps the most interesting were those living in the amaTola mountains, a mixture of people who were on the fringes of society. Because horses were only introduced to the Drakensberg in the 1830s and production of hunter-gatherer rock art in that region had almost entirely ceased by the 1880s, horse paintings are comparatively tightly pinpointed in time, unlike virtually all other categories of images in southern African rock art. San paintings of this time reveal quite an astonishing fact, these people had a mixed material culture, the paintings who San and others who were not San working together, carrying firearms, riding horses with their dogs running alongside, carrying spears and bows, and importantly, dancing their trance dances. The area I'm addressing lies between the Mzimvubu River and the Tina River, across the central Drakensburg in other words, across both sides of the escarpment, stretching from Giants Castle in modern Kwa-Zulu Natal to Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape and Matsaile inside Lesotho. Glancing at a map, and tracing folks living in this area in 1840 you'd find the Voortrekkers arraigned inland from Port Natal, around Pietermaritzburg, and up to the headwaters of the Umgeni, the Mooi River and Bushman's River just below Giant's Castle. From here the San Raiders controlled the landscape, along the ridges of the Drakensberg south westerly to Mount Fletcher, in the slopes above the Senqu River or the headwaters of the Orange Riverif you prefer. This overlooked where the Bhaca lived, south east of them, the amaMpondo, further south the Mpondomise, then further the amaThembu, to their east and south the amaXhosa could be found and to their south, the English settlers in Albany. I hope you can feel the proximity of these amaTola raiders because everyone in these areas were somewhat fearful of the gangs of men on horses. The San raiders were based in that mountain redoubt between Giant's Castle and Mount Fletcher and they were surrounded by enemies but also prospective allies. This mountain redoubt was getting a bad name, and soon would be identified on maps from the 1840s onwards as nomansland.

This is episode 139 and the Grand Army of Natal has marched over the Thukela River to attack the imizi of Ndondakusuka. And if you're following, you'll know that a large Zulu army is camped to the north of Ndondakusuka, led by Mpande Senzangakhona. We're getting straight down to business, its the 17th April 1838 and after crossing the mighty Thukela, the Grand Army surrounded Ndondakusuka. This first engagement was short and sharp. Virtually all the inhabitants, mainly women and children, were killed, and the village was burned to the ground. The Grand army commanders, Robert Biggar and John Cane, failed to take much notice of the scant number of warriors that seemed to be defending this valuable umizi. As I mentioned in Episode 138, it was home to one of Dingana's most feared warriors, Zulu kaNogandaya who's experience as a commander stretched back to before Shaka. He was actually on top of a nearby hill watching his home burn to the ground and his people being slaughtered. He was joined by Mpande and the other commanders doing what they always did, viewing the battle from a high point so they could direct their men. The Grand Army of Natal had fallen into Mpande's trap. 7000 Zulu warriors were ready to go, and on Mpande's orders, the amabutho began advancing southwards in two columns, then deployed in the classic two horns and a chest formation. Down at Ndondakusuka, the Grand Army was milling about, pillaging what they could find, particularly the cattle. They still did not know what was coming towards them through the Zululand bush. The isifuba or central section was aiming straight at the Grand Army as the invisible two horns or izimpondo approached on either side. There were 18 English, alongside them 30 Khoesan hunters, joined by 400 Africans all armed with muskets standing around Ndondakusuka. In addition, there were 2400 African warriors fighting armed with spears and shields fighting with the white traders against the Zulu. All of them had a bone to pick with the AmaZulu, and the feeling was mutual. The Zulu amabutho were moving quickly through the broken ground out of sight of anyone in Ndondakusuka which had been built la short distance from the Thukela River. So the Grand Army was now in a real predicament because their escape route was growing narrower by the second. The survivors ran back to Durban. Some had managed to make it to where they'd left their horses, and rode into the port that very night, bloodied and cowed. The residents panicked when they saw this bedraggled Grand Army stagger into town, because they knew as sure as the sun would rise from the east that close behind these defeated men was Mpande's warriors. But by pure chance, a ship called the Comet had anchored in the bay on 29th March, it had sailed from Delagoa Bay after its captain William Haddon had fallen sick and needed to recuperate. Most of the residents and missionaries and their families boarded the vessel, while some citizens remained on shore. More Grand Army stragglers arrived over the next two days, all reporting that the Zulu army was indeed close behind. And so, back to the main group of Trekkers. Their headquarters however remained at Modderlaager, mud laager, which was a very unpleasant place now. It was overpopulated, it stank, disease had spread. It was also not in the best place to defend against an enemy attack. Landman decided to shift the laager to another spot further along the Bushman's river or the Mtshezi River, to Gatslaager, or hole laager. The trekkers were aware they would probably come under attack again and increased their patrols, searching in particular for Zulu spies. They captured dozens of men, who were interrogated and most were summarily executed, shot and then left on the veld. Most of these were innocent bystanders but the Voortrekkers weren't considering justice, only survival.

This is episode 139 and the Grand Army of Natal has marched over the Thukela River to attack the imizi of Ndondakusuka. And if you're following, you'll know that a large Zulu army is camped to the north of Ndondakusuka, led by Mpande Senzangakhona. We're getting straight down to business, its the 17th April 1838 and after crossing the mighty Thukela, the Grand Army surrounded Ndondakusuka. This first engagement was short and sharp. Virtually all the inhabitants, mainly women and children, were killed, and the village was burned to the ground. The Grand army commanders, Robert Biggar and John Cane, failed to take much notice of the scant number of warriors that seemed to be defending this valuable umizi. As I mentioned in Episode 138, it was home to one of Dingana's most feared warriors, Zulu kaNogandaya who's experience as a commander stretched back to before Shaka. He was actually on top of a nearby hill watching his home burn to the ground and his people being slaughtered. He was joined by Mpande and the other commanders doing what they always did, viewing the battle from a high point so they could direct their men. The Grand Army of Natal had fallen into Mpande's trap. 7000 Zulu warriors were ready to go, and on Mpande's orders, the amabutho began advancing southwards in two columns, then deployed in the classic two horns and a chest formation. Down at Ndondakusuka, the Grand Army was milling about, pillaging what they could find, particularly the cattle. They still did not know what was coming towards them through the Zululand bush. The isifuba or central section was aiming straight at the Grand Army as the invisible two horns or izimpondo approached on either side. There were 18 English, alongside them 30 Khoesan hunters, joined by 400 Africans all armed with muskets standing around Ndondakusuka. In addition, there were 2400 African warriors fighting armed with spears and shields fighting with the white traders against the Zulu. All of them had a bone to pick with the AmaZulu, and the feeling was mutual. The Zulu amabutho were moving quickly through the broken ground out of sight of anyone in Ndondakusuka which had been built la short distance from the Thukela River. So the Grand Army was now in a real predicament because their escape route was growing narrower by the second. The survivors ran back to Durban. Some had managed to make it to where they'd left their horses, and rode into the port that very night, bloodied and cowed. The residents panicked when they saw this bedraggled Grand Army stagger into town, because they knew as sure as the sun would rise from the east that close behind these defeated men was Mpande's warriors. But by pure chance, a ship called the Comet had anchored in the bay on 29th March, it had sailed from Delagoa Bay after its captain William Haddon had fallen sick and needed to recuperate. Most of the residents and missionaries and their families boarded the vessel, while some citizens remained on shore. More Grand Army stragglers arrived over the next two days, all reporting that the Zulu army was indeed close behind. And so, back to the main group of Trekkers. Their headquarters however remained at Modderlaager, mud laager, which was a very unpleasant place now. It was overpopulated, it stank, disease had spread. It was also not in the best place to defend against an enemy attack. Landman decided to shift the laager to another spot further along the Bushman's river or the Mtshezi River, to Gatslaager, or hole laager. The trekkers were aware they would probably come under attack again and increased their patrols, searching in particular for Zulu spies. They captured dozens of men, who were interrogated and most were summarily executed, shot and then left on the veld. Most of these were innocent bystanders but the Voortrekkers weren't considering justice, only survival.

This is episode 136 — the Zulu army has fallen on the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman's rivers, close to where Escourt and Ladysmith are to be found today, but right now it's February 17th 1838. The tributaries of these rivers were renamed Groot and Klein Moordspruit because of the bloody events of that time. By the morning of the 17th most of the families camped along these streams and rivers were dead. Within a few hours the right horn and the centre sections of the army had overrun the outlying Voortrekker camps, now the left horn prepared to assault Gerrit Maritz's laager. The Zulu army on the left flank initially approached the Viljoen camp, and Gert and Karel Viljoen, Gert Combrink, Izak Bezuidenhout, Meneer Schutte and Strydom, rode out to confront the attackers in an attempt to protect their families. Acting like plovers, the decoys split up in full view of the Zulu warriors, Gert and Izak riding towards the Bezuidenhout camp, and the others towards Englebrecht and Bothma camp. They were looting anything of value as they went, and as I mentioned at the end of last episode, their discipline was slipping. The left horn now rounded on Gerrt Maritz's laager, which was heavily defended unlike the other trekker camps, and he threw back the first attack. Many narratives of the future were being created about this defence, campfire stories of stoic action, including one where Martiz's ten year old son armed himself with a pistol and fired on the Zulu while his mother and other women carried ammunition back and forth while still in their dressing gowns. The Boers gathered back at Doornkop and revenge was on their lips. The sounds of weeping filled the air and for the next few days, outlying trekkers staggered towards this safe centre. The Voortrekkers had lost more than 600 of their people. IT was the biggest calamity to befall any of the settler parties by a long way — a significant event in the story of South Africa. The place where the main massacres took place is marked today by the town of Weenen, Place of Weeping. 110 trekker men had died, including the 60 at kwaMatiwane, 56 women were dead, but shockingly it was the number of children wiped out — 185 that really was an abomination and embittered the Boers. The AmaZulu did not fight like the amaXhosa they realised too late. For centuries they'd lived alongside the Xhosa, sometimes within their kraals, and never had they witnessed such cold blooded killing of infants and women. Then there were 250 coloured and Khoesan servants also speared to death by the Zulu — everywhere gore splattered the landscape — the Boers had lost one tenth of their population, and one-sixth of their men. The Zulu had killed everyone and everything, cats, dogs, even the chickens. However, in making a surprise attack, Dingana and his advisors had totally underestimated the Trekker's fighting spirit and their grit, even when facing odds of 30 or 40 to one. They had discovered that even when at a disadvantage, the Boers provided a sting. So it was with some irony that the first to respond to the Zulu attack on the Voortrekkers were the English who rode out from Durban.

This is episode 136 — the Zulu army has fallen on the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman's rivers, close to where Escourt and Ladysmith are to be found today, but right now it's February 17th 1838. The tributaries of these rivers were renamed Groot and Klein Moordspruit because of the bloody events of that time. By the morning of the 17th most of the families camped along these streams and rivers were dead. Within a few hours the right horn and the centre sections of the army had overrun the outlying Voortrekker camps, now the left horn prepared to assault Gerrit Maritz's laager. The Zulu army on the left flank initially approached the Viljoen camp, and Gert and Karel Viljoen, Gert Combrink, Izak Bezuidenhout, Meneer Schutte and Strydom, rode out to confront the attackers in an attempt to protect their families. Acting like plovers, the decoys split up in full view of the Zulu warriors, Gert and Izak riding towards the Bezuidenhout camp, and the others towards Englebrecht and Bothma camp. They were looting anything of value as they went, and as I mentioned at the end of last episode, their discipline was slipping. The left horn now rounded on Gerrt Maritz's laager, which was heavily defended unlike the other trekker camps, and he threw back the first attack. Many narratives of the future were being created about this defence, campfire stories of stoic action, including one where Martiz's ten year old son armed himself with a pistol and fired on the Zulu while his mother and other women carried ammunition back and forth while still in their dressing gowns. The Boers gathered back at Doornkop and revenge was on their lips. The sounds of weeping filled the air and for the next few days, outlying trekkers staggered towards this safe centre. The Voortrekkers had lost more than 600 of their people. IT was the biggest calamity to befall any of the settler parties by a long way — a significant event in the story of South Africa. The place where the main massacres took place is marked today by the town of Weenen, Place of Weeping. 110 trekker men had died, including the 60 at kwaMatiwane, 56 women were dead, but shockingly it was the number of children wiped out — 185 that really was an abomination and embittered the Boers. The AmaZulu did not fight like the amaXhosa they realised too late. For centuries they'd lived alongside the Xhosa, sometimes within their kraals, and never had they witnessed such cold blooded killing of infants and women. Then there were 250 coloured and Khoesan servants also speared to death by the Zulu — everywhere gore splattered the landscape — the Boers had lost one tenth of their population, and one-sixth of their men. The Zulu had killed everyone and everything, cats, dogs, even the chickens. However, in making a surprise attack, Dingana and his advisors had totally underestimated the Trekker's fighting spirit and their grit, even when facing odds of 30 or 40 to one. They had discovered that even when at a disadvantage, the Boers provided a sting. So it was with some irony that the first to respond to the Zulu attack on the Voortrekkers were the English who rode out from Durban.

As you heard, Piet Retief and 100 Boers and Khoesan agterryes had been killed by Dingana on the 6th February 1838. Missionary Owen watched the killings through his telescope until he couldn't take it any more and collapsed in shock. The Zulu king was not done, he'd ordered his amabutho warriors to seek and destroy the Voortrekkers who'd camped along the rivers below the Drakensberg where they'd arrived in large numbers expecting Retief's negotiations to have ended well. Retief had thought so too, particularly after he'd returned Dingana's cattle rustled by Sekhonyela of the baTlokwa. About a thousand wagons had descended the passes, and the Zulu were determined the Voortrekkers were not going to remain on the land they'd invaded. The vultures, wild dogs, and hyenas, jackals began to feed on the bodies strewn about kwaMatiwane near emGungungdlovu where Retief's men had met their grisly end, while Owen and his family trembled with fear nearby. Were they going to be next they wondered. Dingana had sent a message as Retief was killed saying their were safe, but who believed the AmaZulu leader about anything? Meanwhile, some of the warriors were going through the Boers baggage and inspecting the muskets that had been piled outside the main gate. Puffs of dust appeared from the south, and from there two horseman and their small travel party appeared at emGungundlovu. Talk about bad timing. It was James Brownlee who was a very young translator and a trainee missionary, and the American Henry Venables. They had picked a particularly bad time to ride up to Dingana's Great Place. From a Zulu perspective, Dingana's orders for his amabutho to kill the Voortrekkers was a matter of business as usual, this was the normal way of things when a chief was disgraced and executed. His family and adherents would be bumped off, or “eaten up” to use the Zulu phrase, so that there would be none alive to avenge the king. The Voortrekker livestock would be seized and the king would redistribute these beasts amongst his amabutho, exactly as the Boers had been doing amongst their Kommando members after the raids on Mzilikazi. And like the Boer raids on Mzilikazi, very few women or children were to be spared by Zulu warriors. The Zulu army of about 5000 crossed a famous river at a famous point, the Mzinyathi or Buffalo River near Rorke's Drift. How ironic that 42 years later, the very same crossing would see English soldiers fleeing from Cetswayo's warriors after the Battle of Isandhlwana hunted across this very same Drift. So the 5000 warriors marched along the Helpmekaar heights towards the Thukela River close to the confluence with the Bloukrans through the second week of February 1838. By now most of the trekkers had scattered through this territory, in little family encampments of three or four wagons over a large area. Only a few had taken the English traders warning seriously and established defensible wagon laagers. Most did not, they just outspanned where they were and began enjoying the fruits of the veld. Many of these had headed off on hunts, leaving their families alone with their Khoesan servants, and to them, the AmaZulu warriors were going to do what the amaNdebele had done in August 1836. Fall upon the wagons and kill everyone they could find.

As you heard, Piet Retief and 100 Boers and Khoesan agterryes had been killed by Dingana on the 6th February 1838. Missionary Owen watched the killings through his telescope until he couldn't take it any more and collapsed in shock. The Zulu king was not done, he'd ordered his amabutho warriors to seek and destroy the Voortrekkers who'd camped along the rivers below the Drakensberg where they'd arrived in large numbers expecting Retief's negotiations to have ended well. Retief had thought so too, particularly after he'd returned Dingana's cattle rustled by Sekhonyela of the baTlokwa. About a thousand wagons had descended the passes, and the Zulu were determined the Voortrekkers were not going to remain on the land they'd invaded. The vultures, wild dogs, and hyenas, jackals began to feed on the bodies strewn about kwaMatiwane near emGungungdlovu where Retief's men had met their grisly end, while Owen and his family trembled with fear nearby. Were they going to be next they wondered. Dingana had sent a message as Retief was killed saying their were safe, but who believed the AmaZulu leader about anything? Meanwhile, some of the warriors were going through the Boers baggage and inspecting the muskets that had been piled outside the main gate. Puffs of dust appeared from the south, and from there two horseman and their small travel party appeared at emGungundlovu. Talk about bad timing. It was James Brownlee who was a very young translator and a trainee missionary, and the American Henry Venables. They had picked a particularly bad time to ride up to Dingana's Great Place. From a Zulu perspective, Dingana's orders for his amabutho to kill the Voortrekkers was a matter of business as usual, this was the normal way of things when a chief was disgraced and executed. His family and adherents would be bumped off, or “eaten up” to use the Zulu phrase, so that there would be none alive to avenge the king. The Voortrekker livestock would be seized and the king would redistribute these beasts amongst his amabutho, exactly as the Boers had been doing amongst their Kommando members after the raids on Mzilikazi. And like the Boer raids on Mzilikazi, very few women or children were to be spared by Zulu warriors. The Zulu army of about 5000 crossed a famous river at a famous point, the Mzinyathi or Buffalo River near Rorke's Drift. How ironic that 42 years later, the very same crossing would see English soldiers fleeing from Cetswayo's warriors after the Battle of Isandhlwana hunted across this very same Drift. So the 5000 warriors marched along the Helpmekaar heights towards the Thukela River close to the confluence with the Bloukrans through the second week of February 1838. By now most of the trekkers had scattered through this territory, in little family encampments of three or four wagons over a large area. Only a few had taken the English traders warning seriously and established defensible wagon laagers. Most did not, they just outspanned where they were and began enjoying the fruits of the veld. Many of these had headed off on hunts, leaving their families alone with their Khoesan servants, and to them, the AmaZulu warriors were going to do what the amaNdebele had done in August 1836. Fall upon the wagons and kill everyone they could find.

Just a quick thank you to AJL, as well as Jacque and Nkosinathi for your kind comments and emails - this series is nothing without my wonderful audience. Gangans — which is Khoesan for thank you. Voortrekker leader Piet Retief knew that he had to negotiate for any land in Natal with the Zulu king Dingane. So with that in mind, he left his family on the top of the escarpment as you heard at the end of last episode, taking four of the wagons and a small party of 15 men over the side of the Drakensburg by way of what we now call Retief's Pass in October 1837. He was still hopeful that Gerrit Maritz would join up with him so he loitered for a while at the base of the Drakensburg. Realising after almost two weeks that it was a futile to continue to delay, he turned for Port Natal, or what was now called Durban. The first negotiations he needed to conduct were not with the AmaZulu, but the fractious and rebellious Durban traders. If any land was going to be seconded to the Voortrekkers, he needed to clear any plans with the semi-desperate crew living around the fledgling port. It took 90 hours to ride from the base of the Drakensburg mountains to Durban - and the exhausted group of trekkers rode into the harbour town on 20th October. Like other visitors, Retief was shocked to note that there were “53 Englishmen, no white women, only black ones…” Dingane was also acutely aware that in military matters, he was in a somewhat weakened position. All the reports he'd heard about the British and how they'd defeated the amaXhosa with their firearms and horses had shaken the Zulu king. He'd also heard about the attack on Mosega, and was about to hear about how Potgieter and Uys had driven Mzilikazi from eGabeni forever. Back in Cape Town, British officials were growing concerned. They heard about the amaNdebele's fate, and how the Voortrekkers were now heading to Natal. Instead of stabilising things, the Boers appeared to be causing one war after another. Shortly afterwards the Boers saddled up for a much more difficult mission - to approach Dingane to try and get the king's permission to settle within his land. They couldn't just ride in, first they sent a message to one of the most important characters of this part of our story, a missionary called Reverend Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society. Important because he was going to be an eyewitness to brutal events. Owen and his wife were not alone at emGungundlovu. His sister was there too, and an interpreter, an artisan builder and mechanic Richard Hulley, Hulley's wife and three children as well as Jane Williams, his Khoesan servant. They'd rolled up to Dingane's great place in the second week of October 1837. This less than a month before Retief was going to show up.

Just a quick thank you to AJL, as well as Jacque and Nkosinathi for your kind comments and emails - this series is nothing without my wonderful audience. Gangans — which is Khoesan for thank you. Voortrekker leader Piet Retief knew that he had to negotiate for any land in Natal with the Zulu king Dingane. So with that in mind, he left his family on the top of the escarpment as you heard at the end of last episode, taking four of the wagons and a small party of 15 men over the side of the Drakensburg by way of what we now call Retief's Pass in October 1837. He was still hopeful that Gerrit Maritz would join up with him so he loitered for a while at the base of the Drakensburg. Realising after almost two weeks that it was a futile to continue to delay, he turned for Port Natal, or what was now called Durban. The first negotiations he needed to conduct were not with the AmaZulu, but the fractious and rebellious Durban traders. If any land was going to be seconded to the Voortrekkers, he needed to clear any plans with the semi-desperate crew living around the fledgling port. It took 90 hours to ride from the base of the Drakensburg mountains to Durban - and the exhausted group of trekkers rode into the harbour town on 20th October. Like other visitors, Retief was shocked to note that there were “53 Englishmen, no white women, only black ones…” Dingane was also acutely aware that in military matters, he was in a somewhat weakened position. All the reports he'd heard about the British and how they'd defeated the amaXhosa with their firearms and horses had shaken the Zulu king. He'd also heard about the attack on Mosega, and was about to hear about how Potgieter and Uys had driven Mzilikazi from eGabeni forever. Back in Cape Town, British officials were growing concerned. They heard about the amaNdebele's fate, and how the Voortrekkers were now heading to Natal. Instead of stabilising things, the Boers appeared to be causing one war after another. Shortly afterwards the Boers saddled up for a much more difficult mission - to approach Dingane to try and get the king's permission to settle within his land. They couldn't just ride in, first they sent a message to one of the most important characters of this part of our story, a missionary called Reverend Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society. Important because he was going to be an eyewitness to brutal events. Owen and his wife were not alone at emGungundlovu. His sister was there too, and an interpreter, an artisan builder and mechanic Richard Hulley, Hulley's wife and three children as well as Jane Williams, his Khoesan servant. They'd rolled up to Dingane's great place in the second week of October 1837. This less than a month before Retief was going to show up.

Just a quick thank you to AJL, as well as Jacque and Nkosinathi for your kind comments and emails - this series is nothing without my wonderful audience. Gangans — which is Khoesan for thank you. Voortrekker leader Piet Retief knew that he had to negotiate for any land in Natal with the Zulu king Dingane. So with that in mind, he left his family on the top of the escarpment as you heard at the end of last episode, taking four of the wagons and a small party of 15 men over the side of the Drakensburg by way of what we now call Retief's Pass in October 1837. He was still hopeful that Gerrit Maritz would join up with him so he loitered for a while at the base of the Drakensburg. Realising after almost two weeks that it was a futile to continue to delay, he turned for Port Natal, or what was now called Durban. The first negotiations he needed to conduct were not with the AmaZulu, but the fractious and rebellious Durban traders. If any land was going to be seconded to the Voortrekkers, he needed to clear any plans with the semi-desperate crew living around the fledgling port. It took 90 hours to ride from the base of the Drakensburg mountains to Durban - and the exhausted group of trekkers rode into the harbour town on 20th October. Like other visitors, Retief was shocked to note that there were “53 Englishmen, no white women, only black ones…” Dingane was also acutely aware that in military matters, he was in a somewhat weakened position. All the reports he'd heard about the British and how they'd defeated the amaXhosa with their firearms and horses had shaken the Zulu king. He'd also heard about the attack on Mosega, and was about to hear about how Potgieter and Uys had driven Mzilikazi from eGabeni forever. Back in Cape Town, British officials were growing concerned. They heard about the amaNdebele's fate, and how the Voortrekkers were now heading to Natal. Instead of stabilising things, the Boers appeared to be causing one war after another. Shortly afterwards the Boers saddled up for a much more difficult mission - to approach Dingane to try and get the king's permission to settle within his land. They couldn't just ride in, first they sent a message to one of the most important characters of this part of our story, a missionary called Reverend Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society. Important because he was going to be an eyewitness to brutal events. Owen and his wife were not alone at emGungundlovu. His sister was there too, and an interpreter, an artisan builder and mechanic Richard Hulley, Hulley's wife and three children as well as Jane Williams, his Khoesan servant. They'd rolled up to Dingane's great place in the second week of October 1837. This less than a month before Retief was going to show up.

Just a quick thank you to AJL, as well as Jacque and Nkosinathi for your kind comments and emails - this series is nothing without my wonderful audience. Gangans — which is Khoesan for thank you. Voortrekker leader Piet Retief knew that he had to negotiate for any land in Natal with the Zulu king Dingane. So with that in mind, he left his family on the top of the escarpment as you heard at the end of last episode, taking four of the wagons and a small party of 15 men over the side of the Drakensburg by way of what we now call Retief's Pass in October 1837. He was still hopeful that Gerrit Maritz would join up with him so he loitered for a while at the base of the Drakensburg. Realising after almost two weeks that it was a futile to continue to delay, he turned for Port Natal, or what was now called Durban. The first negotiations he needed to conduct were not with the AmaZulu, but the fractious and rebellious Durban traders. If any land was going to be seconded to the Voortrekkers, he needed to clear any plans with the semi-desperate crew living around the fledgling port. It took 90 hours to ride from the base of the Drakensburg mountains to Durban - and the exhausted group of trekkers rode into the harbour town on 20th October. Like other visitors, Retief was shocked to note that there were “53 Englishmen, no white women, only black ones…” Dingane was also acutely aware that in military matters, he was in a somewhat weakened position. All the reports he'd heard about the British and how they'd defeated the amaXhosa with their firearms and horses had shaken the Zulu king. He'd also heard about the attack on Mosega, and was about to hear about how Potgieter and Uys had driven Mzilikazi from eGabeni forever. Back in Cape Town, British officials were growing concerned. They heard about the amaNdebele's fate, and how the Voortrekkers were now heading to Natal. Instead of stabilising things, the Boers appeared to be causing one war after another. Shortly afterwards the Boers saddled up for a much more difficult mission - to approach Dingane to try and get the king's permission to settle within his land. They couldn't just ride in, first they sent a message to one of the most important characters of this part of our story, a missionary called Reverend Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society. Important because he was going to be an eyewitness to brutal events. Owen and his wife were not alone at emGungundlovu. His sister was there too, and an interpreter, an artisan builder and mechanic Richard Hulley, Hulley's wife and three children as well as Jane Williams, his Khoesan servant. They'd rolled up to Dingane's great place in the second week of October 1837. This less than a month before Retief was going to show up.

Last episode, we heard how the battle of Kopjeskraal near Parys had ended, where Mzilikazi's second in command Kaliphi and his force of 500 men had been repulsed in a close fought affair. This was an important clash, pitting Andries Potgieter's second in command and brother in law, Piet Botha against Kaliphi, who was responsible for the entire southern reaches of Mzilikazi's territory. They had failed to overrun the Voortrekkers, but had decimated the Liebenberg party a few kilometers upriver, catching the small group unawares. That was also after destroying the Erasmus party and its wagons, although Petrus Erasmus and his son as well as Pieter Bekker made their escape. But Erasmus had no idea what had happened to his two others sons. They were missing. The other group that was virtually wiped out was the Liebenberg party was under command of Gotlieb Liebenberg senior, a 71 year old man, who'd left the Colesberg district seeking greener pastures. The trek party was made up of his wife, four sons and a daughter — all of whom were married — along with 21 children and a Scottish meester, or school master called MacDonald. Liebenberg's trek had been overrun from a section of the amaNdebele, the boers desperately rushing to pull their wagons together as the warriors descended. The first inkling that the main Voortrekker party had of their fate was a disselboom that Botha's laager had seen being dragged past by oxen as you heard last episode. Nkaliphi had sent a smaller force onwards to launch an assault on this little Boer party at the same time that he'd attacked the larger Kopjeskraal laager. All six of the Liebenberg men were killed, along with 12 of their Khoesan servants. Two of the women were killed and six of the 21 children. The others were saved by a miraculous intervention further strengthening the narrative about chosen people. Back at Mosega, near the Marico River, Mzilikazi was indeed planning a second major assault. He wanted the Boers crushed so that none would ever enter his country again, determined to eliminate what he correctly perceived as a real threat to his rule over this valuable land. He mobilised as many of his men as he could. Living with him were American missionaries Doctor Alexander Wilson, Daniel Lindley and Henry Venables. They had all been shocked when tye Ndebele returned with the Boers wagons and cattle, hearing that Stephanus Erasmus' camp was destroyed and two of his children killed. They were even more horrified when they heard that Mzilikazi was sending thousands of his men back to finish the job. While some have said that he was to mobilise 6000 soldiers, historians believe the number was about 2000. Nkaliphi was placed in charge once more, and received strict instructions. All the Boer men and boys were to be killed, but all the women and girls were to be spared and brought back to Mosega, along with all the Voortrekkers herds of cattle and sheep. A classic amaNdebele raid, kill the possible threats, the men and boys, and bring the valuable women and girls to the king. This was the build up to the incredible Battle of Vegkop, where Mzilikazi's warriors were finally beaten in a major confrontation with the Voortrekkers. This was an historic battle, a seminal moment, it has resonated down the ages.

Last episode, we heard how the battle of Kopjeskraal near Parys had ended, where Mzilikazi's second in command Kaliphi and his force of 500 men had been repulsed in a close fought affair. This was an important clash, pitting Andries Potgieter's second in command and brother in law, Piet Botha against Kaliphi, who was responsible for the entire southern reaches of Mzilikazi's territory. They had failed to overrun the Voortrekkers, but had decimated the Liebenberg party a few kilometers upriver, catching the small group unawares. That was also after destroying the Erasmus party and its wagons, although Petrus Erasmus and his son as well as Pieter Bekker made their escape. But Erasmus had no idea what had happened to his two others sons. They were missing. The other group that was virtually wiped out was the Liebenberg party was under command of Gotlieb Liebenberg senior, a 71 year old man, who'd left the Colesberg district seeking greener pastures. The trek party was made up of his wife, four sons and a daughter — all of whom were married — along with 21 children and a Scottish meester, or school master called MacDonald. Liebenberg's trek had been overrun from a section of the amaNdebele, the boers desperately rushing to pull their wagons together as the warriors descended. The first inkling that the main Voortrekker party had of their fate was a disselboom that Botha's laager had seen being dragged past by oxen as you heard last episode. Nkaliphi had sent a smaller force onwards to launch an assault on this little Boer party at the same time that he'd attacked the larger Kopjeskraal laager. All six of the Liebenberg men were killed, along with 12 of their Khoesan servants. Two of the women were killed and six of the 21 children. The others were saved by a miraculous intervention further strengthening the narrative about chosen people. Back at Mosega, near the Marico River, Mzilikazi was indeed planning a second major assault. He wanted the Boers crushed so that none would ever enter his country again, determined to eliminate what he correctly perceived as a real threat to his rule over this valuable land. He mobilised as many of his men as he could. Living with him were American missionaries Doctor Alexander Wilson, Daniel Lindley and Henry Venables. They had all been shocked when tye Ndebele returned with the Boers wagons and cattle, hearing that Stephanus Erasmus' camp was destroyed and two of his children killed. They were even more horrified when they heard that Mzilikazi was sending thousands of his men back to finish the job. While some have said that he was to mobilise 6000 soldiers, historians believe the number was about 2000. Nkaliphi was placed in charge once more, and received strict instructions. All the Boer men and boys were to be killed, but all the women and girls were to be spared and brought back to Mosega, along with all the Voortrekkers herds of cattle and sheep. A classic amaNdebele raid, kill the possible threats, the men and boys, and bring the valuable women and girls to the king. This was the build up to the incredible Battle of Vegkop, where Mzilikazi's warriors were finally beaten in a major confrontation with the Voortrekkers. This was an historic battle, a seminal moment, it has resonated down the ages.

Hark! What sound breaks the inscrutable silence of the immense African veld? Dozens of wagons, which would become hundreds. Trundling along at about 5 miles a day, the Voortrekkers were leaving the Cape for their promised lands - albeit yet unidentified. This was a case of being pushed out at least in their minds - culturally, ideologically, fundamentally, they felt they did not belong in the Cape and the Karoo, they had been alienated in the land of their birth by the dreaded English. These initial trundling wagons were the first major parties of Boers under Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Charl Celliers - aka Sarel. We're going to travel with these men and women, and also join African leaders like Moshoeshoe, Mzilikazi and Dingane, as they watched the approach of heavily armed and well organised settlers. Some of these regents saw the Boers as a threat, others as an opportunity. Andries Hendrik Potgieter was a resolute and single-minded farmer from the Cradock District in the Eastern Cape who had decided to leave with a group of extended family, neighbours and friends - 40 men and boys, about the same number of women and girls, more than a hundred Khoesan slaves all aboard more than 50 wagons. It was December 1835 when they crossed the Orange River, joined in a while by Charl Celliers' trek party which included 25 men, attenuated by the arrival of Caspar Kruger's small section - the one in which a very young Paul Kruger travelled. These two parties had crossed the Orange River separately, and it wasn't a crossing for the faint hearted - the river was flooding and the horses and oxen swam to the northern bank as the wagons and the trekkers and their other goods managed to float across on rafts made of the willow trees that grow along the banks. As the women stepped onto the northern side, they began to sing hymns, here they were arriving on the hallowed land that they'd been hearing about for years. They had left the hated English behind, anything was better than that. More fuel was thrown on the fire of bitterness when word filtered through to the frontier Boers that the English had fibbed about the compensation that was going to be paid to former slave owners after emancipation - less than half of the 3.4 million pounds worldwide was now available, and the British had put a price of 73.9 shillings on each slave. 73.9 shillings and 11 pence to be precise. That's about 10 rand in today's currency - a lot of money in 1835 - but almost insulting isn't it? Ten bucks for a human. The Boers thought so too - they regarded their slaves as far more valuable than a measly 73.9 shillings and 11 pence and were outraged. So no compensation for the war, then what of their slaves? Slavery was banned in December 1834 as you heard, and the slave owners were supposed to be compensated but here was London, reneging on another promise. The British government said that all compensation would only be paid out in England - and Glenelg rejected an appeal from the Cape that payments be made locally. How was that going to work, most of the Boers never travelled to Cape Town, let alone to London? They were brought to the Cape from the first days of the VOC back in 1652. Most were southeast Asian Catholic converts from the island of Ambon, and soon this phrase, Merdeka, came to mean any creole mixed race person, or free black. Just to add a layer of irony here because this is South African history, the first known Merdeka to the Cape was Anthony de Later van Japan who was actually from Japan, and eventually freed along with his wife Groot Cathrijn van Bengale. She was from a region of modern day Bangladesh. Anthony de Later van Japan's foster parents were Japanese slave owners Johan van Nagasaki and Johanna van Hirado. Anthony it is thought was a child surrendered as debt bondage back in Japan.

Hark! What sound breaks the inscrutable silence of the immense African veld? Dozens of wagons, which would become hundreds. Trundling along at about 5 miles a day, the Voortrekkers were leaving the Cape for their promised lands - albeit yet unidentified. This was a case of being pushed out at least in their minds - culturally, ideologically, fundamentally, they felt they did not belong in the Cape and the Karoo, they had been alienated in the land of their birth by the dreaded English. These initial trundling wagons were the first major parties of Boers under Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Charl Celliers - aka Sarel. We're going to travel with these men and women, and also join African leaders like Moshoeshoe, Mzilikazi and Dingane, as they watched the approach of heavily armed and well organised settlers. Some of these regents saw the Boers as a threat, others as an opportunity. Andries Hendrik Potgieter was a resolute and single-minded farmer from the Cradock District in the Eastern Cape who had decided to leave with a group of extended family, neighbours and friends - 40 men and boys, about the same number of women and girls, more than a hundred Khoesan slaves all aboard more than 50 wagons. It was December 1835 when they crossed the Orange River, joined in a while by Charl Celliers' trek party which included 25 men, attenuated by the arrival of Caspar Kruger's small section - the one in which a very young Paul Kruger travelled. These two parties had crossed the Orange River separately, and it wasn't a crossing for the faint hearted - the river was flooding and the horses and oxen swam to the northern bank as the wagons and the trekkers and their other goods managed to float across on rafts made of the willow trees that grow along the banks. As the women stepped onto the northern side, they began to sing hymns, here they were arriving on the hallowed land that they'd been hearing about for years. They had left the hated English behind, anything was better than that. More fuel was thrown on the fire of bitterness when word filtered through to the frontier Boers that the English had fibbed about the compensation that was going to be paid to former slave owners after emancipation - less than half of the 3.4 million pounds worldwide was now available, and the British had put a price of 73.9 shillings on each slave. 73.9 shillings and 11 pence to be precise. That's about 10 rand in today's currency - a lot of money in 1835 - but almost insulting isn't it? Ten bucks for a human. The Boers thought so too - they regarded their slaves as far more valuable than a measly 73.9 shillings and 11 pence and were outraged. So no compensation for the war, then what of their slaves? Slavery was banned in December 1834 as you heard, and the slave owners were supposed to be compensated but here was London, reneging on another promise. The British government said that all compensation would only be paid out in England - and Glenelg rejected an appeal from the Cape that payments be made locally. How was that going to work, most of the Boers never travelled to Cape Town, let alone to London? They were brought to the Cape from the first days of the VOC back in 1652. Most were southeast Asian Catholic converts from the island of Ambon, and soon this phrase, Merdeka, came to mean any creole mixed race person, or free black. Just to add a layer of irony here because this is South African history, the first known Merdeka to the Cape was Anthony de Later van Japan who was actually from Japan, and eventually freed along with his wife Groot Cathrijn van Bengale. She was from a region of modern day Bangladesh. Anthony de Later van Japan's foster parents were Japanese slave owners Johan van Nagasaki and Johanna van Hirado. Anthony it is thought was a child surrendered as debt bondage back in Japan.

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 was the London Missionary Society's Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – remember him? He had arrived in Graaff-Reinet in May 1801 joined by James Read replacing poor Edmonds who had a nervous breakdown while at Ngqika's Great Place. After the barren prothelytising disappointments of the Zuurveld, Graaff-Reinet offered something new. The village and its outskirts were packed with Khoekhoe seeking protection from the Boers and the Khoesan bandits and who responded eagerly to the van der Kemp's preaching. ON hand was commissioner Maynier – encouraging and helping them. Staring at all of this and aghast, were the Boers of the region. It was a seething hotbed of trekboer resistance to British rule. Maynier's principal task was to restore stability along the frontier. This meant getting the fugitive Boers back on their farms and reviving the economy so that they could supply meat to the Cape. Unfortunately for the Khoekhoe, it also meant convincing them to go back and work for the trekboers. To help balance things and motivate the Khoe, Maynier opened an employment register where wages were written down for the first time. Cases of ill-treatment of workers were also listed and there was recourse to the law. It's easy enough to criticize this treatment, what about the Khoe abused by the Boers you'd ask? Were they not to receive justice? Ndlambe was on the lamb after escaping from Ngqika's Great Place in February 1800 and had reunited with his adherent in the Zuurveld. He was reestablishing his power at the same time but it was hard work. Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe was resisting his advances both metaphorically and physically.

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 was the London Missionary Society's Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – remember him? He had arrived in Graaff-Reinet in May 1801 joined by James Read replacing poor Edmonds who had a nervous breakdown while at Ngqika's Great Place. After the barren prothelytising disappointments of the Zuurveld, Graaff-Reinet offered something new. The village and its outskirts were packed with Khoekhoe seeking protection from the Boers and the Khoesan bandits and who responded eagerly to the van der Kemp's preaching. ON hand was commissioner Maynier – encouraging and helping them. Staring at all of this and aghast, were the Boers of the region. It was a seething hotbed of trekboer resistance to British rule. Maynier's principal task was to restore stability along the frontier. This meant getting the fugitive Boers back on their farms and reviving the economy so that they could supply meat to the Cape. Unfortunately for the Khoekhoe, it also meant convincing them to go back and work for the trekboers. To help balance things and motivate the Khoe, Maynier opened an employment register where wages were written down for the first time. Cases of ill-treatment of workers were also listed and there was recourse to the law. It's easy enough to criticize this treatment, what about the Khoe abused by the Boers you'd ask? Were they not to receive justice? Ndlambe was on the lamb after escaping from Ngqika's Great Place in February 1800 and had reunited with his adherent in the Zuurveld. He was reestablishing his power at the same time but it was hard work. Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe was resisting his advances both metaphorically and physically.

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 was the London Missionary Society's Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – remember him? He had arrived in Graaff-Reinet in May 1801 joined by James Read replacing poor Edmonds who had a nervous breakdown while at Ngqika's Great Place. After the barren prothelytising disappointments of the Zuurveld, Graaff-Reinet offered something new. The village and its outskirts were packed with Khoekhoe seeking protection from the Boers and the Khoesan bandits and who responded eagerly to the van der Kemp's preaching. ON hand was commissioner Maynier – encouraging and helping them. Staring at all of this and aghast, were the Boers of the region. It was a seething hotbed of trekboer resistance to British rule. Maynier's principal task was to restore stability along the frontier. This meant getting the fugitive Boers back on their farms and reviving the economy so that they could supply meat to the Cape. Unfortunately for the Khoekhoe, it also meant convincing them to go back and work for the trekboers. To help balance things and motivate the Khoe, Maynier opened an employment register where wages were written down for the first time. Cases of ill-treatment of workers were also listed and there was recourse to the law. It's easy enough to criticize this treatment, what about the Khoe abused by the Boers you'd ask? Were they not to receive justice? Ndlambe was on the lamb after escaping from Ngqika's Great Place in February 1800 and had reunited with his adherent in the Zuurveld. He was reestablishing his power at the same time but it was hard work. Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe was resisting his advances both metaphorically and physically.

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 was the London Missionary Society's Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – remember him? He had arrived in Graaff-Reinet in May 1801 joined by James Read replacing poor Edmonds who had a nervous breakdown while at Ngqika's Great Place. After the barren prothelytising disappointments of the Zuurveld, Graaff-Reinet offered something new. The village and its outskirts were packed with Khoekhoe seeking protection from the Boers and the Khoesan bandits and who responded eagerly to the van der Kemp's preaching. ON hand was commissioner Maynier – encouraging and helping them. Staring at all of this and aghast, were the Boers of the region. It was a seething hotbed of trekboer resistance to British rule. Maynier's principal task was to restore stability along the frontier. This meant getting the fugitive Boers back on their farms and reviving the economy so that they could supply meat to the Cape. Unfortunately for the Khoekhoe, it also meant convincing them to go back and work for the trekboers. To help balance things and motivate the Khoe, Maynier opened an employment register where wages were written down for the first time. Cases of ill-treatment of workers were also listed and there was recourse to the law. It's easy enough to criticize this treatment, what about the Khoe abused by the Boers you'd ask? Were they not to receive justice? Ndlambe was on the lamb after escaping from Ngqika's Great Place in February 1800 and had reunited with his adherent in the Zuurveld. He was reestablishing his power at the same time but it was hard work. Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe was resisting his advances both metaphorically and physically.

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 with Britain in 1800, Prime Minister William Pitt had promised to liberate Roman Catholics from the restrictions of their civil liberties imposed since the 16th Century . Three hundred years of English yoke through Protestantism was seen through a very religious and nationalist lens in Ireland. The future of the Cape was in great doubt. Lord Nelson was one of those voicing his opinion that the Peninsular was of no real use. Back in sunny Southern Africa circa 1800, great powers were beginning to emerge across the landscape. And extremely sunny it was in 1800 because parts of southern Africa were gripped by a terrible drought. Across the northern regions of the Cape, the Namaqualand and along the Orange River, the Afrikaander gang led by Khoesan leader Jonker Afrikaander was going village to village, homestead to homestead, and plundering as they went. The severe dought meant that the Boer commando's couldn't operate effectively so it increased banditry across the frontiers. But it also meant that the groups of Khoe and Khoesan who'd been trying to disentangle themselves from both the trekboers and the British, and even the local Tswana people, were forced to operate along the great river. The expedition also found it very difficult to locate water. What they did find record was signs of anarchy caused by both the drought and the Afrikaander groups who'd descended on the Griqua and Tswana – wiping out villages as they went. I have the diary of William Somerville who jointly led the expedition with chief commissioner PJ Truter – and an interesting 200 or so pages it is.

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 with Britain in 1800, Prime Minister William Pitt had promised to liberate Roman Catholics from the restrictions of their civil liberties imposed since the 16th Century . Three hundred years of English yoke through Protestantism was seen through a very religious and nationalist lens in Ireland. The future of the Cape was in great doubt. Lord Nelson was one of those voicing his opinion that the Peninsular was of no real use. Back in sunny Southern Africa circa 1800, great powers were beginning to emerge across the landscape. And extremely sunny it was in 1800 because parts of southern Africa were gripped by a terrible drought. Across the northern regions of the Cape, the Namaqualand and along the Orange River, the Afrikaander gang led by Khoesan leader Jonker Afrikaander was going village to village, homestead to homestead, and plundering as they went. The severe dought meant that the Boer commando's couldn't operate effectively so it increased banditry across the frontiers. But it also meant that the groups of Khoe and Khoesan who'd been trying to disentangle themselves from both the trekboers and the British, and even the local Tswana people, were forced to operate along the great river. The expedition also found it very difficult to locate water. What they did find record was signs of anarchy caused by both the drought and the Afrikaander groups who'd descended on the Griqua and Tswana – wiping out villages as they went. I have the diary of William Somerville who jointly led the expedition with chief commissioner PJ Truter – and an interesting 200 or so pages it is.

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 with Britain in 1800, Prime Minister William Pitt had promised to liberate Roman Catholics from the restrictions of their civil liberties imposed since the 16th Century . Three hundred years of English yoke through Protestantism was seen through a very religious and nationalist lens in Ireland. The future of the Cape was in great doubt. Lord Nelson was one of those voicing his opinion that the Peninsular was of no real use. Back in sunny Southern Africa circa 1800, great powers were beginning to emerge across the landscape. And extremely sunny it was in 1800 because parts of southern Africa were gripped by a terrible drought. Across the northern regions of the Cape, the Namaqualand and along the Orange River, the Afrikaander gang led by Khoesan leader Jonker Afrikaander was going village to village, homestead to homestead, and plundering as they went. The severe dought meant that the Boer commando's couldn't operate effectively so it increased banditry across the frontiers. But it also meant that the groups of Khoe and Khoesan who'd been trying to disentangle themselves from both the trekboers and the British, and even the local Tswana people, were forced to operate along the great river. The expedition also found it very difficult to locate water. What they did find record was signs of anarchy caused by both the drought and the Afrikaander groups who'd descended on the Griqua and Tswana – wiping out villages as they went. I have the diary of William Somerville who jointly led the expedition with chief commissioner PJ Truter – and an interesting 200 or so pages it is.

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 with Britain in 1800, Prime Minister William Pitt had promised to liberate Roman Catholics from the restrictions of their civil liberties imposed since the 16th Century . Three hundred years of English yoke through Protestantism was seen through a very religious and nationalist lens in Ireland. The future of the Cape was in great doubt. Lord Nelson was one of those voicing his opinion that the Peninsular was of no real use. Back in sunny Southern Africa circa 1800, great powers were beginning to emerge across the landscape. And extremely sunny it was in 1800 because parts of southern Africa were gripped by a terrible drought. Across the northern regions of the Cape, the Namaqualand and along the Orange River, the Afrikaander gang led by Khoesan leader Jonker Afrikaander was going village to village, homestead to homestead, and plundering as they went. The severe dought meant that the Boer commando's couldn't operate effectively so it increased banditry across the frontiers. But it also meant that the groups of Khoe and Khoesan who'd been trying to disentangle themselves from both the trekboers and the British, and even the local Tswana people, were forced to operate along the great river. The expedition also found it very difficult to locate water. What they did find record was signs of anarchy caused by both the drought and the Afrikaander groups who'd descended on the Griqua and Tswana – wiping out villages as they went. I have the diary of William Somerville who jointly led the expedition with chief commissioner PJ Truter – and an interesting 200 or so pages it is.

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 the frontier, Pienaar emerged as the spokesman of the Hantammers. He was closely linked to the Afrikaaner Oorlams from at least the 1780s and was capable of incredible feats of physical endurance even by the standards of the day. In 1790 he wrote a letter to the Landdrost of Stellenbosch outlining the crisis in the Hantam and suggesting solutions. Some of these would be what we now call .. a final solution particularly when it came to the San. He wanted more firearms and ammunition delivered to the local Interestingly, Pienaar wanted the mixed people – those who were known as the Bastaards and as he said “both baptised and unbaptised” – to be supplied with firearms along with the farmers. Meanwhile the authorities in the Cape launched what would eventually become a settler tradition in South Africa – the passbook system. It meant carrying a pass, or Inboek as it was known in the 1790s, where Khoesan and Bastaards entering the Cape had to carry this document, and were prohibited buying arms from the trekboers. Ironically, Klaas Afrikaaner was soon registered as a Hottentot Corps as a Khoikhoi chief in 1793. This will come as a surprise of struggle political experts, who view Klaas as a kind of forerunner of the ANC and SWAPO in Namibia. He actually was a collaborationist – along with his followers which will disappoint fundamentalists across the race divide. SWAPO saw Klaas Afrikaaner as a proto-Namibian nationalist, resisting white power, but it was his descendants who would be synonymous as colonial resisters in the 19th and 20th Century. Right now they were collaborators - but not for long.

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 the frontier, Pienaar emerged as the spokesman of the Hantammers. He was closely linked to the Afrikaaner Oorlams from at least the 1780s and was capable of incredible feats of physical endurance even by the standards of the day. In 1790 he wrote a letter to the Landdrost of Stellenbosch outlining the crisis in the Hantam and suggesting solutions. Some of these would be what we now call .. a final solution particularly when it came to the San. He wanted more firearms and ammunition delivered to the local Interestingly, Pienaar wanted the mixed people – those who were known as the Bastaards and as he said “both baptised and unbaptised” – to be supplied with firearms along with the farmers. Meanwhile the authorities in the Cape launched what would eventually become a settler tradition in South Africa – the passbook system. It meant carrying a pass, or Inboek as it was known in the 1790s, where Khoesan and Bastaards entering the Cape had to carry this document, and were prohibited buying arms from the trekboers. Ironically, Klaas Afrikaaner was soon registered as a Hottentot Corps as a Khoikhoi chief in 1793. This will come as a surprise of struggle political experts, who view Klaas as a kind of forerunner of the ANC and SWAPO in Namibia. He actually was a collaborationist – along with his followers which will disappoint fundamentalists across the race divide. SWAPO saw Klaas Afrikaaner as a proto-Namibian nationalist, resisting white power, but it was his descendants who would be synonymous as colonial resisters in the 19th and 20th Century. Right now they were collaborators - but not for long.

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 the frontier, Pienaar emerged as the spokesman of the Hantammers. He was closely linked to the Afrikaaner Oorlams from at least the 1780s and was capable of incredible feats of physical endurance even by the standards of the day. In 1790 he wrote a letter to the Landdrost of Stellenbosch outlining the crisis in the Hantam and suggesting solutions. Some of these would be what we now call .. a final solution particularly when it came to the San. He wanted more firearms and ammunition delivered to the local Interestingly, Pienaar wanted the mixed people – those who were known as the Bastaards and as he said “both baptised and unbaptised” – to be supplied with firearms along with the farmers. Meanwhile the authorities in the Cape launched what would eventually become a settler tradition in South Africa – the passbook system. It meant carrying a pass, or Inboek as it was known in the 1790s, where Khoesan and Bastaards entering the Cape had to carry this document, and were prohibited buying arms from the trekboers. Ironically, Klaas Afrikaaner was soon registered as a Hottentot Corps as a Khoikhoi chief in 1793. This will come as a surprise of struggle political experts, who view Klaas as a kind of forerunner of the ANC and SWAPO in Namibia. He actually was a collaborationist – along with his followers which will disappoint fundamentalists across the race divide. SWAPO saw Klaas Afrikaaner as a proto-Namibian nationalist, resisting white power, but it was his descendants who would be synonymous as colonial resisters in the 19th and 20th Century. Right now they were collaborators - but not for long.

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 the frontier, Pienaar emerged as the spokesman of the Hantammers. He was closely linked to the Afrikaaner Oorlams from at least the 1780s and was capable of incredible feats of physical endurance even by the standards of the day. In 1790 he wrote a letter to the Landdrost of Stellenbosch outlining the crisis in the Hantam and suggesting solutions. Some of these would be what we now call .. a final solution particularly when it came to the San. He wanted more firearms and ammunition delivered to the local Interestingly, Pienaar wanted the mixed people – those who were known as the Bastaards and as he said “both baptised and unbaptised” – to be supplied with firearms along with the farmers. Meanwhile the authorities in the Cape launched what would eventually become a settler tradition in South Africa – the passbook system. It meant carrying a pass, or Inboek as it was known in the 1790s, where Khoesan and Bastaards entering the Cape had to carry this document, and were prohibited buying arms from the trekboers. Ironically, Klaas Afrikaaner was soon registered as a Hottentot Corps as a Khoikhoi chief in 1793. This will come as a surprise of struggle political experts, who view Klaas as a kind of forerunner of the ANC and SWAPO in Namibia. He actually was a collaborationist – along with his followers which will disappoint fundamentalists across the race divide. SWAPO saw Klaas Afrikaaner as a proto-Namibian nationalist, resisting white power, but it was his descendants who would be synonymous as colonial resisters in the 19th and 20th Century. Right now they were collaborators - but not for long.

Hello 通勤家族，歡迎收聽Look Back Sunday回顧星期天，在這個節目John老師會彙整過去不同國家與主題的熱門跟讀文章，讓你可以在十五分鐘內吸收最精華的世界時事趣聞！我們這週聽聽非洲的趣聞，Let's get right to it!   Topic: Are African Artifacts Safer in Europe? 非洲文物在歐洲更安全？   Is Africa's cultural heritage better off in Europe or in Africa?非洲的文化遺產存放在歐洲或非洲，何者比較好呢？   That is the question at the heart of a yearslong debate that has gripped museums in Europe, where many officials say they support the idea of repatriating artifacts, but worry that African museums cannot compare to state-of-the-art facilities in Britain, France or Germany.這正是歐洲博物館界討論多年的問題的核心，許多歐洲博物館的管理階層表示，他們贊成應把文物送回非洲的想法，卻又擔心非洲各地博物館不具備英、法或德國那些先進博物館的的條件。   That debate has been given new life in recent months after an investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper found that many of the artifacts that will be on display in the Humboldt Forum, a huge new museum under construction in a rebuilt Berlin palace, had for years been stored in less-than-ideal conditions. The report featured searing depictions of flooded storage rooms and depots choked with toxic dust.最近幾個月，這場討論再度熱絡起來，因為南德意志報調查後發現，預定在「洪堡論壇」展出的文物之中，許多已存放在不盡理想的環境下多年。洪堡論壇是興建中規模宏大的新博物館，將位在柏林一座重建的宮殿內。這篇報導對那些文物的存放室淹水，庫房覆滿有毒灰塵，作了特別尖刻地描述。   The Humboldt Forum will bring together the collections of several existing museums in the city under one roof, but reports in German news media have focused on the storage facilities of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, which will be the Forum's largest single contributor.洪堡論壇將把柏林幾座現有博物館的藏品集中在一起，不過德國新聞媒體的報導著重在柏林民族學博物館的庫房。這座博物館將是洪堡論壇展品的最大提供者。   Officials at the museum, which closed to the public in 2017 to prepare for the move to its new home, have responded with what observers call an unusual degree of openness.民族學博物館2017年起停止對外開放，好準備搬新家。館方回應外界質疑的態度十分開放透明，開放程度之高觀察家以異乎尋常形容。   They have denied some of the reports, in particular the claim of flooded storerooms, but said their depots were beset with problems common to museums across Germany. Those included outdated facilities, a lack of staff members, and a sense of disarray that dates to moments of crisis in German history.館方否認報導中的某些部分，尤其是庫房淹水，不過他們說，倉庫發生的問題在德國各地博物館都很常見，包括設施陳舊、人手不足和擺放方式雜亂，這些問題從德國歷史上那些動盪時期以來就一直存在。   Despite all that, they steadfastly rejected that those conditions might call into question their stewardship of the artifacts, many of which were collected during the era of European imperialism.雖然倉庫有這些問題，但館方堅決否認這些問題意味著管理不善。倉庫內許多文物是在歐洲帝國主義時期收集而來。   Sindika Dokolo, a Congolese art collector who runs a foundation that has organized the return of artifacts to Congo and Angola, said it was true that “a whole generation” of museum professionals, like curators and conservationists, needed to be trained “in most of the African countries.” But while that new generation was being trained, he said, it is European museums' responsibility to make sure African audiences had access to the artifacts in their possession.剛果藝品收藏家多克洛管理一個基金會，在這個基金會安排下已有一些文物送回剛果和安哥拉。多克洛說，「多數非洲國家」的確有必要訓練「一整個世代的」博物館專業人員，如策展人和文物修復師。不過他說，在非洲訓練這個新世代的同時，歐洲博物館有責任確保非洲的文物愛好者能看到歐洲握有的非洲文物。   It is up to them to create the conditions that would let African artifacts "play their role where they need to be right now, in Africa," he added.多克洛說，歐洲博物館有責任創造條件，讓非洲文物「在非洲當下需要的地方發揮作用」。 Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/345221/web/   Next Article   Topic: Neanderthal genes found for first time in African populations   African populations have been revealed to share Neanderthal ancestry for the first time, in findings that add a new twist to the tale of ancient humans and our closest known relatives.非洲的人類族群首度被科學家揭露帶有尼安德塔人的血統。這項發現為古代人類和尼安德塔人──與我們血緣最相近的親戚物種──之間的故事，帶來新的轉折。   Previously it was believed that only non-African populations carried Neanderthal genes due to interbreeding that took place after a major human migration out of Africa and across the globe about 60,000 years ago. The latest findings suggest human and Neanderthal lineages are more closely intertwined than once thought and point to far earlier interbreeding events, about 200,000 years ago.前，學界普遍認為只有非洲以外的族群帶有尼安德塔人的基因，這是因為人類大約在六萬年前發生過一次大型的「源出非洲」遷徙，散播到全球各地，而後與尼安德塔人異種交配。最新的研究結果顯示，人類和尼安德塔人的譜系比科學家先前認為的還要緊密相繫，並且指向更早以前──大約在二十萬年前──就出現過異種交配。   “Our results show this history was much more interesting and there were many waves of dispersal out of Africa, some of which led to admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals that we see in the genomes of all living individuals today,” said Joshua Akey, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University and senior author of the research.普林斯頓大學的演化生物學家、也是該篇研究的資深作者約書亞‧阿奇表示：「我們研究的結果顯示，這段歷史其實更為有趣。其實歷史上曾經發生過好幾波源出非洲的向外擴散，其中幾次造成現代人類與尼安德塔人混血，也就是我們今日在所有現代人類個體的基因組中所看到的現象。」   The study suggests living Europeans and Asians carry about 1 percent Neanderthal DNA, compared with on average 0.3 percent for those of African ancestry. Akey and colleagues believe that this Neanderthal DNA arrived in Africa with ancient Europeans whose ancestors — over many generations — had left Africa, met and mated with Neanderthals and then returned to Africa and mixed with local populations.這份研究指出，相較於祖先來自非洲的現代人，身上平均帶有百分之零點三的尼安德塔DNA，現代歐洲人和亞洲人則帶有百分之一的尼安德塔DNA。阿奇和他的同事認為，這個尼安德塔DNA和古老的歐洲人一起抵達非洲，而這些歐洲人的祖先──在好幾個世代以前──從非洲離開，遇到尼安德塔人，並與他們交配，然後回到非洲，再與當地人口混血。   “An important aspect of our study is that it highlights humans, and hominins, were moving in and out of Africa for hundreds of thousands of years and occasionally admixing,” said Akey. “These back-to-Africa migrations, largely from ancestors of contemporary Europeans, carried Neanderthal sequences with them, and through admixture, contributed to the Neanderthal ancestry we detect in African individuals today.”阿奇指出：「我們的研究其中一項重要的層面在於，它點出人類，以及其他古代人類亞族，在數十萬年間不斷地移入移出非洲，並且偶爾發生混血的情形。」他補充說：「這些回到非洲的移民，主要來自於當代歐洲人的祖先，他們身上帶有尼安德塔人的基因序列，並且經由混血，導致我們今日在非洲人身上探測到的尼安德塔血統。」   The increasingly fine-grained details of our ancestors' migration patterns and intimate encounters with other types of human are coming into focus thanks to the advent of sophisticated computational genetics techniques. These statistical methods allow scientists to line up the Neanderthal genome side by side with that of ancient modern humans and DNA from different living populations and figure out whether the different lineages have been steadily diverging or whether there are blips where large chunks of DNA were exchanged at certain time points.多虧了精密電腦計算基因學技術的來臨，關於我們祖先的遷徙模式，以及與其他人種的親密接觸，愈來愈細緻的細節逐漸變得清晰。這些統計學方法讓科學家能夠將尼安德塔人和古現代人的基因組並列，進行對比，也能夠對照今日不同人類族群的DNA，判斷這些相異的譜系是否一直持續產生分歧，又或者是否有跡象顯示某些時間點曾經出現大塊的DNA交換。   The latest comparison highlights previously unnoticed ancient human genes in the Neanderthal genome, apparently acquired from interbreeding events dating to about 200,000 years ago. This suggests an early group of humans travelled from Africa to Europe or Asia, where they encountered Neanderthal populations and left a faint imprint on their genome that could still be detected more than 100,000 years later.最新的基因組對比，凸顯出先前不曾被注意到的古人類基因存在於尼安德塔人的基因組中，明顯來自於距今約二十萬年的雜交事件。這項發現顯示，曾有早期人類族群從非洲前往歐洲或亞洲，在當地遇到尼安德塔人族群，並在後者基因組中留下淺淺的印記，在超過十萬年後的今天仍然可以探測得到。   The paper also highlights the relative lack of genetics research in African populations, despite modern humans having first emerged on the continent and despite African populations today being more diverse genetically than the inhabitants of the rest of the world combined. “To more fully understand human genomic variation and human evolutionary history, it is imperative to comprehensively sample individuals from all regions of the world, and Africa remains one of the most understudied regions,” said Akey.該篇論文也點出，儘管現代人類最初發源於非洲大陸，而且今日非洲人類族群的遺傳多樣性遠高於世界其他地區居民的總和，目前學界對於當地族群的基因研究仍顯得相對缺乏。阿奇指出：「如果要更全盤了解人類基因組的變異，以及人類演化的歷史，廣泛對世界各地區的人類個體進行採樣是絕對必要的，而非洲目前仍然是研究最為不足的地區之一。」   It is not known whether all African populations, some of whose roots stretch into the deep past, share this Neanderthal heritage. KhoeSan (bushmen) and Mbuti (central African pygmy) populations, for instance, appear to have split off from other groups more than 100,000 years ago. The findings are published in the journal Cell.目前仍不清楚是否所有非洲族群──其中有些族群的根源延續自遙遠的過去──共同擁有這項「尼安德塔遺產」。舉例而言，非洲的「科伊桑族」（亦稱布須曼人）以及「姆巴提人」（非洲中部的一支矮黑人），似乎在超過十萬年前就已經和其他人類族群在演化上分道揚鑣了。該篇研究刊登於期刊《細胞》上。   Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/02/16/2003731045/2   Next Article   Topic: About Africa - Mysterious Mineral from Earth's Mantle Discovered in South African Diamond   A single grain of rock lodged in a diamond contains a never-before-found mineral. And that newfound substance could reveal unusual chemical reactions unfolding in the depths of the mantle, the layer of Earth that lies between the planet's crust and outer core. The entire mantle is about 1,802 miles (2,900 km) thick.包裹在一塊鑽石內的小晶粒，含有一種此前從未在鑽石內發現的礦物。這項新發現有望揭示地函深處發生的不尋常化學反應，地球地函位在行星地殼與外地核之間。地球地函的總厚度約1802英里（2900公里）。   Scientists unearthed the mineral from a volcanic site in South Africa known as the Koffiefontein pipe. Shining diamonds speckle the dark, igneous rock that lines the pipe, and the diamonds themselves contain tiny bits of other minerals from hundreds of miles beneath Earth's surface. Within one of these sparkling stones, scientists found a dark green, opaque mineral that they estimated was forged about 105 miles (170 kilometers) underground.科學家從南非一處名為「科菲芬丹火山管」的火山區挖出這種礦物。閃閃發亮的鑽石散布在火山管內暗色的火成岩之中，鑽石本身則含有其他來自地表下數百英里的微小礦物。在其中一塊閃亮的石頭內，科學家發現一種暗綠色、不透明的礦物，他們估計這種礦物生成在地底下105英里（170公里）處。   Scientists noted that, for a mantle mineral, goldschmidtite has a peculiar chemical composition.科學家指出，對地函礦物而言，「針銀碲金礦」具有獨特的化學組成。   Next Article:   Topic: Kenyans rush to swap banknotes as cash ban looms 鈔票禁令在即，肯亞人搶著換鈔   A man walked into a Nairobi car yard and paid for a luxury Mercedes with a mountain of 1,000 shilling ($9 euros) banknotes, desperate to offload cash that would be worthless after September 30.一名男子走進奈洛比市一家汽車展示場，拿出大量1000肯亞先令紙鈔（約9歐元），買下一台豪華賓士轎車，急著將9月30日後就一文不值的現金脫手。   With the deadline looming before the Central Bank of Kenya bans all old edition 1,000 shilling notes, big fish with their fortunes stashed in cash are under pressure.隨著肯亞中央銀行禁止所有舊版千元先令流通的日期逼近，握有大筆現金的大人物備感壓力。   A new print of the 1,000 shilling banknote, the largest denomination, was rolled out in June. The operation is aimed at flushing out dirty money being hoarded by tax evaders, crooked businessmen and criminal groups. The central bank in June said there were roughly 218 million 1,000 shilling notes in circulation.最大面額1000先令的新版紙鈔在六月推出，這項行動旨在迫使逃稅者、奸商和犯罪集團，釋出積存的來歷不明財富。肯亞央行六月表示，約有2.18億張千元先令在市面流通。   People are getting creative, devising schemes to quickly unload small amounts of their cash. For example, a liquor shop owner gets 500,000 shillings every day to bank together with his daily sales, as a deal with a wealthy guy, and get between five and 10 percent in return.人們開始想方設法，擬定可以迅速脫手小額現金的方法。例如，一名酒商和有錢人達成協議，每天幫對方將50萬先令，連同自家營業額存進銀行，藉此收取5%到10%的回饋。 Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1322040 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1321332     通勤學英語15mins.Today榮獲  Apple Podcast 2020年十大熱門節目 KKBox 2020年十大Podcast風雲榜 (唯一語言學習Podcast) Himalaya 人氣票選播客總冠軍   每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing 每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab 每週In-TENSE文法練習Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense   用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

Anand Jagatia heads to the rainbow nation of South Africa, to answer listener Lucy’s deceptively simple question. He follows the path of early human migration to understand the relationship between light skin and latitude, and find out how the world become more multi-coloured as people ventured further away from the equator. And he learns how our genes have helped us adapt to less sunny environments, hearing from the remote KhoeSan tribe in the Kalahari desert, who took part in a massive study aimed at giving scientists a better understanding of pigmentation. Producer: Marijke Peters Presenter: Anand Jagatia (Image: Four diverse women’s arms holding each others wrists in a circle. Credit: Getty Images)

Menán Du Plessis (Stellenbosch University and U. of Kentucky) on her literary work, research on the Kora! language, and the significance of Khoesan linguistics to southern African studies. Du Plessis also considers digitization efforts and the impact of mass media and the Internet on endangered African languages.

Menán Du Plessis (Stellenbosch University and U. of Kentucky) on her literary work, research on the Kora! language, and the significance of Khoesan linguistics to southern African studies. Du Plessis also considers digitization efforts and the impact of mass media and the Internet on endangered African languages.

CARTA: Behaviorally Modern Humans: The Origin of Us – Christopher Ehret: Relationships of Ancient African Languages Almost all of the more than 1,000 African languages spoken today belong to just four families – Afroasiatic, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoesan. As these language families spread out across the continent in the early Holocene, they gradually drove out hundreds of other languages that used to be spoken in Africa. Christopher Ehret (UCLA) reflects on the relationships of these languages to the existing African families and to the language families of the rest of the world, and asks what this information can tell us about human origins and early human history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25397]

CARTA: Behaviorally Modern Humans: The Origin of Us – Christopher Ehret: Relationships of Ancient African Languages Almost all of the more than 1,000 African languages spoken today belong to just four families – Afroasiatic, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoesan. As these language families spread out across the continent in the early Holocene, they gradually drove out hundreds of other languages that used to be spoken in Africa. Christopher Ehret (UCLA) reflects on the relationships of these languages to the existing African families and to the language families of the rest of the world, and asks what this information can tell us about human origins and early human history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25397]

Chris Low, African Studies, Oxford, gives a talk for the African Studies Seminar Series.