The dark history of slavery and racism in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial period
Reading time: 7 minutes
The region near Medan is famous for its Deli tobacco, and colonial planters researched how to boost tobacco production. Behind the golden age and success of Dutch research, I found enormous human casualties that built plantations in North Sumatra. Widespread racism and slavery occurred in plantations managed by colonial companies.
Slavers in the family: what a castle in Accra reveals about Ghana’s history
Reading time: 6 minutes
The Castle is situated on the West African coast, formerly and notoriously known as the “White Man’s Grave”. The castle’s origins can be traced to a lodge built by Swedes in 1652. Nine years later, the Danish built a fort on the site and called it Fort Christiansborg (“Christian’s Fortress”), named after the King of Denmark, Christian IV.
Returning looted artefacts will finally restore heritage to the brilliant cultures that made them
Reading time: 6 minutes
European museums are under mounting pressure to return the irreplaceable artefacts plundered during colonial times. As an archaeologist who works in Africa, this debate has a very real impact on my research. I benefit from the convenience of access provided by Western museums, while being struck by the ethical quandary of how they were taken there by illegal means, and by guilt that my colleagues throughout Africa may not have the resources to see material from their own country, which is kept thousands of miles away.
How whiteness was invented and fashioned in Britain’s colonial age of expansion
Reading time: 6 minutes
Fashion is political — today as in the past. As Britain’s Empire dramatically expanded, people of all ranks lived with clothing and everyday objects in startlingly different ways than generations before.
The years between 1660 and 1820 saw the expansion of the British empire and commercial capitalism. The social politics of Britain’s cotton trade mirrored profound global transformations bound up with technological and industrial revolutions, social modernization, colonialism and slavery.
Sino-Vietnamese War
Reading time: 5 minutes
The Sino-Vietnamese war was a short, nasty conflict fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. Largely forgotten by almost everybody including the belligerents, it was a side plot of the Sino-Soviet split, itself a sideshow to the Cold War. Let’s go over the events before, during and after the war to see what it was all about.
Jamaica’s Morant Bay Rebellion and it’s brutal repression
Reading time: 11 minutes
On 12 October 1865, John Davidson, a magistrate in the east of Jamaica, wrote to the island’s Governor, Edward John Eyre:
‘The people at Morant Bay [on the island’s southeast coast, St. Thomas-in-the-East parish] have risen, burnt down the Court-house, released all the prisoners, murdered several white people.’
The colonial origins of scientific forestry in Britain
Reading time: 27 minutes
Around 1850 Britain had no forestry service and there was no formal training of foresters. Forestry was still practised in the context of estates mainly owned by the aristocracy and managed by foresters who had learned the traditional management techniques under an apprentice system from their predecessors. British forestry was fragmented, not formalised, and far from centralised during the entire 19th century.
The R1 – South African Bush Rifle
Reading time: 9 minutes
In the wake of the rise of the Soviet Union’s AK-47 and the USA’s litany of rifles during the Cold War, South Africa needed a modern automatic service rifle. After trialling several different guns, the South African government settled on the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle. As a result, the “Rifle R1” was born – the bush gun of Southern Africa.
Five myths about the partition of British India – and what really happened
Reading time: 6 minutes
This August marks 75 years since the partition of the Indian subcontinent. British withdrawal from the region prompted the creation of two new states, India and Pakistan.
The process of transferring power grossly simplified diverse societies to make it seem like dividing social groups and drawing new borders was logical and even possible. This decision unleashed one of the biggest human migrations of the 20th century when more than ten million people fled across borders seeking safe refuge.
The Conquerors Perspective: Why Europe Has so Many Different Languages
Reading time: 10 minutes
History is typically told from the winner’s perspective. In the case of Europe’s many different languages, it turns out that history is generally spoken in the winner’s language as well.
New research shows WA’s first governor condoned killing of Noongar people despite proclaiming all equal under law
Reading time: 5 minutes
In June, councillors in Perth’s City of Stirling decided not to change the name of their municipality, despite former Western Australian governor James Stirling’s leading role in the 1834 Pinjarra massacre.
The Anglo-Zanzibar War: The Shortest War in History
The story of the shortest war in history begins with a treaty between colonial powers. In 1890, Britain and Germany signed the Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty which secured spheres of influence in East Africa. Germany was given control of mainland Tanzania, while Zanzibar fell under British control.
Tom Petrie’s reminiscences of early Queensland (dating from 1837). Recorded by his daughter – Audiobook
TOM PETRIE’S REMINISCENCES OF EARLY QUEENSLAND (DATING FROM 1837). RECORDED BY HIS DAUGHTER – AUDIOBOOK By Constance Campbell Petrie (1873 – 1926) and Thomas Petrie (1831 – 1910) Tom Petrie (1831-1910), explorer and grazier, arrived in the then convict settlement of Moreton Bay in 1837. His reminiscences of what was to become the colony of Queensland were […]
THE IMPACTS OF CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION: HOW THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY CHANGED THE WORLD
THE IMPACTS OF CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION: HOW THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY CHANGED THE WORLD The ‘Age of Discovery’, a period of European overseas exploration from the 15th to 17th century and considered by some to be the beginnings of globalization, is synonymous with the expansion of global capitalism and the explosion of maritime trade. At the start […]
Gregor MacGregor: History’s Greatest Conman
Reading time: 8 minutes
In 1821, Gregor MacGregor, a seemingly ordinary man deceived banks, investors, the general public, and even European governments. He is ranked as one of the biggest conmen in history, perhaps the biggest conman the world has ever seen.
Great Epochs in American History, Volume II – Audiobook
GREAT EPOCHS IN AMERICAN HISTORY, VOLUME II – AUDIOBOOK By Francis Whiting Halsey (1851 – 1919) This is the second volume in ten volume series of great epochs in the history of the United States, from the landing of Columbus to the building of the Panama Canal. In large part, events composing each epoch are described […]
The ‘great Australian silence’ 50 years on
It’s 50 years since the anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner gave the 1968 Boyer Lectures — a watershed moment for Australian history. Stanner argued that Australia’s sense of its past, its very collective memory, had been built on a state of forgetting, which couldn’t “be explained by absent-mindedness”: It is a structural matter, a view from a window which has been […]
The evidence for the Tasmanian genocide
At a public meeting in Hobart in the late 1830s, Solicitor-General Alfred Stephen, later Chief Justice of New South Wales, shared with the assembled crowd his solution for dealing with “the Aboriginal problem”. If the colony could not protect its convict servants from Aboriginal attack “without extermination”, said Stephen, “then I say boldly and broadly […]
315 nuclear bombs and ongoing suffering: the shameful history of nuclear testing in Australia and the Pacific
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons received its 50th ratification on October 24, and will therefore come into force in January 2021. A historic development, this new international law will ban the possession, development, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately the nuclear powers — the United Kingdom, France, the United […]
The Making of the British Empire (A.D. 1714-1832) – Audiobook
THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE (A.D. 1714-1832) – AUDIOBOOK By Arthur Hassall (1853 – 1930) At its height, the British Empire was the largest in history. This short volume traces its development through the long 18th century, from 1714 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Founded on the prosperity of Sir Robert Walpole’s […]
Churchill and India: imperial chauvinism left a bitter legacy
For those who enjoy debunking the reputations of national heroes, there can be few softer targets than Winston Churchill. The phrase “flawed hero” could almost have been invented to characterise his long, wilfully erratic career. Running through it, like some bitter-tasting lettering in a stick of rock was a strain of extreme imperial chauvinism. Indeed, […]
Venezuela’s Fight For Independence: The Battle of Carabobo
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the battle of Carabobo, a major battle in Venezuela’s history. Fought during the Spanish-American wars of independence, the second battle at Carabobo in 1821 ultimately led to Venezuela’s independence from the Spanish Empire. The Battle of Carabobo was not the last in the fight for Venezuelan independence. However, […]
What wind, currents and geography tell us about how people first settled Oceania
Just look at a map of Remote Oceania – the region of the Pacific that contains Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, French Polynesia and Micronesia – and it’s hard not to wonder how people originally settled on these islands. They’re mostly small and located many hundreds to thousands of kilometers away from any large landmass as […]
WA’s first governor James Stirling had links to slavery, as well as directing a massacre. Should he be honoured?
Today, councillors in Perth’s City of Stirling will vote to decide whether to change their city’s name. This follows a residents’ motion arguing a new name would better “reflect the long standing and relevant history of this land in such a way that is inclusive and in recognition of the Nyoongar community”. This is not about erasing […]