The Story of South Africa: Empire, Apartheid, and Transformation — Fexingo History

While we often remember the public face of apartheid—the Treason Trial, the Sharpeville massacre, or the Soweto uprising—there was a quieter, more pervasive engine of control opera…

While the Treason Trial is often remembered for the defendants like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, the legal team fighting for their freedom deserves its own story. In this epis…

While we often trace South Africa’s modern identity through the lens of colonial conflict and apartheid, the true foundation lies much deeper in the soil. In this episode, Lucas an…

We often focus on the male leaders of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, but this episode uncovers the vital, often overlooked contributions of women who shaped the movement f…

While much attention has been paid to the Boer Wars and the later apartheid struggle, the history of Southern Africa is deeply rooted in a series of nine distinct conflicts known a…

In late January 1900, the British Army launched a desperate gamble to relieve the besieged town of Ladysmith during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The target was Spion Kop, a steep, na…

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising intellectual and cultural life that flourished within the high-security confines of Robben Island during apartheid. While mos…

Before the police opened fire on protesters in Sharpeville in 1960, South Africa was already simmering with a different kind of violence on its gold mines. This episode explores th…

While we’ve explored the legal battles of the Treason Trial and the intellectual resilience on Robben Island, there was another spark igniting in the early 1970s that came from wit…

In this episode, we explore the dramatic and violent migration known as the Great Trek, where Boer farmers abandoned the British Cape Colony in the 1830s to seek independence inlan…

In this episode of The Story of South Africa, Lucas and Luna explore the legal brilliance behind the Great Treason Trial of 1956–1961. While Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu are ri…

In this episode, we explore the Great Trek of the 1830s and 1840s, a massive migration of Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers who left the British-controlled Cape Colony t…

While the Treaty of Vereeniging is often cited as the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War, the final major conventional battle took place at Bloemfontein in March 1900. This episode e…

In this episode, we turn the spotlight away from the defendants and onto the brave legal team that defended them during the Great Treason Trial. We explore the lives of Arthur Chas…

While Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu face the charges, a team of white liberal lawyers challenges the state in Pretoria Old Synagogue. Arthur Chaskalson and Joel Joffe navigate t…

In 1906, a minor royal named Bambatha kaMancinza led the last major armed resistance against British colonial rule in South Africa. This episode traces the spark of the hut tax reb…

While the Second Anglo-Boer War is often remembered for its concentration camps and guerrilla tactics, the final major conventional battle took place at Bergendal in August 1902. T…

Long before the Boer Wars and apartheid, Southern Africa was home to the Khoisan peoples — the indigenous hunter-gatherers of the region. This episode explores the tragic history o…

Most people know the name Soweto, but few understand how a city was born from forced removals and became the epicenter of resistance. In this episode, we trace the origins of Sowet…

In this episode of The Story of South Africa, we turn our attention to the legal battle that defined a generation: the Great Treason Trial. Following the banning of the ANC and PAC…