Author: Joe

Burkina Faso (S6.03)

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Audio: Burkina Faso

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Burkina Faso (formerly the French Upper Volta), a landlocked country in West Africa bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d’Ivoire to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of just over 20,000,000. Total land area is around  274,000 km² (or roughly 106,000 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Italy, slightly larger than New Zealand or the US state of Colorado. Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons, wet and dry. Its northern regions are in the Sahel, making them very dry and arid, while the more southern regions are cooler and more tropical. 

The Mossi people, which still dominates the country today, moved into the region around 1100, and still makes up around 50% of the ethnic population. These were a tribal, agrarian society with a love of horses. Other important ethnic groups include include Fulani 8.4%, Gurma 7%, Bobo 4.9%, Gurunsi 4.6% Senufo 4.5%, Bissa 3.7%, Lobi 2.4%, Dagara 2.4%,  Tuareg/Ikelan 1.9%, Dioula 0.8% (percentages of modern population). In 1896, it was colonized by the French as part of French West Africa; in 1958, a new nation named Upper Volta became a self-governing colony within the French Community. In 1960, it gained full independence with Maurice Yaméogo as president. However, since then the country has struggled to maintain political stability, with political coups or uprisings taking place in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, and twice in 2022.

The nation is quite poor, and is one of the world’s least-economically developed, with around 75% of people to this day living off subsistence agriculture. Burkinabe farmers are well-known for working to music, usually drums. Burkina Faso is also one of the youngest countries in the world, thanks to very high fertility (Women have on average 5 children each) and a low average life expectancy, which currently stands at just under 60, among the lowest in the world. The median age is only around 17, and this has caused a massive spike in population over the past half-century, as yearly population growth rate is more than double the world average.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

Music includes:

Boukary Koutou, also known as Wobgho, the Mossi King of Ouagadougou with his personal escort of Mossi cavalry, Burkina Faso. From “Du Niger au Golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi” by Binger, Louis Gustave, 1892, page 35, illustrated by Édouard Riou.
The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso by JamesA (Wikimedia Commons)

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Salem (S6.01)

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Audio: Salem

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Salem, Massachusetts, which has a strong historical connection to the famous witch trials that took place there in the 1690s. Salem lies on Massachusetts Bay between Salem Harbor and Beverly Harbor, lying alongside the Danvers River, which feeds into the harbour. It’s around 20 miles or 35 kilometres north of Boston. The witch trials took place in a small settlement just outside Salem proper then known as Salem Village, but later renamed Danvers, and we’ll likely touch on both throughout. Salem today has a population of around 44,000, while Danvers is home to around 28,000. The area had long been occupied by the indigenous Native American tribe the Massachusett before the arrival of Puritan settlers from England in the 1630s. For obvious reasons, Salem today is one of the most popular destinations in the US to celebrate Halloween, attracting over half a million visitors each year.  

This Hallowe’en episode is the debut episode of Season 6. After a longer-than-planned hiatus we are back producing a new season. You’ll notice a few changes in location of your co-hosts during this season.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Galway, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella. With additional music from Ivan Duch, and Boston.

Flag of Salem   Location in Essex County, Massachusetts

Some further reading material is provided below:

Map of Salem with an over-representation of spookily named businesses

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Jersey (S5.08)

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Audio: Jersey

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about the Bailiwick of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands lying just off the coast of Northern France. Jersey is a Crown Dependency so is not actually a part of the UK, just like the Isle of Man, which we covered in Season 1.  Today, Jersey has a population of just under 100,000, and a total land area of around 120 km2 or 45 sq mi, making it a similar size to the US island of Nantucket, or slightly smaller than our old friend Liechtenstein. 

While most residents speak English and identify as British, the proximity of Jersey and the other Channel islands to France has heavily influenced their culture and their history, and French is an official second language. Jersey also has its own local language, based on French, called Jèrriais.  The island was documented by the Romans, known to them as Caesarea, and was part of the Duchy of Normany until the early 13th Century, when it was reorganized and became a territory in its own right. By the end of the 15th century, Jersey was granted its own governor. An individual, now called the Lieutenant Governor, is today the personal representative of the Queen on the island. Jersey was the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Nazis during WW2, and was one of the last places in Europe to be liberated. 

Jersey has one of the highest numbers of cars per person in the world, and because of the historical popularity of Jersey wool, knitted sweaters came to be called jerseys, after the island, with the term first recorded in 1837. And yes, this island is the namesake of the US state of New Jersey. It’s been calculated that Jersey would fit 189 times into New Jersey – 95 times if the tide is out.

Location of Jersey (green) in Europe (dark grey)Flag of Bailiwick of Jersey

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Galway, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella. Thanks to Luke Davis, a member of the Société Jersiaise, for speaking to us for this episode – you will hear clips from his interview throughout.

Some further reading material is provided below:

The Death of Major Pierson, by John Singleton Copley (Battle of Jersey)
The photo from the German occupation, which Luke Davis mentioned. [source]

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Bougainville (S5.06)

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Audio: Bougainville

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Bougainville, the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Located 1,000 kilometers east of the mainland national capital of Port Moresby, Bougainville is the most remote of Papua New Guinea’s 19 provinces. Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands archipelago, lying around 1500km or 1000 miles off the northeast coast of Australia, in the Solomon Sea. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. At around 3,500 square miles or just under 9,000 square km, Bougainville is comparable in size to Hawaii’s largest island, Puerto Rico or Cyprus. Residents speak Tok Pisim, a pidgin language spoken widely in this region, in addition to 20 different indigenous languages, depending on where they are from, and the region currently has a population of around 250,000.  Inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, Bougainville was first discovered by Europeans in 1616, and was named for the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville, one of the first people to circumnavigate the globe. The German Empire annexed present-day Bougainville in 1886, before the islands were occupied in 1914 by Australia during World War 1. Taken by Japan in 1942, the islands were fought over by both sides during the latter years of World War 2, and have retained a secessionist streak since the mid 1960s. However, tensions between different factors remain unresolved to this day, and while officially the island is today an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, many still push for independence, particularly following a bloody 10-year civil war which concluded in 1997. A referendum in 2019 voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence, but the exact implementation of that still remains to be seen.


Flag_of_Bougainville  Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (special marker).svg

Flag of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and map of location within Papua New Guinea

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Galway, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella. 

We’ve also just launched a merch store in associated with TeePublic. You can find our store by clicking here, with exclusive discounts at the time of publishing. 

 

Further information and some of the sources we consulted can be found below:

Some music from Bougainville can be found at the following links, including some excellent examples of ‘bamboo bands’:

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

This episode, we’d particularly like to thank new patrons, Dana Fox, AC C, Daniella Sponsler, Stepehen M, and some long-standing supporters: Emily Cranfill, Collin Macharyas, Simon Greene, Nathan Hixson, Darren Clarke, Erin Barclay and Mark Wood.

Svalbard (S4.10)

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S04E10 Svalbard Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about Svalbard (also known as Spitsbergen), a small polar archipelago off the northern coast of Norway. Svalbard is by far the most northerly place we’ve covered on the show, lying roughly midway between continental Norway and the North Pole, around 580 miles (930 km) north of Tromsø, Norway. The archipelago consists of nine main islands, the main island being Spitsbergen, which makes up over half of the land area. In total, Svalbard has a land area of around 24,209 square miles (62,700 square km), making it similar in size to Sri Lanka or the US state of West Virginia. There are only 2,500 permanent residents here, most of whom live in the main city of Longyearbyen. First settled as an arctic whaling base in the 17th century, the islands later saw the establishment of coal mining towns, but in recent years Svalbard’s main economic lifeline has been tourism and arctic research, both of which have boomed recently. Due to its extreme northern latitude, in the summer, the sun does not set on Svalbard for 4 months, while in the winter the archipelago goes weeks without any sunlight at all. Svalbard is also notable for being home to the Global Seed Vault, while as of 2012, all residents must carry a gun while travelling outside an established settlement, in case they encounter one of the many polar bears that live nearby.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Kildare, Ireland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella)

Thanks to Dr Ciaran McDonough (@metamedievalist), Sonja Murto, Aengus Ó Maoláin and Roxana Cremer (@cloudcycling) for talking to us about their first-hand experiences visiting or living in Svalbard. They were invaluable to giving us a full picture of the place.

Some further reading:

  • More on the Pomors, believed to be some of the earliest inhabitants of this region can be found here.
  • The Svalbard Museum has a wonderful section on their website about whaling in the Arctic.
  • An August 1906 article in Nature entitled “The Early History of Spitsbergen” can be found here.
  • For more on Basque whaling, see NABO’s article here.
  • Svalbard-Spitsbergen.com has more reading on the charming-sounding settlement of Smeerenberg, also known as “Blubbertown”.
  • The article concerning Horatio Nelson’s visit to Spitsbergen can be found here.
  • For more on the early scientific expeditions on Svalbard, see this article from Svalbard-Spitsbergen.com
  • The Svalbard Museum has more on hunting and trapping, as well as the discovery of coal.
  • One of the travel guides we referenced on Svalbard can be found for free on Google Books.
  • The “Tragedy at Swedish House” is detailed in an article in Polar Record, which can be found here.
  • You can read more on the history of the Dutch settlement on Barenstburg on visitsvalbard.com.
  • Military Wiki has an extensive article on Operation Gauntlet, which was discussed in this episode.
  • You can read more on the King’s Bay Affair here.
  • An article on Medium details the doomed Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, entitled “The crash that changed Svalbard forever.”
  • Thinking of visiting Pyramiden? It’s here on TripAdvisor.
  • Future North: The Changing Arctic Landscape, referenced in this episode, can be found on Google Books here.
  • Take a virtual tour of the Global Seed Vault here, or learn more about it by listening to Endless Thread‘s episode “The Vault“
  • This American Life: episode 630 “Things I Mean to Know”, about the Novaya Zemlaya Effect
  • “Bowhead [whales] are jazz” article about baleen whalesong and its surprising diversity

Music:

Videos:

Houston, 1968 – Apollo 8

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In this minisode, Mark takes us further than we’ve ever been before, in a story that’s out of this world! From Houston, Texas, in 1968, we tell the story of the USA’s space programme and how Christmas came to be the backdrop to the first voyage by humans around the moon. Often overshadowed by Apollo 11’s Moon Landing a few months later, Apollo 8 laid vital foundations, and took place during the festive season, watched by millions of families around the world.

The most significant source for Mark’s (@markboyle86) script was Jeffrey Kluger’s book “Apollo 8: the Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon“. You will hear the voices of Joe (@anbeirneach), and Luke (@thelukejkelly) as well.

In addition to our theme music by the talented Thomas O’Boyle, this episode featured a lot of music and sound effects, graciously made available for free by contributors at FreeSound.org, and Free Music Archive for use under a Creative Commons license, by attribution.

The pieces of music you heard under the text were “Swiftwind” and “Expectations” by Lee Rosevere, Kai Engel‘s “Interception“, “Holiday Gift” and “Brand New World” (the latter two from his Christmas album Sustains), and “The Healing” by Sergey Cheremisinov, all available under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licence. Tristan Longherin’s ambient sound “Spaceship Atmosphere 01” and hello_flowers’ “Hypnotic Heartbeat Atmosphere” were also used in this piece under Creative Commons Licenses. Thanks to those artists who make their work available for podcasters like us. The version of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” that is heard in the minisode was uploaded by Mystery Mammal and is in the public domain.

If you want to hear more archive audio from the mission, highlights have been made available on the Internet Archive here.

Earthrise

The famous photo “Earthrise” taken by Anders duirng Apollo 8

Luxembourg (S4.04)

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S04E04 Luxembourg Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Luxembourg, a small, landlocked European country at one of the central crossroads of Europe, bordered by Belgium, France and Germany.  Officially known as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the country has around 600,000 inhabitants and spans a total area of around 2,500 square kilometres or 1,000 square miles, making it roughly the same size as Hong Kong and about two thirds the size of the smallest US state – Rhode Island. The world’s only remaining Grand Duchy, it has been referred to throughout history as the ‘Gibraltar of the North’ for its strong fortifications and although that fortress has been occupied many times throughout its long history, since the 10th century it has always been a separate, if not autonomous, political entity. Today, the capital city of Luxembourg is one of three capitals of the European Union and is much better known for its financial prowess rather than its military fortifications. Most citizens here are at least trilingual, speaking French, German and Luxembourgish, and although it has one of the EU’s smallest populations, Luxembourg also has the fastest-growing population in Europe.

Location of .mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal}Luxembourg (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the European Union (green)

This episode, just like all of our recent ones, is supported by our Patreon backers. If you want to help out the show, you can help out by joining us over on www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast to give us whatever you can in terms of financial support and avail of all the lovely awards and extras that entitles you to. If you’re unable to support us financially, you can always leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Joe visited Luxembourg for us to do some research. Here are some photos from around the city and its fortifications:

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Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Ireland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella)

Some further reading:

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Western Sahara (S3.10)

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S03E10 – Western Sahara Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about Western Sahara, a disputed territory in North-West Africa. Home to roughly 550,000 people and bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east, Mauritania to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara is partially controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and partially Moroccan-occupied, and is often called ‘Africa’s last colony.’

Map of Western Sahara's position on the west coast of Africa, between Morocco and Mauritania

Map of Western Sahara’s position on the west coast of Africa, between Morocco and Mauritania

First colonised by Spain in 1885, the territory’s sovereignty has been fiercely disputed for decades, particularly since 1975, when Spain officially relinquished its claim over the region. Today it is alternately known as Morocco’s Southern Provinces or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, however, we’ll be referring to the region as Western Sahara throughout most of this episode. At roughly 260,000 square kilometers or 100,000 square miles, Western Sahara is about the size of the US state of Colorado or just slightly larger than the UK. The territory consists mostly of uninhabitable desert, and nearly 40% of its inhabitants live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara, while up to 100,000 people from the region are currently living in refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria.

Coat of arms of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims sovereignty over the territory
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Morocco, which claims Western Sahara as its “Southern Provinces”

This episode, the Finale of Season 3, is our first Patreon-nominated and voted-on episode. Thanks to Erik Tastepe, in particular, for suggesting this interesting location and to all of you who voted. Join us over on www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast to have a say in the direction of future seasons or get access to various awards.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Switzerland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella)

In this episode, we carried out an extensive interview with Nick Brooks (@WSaharaProject), a climate scientist, who has worked over many years in Western Sahara, co-directing a project with archaeologist Jo Clarke. This “Western Sahara Project” has led to a recently-published book on the topic (see here). Nick also has a very interesting blog about his time spent there, the politics of the situation and related topics called “Sand and Dust”. Beautiful photo galleries of all the archaeological discoveries from the research project in the desert have been shared on Flickr.

Here are a few things you may want to read/watch more about:

Natal, 1497 (Christmas Special)

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In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, we’re asking our listeners to fill out a quick survey to help up improve in 2019. It should only take a minute or two. If you have the time, please click the link below to help out.

Click here to take the listener survey.

In this minisode, Mark takes the lead to tell the story of the discovery of Natal by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day 1497, a story that has intrigued him since he first heard it as a child. The story has a festive aspect to it, and introduces a special guest.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to our listeners from Mark (@markboyle86), Joe (@anbeirneach) and Luke (@thelukejkelly)! We’ll see you in 2019.

In addition to our theme music by the talented Thomas O’Boyle, this episode featured a lot of music and sound effects, graciously made available for free by contributors at FreeSound.org, Looperman, Free Music Archive and Incompatech, for use under a Creative Commons license, by attribution.

The pieces of music you heard under the text were “Swiftwind” and “How I Used to See the Stars” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0.

The version of “Silent Night” we used was played by Kevin McLeod (Incompatech.com) and is licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Market sounds from Porto (user Digitopia), Waves in Barcelona (user Mmiron), “Wind, realistic, A” (user InspectorJ), “Wind through trees, 3b” (user spoonbender),  a thunder clap recorded in Pretoria, South Africa (user SoundLover16), Bird ambience in St Lucia Forest, South Africa (user EpicWizard), the sound of glass bells (user Idalize), Trumpets (user Harbour11), “Africa Pavillion Drum Jam” (user RTB45), People laughing, while playing volleyball (user andriala) and the sound of cannons being fired over the Hudson river (user nofeedbak), are all licensed from FreeSound under a Creative Commons by Attribution Licences; while the sound of a crowd in India (by Martin.Sadoux), “Wind and rain in Iceland (user Bashrambali), and the sound of Sleighbells (user Soundstack) were released without copyright.

The following tracks were taken from Looperman: sitar loop (by jensmuse), “Darbuka Dreaming 8” (by planetjazzbass) and “One for Joe (horns)” (by doudei).

Samples of Khoisan people speaking were taken from these YouTube videos of a man in Namibia talking about the use of grass, and a number of people in Botswana speaking to tourists about medicinal plant usage in their community.

The final song is a translation into Portuguese of “Feliz Navidad” by Corrossel (2012) – it can be found here.

Suriname (S3.07)

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S03E07 Suriname Audio

In this episode of season 3 of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about the Republic of Suriname, previously known as Dutch Guiana. Located on the northern coast of South America, this roughly square shaped nation borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the West and Brazil to the South. Modern Suriname is both one of the smallest and most ethnically diverse countries in South America, with up to 9 recognised languages and many different ethnic groups.

At just under 165,000 square kilometers (or 64,000 square miles), Suriname is roughly the size of the US state of Washington, or Tunisia. The country’s population is around 560,000, most of whom live in the capital city of Paramaribo, near the mouth of the river Suriname. The climate here is hot and humid year-round, as the country lies just a few degrees north of the equator. As a result, its southern portion is dominated by lush, dense rainforest.   

Originally established as a British colony, Suriname was eventually traded to the Dutch in 1667 for a little island in on the east coast of North America, then known as New Amsterdam. Since gaining its independence in 1975, Suriname has maintained close ties to The Netherlands, and is today the only sovereign nation outside Europe where Dutch is spoken by a majority of the population.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Switzerland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella)

    

Above is the current flag, the location of Suriname in South America, and the terrible old flag with five stars on a white background. Ethnic/linguistic diversity also needs to be mentioned up top. In Suriname, there are no fewer than twenty languages spoken. Most Surinamese are multilingual. In terms of numbers of speakers are the main languages in Suriname, successively the Dutch language, Sranan Tongo (Surinamese Creole), Sarnami (Surinamese Hindi), Javanese, and different Maroon languages (especially Saramaccan and Ndyuka) and Carriban languages. In recent years, English is being spoken more and more by the majority of the younger populace. 

Here are a few things you may want to read/watch more about:

Some nice Surinamese music we found:

A massive thanks to all of our patrons on Patreon who are supporting season 3. If you’d like to join them and see what rewards are available for supporters, and get a peek behind the curtain check out www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast. We really appreciate the support and input!