Hawaii (S5.09)

June 7, 2022June 7, 2022 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Hawaii, and specifically the Big Island of Hawaii. Which is also called Hawaii.

Hawaii is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, which make up the US state of Hawaii. The island makes up 63% of the archipelago’s landmass, but only 13% of its total population. The island is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the two main islands of New Zealand. With a total area of around 10,000 km2 (or 4,000 square miles), Hawaii is similar in size to the islands of Puerto Rico or Cyprus, or our old friend Gambia.

With a rich history and culture, Hawaii and its sister islands flourished as ancient societies, developing unique religions and customs, that is until the arrival of one Captain James Cook. In 1779 the famous explorer made his second and final landing here, and would not make it off the island alive. By the end of the century, the islands came under the protection of the British Crown, and missionaries soon followed, changing island life forever. The 1800s brought modern developments and the consolidation of the Kingdom of Hawaii, but ended in the annexation of the territory by the United States, a controversial episode to this day. In 1959, Hawaii becomes the 50th State, now famous for tourism, spam and pineapples. Hawaii Island, also known simply as The Big Island, is today home to around 185,000 people, and due to ongoing volcanic activity, Hawaii is the only US state that is still growing.

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 Kuʻu Kauanoe one of the hosts of the Offshore Podcast from Honolulu Civil Beat, for speaking to us for this episode – you will hear clips from her interview throughout.

The city of Hilo in 1907

Some further reading material is provided below:

A great website for all things Big Island is Love Big Island, and is particularly useful for tourists wishing to visit, but also helped us with plenty of history.
Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past By Kanalu G. Terry Young is available on Google Books.
For more on the Kapu system, see storymaps.com
Hawaii: The Aloha State By Robin Doak has a lot more on the process of annexation, which you can find on Google Books.
The Eisenhower Library has more on Hawaii’s journey to statehood, which you can find here.
Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent article on Liliʻuokalani, the Last Queen of Hawaiʻi.
The Stuff You Should Know episode on the annexation is available here. Thanks, Josh and Chuck!
Richard B Frank’s article in TIME, headlined How Hawaii’s Japanese Population Was Spared Internment During World War II was a key source for that section of the show.
For more on the totally not supervillian Starfish Prime, you can check out this article in Discover Magazine.
Hawaii Beef also has lots of info on cattle farming on the islands.
Finally, the season of the Offshore Podcast on race relations in Hawaii can be found here. It’s definitely worth a listen.

green-sand-beach-hawaii-pictures — Check out that green sand!

The music used in this episode is as follows:

George Ku Trio – Na Alii
Hawaiian Kahiko Hula: Sonny Ching “O Ke Ahi Lonomakua”
HOLO HOLO KAA Hawaiian Song Music 1949
Hawaiian War Chant – Ames Brothers

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

Nepal (S4.08)

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

S04E08 Nepal Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Nepal, a small, landlocked country in South Asia. Nepal borders China in the north, India in the south, east and west, and Bhutan is separated from it by the Indian state of Sikkim. Home to eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, this small nation has an expansive and complex history, and was only declared a republic in 2008.

Today Nepal is home to over 28 million people, and has a total land area of around 147,000 square kilometres or 56,000 miles, making it roughly the size of Greece, or the US state of New York. Aside from Everest, Nepal is famous for its strong military, exemplified by the Ghurkas, who played an important role in both world wars, as well as one of the world’s most recognisable flags.

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.

Parliament house of Nepal, Kathmandu – Sujitabh Chaudhary

sebastian-pena-lambarri-Wj9ELwGXa6c-unsplash

Namche Bazaar, Nepal – Sebastian Pena Lambarri

You can find more on the state flag of Ohio, which we discuss in this episode, here on Wikipedia.

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). We’d also like to thank Professor Lamont Lindstrom for his contribution to this episode. You can find more about him here.

Some further reading:

John Green and Crash Course History have a video focused on the Indus Valey Civilisation, which you can find here.
Discover Magazine also has an article entitled “Genetic Study Suggests South Asians Today Descend from Indus Valley Civilization“, which is worth a look.
The music track featured in our first break back be found here on YouTube.
You can also read more on the history of the Rajputs in Nepal here on Wikipedia.
Razen Manandhar has written an extensive article on Newar Buddhism on Medium.
The full text of John Whelpton’s A History of Nepal is available here.
A History of Nepal’s Royal Family and Its Catastrophe is reviewed here by the New York Times.
The 1814-1816 war between Nepal and the East India Company is detailed in this article on the New World Encyclopedia.
Record Nepal‘s article “Why did the British not colonize Nepal?” is a fascinating and in-depth read.
Large parts of T. Louise Brown’s The Challenge to Democracy in Nepal are available for free on Google Books.
Global Security has a lengthy article on the 1855 war between Nepal and Tibet
The Rising Nepal‘s article on Jung Bahadur Rana’s Foreign Policy is worth a look.
For more on Rana’s rise and the Kot Massacre, see the Library of Congress’ Nepal and Bhutan Country Study.
The Revolution of 1950/51 by Karl-Heinz Kraemer can be found on nepalresearch.com.
You can also read more about the Flag of Nepal on Wikipedia.
A timeline of events in the Nepali Civil War can be found here on Reuters.
An extensive article on the war by the London School of Economics can also be found here.
Monthly Review published a letter from Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the 2001 Palace Massacre here.

Music that might interest listeners:

Nepal National Anthem – Sayaun Thunga Phool Ka
Traditional Music of Nepal

Lesotho (S3.08)

February 4, 2019March 4, 2019 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

S03E08 Lesotho Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about the Kingdom of Lesotho, previously the British Crown Colony of Basutoland. This small African country is entirely surrounded by South Africa, making it one of only three nations to be contained entirely within another country’s borders. Lesotho is also one of the highest countries in the world, standing an average of 1500 metres above sea level, making it the fifth highest nation in the world by average elevation. Lesotho has a population of around 2 million, and its capital and largest city is Maseru.

At around 30,000 square kilometres, the country is roughly the size of Belgium or the US state of Hawaii. Its combination of high altitude and a relatively cool climate results in it being free of tropical diseases. Rainfall is highly variable, farming is difficult and the country has few natural resources. Sesotho is the national language, but English is the language of business, government and education.

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 location of Lesotho, contained entirely within South Africa.

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

Lesotho is one of the very few places in Southern Africa that has its own ski resort. The Atlantic has written a profile about this resort, which is named Afriski.
SA History provides an exhaustive rundown of the rise of Shaka Zulu and his people, which countered the rise of Moshoeshoe in Lesotho.
Historical Dictionary of Lesotho by S. Rosenberg and R. F. Weisfelder
We spoke a lot about coups toward the end of this month’s episode. You can find the Wikipedia page we mentioned here.
Did you know that Lesotho was the inspiration for Black Panther‘s fictional nation of Wakanda? Director Ryan Coogler has spoken about how he took inspiration from the tiny mountain nation that resisted Boers and Zulus in an interview with Vulture.
“The History of the Basotho traditional blankets” and their influence on Black Panther (The Blanket Wrap website)
We spoke at length about the father of the nation, Moshoeshoe (and his uncanny resemblance to Morgan Freeman) in this episode. You can find out more about him on Brittanica.

Contrast this Western-style appearance with his description in “The Basutos: the mountaineers and their country” (Sir Godfrey Lagden, 1909)
The various Basotho-Free State wars are described here
“Basutoland: Its Legends and Customs” (Minnie Martin, 1903)
Contemporary accounts of Morosi’s rebellion
Toward the end of the episode we spoke about South Africa’s reliance on water from Lesotho. In fact, it Lesotho’s water has earned the nickname ‘white gold’ due to its importance to the economy. The BBC has written a piece about this ‘white gold’ and the crucial role it plays in Lesotho’s development.
Listen too to the NPR Planet Money podcast on Lesotho’s water resources
Power in Colonial Africa by Elizabeth A. Eldredge, which is quoted in this episode, is available for free online here.
Africa Past & Present Podcast episode “Development Dreams in in Lesotho” interviews Jonn-Arni Flessner
New York Times articles from 1994 and 1998 about various incidents of unrest in the country, the latter about the wisdom of the Mandela government’s intervention
The interview with ousted PM Thomas Thabane after the 2014 coup can be found here on YouTube.
The botched South African raid into Lesotho under the guise of peacekeeping was profiled in the Sept 27, 1998 edition of the New York Times, which can be found via their archives here.
If you, like us, are a fan of flags, you can find more info on how Lesotho’s flag came to be on Wikipedia.
Useful Sesotho phrases (from Omniglot)

Some nice music (and characteristic dancing, in some cases) we found:

Traditional Basotho song by Lesotho men
Basotho women performing a traditional song and dance
Mamello Rabochene – “Kajeno Re Batho” – “Today We Are People”: Gospel song
“Mahlanya le Mohoke” – Itsamaele
“Il Cammino della Musica” documentary series visits Lesotho and talks with musicians about instruments and styles used in the Kingdom
We also used a song from Lee Rosevere, available under creative commons license 3.0 by attribution

Thanks to Seán Lyons for his interview about his time working in Lesotho with Irish NGO Action Lesotho. A massive thanks too 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!