80 Days: An Exploration Podcast

By Luke Kelly, Joe Byrne, Mark BoyleSociety & Culture History Places & Travel

80 Days: An Exploration Podcast episodes

August 28, 2016Bhutan (S1.04)
Audio: S1E04 Bhutan
In this episode of 80 Days we’ll be talking about Bhutan a small, landlocked Asian nation with one of the best flags you’ll ever see. Bhutan is a country of less than a million people, bordered by the Tibetan region of China to the North and India pretty much everywhere else. Exploring Bhutan for you are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Hong Kong, the UK and Switzerland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)
http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/S01E04Bhutan.mp3
It’s the last of the Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms, which unlike Tibet and Sikkim has retained its independence. Also known as , the “Land of the Thunder Dragon” due to the prevalence of the Drukpa Lineage school of Buddhism (aka the Dragon People). Bhutan is a strongly Bhuddist country, which remained and cut off from the outside world for much of its history. It is one of only a few countries to have been independent throughout its entire history, never conquered, occupied, or governed by an outside power. Since opening its borders to tourists in the 1970s, Bhutan has embraced democracy and now it famously promotes the concept of gross national happiness which is reflected in the Bhutan Gross National Happiness Index.
Paro Taktsang/Tiger’s Nest (by Arian Zwegers)
Recommended reading/listening
History of Bhutan by Dr Lopen Karma Phuntsho (Random House 2013) – a very comprehensive history
An article about archaeology in Bhutan, from the 2013 Annual Report of SLSA, gives a good insight into the early history of the region: “Archaeology in the Kingdom of Bhutan: Exploring the Country’s Prehistory” (P. Fux, C. Walser, N. Tshering)
Paro Taktsang: The Breathtaking Himalayan Cloud Monastery (Bryan Hill, 2015, Ancient Origins) tells the story of Guru Rinpoche/Padmasambhava, an important figure in the nation’s religious history and the stunning monastery (pictured above) associated with him
Drukpa Kunley was a “divine madman” and beloved “patron saint” of Bhutan, who wielded a euphemistic “flaming thunderbolt” is worth reading more about – he is an unexpected lewd and drunken hero in a tradition often seen as mild-mannered and serene
Tibet, Buddhism and Bhutan – podcast by r/askhistorians dealing with the era where the Zhabdrung came to Bhutan from Tibet in the 1600s, unifying the country
National Geographic article including photographs of the coronation of the first Dragon King, Ugyen Wangchuck, taken in 1907 by British colonial administrator John Claude White, who was based in Sikkim at the time, accompanied by his accounts of the people, place and culture he saw
Asia’s Monarchies: Land of the Thunder Dragon is a 2010 documentary produced by Off the Fence which gives the history of the Wangchuck Dynasty of Druk Gyalpo (Dragon Kings) from Ugyen Wangchuck to the current king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
Is Bhutan On to Something with Gross National Happiness – a podcast from Stuff You Should Know discussing Bhutan’s unique political indicator in a bit more detail
When TV Came to Bhutan – BBC Witness program about the change that came in 1999 when TV was introduced to the kingdom, discussing the effects with people who remember it
Fast Forward into Trouble – 2003 article in The Guardian about introduction of TV and changes to the society; this article really emphasises increases in crime
We mentioned how in the post-internet Bhutan, some Buddhist teachers now have a Facebook presence to exist in the modern world – one example is Venerable Lhalung Sungtrul Rinpoche, the current incarnation of the Terton Pema Lingpa (an associate of Guru Rinpoche)
For those who can read German, you can delve a little deeper into the unexpected, yet geographically logical, connections between landlocked mountainous countries – Switzerland and Bhutan, best exemplified by Fritz Maurer’s Swiss cheese factory and brewery in the Himalayas. Jill Worrell of the NZ Herald also did a brief profile of Maurer, the first cheesemaker in 2007 (in English)
Bhutan is no Shangri-La by Vidhyapati Mishra, writing in the New York Times writing about the experiences of the ethnic Nepali Lhotshampa refugees who were forced out of Bhutan in the 1990s
Bhutan charms, but Shangri-La is no paradise by Belinda Goldsmith (Reuters, 2012): an article about the evolving tourism industry since the country has opened up to foreigners
This Country Isn’t Just Carbon Neutral – It’s Carbon Negative – a TED talk by Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay; as well as interesting details about Bhutan’s environmental policies, Tobgay gives insight into how modern Bhutan sees its place in the world and the importance of its culture and traditions
Music links: Endless Song of Bhutan: Thrung thrung karmoi lu; and a selection of Tibetan and Bhutanese music from Traditional Music Channel
80 Days: An Exploration Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://80dayspodcast.com/
1 hr 11 min
August 22, 2016Panama (S1.03)
Audio: S1E03 Panama
In this week’s episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Panama, a central American nation most famous its canal that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Located strategically on the tiny isthmus between Central and South America, control of this valuable trade route has been competed for by multiple powers throughout its fascinating history. The country is dominated by a central spine of mountains and hills that forms the continental divide. Today, Panama is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the east, the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital, Panama City, is home to nearly half of the country’s 3.9 million people. If you’re unfamiliar with the geography, just imagine the two continents of Central and South America hanging onto one another by a thread – Panama is that thread.
Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)
Please leave us a review on iTunes, connect with us on Facebook or Twitter or drop us an email if there’s anything you’d like to say.
http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e03Panama.mp3
Some things you might want to read/listen more about:
Archaeological findings at various sites are described in the National Geographic article “‘Golden Chief’ Tomb Treasure Yields Clues to Unnamed Civilisation” by James Owen
The following video on YouTube shows the Ngobe Balseria traditions, including the sport which involves men throwing sticks at the legs of other men, while dressed in women’s clothing:
Some of the early colonists of significance: Rodrigo de Bastidas, who founded the first European settlement on the American mainland; Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who crossed the isthmus.
“The Cimarrons of Sixteenth Century Panama“, an article by Ruth Pike (The Americas, 2007, vol. 64, no. 2, DOI: 10.1353/tam.2007.0161) gives a lot of detail on rebellions by African and African-descended escaped slaves in Panama, inlcuding “el rey negro” Bayano
We mentioned piracy a few times, as in important aspect of trade in the area in the early colonial period. Some well-known pirates who had an impact on Panama were Sir Francis Drake who sacked Nomre de Dios on the Carribean coast of Panama (1572) and the Welsh privateer Captain Henry Morgan who marched across the isthmus and sacked Panama City in 1713. The ruins of the old city are still there and the world remembers Captian Morgan today mostly for the brand of rum named after him!
BBC History has an article on “The Darien Venture” by Dr Mike Ibeji, describing the disasterous exploits of the Company of Scotland expedition, planned by William Paterson, bankrupting much of the country in the process
Richard Halliburton holds the Guinness World Record (from 1928) for lowest toll paid to pass through the Canal due to his low tonnage
The winding history of the Canal construction from the initial Frech attempt by Ferdinand de Lesseps to the intervention of US President Theodore Roosevelt (reknowned for his ‘robust masulinity’) is summarised here (PBS)
This article from PBS’s American Experience website desribes the contributions of militarty doctor William Gorgas to fighting yellow fever and malaria in the Isthmus of Panama as part of the canal works (and essential to its completion)
Notable political figures in Panama’s 20th century history: frequent president and fascist-sympathiser Arnulfo Arias, de facto leader and Maximim Leader of the Panamanian Revolution Brigadier General Omar Torrijos (if you get to make up your own title, make it a good one)
The Stuff You Should Know Podcast has an episode on “How the Panama Canal Works“, which is worth a listen
Trans-Americas Journey’s channel on YouTube has an accelerated video of the entire transit through the Canal, while this timelapse video shows a day of traffic through the Miraflores Locks – they are incredible and the only way to get a sense of the scale of the Canal
Some of the traditional music used in the episode comes from here.
The gruesome torture and murder of Manuel Noreiga’s opponent, nationalist Hugo Spadfora, is detailed in In The Time of Tyrants by R. M. Koster and other places – it is exemplary of the brutality of his regime
The full playlist played to force dictator Manuel Noreiga out of the Papal Nunicature during Operation Just Cause is detailed in the post-operational report, archived in George Washington University’s National Security Archive; an account of the event on the blog No Fear of the Future
Website Fun-With-Words has a history of Panama’s palindromes, in particular: “A Man, a Plan, a Canal – Panama“
“Fiesta” by Alfredito Payne is a cool funky Panamanian song
80 Days: An Exploration Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://80dayspodcast.com/
1 hr 15 min
August 15, 2016Nauru (S1.02)
Audio: S1E02 Nauru
http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e02Nauru.mp3
In this week’s episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Nauru, a small isolated island nation in the middle of the Pacific, only 60 km from the equator and about 3,000 km from Australia, the country it is largely a dependent of. It’s a rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags tale of an island paradise, once called Pleasant Island, its disastrous encounters with colonialism and brutal treatment in World War 2. The discovery of rich phosphate deposits led to it briefly being the wealthiest nation per capita for a time, but strip-mining and poor administration left the country where it is today – always in the news for the wrong reasons. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)
Note: We had previously said that we would broadcast our episode on Panama this week, but once again Nauru was in the news, after the release of the “Nauru files” giving details of the scale of human rights abuses in the migrant detention centres the island hosts on behalf of the Australian government. We thought that this episode would give a good background on a country you might be reading a lot about in the next few weeks. This episode was recorded before the files were released, but we do discuss the issues that were highlighted in those reports.
Some things you might want to read/listen more about:
Early Nauruan practice of aquaculture – i.e. catching the fries of milkfish/ibiya in the surf and raising them to adulthood in brackish pools inland. This article (Spennemann, 2002) also describes the early history of Nauru and its first encounter with European whaler John Fearn
The 10-year long Nauruan Tribal War is summarised in an article on Military History Now – it resulted in the death of about 500 people, nearly a third of the island’s population
Nauru: A Cautionary Tale, an essay by Vlad Sokhin in World Policy Journal discusses the squandering of the phosphate resources of the island and also features some great photos from the smallest republic in the world
S. E. Morrison’s book History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944 (Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2001) describes the operations in and around Nauru and features the following comments on the then-occupied island:
But, the more Nauru was studied, the less anyone liked the idea of assaulting it. For Nauru is a solid island with no harbor or lagoon, shaped like a hat with a narrow brim of coastal plain where the enemy had built his airfield, and a crown where he had mounted coast defense artillery. The hilly interior was full of holes and caves where phosphate rock had been excavated – just the sort of terrain that the Japanese liked for defensive operations
The Japanese occupation of Nauru and deportation of the native people to Truk Island is described on Wikipedia
Radio show This American Life did an episode, including stories from Nauru a few years ago: “The Middle of Nowhere“, emphasising its role in money laundering and how it keeps appearing as a footnote in major world events
Australian Radio National’s Earshot has discussed the country’s “bizarre” story
“Fertiliser island scents musical success: First Night: Leonardo” by David Lister in The Independent describes the opening night of Leonardo the Musical: A Portrait of Love, co-written by Duke Minks
“Paradise Well and Truly Lost” in The Economist deals with all of Nauru’s problems and how it all went wrong, including how it can be considered a test case for understanding widespread diabetes
The music from the break can be found on YouTube
On a slightly lighter note… We are very fond of the names of people from Nauru, such as inaugural President Hammer deRoburt, Duke Minks (the musical guy), Kelly Emiu (chief secretary to the government who was involved in the musical happening) and current President Baron Waqa. And finally, video evidence that Naruans are quite good at powerlifting:
Next week’s episode will be more cheerful, we promise.
80 Days: An Exploration Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://80dayspodcast.com/
49 min
July 31, 2016Namibia (S1.01)
Audio: Namibia
In this week’s first episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Namibia, a large African nation, sharing its southern border with South Africa and with an Atlantic coastline of almost 1,000 miles, known as the ‘Skeleton Coast’. Major features include the Namib Desert, considered to be the oldest desert in the world and the famous Fish River Canyon. The country is roughly similar in size to Pakistan bigger than France or Germany and one of the driest places on earth. Its history includes colonisation by Germany and South Africa, with independence coming in the 1990s. Today it is a stable and developing young democracy. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Music by Thomas O’Boyle)
http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e01Namibia.mp3
Namibia’s history spans over many many centuries and is defined by the movement of, and conflict between, various ethnic, national and colonial groups, starting with the San (bushmen), Khoikhoi pastoral groups such as the Nama, the Herero and Owambo and later the Oorlam – who were descended from Dutch settlers, Africans, and Malaysians among others.
Engraving of Jonker Afrikaner, Kaptein of the Orlam Nation (d. 1861)
Schwerinsburg Castle in Windhoek from the German colonial period (Wikpedia)
Namibia became a German colony (German South West Africa) during the “Scramble for Africa” periodof European colonisation in the 1800s and was the location of what became known as the first genocide of the 20th century with up to 80% of the Nama and Herero people dying through violence, being driven to starvation in the desert or death in concentration camps over a short period. This put an end to the uprising led by Samuel Maharero and Hendrik Witbooi.

“My hunting grounds have become like a waterless land since he who settled here treats me in such an arrogant manner. And now where may we live – we shall go forth and search”
-Folk song, commenting on German treatment of the native population
During World War 1, South Africa occupied Namibia and consequently annexed the territory, ruling it essentially as a province despite international op
position and demands for self-determination; as a result Namibia experiences the discriminatory features of the apartheid system. Groups including SWAPO led miliary opposition to South Africa from the mid 1950s, eventually leading to independence in 1990.
In comparison to other countries in the region, with similar history of a small population of colonial descendants owning the majority of the property, Namibia has managed the transition to majority rule largely peacefully, pursuing incremental change in land ownership and is widely considered a very stable country nowadays. Compared to neighbouring countries, Namibia has a large degree of media freedom, for instance; over the past years, the country usually ranked in the upper quarter of the Press Freedom Index being on par with Canada and the best-positioned African country. Recent president Pohamba was awarded the Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Prize for his behaviour in office and willingness to leave power at the end of his constitutionally mandated term:
“During the decade of Hifikepunye Pohamba’s Presidency, Namibia’s reputation has been cemented as a well-governed, stable and inclusive democracy with strong media freedom and respect for human rights.”
The country also has the only constitution in the world that explicitly protects the environment and Namibia is very committed to conservationism, with 42% of the land area under some form of conservation control.
Some sources we consulted and recommend:
Colonialism: a case study- Namibia – documentary film by Journal Films Inc. and published by the United Nations in 1975
Namibian memories- the Garda Síochána’s first UN Mission: an article on the Irish Police History website about their involvement in UN peacekeeping activities in 1989
Endless Horizons – the YouTube account of the Namibian tourist board has various videos giving a real sense of the diversity of the landscape
In Namibia, Conservation and Tourism Intersect – NewYork Times article by Remy Scalza on Conservancies and Environmental Tourism in Namibia
Outro music clip: No Hard Feelings by Mr Rhee.
Some things that you might want to read further about:
“Apollo 11” Cave in the ||Karas region, where some of the oldest examples of portable prehistoric art have been discovered
The Herero and Namaqua genocide, labelled the “first genocide of the 20th century” was a harrowing period in Namibian history, resulting in the death of huge proportions of these peoples at the hands of German forces under Lothar von Trotha
Bondelswarts Affair – 1917 – a controversial incident in the period when South African was given the League of Nations mandate for the former German colony. An uprising occurred in opposition to a tax on dogs, as a result, hundreds of Khoi-khoi people were killed
Trailer for The Gods Must be Crazy, starring Namibian San actor N!xau ǂToma
80 Days: An Exploration Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://80dayspodcast.com/
41 min
July 28, 2016 Introduction
Episode Zero
http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e00_Introduction.mp3
Welcome to 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast. This podcast is brought to you by three history and geography nerds in an internet-powered balloon. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly (in Hong Kong), Mark Boyle @markboyle86 (in the UK) and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach (in Switzerland). Each episode explores a little known country, city, territory or settlement from around the world.
This is an introductory episode, explaining who we are, the origins and structure of the podcast. We will release episodes once a fortnight in seasons of ten episodes each. Please subscribe to get the latest episodes as they come out.
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
80 Days: An Exploration Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://80dayspodcast.com/
15 min

About 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast

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80 Days is a podcast dedicated to exploring little-known countries, territories settlements and cities around the world. We're part history podcast, part geography podcast and part ramble.