The History in Motion Podcast

In this episode of the History in Motion Podcast, we follow Elizabeth through the forests, settlements, waterways, storms, illnesses, and hardships of early Upper Canada. From Niagara and the founding of York to Castle Frank and the wilderness surrounding the tiny colonial capital, her writings offer a remarkable eyewitness account of life in the 1790s.

But Elizabeth saw Upper Canada from a position of privilege. So we also zoom out to explore the very different experiences of the people around her: Indigenous nations, Loyalists and American settlers, soldiers and labourers, Mennonites and other religious communities, and free and enslaved Black residents.

Through Elizabeth's eyes—and beyond them—we explore what Upper Canada actually looked like before it became Ontario, and the many different peoples who inhabited, built, contested, and transformed it.

Most Canadians know the name John Graves Simcoe, but far fewer know the broader story of the man behind it.

Before becoming the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Simcoe was a British officer in the American Revolution, commander of the Queen’s Rangers, a prisoner of war, politician, and ambitious imperial administrator.

In this episode, we trace Simcoe’s life from his early years and military career through his marriage, political ambitions, and his attempt to build Upper Canada into a distinctly British society. We explore his role in establishing government institutions, roads, settlements, military defences, and York—modern-day Toronto—along with his opposition to slavery, his relationships with Indigenous nations, and his complicated vision of hierarchy, loyalty, and empire.

Drawing on Simcoe’s own journals and correspondence, as well as the diaries of his wife Elizabeth, we look beyond the familiar name to understand the soldier, governor, and nation-builder who helped shape the early history of Ontario.

Joseph Brant lived at the crossroads of Indigenous politics, British imperial power, and the American Revolution. A Mohawk leader, warrior, and diplomat, Brant spent much of his life trying to protect the interests of his people as war and settlement transformed the world around them.

In this episode, we follow Brant from the Mohawk Valley to the battlefields of the American Revolution, through his alliance with Britain, and eventually to the Grand River in what is now Ontario. Along the way, we look at the difficult choices he faced, the divisions within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the complicated legacy he left behind.

John D. Rockefeller built Standard Oil into one of the most powerful business empires of the industrial age. We follow Rockefeller from his early days as a Cleveland bookkeeper to his relentless consolidation of the American oil industry. How did discipline, cost-cutting, railroad deals, and a desire for control turn a regional refiner into an industrial giant? And what happened when competitors, journalists, and the federal government pushed back?

Along the way, we explore the contradictions of a man known for both ruthless business practices and extraordinary philanthropy. Rockefeller’s life opens a window into the rise of big business, the changing power of corporations, and the forces reshaping America during the Gilded Age.

Andrew Carnegie rose from a poor Scottish immigrant to one of history's richest industrialists—and then gave almost his entire fortune away. We explore Carnegie Steel, the bloody Homestead Strike, the Gilded Age and his controversial Gospel of Wealth. Was Carnegie a visionary philanthropist—or the ultimate robber baron trying to solve the problems his own empire helped create?

In this episode of The History in Motion Podcast, we explore the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt — the ruthless transportation titan who helped connect America.

Vanderbilt did not invent the railroad or the steamboat, but he understood something just as powerful: whoever controls transportation controls the market. From his early days ferrying passengers across New York Harbor to his rise through steamboats, railroads, price wars, stock battles, and strategic consolidation, Vanderbilt became one of the most influential businessmen of the 19th century.

But his story is bigger than one man getting rich. Vanderbilt’s career helps explain how America became connected, how New York became a commercial powerhouse, and how private wealth began to shape the infrastructure the public depended on.

Was Vanderbilt a builder, a robber baron, or both?

How do we write the biography of someone whose voice survives only through the writings of those who conquered her?

Join us for an in-depth conversation with author Andrew Rowen as we examine the life and legacy of Anacaona, the Taíno ruler of Xaragua, during the pivotal years of 1498–1502. We discuss the strengths and limitations of Spanish chroniclers such as Las Casas and Oviedo, the contributions of modern archaeology, the political landscape of pre-contact Hispaniola, and the downfall of Christopher Columbus as governor.

This episode explores not only the history of Anacaona but also the broader challenge of recovering Indigenous perspectives from the colonial record.

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For more than five centuries, the story of Christopher Columbus has dominated the history of the Caribbean. But what if one of the most important figures of this era wasn't Columbus at all?

In this episode of The History in Motion Podcast, we explore the life of Anacaona, the Taíno ruler of Xaragua whose leadership, diplomacy, and resistance unfolded during one of the most consequential periods in the history of the Americas.

Conqueror, colonist, priest, and critic—Bartolomé de las Casas lived through the birth of Spain's American empire and became one of its most influential witnesses. Arriving in the Caribbean in 1502 as a young settler seeking opportunity, he participated in the colonial system before undergoing a profound transformation that would make him the most famous defender of Indigenous peoples in the New World.

In this episode, we explore the world that shaped Las Casas: the rise of Spain after the Reconquista, Columbus's voyages, the Taíno societies of the Caribbean, the encomienda system, and the devastating demographic collapse that followed European arrival. We examine his journey from colonist to reformer, his writings on conquest and Indigenous rights, the famous Valladolid Debate, and the lasting controversy surrounding his legacy.

Was Bartolomé de las Casas an early champion of human rights, a flawed reformer within empire, or something in between? Join us as we explore the life, ideas, and historical world of one of the most important—and controversial—figures of the Age of Exploration.

In this episode of The History in Motion Podcast, we explore the remarkable life of Frederick Douglass — a man born into slavery who escaped bondage and became one of the most powerful voices for freedom, equality, and human dignity in American history.

Douglass was more than an abolitionist. He was a writer, orator, reformer, statesman, and relentless critic of a nation that preached liberty while allowing slavery to survive. From his early life in Maryland to his escape north, from the publication of his groundbreaking autobiography to his role in shaping the moral and political fight against slavery, Douglass forced America to confront the gap between its ideals and its reality.

This episode examines how Frederick Douglass transformed personal suffering into public purpose — and why his words, warnings, and vision still resonate today.