South America – 80 Days: Recent Episodes
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Full shownotes at www.80dayspodcast.com/paraguay | Support: www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast
In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Paraguay, a small South American nation sometimes referred to as the “heart of South America”, bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. One of only two landlocked countries in South America, the other being Bolivia, Paraguay was home to a number of Native Indian groups, most prominently the Guarani, before being colonised by Spanish conquistadores in the early 1500s.
Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Ireland . (Theme music by Thomas O'Boyle @thatthomasfella) Guest: Prof. Nicole Eaton (Boston College)
Audio: Paraguay
https://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/80_Days-Paraguay.mp3 In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Paraguay, a small South American nation sometimes referred to as the “heart of South America”, bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. One of only two landlocked countries in South America, the other being Bolivia, Paraguay was home to a number of Native Indian groups, most prominently the Guarani, before being colonised by Spanish conquistadores in the early 1500s.
During the 17th century, Paraguay became home to a large number of Jesuit missions, where the native Guaraní people were settled and converted to Christianity. Following independence from Spain in the early 19th century, the country was involved in a number of regional conflicts and subject to the whims of numerous dictatorial governments. This period culminated in the disastrous Paraguayan War, which began in 1864 and resulted in the country losing up to half of its prewar population and up to a third of its territory. Since colonisation, the Guarani culture, language and traditions have remained integral to the country’s national identity, and the majority of modern day Paraguayans are mestizo, descending from a mix of settlers and Guarani. The country has around seven million inhabitants today, and has a land area of around 400,000 sq km or 150,000 sq miles, comparable in size to Norway and slightly smaller than the US state of California. Despite a history of poverty and political repression, Paraguay often ranks as the “world’s happiest place” based on global polling data.
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.
Some further reading:
- Do your homework if you haven’t already and check out our Uruguay episode from way back in season 2.
- Read more on the Jasuka Venda discovery of human habitation dating to 5,000 years, displaying “footprint style rock art”
- More on the indigenous groups, including the Payaguá (whence the name Paraguay), Guaycurú, M’bayá, Abipón, and Chiriguano.
- Historian Adalberto Lopez has written extensively on this region. His book on the The Revolt of the Comuñeros, 1721–1735 can be found here.
- For more on the life of the Guarani and how their traditions have persisted through to the modern day, check out this video, which Joe mentions toward the end of this episode.
- The trailer for period film The Mission, in all its glory, can be found on YouTube.
- The UNESCO World Heritage website has more on the Jesuit Missions of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue.
- The Library of Congress also has a wealth of info on Paraguay which can be found here.
- Wikipedia has a whole article dedicated to the unique Paraguayan Flag.
- This fascinating video shows how the Paraguayan War played out day by day using map visualisations.
- Military Wiki also has an extensive article on Francisco Solano Lopez, who is discussed at length in this episode.
- Historian Leslie Bethell has written a paper on the Paraguayan War which can be found here.
- Thomas L Whigham’s book The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct, quoted in this episode, is also available in its entirety online is here.
- Eliza Lynch has an extensive page over on Wikipedia.
- The two 150th anniversary articles referenced on the impact of the war on Paraguay are available from The Economist and The Guardian.
- The New York Times has an article on the 1887 Nueva Germania colony that Joe speaks about in his second section.
- TIME has a piece on the Nazi outposts in San Bernadino that are discussed in this episode, as does OZY.
- The US Library of Congress has a short paper on Paraguay and WWII.
- Read more on Paraguay’s hydropower capabilities at hydropower.org.
- José Felix Estigarribia, who Mark discusses in this episode, is profiled here at Britannica.
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The graphic below gives an interesting indication of the plurality of languages spoken in Paraguay in the modern day.
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For more on food, check out Culture Trip for 6 Traditional Foods You Have to Try in Paraguay
Some music by composers from in and around this region include:
- Sanapana music from the Gran Chaco tribe, taken from this video.
- The polka song, written in Guarani by Emiliano Fernandez about the Chaco War and performed by Romón Vargas Colman, can be found here.
- We also include some Paraguayan Harp in this episode, which you can find more of here.
- For a selection of music from Augustin Barrios, one of Paraguay’s most famous musicians, click here.
Full shownotes at www.80dayspodcast.com/tierra-del-fuego | Support: www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast |
In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Tierra Del Fuego, an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. Tierra Del Fuego, which translates to Land of Fire, consists of a main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, often called simply Tierra del Fuego or Isla Grande, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of smaller islands.
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)
Full shownotes at www.80dayspodcast.com/trinidad-and-tobago | Support: www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast |
In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about Trinidad & Tobago, a twin island nation, located just off the northern coast of the South American mainland, around 11 kilometres or 7 miles from Venezuela. It is the southernmost of the West Indies island group, and today is home to around 1.3 million people.
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)
Full shownotes: https://80dayspodcast.com/suriname | Support us on http://patreon.com/80dayspodcast |
This episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast is 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)
In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about Uruguay, a small but prosperous country sandwiched between two massive South American powerhouses, Brazil and Argentina. Widely considered one of the most politically stable and progressive countries in Latin America, Uruguay is home to just over 3.5 Million people and almost ten times as many sheep.
By land mass, it is the second-smallest nation in the region. After a four-way struggle between Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay declared its independence in 1825. The country then stabilised until the 1950s, when political turmoil ensued. In more recent years, Uruguay escaped the recession that spread throughout South America in the early 2000s, and has since emerged as a bastion of democracy, progressive policies and free speech.
Your hosts 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). Full show notes on our website: https://80dayspodcast.com/2017/05/29/uruguay/
Topic list: [02:12] Intro - Homer Simpson and trampy birds [08:30] Horny dirty Europeans and laissez faire gauchoing [15:00] The inevitable British interest [18:08] Artigas uncontemplative - not a calm guy [27:23] If you liked Artigas you'll love many endless wars forever [33:46] Colorados vs Blancos - mob on mob violence [40:39] Flores - Warlords don't like peace, shoot your gauchos [49:30] Jose Batlle - Mr 20th Century Uruguay [57:54] WW2 - neutral, until it's over and then they're totally against Hitler [1:06:08] Old timey radio show on Uruguay... is a bit dismissive of poor women [1:14:46] Pacheqism - NOT to be confused with pacifism, too much torture for that [1:16:30] Alive - plane crash and things only get worse from there [1:23:28] South America in the 80s, how do you think it's gonna go - "Politics is finished, I'm the leader." [1:30:38] Modern day - cannabis, football, music and good times
Welcome to our second episode in season 2 of 80 Days: an exploration podcast. Today we will be exploring the fascinating history and culture of Easter Island.
For full show notes and links, click the link below - https://80dayspodcast.com/2017/04/16/easter-island
Named by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter Sunday in 1722, the island is best known for the 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were built by the early Rapa Nui people. The island is one of the most isolated in the world, lying more than 1,289 miles from its nearest inhabited neighbour, and almost 2,200 miles from the closest continental point, in Chile. The tiny volcanic island consists of just 163.6 km2 or 63.2 sq mi, making it roughly twice the size of Manhattan. The native population, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, disease, population collapse, civil war, slave raids and colonial power struggles, and the island was most recently annexed by Chile in 1888. Today, Easter Island is home to around 6,000 people, the majority of whom are descended from the original Rapa Nui settlers.
Topic list [01:20] Intro - a seriously isolated island [05:17] Dr Mara Mulrooney - on polynesian explorers [14:42] The mystery - where did all the people go? [18:08] Moai - giant stone heads [27:50] The other explanations for the mystery [36:53] "Discovery" - Roggeveen, Dutch idiot [42:32] Was there a Civil War...? [46:30] Birdman Cult [53:38] Catholics, slavery, smallpox and Joseph Byrne [1:07:44] Dutrou Bornier - A bad man [1:13:55] Salmond and his sheep and Chile takes over [1:21:11] Mana and the Routledge archaeological expedition [1:29:23] Thor Heyerdahl expedition [1:32:15] Pinochet's law is like Pinochet's love [1:37:07] Modern day
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)
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