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Sir Francis Drake died whilst on a campaign attacking Portobelo Bay in Panama, from his base a little further east along the coast at Nombre de Dios. It was not the fighting that killed him but dysentery (ironically both places are in the modern day Province of Colón.) To prevent the Spanish from finding his body (and perhaps also to keep what little was left intact in one piece - and to lock in the putrid and infectious remains) he was buried at sea in a lead lined coffin; which is still undiscovered to this day.
So before WW1, Cameroon was a german colony. Post WW1, like other German colonies, Cameroon was claimed by other countries. Namibia and the part of Tanzania I think were too.
Anyhow Cameroon was split into 2 and there was a British Cameroon and a French Cameroon. So there really was 2 Cameroons. After independence part of the English Cameroon ended up in Nigeria I think, there is certainly still disputed land between Nigeria and Cameroon. The French Cameroon basically became Cameroon.
Today Cameroon is split 80:20 between English speaking Cameroon and French speaking Cameroon, the French part being larger.
When I visited I got hold of a school history book that talked about "The English problem" - namely what to do with the English speaking part.
Last gem from the book - was that the English empire was based on the 3 Gs. God (missionaries) Gold (Theft of the wealth) and Glory (for the monarch)
Not saying the above it 100% accurate, but is as taught in Cameroonian schools today.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:05 - Mar 29 by WeWereZombies
Sir Francis Drake died whilst on a campaign attacking Portobelo Bay in Panama, from his base a little further east along the coast at Nombre de Dios. It was not the fighting that killed him but dysentery (ironically both places are in the modern day Province of Colón.) To prevent the Spanish from finding his body (and perhaps also to keep what little was left intact in one piece - and to lock in the putrid and infectious remains) he was buried at sea in a lead lined coffin; which is still undiscovered to this day.
But ignore that, I wasn't paying attention to the quotes around 'secret', so...
Francis Barber was a former slave who became one of Doctor Johnson's main helpers as he compiled the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language (I am fairly sure that when I did the visit to 17 Gough Square it was stated that he was something like the foreman of those working on compiling Johnson's many and varied notes into a publication), so valued was Barber that Johnson left a considerable fortune to Barber on the latter's death:
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:20 - Mar 29 by bluelagos
The basis of the phrase "The Cameroons"
So before WW1, Cameroon was a german colony. Post WW1, like other German colonies, Cameroon was claimed by other countries. Namibia and the part of Tanzania I think were too.
Anyhow Cameroon was split into 2 and there was a British Cameroon and a French Cameroon. So there really was 2 Cameroons. After independence part of the English Cameroon ended up in Nigeria I think, there is certainly still disputed land between Nigeria and Cameroon. The French Cameroon basically became Cameroon.
Today Cameroon is split 80:20 between English speaking Cameroon and French speaking Cameroon, the French part being larger.
When I visited I got hold of a school history book that talked about "The English problem" - namely what to do with the English speaking part.
Last gem from the book - was that the English empire was based on the 3 Gs. God (missionaries) Gold (Theft of the wealth) and Glory (for the monarch)
Not saying the above it 100% accurate, but is as taught in Cameroonian schools today.
Another one was all around the civil war in Liberia and the role of Prince Johnson.
This is barely believable, but google it and it's all as written.
During the civil war there were various factions in a bit of race for the capital Monrovia. Get there first, and you are in charge. Prince Johnson had one group and Charles Taylor another.
The first to Monrovia was Prince Johnson who captured Doe - the sitting president. He caught him and then videoed himself torturing Doe and mutilating him before killing him. The video was distributed as a kind of trophy "I am the man, I'm in charge". You can find it on youtube but I won't link it as it is as described.
Later on Charles Taylor's rebels arrive and PJ fleas Liberia to live in Nigeria. He alleges to find god and after the war ends and Liberia returns to peace, Prince Johnson returns. He then decides to stand for election and wins a senator seat in Nimba county. Another election on, and his party holds the balance of power and he is the king maker in the Liberian parliament.
So this guy goes from rebel leader who tortured to death a president to an elected senator who decides who is next president.
Try getting your head round that. I read up on this in the rather excellent "Mask of Anarchy". And I later discovered that my noisy neighbour (for a year) was Doe's sibling or daughter, can't remember which it was. Fair to say I didn't complain about the noise given how well connected these guys were.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:20 - Mar 29 by bluelagos
The basis of the phrase "The Cameroons"
So before WW1, Cameroon was a german colony. Post WW1, like other German colonies, Cameroon was claimed by other countries. Namibia and the part of Tanzania I think were too.
Anyhow Cameroon was split into 2 and there was a British Cameroon and a French Cameroon. So there really was 2 Cameroons. After independence part of the English Cameroon ended up in Nigeria I think, there is certainly still disputed land between Nigeria and Cameroon. The French Cameroon basically became Cameroon.
Today Cameroon is split 80:20 between English speaking Cameroon and French speaking Cameroon, the French part being larger.
When I visited I got hold of a school history book that talked about "The English problem" - namely what to do with the English speaking part.
Last gem from the book - was that the English empire was based on the 3 Gs. God (missionaries) Gold (Theft of the wealth) and Glory (for the monarch)
Not saying the above it 100% accurate, but is as taught in Cameroonian schools today.
Meanwhile on the other side of Africa the British and the Germans were getting into another fine mess:
The suggestion is that the Germans would be merciless with Askari tribesmen if they killed white people until the First World War started, at the point the Askari were given every encouragement to kill British white people. The British retaliated by allowing other Askari tribesmen free rein on the killing of German troops. I have seen similar justifications for the transport of black soldiers from France's West Aftrican colonies, but in those instances it was for the surprise and shock that German soldiers underwent as they found themselves defending trenches from armed, aggressive and physically impressive troops they had not expected to encounter.
I like to listen to the Dan Carlin Hardcore History podcasts, sadly there aren't enough of them but his WW1 series is a work of genius and should be listened to by anybody with a passing interest.
Anyway he did one about Jack Johnson, the first black Heavyweight boxing champion and it was a story I knew very little about but thoroughly enjoyed.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
The suggestion is that the Germans would be merciless with Askari tribesmen if they killed white people until the First World War started, at the point the Askari were given every encouragement to kill British white people. The British retaliated by allowing other Askari tribesmen free rein on the killing of German troops. I have seen similar justifications for the transport of black soldiers from France's West Aftrican colonies, but in those instances it was for the surprise and shock that German soldiers underwent as they found themselves defending trenches from armed, aggressive and physically impressive troops they had not expected to encounter.
US troops captured five Wehrmacht soldiers speaking a strange language.
They turned out to be Koreans.
In the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 1930s they'd been captured by the Japanese, who'd pressed them into the Japanese army.
The Japanese sent them with their forces to China.
In skirmishes with the Soviets on the Sino-Russian border, they were captured by the Russians, and - you've guessed it - put in the Red Army to fight the Germans.
Yes again they were taken prisoner, forced to serve in the Wehrmacht and ended up defending the Normandy coast.
The Yanks didn't make them fight again.
The fact that Brazil sent an force of over 20,000 men to fight with the Allies in Italy was a surprise to me. I only found out when we visited Brazil a couple of years ago and saw their war memorial in Rio.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 23:19 - Mar 29 by factual_blue
The anecdote in Stephen E. Ambrose's D-Day.
US troops captured five Wehrmacht soldiers speaking a strange language.
They turned out to be Koreans.
In the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 1930s they'd been captured by the Japanese, who'd pressed them into the Japanese army.
The Japanese sent them with their forces to China.
In skirmishes with the Soviets on the Sino-Russian border, they were captured by the Russians, and - you've guessed it - put in the Red Army to fight the Germans.
Yes again they were taken prisoner, forced to serve in the Wehrmacht and ended up defending the Normandy coast.
The Yanks didn't make them fight again.
The fact that Brazil sent an force of over 20,000 men to fight with the Allies in Italy was a surprise to me. I only found out when we visited Brazil a couple of years ago and saw their war memorial in Rio.
The Stephen Ambrose books are great, I especially enjoyed the one about the aircrews, can't recall the name.
The other thing that comes across when reading about the second world war is the incredible contributions of the Canadians, and then you realise that they were virtually all volunteers.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
I was at school so long ago that the history syllabus stopped before the Great War, so everything know about the 20th Century I had to find out myself.
Most of you will know The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn, set in East Africa during the Great War. The climax is a battle with the Germans, who had a gunboat on one of the East African lakes. A lesser known film is Shout at the Devil, set at the same time and based on this true story:
The background to the plot is that, before the start of the Great War, the German empire included what is now Tanzania. A light cruiser, the Konigsberg, was stationed there to attack British vessels in the Indian Ocean. In 1914, she sank HMS Pegasus and then took refuge in the Rufiji River. The Royal Navy's ships in the area couldn't get at her because of shallow water and sandbanks, so they towed two Monitors, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn (shallow draft gunboats) from home waters to deal with her. This became known as the Battle of the Rufiji Delta in 1915.
The Konigsberg was damaged badly enough that the Germans scuttled her, but not before removing her guns, which became artillery pieces for the German army there and the crew became soldiers.
I found all this when researching my wife's family. Her maternal grandfather was a Royal Marine sergeant and when I got copies of his military record, I found that he was in the Battle, serving on the monitor HMS Severn. Before this, he fought in a machine gun unit in the Battle of the Yser, the Allies attempt in 1914 to stop the Germans advancing along the Belgian coast to cut off the BEF.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 00:13 - Mar 30 by MedwayTractor
I was at school so long ago that the history syllabus stopped before the Great War, so everything know about the 20th Century I had to find out myself.
Most of you will know The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn, set in East Africa during the Great War. The climax is a battle with the Germans, who had a gunboat on one of the East African lakes. A lesser known film is Shout at the Devil, set at the same time and based on this true story:
The background to the plot is that, before the start of the Great War, the German empire included what is now Tanzania. A light cruiser, the Konigsberg, was stationed there to attack British vessels in the Indian Ocean. In 1914, she sank HMS Pegasus and then took refuge in the Rufiji River. The Royal Navy's ships in the area couldn't get at her because of shallow water and sandbanks, so they towed two Monitors, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn (shallow draft gunboats) from home waters to deal with her. This became known as the Battle of the Rufiji Delta in 1915.
The Konigsberg was damaged badly enough that the Germans scuttled her, but not before removing her guns, which became artillery pieces for the German army there and the crew became soldiers.
I found all this when researching my wife's family. Her maternal grandfather was a Royal Marine sergeant and when I got copies of his military record, I found that he was in the Battle, serving on the monitor HMS Severn. Before this, he fought in a machine gun unit in the Battle of the Yser, the Allies attempt in 1914 to stop the Germans advancing along the Belgian coast to cut off the BEF.
I think the first and last British soldiers killed in WW1 were in East Africa.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:55 - Mar 29 by bluelagos
One thing that I can't get my head round is how Portugal was still an empire until 1974 I think it was.
Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, East Timor all still colonised in my lifetime.
The story of Turing and Ultra was top secret until the 1970s because a number of countries - and even more commercial organisations - were actually using Enigma machines (which had been commercially available) until the 1970s.
Three quirky snippets I have found by accident over the years are all local and can all be connected to Henry VIII.
It's probably common knowledge that Flemish weavers who were escaping religious persecution settled mostly in Norwich. They used to keep Canaries as pets to keep them company while working long hours as weavers, hence the connection with the football club and Canaries. Apparently 1 in 6 residents of the city today can trace their ancestors back to the Flemish. (Talk about keeping it in the family.)
It is said that the heart of Anne Boleyn is buried in St Mary's church in Shotley. It was brought there on her death by her uncle Sir Phillip Parker who owned nearby Erwarton Hall.
Ipswich used to be on the Pilgrims trail, where Pilgrims would come to visit the shrine of the Virgin Mary. It was to be destroyed during the reformation. Legend has it that it was smuggled out of the country and ended up in Nettuno in Italy, where they have their own statue. Archives in Nettuno added weight to the story to suggest it did. Carbon dating on the shrine in Nettuno gives 94% accuracy to when the tree was felled to make it.
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Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 08:12 - Mar 30 with 1210 views
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 00:13 - Mar 30 by MedwayTractor
I was at school so long ago that the history syllabus stopped before the Great War, so everything know about the 20th Century I had to find out myself.
Most of you will know The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn, set in East Africa during the Great War. The climax is a battle with the Germans, who had a gunboat on one of the East African lakes. A lesser known film is Shout at the Devil, set at the same time and based on this true story:
The background to the plot is that, before the start of the Great War, the German empire included what is now Tanzania. A light cruiser, the Konigsberg, was stationed there to attack British vessels in the Indian Ocean. In 1914, she sank HMS Pegasus and then took refuge in the Rufiji River. The Royal Navy's ships in the area couldn't get at her because of shallow water and sandbanks, so they towed two Monitors, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn (shallow draft gunboats) from home waters to deal with her. This became known as the Battle of the Rufiji Delta in 1915.
The Konigsberg was damaged badly enough that the Germans scuttled her, but not before removing her guns, which became artillery pieces for the German army there and the crew became soldiers.
I found all this when researching my wife's family. Her maternal grandfather was a Royal Marine sergeant and when I got copies of his military record, I found that he was in the Battle, serving on the monitor HMS Severn. Before this, he fought in a machine gun unit in the Battle of the Yser, the Allies attempt in 1914 to stop the Germans advancing along the Belgian coast to cut off the BEF.
An astonishing part of that story are the exploits of Denis Cutler and P J Pretorius, as described in this article:
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 07:45 - Mar 30 by eastangliaisblue
Three quirky snippets I have found by accident over the years are all local and can all be connected to Henry VIII.
It's probably common knowledge that Flemish weavers who were escaping religious persecution settled mostly in Norwich. They used to keep Canaries as pets to keep them company while working long hours as weavers, hence the connection with the football club and Canaries. Apparently 1 in 6 residents of the city today can trace their ancestors back to the Flemish. (Talk about keeping it in the family.)
It is said that the heart of Anne Boleyn is buried in St Mary's church in Shotley. It was brought there on her death by her uncle Sir Phillip Parker who owned nearby Erwarton Hall.
Ipswich used to be on the Pilgrims trail, where Pilgrims would come to visit the shrine of the Virgin Mary. It was to be destroyed during the reformation. Legend has it that it was smuggled out of the country and ended up in Nettuno in Italy, where they have their own statue. Archives in Nettuno added weight to the story to suggest it did. Carbon dating on the shrine in Nettuno gives 94% accuracy to when the tree was felled to make it.
On that third one, if you ever walk down Lady Lane (at the town end of St. Matthew's Street leading towards The New Wolsey) on the western side of a modern brick wall you find a small shrine just above head height:
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 09:10 - Mar 30 by Guthrum
There is some thought that the snail was considered a symbol of cowardice, thus the images were mocking the knights.
That's the fun thing about this, there are so many theories but despite there being so many examples, nobody actually wrote down why this was done. So we're just left sort of guessing.
Now, however well intended this is the idea that anyone should only learn history, or any other subject, at school seems such a waste. I'm not sure I could come close to providing an answer as I'm firmly of the opinion that learning and the accumulation of knowledge, should be a life-long experience.
Just one example though, Jared Diamond's argument in Guns, Germs and Steel for the reason that Western civilisation became dominant globally. Agriculture was able to expand laterally through Eurasia as East-West climate variation was far less than the North-South variation in the Americas, that led to wider ranging people and thus seaborne trade and more technology whereas civilisation in the Americas was more geographically isolated. The spread of agriculture meant that Europeans had greater exposure to a range of diseases than their contempories. Once that combined with exploration and conquest then greater European technology - guns- and the diseases they brought with them decimated the American empires of the time.
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