Best Fidellithy Tan Podcasts (2025)

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Ep 19: Verrazzano and the Cèllere Codex 11:57

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3+ y ago11:57

11:57

We look at the first European voyage to the US Eastern coast undertaken by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, which produced the first ethnological and geographical account of the region known as the Cèllere Codex. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com. This episode was co-written with Saty…

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Ep 18: The "German" Colonisation of Venezuela 16:23

4y ago16:23

16:23

We explore a forgotten period in the history of colonisation in Latin America, when the Welser banking family briefly colonised Klein-Venedig (Little Venice) in Venezuela from 1526-1546. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com. This episode was co-written with Satya.…

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Ep 17: The Aztec-Spanish War (Part 3) 14:10

4y ago14:10

14:10

In this final installment to the Aztec-Spanish War series, we wrap up the events leading up to the 1521 fall of Tenochtitlan. We also examine the aftermath of the war, and rebut the conventional 'explorer' narrative. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.…

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Ep 16: La Malinche: Interview with Laura Esquivel 21:05

4+ y ago21:05

21:05

In this episode, we focus on Malinche, the interpreter for Hernán Cortés. In an interview with Laura Esquivel, the author of Malinche (2006), she shares her insight into Malinche’s perspective, and her reinterpretation of the figure of Malinche as a Mexican herself. The full interview is available on Youtube and both the Spanish and English transcr…

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Ep 15: The Aztec-Spanish War (Part 2) 17:44

4+ y ago17:44

17:44

In the second part of the Aztec-Spanish War, we venture into Tenochtitlan and deconstruct a few myths around the encounter between the Spanish and the Mexica. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.

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Ep 14: Retelling the Aztec-Spanish War: Interview with Paul Guinan 33:36

4+ y ago33:36

33:36

Paul Guinan, writer and artist of the graphic novel, Aztec Empire, speaks about his creative process, combing through Spanish and indigenous sources, and popular depictions of the Aztec-Spanish War. Read Aztec Empire for free on https://www.bigredhair.com/books/aztec-empire, and check out their Twitter @AztecEmpire1520. The transcript of the interv…

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Ep 13: The Aztec-Spanish War (Part 1) 18:59

4+ y ago18:59

18:59

We're back in the Americas! The Aztec-Spanish War was so much more than the narratives centered around Hernán Cortés versus Moctezuma II. We look at the history of Mesoamerica, historical sources and the events leading up to the war. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.…

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Ep 12: Enrique of Malacca in Postcolonial Literature 26:11

4+ y ago26:11

26:11

Harun Aminurrashid's 1957 postcolonial novel Panglima Awang portrayed the first circumnavigation from Enrique of Malacca's perspective. Dr Pitchay Gani Aziz, educator/writer and winner of the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize for creative non-fiction in Malay, speaks about Harun's life, the significance of the novel and nationalist Malay literature i…

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Ep 11: Enrique of Malacca — The First Man Around the World? 35:29

5y ago35:29

35:29

Enrique of Malacca may have been the first person to round the globe - but why isn't he mentioned as often as Ferdinand Magellan or Juan Elcano? Our first guest, Professor Romain Bertrand (Sciences Po), speaks about the role Enrique played in the circumnavigation and his evolving legacy in Europe and Southeast Asia. Check out the interview transcri…

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Ep 07: The Capture of Malacca in 1511 18:03

5y ago18:03

18:03

We’re finally in Southeast Asia - this episode traces the history of Malacca as a port under the Malacca Sultanate to the 1511 Portuguese conquest, marking the beginning of European colonisation in Southeast Asia. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.…

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Ep 06: The Portuguese Goa-shore in 1510 19:51

5y ago19:51

19:51

We turn to Goa in this episode, and the roles that the Battle of Diu, Afonso de Albuquerque, and Portuguese exiles played in its colonisation. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.

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Ep 05: The Portuguese Meet the Indian Ocean Trade Route (Part 2) 20:09

5y ago20:09

20:09

In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil on his way to India and claims it for Portugal. Two years later, Vasco da Gama sails to Calicut again. Their attempts to claim a slice of the lucrative trade profits in the region comes at a cost. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.…

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Ep 04: The Portuguese Meet the Indian Ocean Trade Route (Part 1) 23:10

5y ago23:10

23:10

We look at the first Portuguese voyage to Asia, where Vasco da Gama and his crew sailed along the Cape Route for the first time and arrive in Calicut (located in modern day India) in 1498. For further reading, check out the sources used in this episode at https://hocpodcast.wordpress.com.

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Ep 02: The Treaties that Divided the Early Colonial World 13:22

5+ y ago13:22

13:22

While Portugal was busy colonising islands off the Western African coast, Spain was emerging into its own, conquering the Canary Islands over a span of about 90 years. The second part of the episode highlights the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479) and the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) which split the early colonial world into two. For further reading, chec…

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Ep 01: Ceuta and the Beginning of the "Age of Discovery" 11:47

5+ y ago11:47

11:47

In the first episode, we look at the beginnings of Portuguese colonisation in Ceuta in 1415, at the start of the so-called "Age of Discovery". The next part of the episode then touches on a brief timeline of islands colonised by the Portuguese along the West African coast just before the end of the 15th century. For further reading, check out the s…

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Ep 00: An Introduction to the Podcast 6:13

5+ y ago6:13

6:13

What is colonisation? In this podcast, we explore the history of Western colonisation in a chronological fashion: from the Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the Americas in the late 15th century, to the British Empire at its apex in the 18th/19th centuries, and then the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century. Follow for new releases along t…