logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2024
39m 43s

166. How To Hide An Empire

Goalhanger
About this episode

Not everyone agrees that the USA should be classed as an empire. But in the late 1800s, after white settlers had colonised western states, America turned to acquiring overseas territories in what could be described as an imperial project. And one surprising commodity catalysed the project… bird poo. Joining Anita and William to answer questions like “how did shit shape the American empire?” and more, is Daniel Immerwahr, author of How To Hide An Empire. 


Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

Goalhangerpodcasts.com

Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Jul 7
270. The Day The Brits Burned The White House (Ep 4)
Why did Washington invade Quebec? How did the US fail to take the Canadian territories during the Revolutionary Wars? And why did the British burn the White House? Anita and William are once again joined by Maya Jasanoff to discuss how the American Revolution birthed Canada. ---- ... Show More
53m 15s
Jul 2
269. Colonising Canada: The Truth Behind ‘The Last of The Mohicans’ (Ep 3)
Is there any truth in the film 'The Last of The Mohicans' and how did the French and Indian War that it's based on change the make-up of Canada? Why was the Seven Years War the first truly global war? What is the connection between the forced removal of the Acadians in Canada and ... Show More
59m 58s
Jun 30
268. Colonising Canada: Why Does Quebec Speak French? (Ep 2)
How did beaver fur and codfish turn a failed French attempt at colonisation into a success? What is the historical context behind Quebec as a French-speaking region of Canada? Did Indigenous leaders cleverly manipulate French settlers into fighting their tribal wars? William and ... Show More
53m 18s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2024
Has imperial history become too politicised?
Controversies surrounding the history of the British empire have become particularly intense in recent years, with academics, politicians and commentators all offering differing views about how we should understand the nation's imperial past. A new book, The Truth about Empire, d ... Show More
42m 13s
Sep 2023
History of everything: The Grand Ashanti Empire of Africa
The Ashanti were a kingdom that developed in what is now central Ghana around the 13th century. By the 17th century, they had become powerful and wealthy from both the slave trade and gold trade. After Britain colonized what they called the Gold Coast, the Ashanti were incorporat ... Show More
1h 53m
Sep 2024
Sarah Miller-Davenport, "Gateway State: Hawai’i and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire" (Princeton UP, 2019)
One of my talking points when hanging out with my fellow diplomatic historians is the painful absence of scholarship on Hawaii. Too many political histories treat Hawaii’s statehood as a kind of historical inevitability, an event that was bound to pass the moment the kingdom was ... Show More
59m 12s
Jul 2024
The Mighty Ashanti: Rival to the British Empire
At the end of the 17th century, a small clan - the Akan - in West Africa began growing into what would later become the powerful Ashanti Empire.  The state grew rapidly in both wealth and land until it spanned most of modern day Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Togo.  Luke Pepera join ... Show More
29m 42s
Dec 2024
Tudor explorers: everything you wanted to know
By the time the Tudors took to the waves, much of the world had already been mapped by Europeans. So what was left for Tudor explorers to uncover – and should we call them 'explorers' at all? Historian Jerry Brotton doesn't think so. In this episode, he tells Kev Lochun how the R ... Show More
51m 23s
Mar 2025
Christopher Columbus
The explorer, Christopher Columbus, is famous for reaching the Americas and opening up a new world to European pioneers. But though his determination and skills were second to none, he eventually fell out of favour at home and abroad, and was unwelcome even in the very colonies h ... Show More
54m 43s
Mar 2025
The Birth of New York City
Exactly 400 years ago, the Dutch West India Company built Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan island, a beacon of power and resilience against threats from Europeans and Indigenous Americans. But how did things change when England invaded in 1664? Professor Suzannah L ... Show More
44m 38s
Nov 2024
The Spanish-American War
In April 1898 the United States declared war on Spain. By the end of the war that December, the Spanish had lost their centuries-old colonial empire and the US had emerged as a power in the Pacific. Join Don as he speaks to Christopher McKnight Nichols, Professor of History and W ... Show More
42m 58s
Apr 2024
Clotilda: the last slave ship to America
The transatlantic slave trade was formally abolished in both Britain and the US in 1807 and 1808 – yet slave ships were still forcibly bringing enslaved African people to the Americas right up to the 1860s. David Musgrove speaks to historian Hannah Durkin about the long history o ... Show More
37m 6s
Apr 27
How the English took Manhattan
How did the English take Manhattan from the Dutch in the 17th century without firing a single shot? Speaking to Elinor Evans, historian Russell Shorto explains a many-layered colonial history, including pragmatic deals, personal rivalries, and ideological divides, that led to the ... Show More
46m 5s