The History of Exploration

[BossGnome]

Hi guys,

I hope you will not consider this as spam - I am not selling anything. This is the one post I will be making about this, and I do not intend to flood the site with content.

However, as a long-time member of the Matrix Games community, I thought that you guys, as history fans, might appreciate the new history podcast which I have started earlier this month.

The idea behind the podcast is to chronicle the history of exploration in a rough chronological manner, and to look at all of the great voyages into the unknown that have been made over the years. I am trying to make it entertaining for a wide (if slightly nerdy) audience, but as this is my first time doing anything like this, any constructive criticism you have would be more than welcome.

I have three episodes up already, with a fourth one scheduled for mid-April or so. Since I wanted to "begin at the beginning" I started with the ancient explorers, and the next episode will be about Pytheas the Greek.

If this sounds like it might be your cup of tea, you can give it a listen by searching for "The History of Exploration" in either iTunes or Stitcher, or by going the podcast website at "http://historyofexploration.net/"

I also have a facebook page which you can access to get news about the show and to see all of the associated content that could not be easily published in an audio format. facebook.com/historyofexploration


OK, anyways, that's it for me. If you're interested, please consider giving it a listen and giving me some feedback! I am always looking for ways to improve.

Thanks!


Guillaume

[wings7]

Guillaume, I want to thank you for post and your historical project! [:)] I will be listening this weekend (time permitting). On an information note, what is your educational background?

Patrick

[BossGnome]

Hello,

Thank you for your interest! I have a Master's degree in history, although my thesis was actually about the Cold War, and most of my educational expertise lies in modern history (19th-20th century). Writing on such an expansive topic as the history of exploration is requiring me to start getting acquainted with a lot more ancient history, as I am starting around 500 BCE, so it is definitely a fun intellectual exercise for me! For each episode I basically have to dive into a bunch of books and try to make sense of the newest scholarship on the topic so as to report it (as much as I can) in an entertaining and unbiased manner.

On a side note, one of the "advantages" of ancient history when it comes to research is that there are so few primary sources. I just finished writing about the travels of Hanno the Navigator down the West African coast, and there are literally less than 100 lines of primary source materials from the ancient world dealing with that topic, so it is actually very possible to read literally everything on the subject![:D]

[radic202]

Guillaume: Ou as-tu eu to degré d'histoire d'Université? Le mien viens de l'Université d'Ottawa.

[BossGnome]

Salut, j'ai eu mon bac à l'Université McGill et ma maîtrise à l'Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) à Genève. C'est là que j'habite maintenant, même si je pense peut-être rentrer au pays dans pas trop longtemps...

[radic202]

ORIGINAL: BossGnome

Salut, j'ai eu mon bac à l'Université McGill et ma maîtrise à l'Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) à Genève. C'est là que j'habite maintenant, même si je pense peut-être rentrer au pays dans pas trop longtemps...

Un Gros Merci pour l'information mon ami.

[BossGnome]

No worries (returning to English as I assume that's the majority language of the forum).

I remain available if you have any questions, comments, or any feedback about the podcast. I hope you find it to your liking! [:)]

[Pvt_Grunt]

I will subscribe and listen, thanks for your efforts.

I am always suprised there is not more podcast talk on these forums, I have been a huge fan of podcasts for years now as I spend a lot of time in the car and I HATE commercial radio [:@]

I listen to
1) - The history of WW2 by Ray Harris jnr - http://worldwariipodcast.net/
2) - Hardcore history by Dan Carlin - http://www.dancarlin.com/product-tag/podcast/
3) - The history of the crusades by Sharyn Eastaugh - http://historyofthecrusades.webs.com/

and a number of others.

These 3 are my favorites and are all very well made and researched.

BossGnome thanks again for your eforts.

[wings7]

ORIGINAL: Pvt_Grunt

I will subscribe and listen, thanks for your efforts.

I am always suprised there is not more podcast talk on these forums, I have been a huge fan of podcasts for years now as I spend a lot of time in the car and I HATE commercial radio [:@]

I listen to
1) - The history of WW2 by Ray Harris jnr - http://worldwariipodcast.net/
2) - Hardcore history by Dan Carlin - http://www.dancarlin.com/product-tag/podcast/
3) - The history of the crusades by Sharyn Eastaugh - http://historyofthecrusades.webs.com/

and a number of others.

These 3 are my favorites and are all very well made and researched.

BossGnome thanks again for your eforts.

Grant, thanks for posting these three podcasts and historians! [:)] You mentioned you have a number of others...could you list them here?

Patrick

[BossGnome]

Thanks for the kind words! I have a few history podcasts that I subscribe to myself.

The History of Rome by Mike Duncan (as well as his new series Revolutions) - http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/ It's one of the older and more popular history podcasts out there, it starts off really rough but around episode 15 or so Mike really begins to hit his stride.

The History of Byzantium by Robin Pearson - http://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ When the History of Rome ended after the fall of the Western Empire, Robin decided to pick up the narrative and keep going until 1453. He's done a really good job with it, and I like the interviews, etc. with historians that he's managed to schedule.

The History of Egypt Podcast (I forget the podcaster's name, hopefully he will forgive me) - http://egyptianhistory.libsyn.com/ a highly detailed, if slightly dry, run through egyptian history. If you don't mind some dry discussions of Egyptian architecture, I found some of his discussions of Egyptian literature and political organization really fascinating.

[BossGnome]

Ah, also, I have had a few comments from people stating that they had trouble finding the show on iTunes (I suppose because the podcast is still fairly new and small it doesn't pop up easily on people's search feeds, so here are the iTunes and Stitcher addresses)

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the ... 66716?mt=2

Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=85419&refid=stpr

[wings7]

Thanks Guillaume, for the podcast links! [:)]

[Pvt_Grunt]

I just finished Serial season 2, the story of Bowe Bergdahl and his capture in Afghanistan- https://serialpodcast.org/2015/12/season-two-welcome

also I listen to Radiolab, not a history podcast but general interest - http://www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts/

And Dan Carlin Common Sense I also like, he's a lefty (Americans would call him a liberal) but very passionate and opinionated, if you dare to listen [;)].........http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sense-h ... ding-page/

[BossGnome]

New episode published today! In it, we follow Pytheas the Massaliot on his journey to the mysterious island of Great Britain! Take a listen!

[wings7]

Thanks for the post Guillaume, I'm a little behind but I will get there! [:)]

Patrick

[BossGnome]

Cheers! I should have mentioned, I have improved the audio for this new episode (and all following ones as well)! So, if you think the audio is kind of crappy for the first 2 episodes or so, try powering through until you reach episode 3A and see if that works better for you

[Pvt_Grunt]

The story of Hanno the navigator was great. I didnt know the story, it started a Google run I'm still recovering from!

On a side note, I visited a friend in Montreal years ago, he went to McGill as well. I can remember a terrific Halloween party there (or should I say remember MOST of it [;)])

[BossGnome]

That's great to hear! It always makes my day when I hear that a listener enjoyed the podcast Since there's really no monetary aspect to this, the real pleasure I get from podcasting (apart from the fun research in itself) is knowing that people are listening at the other end!

Thanks for your support guys! [:)]

Also, yes, I believe McGill is consistently voted as one of the top party schools in North America. I think being located in a large city with a 18-year old drinking age has a lot to do with it

[wings7]

Guillaume, thanks again for your labor of love, it really opens up the eyes of people that like to discover and love history...I hope you continue your podcast for many, many years to come! [:)]

Patrick