Empire: World History

Latest Episodes:

275. The Battle To Build The Panama Canal (Part 3) Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

What madcap schemes did French engineers use to drum up support to build the Panama Canal in the 1880s? How did the Gold Rush affect the flow of travellers through Panama looking for a shortcut? Who was the eccentric Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps and why did he fly a hot air balloon over Paris to support the building of the Panama Canal?

William and Anita are joined by Matthew Parker, author of Hell’s Gorge: The Battle To Build The Panama Canal, to discuss the nineteenth-century history of Panama and the French campaign to drill a sea canal through the isthmus.

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274. Pirates of Panama: Francis Drake Strikes Spain's Empire (Part 2) Jul 21, 2025

Show notes

Who was Captain Morgan, and why is a spiced rum named after him? How did a Welsh buccaneer lead an attack on the heart of Spain’s empire in Panama? How did Elizabeth I fund Francis Drake’s first slaving voyage?

William and Anita are joined once again by historian and archaeologist Mark Horton to discuss pirate raids in Panama in the 1600s.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

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Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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273. Panama’s Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific and Lost His Head (Part 1) Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

Who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean? Who was Balboa and why did he set his bloodhounds on Native people in Panama? Why do we remember Cortes over the brutish conquistador Balboa?

Anita and William are joined by Mark Horton to discuss the conquistadors in Panama.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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272. Solving The Mystery of America's Lost Colony Jul 15, 2025

Show notes

Have archaeologists finally solved the 400 year mystery of the lost American colonists? Who orchestrated historical hoaxes in the 1930s and did they get away with it? How has the history of the Roanoke Colony been reappropriated by the right-wing?

Anita and William are joined by archaeologist Mark Horton to exclusively discuss his exciting new discovery through his work on the Roanoke dig site this year…

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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271. Canada’s Dark Secret: Stolen Children, Unmarked Graves, & Survival Stories (Ep 5) Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

What was life like for Indigenous children forced to attend Residential Schools in Canada in the 1800s and 1900s? When was the final residential school closed? Which grim discovery in 2021 forced non-Indigenous Canadians to grapple with this dark history?

Listen as Anita and William are joined by Celia Haig-Brown, co-author of Tsqelmucwilc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School - Resistance And A Reckoning, to discuss the suffering and survival of Indigenous children at one residential school in British Columbia.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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270. The Day The Brits Burned The White House (Ep 4) Jul 07, 2025

Show notes

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.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

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Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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269. Colonising Canada: The Truth Behind ‘The Last of The Mohicans’ (Ep 3) Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

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 cajun spices?

Anita and William are joined by Maya Jasanoff to discuss how the French and Indian War affected Canada.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

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X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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268. Colonising Canada: Why Does Quebec Speak French? (Ep 2) Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

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 Anita discuss how the trade in fur and fish supercharged the growth of New France.

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For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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267. Colonising Canada: Kidnapping, Scurvy, & Fool’s Gold (Ep 1) Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

Who was the first European to try and colonise Canada? Who was John Cabot and why was he spied on by Columbus? Why did Jacques Cartier kidnap Indigenous Canadians and take them back to France? What is the mythology behind Canada being known as “Turtle Island”?

William and Anita explore the early history of the colonisation of Canada and how European settlers of the 16th century thought they had found China…

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For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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266. American Greenland: Nazis, Secret Nuclear Bases, & Trump (Ep 4) Jun 23, 2025

Show notes

When did the US first ask to buy Greenland? Why did America occupy the region in World War II? And how did a secret plan codenamed “Project Iceworm” lead to nuclear waste spilling on Greenland’s soil?

Anita and William are joined by Daniel Immerwahr, author of How To Hide An Empire, to discuss the history of America’s involvement with Greenland, and Trump’s not so hidden imperial goals…

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For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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