Audio: Jingle Bells (Christmas 2025)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/80Days_Christmas2025.mp3 http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/80Days_Christmas2025.mp3

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’re exploring the story behind the writer of the most well-known secular Christmas song: Jingle Bells, and some of its surprising backstory. We also reflect on whether AI will replace Luke, Mark or Joe first, and take on the now-traditional festive quiz where Luke tests how much trivia from our back-catalogue we can recall. From all of us, have a very merry festive season, and we’ll see you in 2026.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Vancouver, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella. 

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

The coversheet of One Horse Open Sleigh, by James Lord Pierpont, the original title of Jingle Bells (photo from Wikimedia Commons – Public Domain)

Audio: Ceuta

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about the autonomous city of Ceuta — Spanish exclave, military post, and free port on the coast of Morocco, at the Mediterranean entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. Ceuta, Melilla (also an exclave), and other tiny islets along the coast of North Africa constitute the territories of Spanish North Africa. The city is on a narrow isthmus that connects Mount Hacho (also held by Spain) to the mainland. Mount Hacho has been identified as possibly the southern Pillar of Heracles, of the ancient Mediterranean world. Ceuta was controlled by the Muslim Umayyad Dynasty up to 1415, and then changed hands a number of times over the 15th and 16th Centuries. It played an important role in the Spanish Civil War, and gained its modern autonomous status in 1995. Ceuta’s land area is only about 18.5 square kilometres or 7 square miles, making it among the smallest places we’ve ever talked about, and has a population of around 80,000, similar to  Andorra, the Isle of Man or the US Virgin Islands. 

The climate here is warm but moderated by the straits, with mean annual temperatures of 18 °C (65 °F) with average highs of 21 °C (70 °F) and lows of 15 °C (60 °F). The currency is the Euro, and the language is Spanish, with a strong Arabic presence. 

Ceuta and Melilla are the only piece of EU territory on mainland Africa – a political and legal reality that has never been recognised by Morocco, which claims both territories to this day. 

Fun Fact – Western Sahara was a previously-Patreon-backed finale episode. You guys just have a real hankering for contentious North African territories, don’t you?

As we mention in the episode, this (somewhat delayed) finale to season 6 was voted on by our Patreon backers, and thanks as always to all of them for their support. You can sign up to Patreon to get a say in the episodes we cover in the seasons to come.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Wexford, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Ceuta with Mount hacho visible in the background

Some further reading material is provided below:

• This BBC Explainer on the status of Ceuta and Melilla is a good starting point for beginners. The BBC also has a useful factsheet.
• This CNN feature headlined “Inside the tiny corner of Spain that lies in the middle of North Africa” is another useful primer.
• History blog “A Small Part of History” has a lengthy post about the conquest of Ceuta by Portugal.
• For a more visceral look at the city, this video travel guide of Ceuta from Travel Obscurer is worth checking out.
• One of the many books we referenced in this episode was Europe or Africa? : a contemporary study of the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melila by Peter Gold. It’s available on Archive.org.
• We also spoke about Count Julian, whose Wikipedia page is well worth perusing.
• Mark lent on A.R. Disney’s A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire – From Beginnings to 1807 for his section. You can find an excerpt here.
• Another useful read was The Spanish Exclaves in Morocco by Robert Rézette, which is available on Google Books.
• Anyone for a Wikipedia list of “People with the most children“? If you’ve heard Joe’s section, you’ll know why.
• For more on Lieutenant John Fraser and his trusty leg bone, see the National Army Museum.
• WebHispania has a fascinating blog post by Antonio M. Carrasco headlined The Ceuta border: a constant source of misunderstanding and conflict.
• The UK’s National Maritime Museum has a whole page dedicated to Cueta in the Napoleonic Wars.
• The UNHCR report on Anti-Muslim Hatred and Discrimination in Ceuta we mentioned is available here.
• The substantial page on Wikipedia dedicated to the border fence is here. More can be found in World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers by Said Saddiki which is available online here.
• On Franco and the Spanish Civil War, worth a read is The Crescent and the Dagger: Representations of the Moorish Other during the Spanish Civil War by Elisabeth Bolorinos Allard, available here.

Some of the music used in the episode includes:

• The anthem of Ceuta, which is featured in the final music break
• Some processional marches and sacred music from the General Command of Ceuta
• An example of traditional Berber Muslim music
  

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Shetland

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about Shetland, a group of about 100 islands, fewer than 20 of them inhabited, in Scotland, 210 km (130 miles) north of the Scottish mainland, at the northern extremity of the United Kingdom, around 340km or 210 miles from Norway. The islands total around 1,500 km2 (or 560 sq mi), making them similar in size to the nearby Faroe Islands [recommend listening to this past episode], American Samoa or Gran Canaria. 

Among the settlements on Mainland, the largest island, is Scalloway, a fishing port. Lerwick, also on Mainland, is the islands’ largest town and commercial and administrative centre. The early history of the islands is dominated by the influence of the Vikings, who settled here in the 9th Century. From the 14th century, it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Scotland, and later into the United Kingdom. The climate is generally windy, cloudy and often wet, with rain falling on more than 250 days a year, and average low temperatures a little above 1 °C (34 °F) in winter and around 14 °C (57 °F) in summer.

Shetland is as far north as St Petersburg, Russia, or Anchorage, Alaska, which makes the islands an ideal place to watch the northern lights, or as they’re known locally the ‘mirrie dancers’ while in summer there is almost perpetual daylight, a state of affairs known locally as the “simmer dim”.

We had a guest on the podcast this episode, local writer, tour-guide and podcasters Laurie Goodlad, who can be found on shetlandwithlaurie.com. Thanks to Laurie for her great contributions to helping us understand Shetland, only a fraction of which is included in the episode – if you’ve fallen in love with Shetland, much more can be found in her blog and podcast episodes.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Wexford, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

A Shetland pony photographed by Ronnie Robertson (CC-BY) The Prince of Wales set off a trend of Fair Isle jumpers, part of a general inter-war Northern Isles boost in knitting and garment industry

Some further reading material is provided below:

• Some websites that give an overview of Shetland history include Historic-UK.com, ShetlandHistory.com, Shetland Museum and Archive‘s site and the article in Britannica
• More specifically on archaeology and prehistory, some resources include “Discover the Ancient Secrets of Shetland” (Shetland.org), the 2006 book “Prehistoric and Viking Shetland” by Noel Fojut and our guest Laurie’s podcast episode “A Guide to Shetland’s Archaeology” (among others)
• Some details on certain sites can be found elsewhere including the West Voe Midden, Stanydale Temple, Moussa Broch, the Papil Stone, and Jarlshof multi-era site
• Jon Dunn, a natural history writer writes about Shetland’s trees, or lack thereof
• A brief history of Shetland ponies
• Takes on the viking conquest of Shetland from HistoryExplained.org and Shetland.org
• BBC “In Our Time” episode on the Orkneyinga Saga, which touches on Shetland (despite focussing on the Earls of the nearby Orkneys); there is no saga specifically about Shetland
• Lerwick Town Hall’s Viking-containing stained glass and more information
• “How Shetland Became Part of Scotland“
• Some details of late Mediaeval history during the transition from Norse to Scottish control is included in the article “‘Lords_of_Norroway’: The Shetland estate of Herdis Thorvaldsdatter” by Frans-Arne H Stylegar and “Some Forgotten Incidents and Personages in the Local History of Shetland” by Gilbert Goudie
• Some details on Robert Stewart and Henry Sinclair
• Eileen Brooke-Freeman (a placenames expert) writes about ‘hoidie hols’ used to escape press-ganging during the Napoleonic wars and recounts some stories, there is also some oral history recordings on Tobar an Dualchais of people recounting family stories about this time, such as George Morrison (1921-1989); Laurie also has an article on these caves
• Shetland Times has an article about Thomas Johnson, ancestor of the author Louis Mackey, who tells the tale of how he was press ganged by Rear Admiral Edward Thornborough and lost his legs in a battle in the Bay of Biscay, and his life after return
• Laurie’s take on the origins of the Up Helly Aa Festival, celebrating Shetland’s Viking heritage since the Victorian era
• A short film has been made about Johnnie Notions, a jack of all trades who developed inoculations for smallpox
• Laurie has an article on the 19th Century land clearances and the crofters’ war
• Some resources for young people on Shetland in WW1 and WW2
• The story of the ‘Shetland Bus’ in WW2, and BBC retrospective on the first bombs to fall in the UK during WW2 that struck Shetland
• Reddit thread on what it’s like living in Shetland today
• Laurie’s podcast episode on (and in) Shetland dialect; “Shetland Fir Wirds” is a website that promotes the Shetland dialect, and has lots of information

Music relevant to Shetland includes:

• A collection of Shetland music played by Tom Anderson and Violet Tulloch Hand me doon the fiddle, which includes the Radio Shetland tune
• Virtuoso fiddle player Willie Hunter (Composer Page on TheSession.org) playing his composition “The Cape Breton Fiddler’s Welcome To Shetland” and “Leaving Lerwick Harbour” 
• The Jarl Squad of “vikings” singing a traditional “Up Helly Aa” song in a shopping centre, in full guizer costume
• Lerwick Brass Band and Squad perform “The Norseman’s Home”
   
  

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Christmas Quizzes 2024

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In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’re exploring (in the format of festive trivia and quizzes) winter celebrations from around the world, and diving into our back-catalogue to test our memories of explorations past. Grab a cup of cocoa or egg nogg and enjoy! From all of us, have a very merry festive season, and we’ll see you in 2023.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Vancouver, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella. 

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

See you in 2025 for the conclusion of Season 6!

A large ghee lamp is lit atop the Arunachala hill in Tiruvannamalai during Karthika_Deepam. (photo by Prajnaana – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85769601)

Audio: Socotra

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean, lying between the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It lies 380 kilometres (205 nautical miles) south of the Arabian Peninsula and 240 kilometres (130 nautical miles) east of Somalia. Geographically part of Africa, it has historically been an extremely isolated island due to the monsoon winds that make it difficult to reach for large parts of the year. This isolation has resulted in unique plant and animal life, with the island harbouring many species which went extinct elsewhere tens of thousands of years ago, and It has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth”
Over its history, the island has seen influence from Ethiopian Christians, Greeks, Arabs, Portuguese Explorers and the British East India Company, among others, and as a result has a unique blend of cultures and languages. The island is 3,796 km2 (1,466 sq mi) in size, making it similar in land area to the US state of Rhode Island, or slightly larger than Luxembourg. Around 50,000 people today call Socotra home, with the principal city, Hadibu, boasting around a fifth of the total population. The island became a part of Yemen in 1967,  and has recently been impacted by ongoing conflict caused by the Yemeni Civil War, which began in 2014 and is ongoing as we record this. In 2008, Socotra was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique flora and fauna. The islanders rub noses when they are introduced, and primarily speak Soqotri, an ancient Semitic language, which has up to a hundred words to describe a goat.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• A chronology of Socotra from Socotra.info
• British Empire Maproom‘s early history of the island
• Discover Socotra’s history page
• Socotra: The Mysterious Island of the Assyrian Church of the East at assyrianchurch.org
• Socotra’s misty future from The New Scientist (July 1995)
• Socotra: rediscovering the ‘island abode of bliss’, from the Financial Times (June 2023)
• Can Socotra, Yemen’s ‘Dragon’s Blood Island,’ be saved? by National Geographic (November 2018)
• Island Africa : the evolution of Africa’s rare animals and plants – Jonathan Kingdon on archive.org
• The Soqotra island:Where phoenix is revived from The Yemen Times (May 2003)
• A Successful Adaptation to Failure: the Portuguese on the island of Socotra during the sixteenth century by Renata Cabral Bernabé
• Socotra: A mysterious Arabian island gives up one of its secrets by The National News
• The Third Voyage of the English East India Company (1607-1610) at Qatar National Library
• Botany of Socotra by Balfour, Isaac Bayley, 1853-1922 at archive.org
• Yemen. The Socotra Archipelago Threatened by the Civil War at orientxxi.info
• Socotra — 1943 by jimmiej at BBC WWII Archives

Music relevant to Socotra includes:

• Khatr Ghusn Al Qana from YouTube

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Belize

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about the Central American country Belize, formerly known as British Honduras.  This small country on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. This region was a stronghold of the Maya Heartland from around 1500BC up to the arrival of Europeans, namely the Spanish, in the 1600s. A tussle between Spain and Britain developed in subsequent decades, and Belize became a British colony in 1840, and a Crown colony in 1862, before achieving full independence in 1981. The country has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of just over 410,000, making it similar in size to Wales, Djibouti or the US state of New Jersey, but the least densely populated nation in Central America. This is a very diverse place, ecologically, culturally and linguistically. The official language is English, but there are many other communities such as Maya, Garifuna, Creoles and even Mennonites, who speak a variety of tongues. Belize has over 400 islands or Cays off its coastline, as well as one of the world’s largest marine sinkholes, the Blue Hole, which is 318 m (1,043 ft) across and extends to a depth of 124 m (407 ft). The country also boasts the second largest barrier reef in the world after the one everyone’s heard of in Australia.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Wexford, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• A History of Belize (1973) by Narda Dobson; A History of British Honduras (1946) by William Arlington Donohoe
• Belize Travelcast episode on the origins of Belize culture
• Some details about archaeology and Maya civilisation can be found in: “Preceramic Occupations in Belize: Updating the Paleoindian and Archaic Record”, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/25063047; “Prehistory of Belize” by Norman Hammond, https://doi.org/10.1179/009346982791504571; O. Nigel Bolland Country Study of Belize
• Maya Jade Head; Mayan Ruins website about Lamanai;
• University of Cincinnati’s Brief History of Belize (timeline); BBC’s Belize timeline
• Ambergris Caye “Early History” webpage
• Creating ‘Belize’: the he Mapping and Naming History of a Liminal Locale – Matthew Restall https://doi.org/10.1080/00822884.2019.1573962
• Details on the Battle of St Georges Caye
• Video about Logwood (YouTube)
• Some details about the independent Maya state Chan Santa Cruz that arose after the the Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1901)
• Belizean involvement in World War I anecdotes, and BBN Article on the 1919 Revolution in Belize city.
• Belizean Foresters in Scotland during World War II
• Video of an interview with George Price (YouTube), the ‘father of Belize’
• Information on the Great Blue Hole
• Groups in Belize include Creoles/Kriols, Garifuna, Maya (Yucatec, Mopan and  Q’eqchi’), Mestizo/Spanish-speaking and Mennonites
• Phrasebook in Yucatec Maya, one of the many languages spoken in this country, in addition to English, the official language

Music relevant to Belize includes:

• Music archaeology video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RRDLs63vKs 
• Leonardo Acal – Maya harp music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfzuKSXMOCg 
• Garifuna womens group music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7w4B5dWFTc 
• Leela Vernon – Creola Kulcha/brukdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfxXVYS_F30&list=RDQMlehP_mBHioM&index=2 
• Garifuna music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUddieZoQyY 
• Belize Creole drumming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N45WtarFrpo

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Wellington

LISTENER SURVEY

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about Wellington, New Zealand. Located at the south end of the country’s North Island, Wellington is the third largest city, and capital of New Zealand. Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century, before Maori people settled the country from around 1280, making New Zealand the world’s last major landmass to be occupied by humans. Maori named the natural harbour that forms here named the harbour Te Whanganui-a-Tara. As they tend to do, Europeans eventually showed up and began to colonise, in this case in the 1830s, inevitably coming into conflict with the Maori, and eventually renaming the settlement for Sir Arthur Wellesley, hero of Waterloo. Wellington was declared a city in 1840, and was chosen to be the capital city of New Zealand in 1865, making it the world’s southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Today, Wellington is home to around 420,000 people, giving it a similar population to Oakland, California or Manchester, England. It is well-known for its coffee culture, its natural beauty, its booming film industry and its extreme winds. Wellington is the world’s windiest city, with an average wind speed of 27 km/h (17 mph)

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

We also had a huge amount of help from Thomas Rillstone for this episode. He’s the legend behind the History of Aotearoa New Zealand Podcast. You should check out his show for far more info on New Zealand than we could ever hope to know, and for much more accurate pronunciations than we could ever manage.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• We referred a number of times in this episode to the official government site on Wellington’s history, which you can find here.
• Another great source is the Wellington Museum. Did we mention there’s a lot written down in this one? The episode was well over three hours before it was edited!
• There’s also an episode of Absolute History all about the history of the city, which touches on some of the points we made and also gives a good tour around the city. Featuring Peter Jackson!
• We also recieved an absolute treasure trove of info from the good people of r/Wellington.
• More info on Te Rauparaha and the Ngāti Toa can be found here.
• The Radio New Zealand Black Sheep Podcast was a fantastic overview of the dastardley Wakefield clan and their misdeeds — check it out.
• Want more on the Treaty of Waitangi? See here.
• The Wakefield Memorial we discussed has its own Wikipedia page. It doesn’t improve the memorial much.
• For more on the Musket Wars, check out Kiwi Codger on YouTube
• Thomas Le Bas’ The Lost History of the Flag of Wellington is available on Medium.
• More info on the Wahine Disaster is available on the official government site, and you can find news coverage from the period on YouTube.
• For anyoen who hasn’t seen the All-Blacks perform the Haka before — check this out.
• The Flat White? Wellington all the way.

Music includes:

• You can find some of the chants we used here and here on YouTube
• The music in the intro ‘Tau Mai e Kapiti’ and is here on YouTube.
• The outro song is ‘You Can’t Beat Wellington on a Good Day‘ by The Datsun Violets

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Montserrat

LISTENER SURVEY

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain, a spectacular mountain range not far from Barcelona. Montserrat was “Montserrat” literally means “serrated mountain” in Catalan, and the name accurately describes its bizarre and unique aspect with a multitude of jagged rock formations that are visible from a great distance. This spot is best known today for the Benedictine Monastery Santa Maria de Montserrat, located about 45 km northwest of Barcelona, and the the statue of the Virgin Mary within that lends its name to the monastery, which has its own unique story to tell. Montserrat has been of significance for centuries, bearing witness to Catalan and Spanish history from its lofty mount and even becoming entwined in some of the most decisive conflicts to have swept across the Iberian Peninsula since the Monastery was founded in 1025, including the Napeolonic wars and the brutal fighting pre and post the Spanish Civil War. In terms of poulation, there are less than 100 monks who make their permanent home here, but up to two million tourists flock here each year to scale the mountain and take in the history and legacy of the monastery, including quite recently, two of the co-hosts of this episode. 

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland, joined in this epiosde by John Killeen in Hastings, UK. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• The official Montserrat website has plenty of useful info on this place.
• More info on the geology and formation of the Giants of Montserrat
• The monastery’s website also has some extensive early history.
• Another official website is that of the Escolania Choir, based at Montserrat.
• ForeverBarcelona asks — Who is the Black Madonna Our Lady of Montserrat?
• Want to know more about those hermits? Hermitary.com (who knew?) has you covered.
• The story of the drummer boy is detailed (in Spanish and Catalan) on the Barcelona Unviersity website.
• You can also learn more about the Peninsular War here at the National Army Museum.
• Learn more about the rise of Franco on the Real Dictators podcast.
• For more on the failure of catalanist opposition to Franco see this paper.
• A historical video of the relogious ceremonies at Montserrat is here on archive.org
• Also on archive.org — the first visit by a Pope to Montserrat, as well as his homily.

Music includes:

• Virolai, the Catalan Anthemm performed by Escolania de Montserrat

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Åland

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about Åland, an autonomous and demilitarized archipelago of Finland, which lies between Finland and Sweden, although it is closer to the latter by around 20km. Åland (which can also be spelled Aaland) is the smallest region of Finland by both area (1,580 km2 or 610 sq mi) and population (30,000), constituting around half a percent of Finland’s land area and half a percent of its population. Despite being Finnish, the only official language is Swedish and the capital city is Mariehamn. Aaland is made up of around 6,700 islands, making it one of the world’s largest archipelagos. 

Since the end of WWI, Åland has been politically neutral and entirely demilitarised, and residents are exempt from conscription to the Finnish Defence Forces.

Fasta Åland or Main Åland is the largest island in the group and accounts for more than 70 percent of the total land area and is home to about 90 percent of the archipelago’s population, as well as the capital Mariehamn. In terms of land area, Aaland is comparable to the Faroe Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Oahu (Hawaii). Out of approximately 6,500 islands, 65 are inhabited with several connected through causeways and bridges. The rest are linked by ferries and private boats. 

Åland’s original name was in the Proto-Norse language Ahvaland. Proto-Germanic ahwō is related to the Latin word for water, aqua. In Swedish, this first developed into Áland and eventually into Åland, literally ‘river land’—even though rivers are not a prominent feature of Åland’s geography. For reasons I’m sure we’ll get to, almost all the houses, and pretty much all the roads, are red. There are also roughly as many deers here as there are people.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• If you’re curious about the tourism industry on Aland, check out visitaland.com.
• The article “CLAY FIGURINES FROM THE ALAND ISLANDS AND MAINLAND FINLAND” can be found here, and further info on Funnel Beaker Culture is available here.
• A handbook on the History of Finland is here, containing some extensive info on Aland.
• Mark discussed the treaty of Nöteborg, more on which can be found at tandfonline.com “Finland’s eastern border after the treaty of Nöteborg: An ecclesiastical, political or cultural border?“
• Some further information on the League of Nations’ role in Åland can be found here.
• If you’re interested in the Grain Race which mentioned, see shippingwondersoftheworld.com, as well as Gustaf Erikson‘s extensive page on Wikipedia.
• Euronews asks “Is time running out for Europe’s oldest DMZ?“
• And on the snuff tobacco issue, check out this article on EUObserver and the related Reddit thread.

Music includes:

• The recording on Svea Jannson’s “Who Can Sail Without Wind” is here on Wikipedia.
• You can find Oolanin Sota (the Finnish Crimean war song) on YouTube.

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Burkina Faso

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/80Days_BurkinaFaso.mp3

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Burkina Faso (formerly the French Upper Volta), a landlocked country in West Africa bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d’Ivoire to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of just over 20,000,000. Total land area is around  274,000 km² (or roughly 106,000 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Italy, slightly larger than New Zealand or the US state of Colorado. Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons, wet and dry. Its northern regions are in the Sahel, making them very dry and arid, while the more southern regions are cooler and more tropical. 

The Mossi people, which still dominates the country today, moved into the region around 1100, and still makes up around 50% of the ethnic population. These were a tribal, agrarian society with a love of horses. Other important ethnic groups include include Fulani 8.4%, Gurma 7%, Bobo 4.9%, Gurunsi 4.6% Senufo 4.5%, Bissa 3.7%, Lobi 2.4%, Dagara 2.4%,  Tuareg/Ikelan 1.9%, Dioula 0.8% (percentages of modern population). In 1896, it was colonized by the French as part of French West Africa; in 1958, a new nation named Upper Volta became a self-governing colony within the French Community. In 1960, it gained full independence with Maurice Yaméogo as president. However, since then the country has struggled to maintain political stability, with political coups or uprisings taking place in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, and twice in 2022.

The nation is quite poor, and is one of the world’s least-economically developed, with around 75% of people to this day living off subsistence agriculture. Burkinabe farmers are well-known for working to music, usually drums. Burkina Faso is also one of the youngest countries in the world, thanks to very high fertility (Women have on average 5 children each) and a low average life expectancy, which currently stands at just under 60, among the lowest in the world. The median age is only around 17, and this has caused a massive spike in population over the past half-century, as yearly population growth rate is more than double the world average.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• “Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso“, Second Edition, by Daniel Miles McFarland and Lawrence A. Rupley
• “The Mossi of the Upper Volta” by Elliot P. Skinner
• “Burkina Faso: A History of Power, Protest, and Revolution” by Ernest Harsch
• UNESCO Heritage sites include nearby Bura complex of iron-working sites and Loropéni ruins of fortresses on the gold trading routes. See also Wikipedia article on Blacksmiths of western Africa
• The “griot” class in Mossi society are called the Bend Naaba, which transmits historical data and the head chief at Ouagadougou is called the the Moro-Naba or Mogho Naba. The legendary ancestor of the Mossi chiefs is the warrior princess Yennega (UNESCO biography).
• A good starting point for learning about traditional masks in Burkinabe cultures is the Wikipedia article on Art of Burkina Faso, and various museum archives, such as Princeton
• PhD thesis by Amy Niang “Naam : political history as state ideology“, investigation of some of the political theory underpinning Mossi states
• Biography of Burkinabe historian Dim Delobsom
• “Jihad and State Building in Late Nineteenth Century Upper Volta: The Rise and Fall of the Marka State of Al-Kari of Bousse” by Myron Echenberg
• DW African Roots Podcast: “Revolutionary Martyrs: Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba” (clip of Sankara’s voice from here)
• Discussion on the translingual new name Sankara gave the country: Burkina Faso
• France24: Capital’s residents remain fearful after soldiers’ mutiny
• Al Jazeera: Timeline of Burkina Faso unrest (2022)
• Al Jazeera: Campoaré is gone
• Reuters: Ex-Burkina Faso president Compaore apologises to family of slain predecessor

Music includes:

• “African Drumming” Facebook page: Mossi men dance the Warba
• Mossi music: Badini Karim dig Yegdyanga. Vol. 2. (YouTube): [Archived: Burkina Faso 1996]
• Lobi music: Rejoicing Music (YouTube)
• Wikipedia: Music_of_Burkina_Faso
• FolkCloud: Music of Burkina Faso

Boukary Koutou, also known as Wobgho, the Mossi King of Ouagadougou with his personal escort of Mossi cavalry, Burkina Faso. From “Du Niger au Golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi” by Binger, Louis Gustave, 1892, page 35, illustrated by Édouard Riou. The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso by JamesA (Wikimedia Commons)

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Audio: Minisode – Christmas Markets & Treats

Ho ho ho! In this Christmas minisode, we’ll be talking about Christmas Markets and a few delicious festive treats, as well as where these things come from and how they’ve changed to the modern day.  

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our usual co-host Mark Boyle @markboyle86 was missing for this one, but he’ll return very soon. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (who knew?) as mentioned by Joe can be found here on Google Books.
• More on Lebkuchen, albeit in German, can be found here or here.
• A short piece on Lebkuchen can also be found on KRCU here.
• Les Grappes has a breakdown of the history of mulled wine here.
• The Smithsonian has an extensive history of Christmas Markets on its website here.
• More on Evian’s driftwood market, as well as other markets, can be found here.

Joe & Luke visiting a Christmas Market in Dublin earlier this month

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast