Seven continents in seven articles: a history lesson via podcasts

History around the world, an audio exploration

As an American history teacher, a lot of information and history passes through your consciousness, because, well, there are a lot of people, events and advancements that are a part of history. As I have learned more, I realize just how little I truly have learned about the world. I have realized how a small slice of the experiences of humanity make up such a huge piece of the history I have been taught and, consequently have taught.

I’m sure you have heard the criticisms many times over, and they are assuredly true. U.S. history is really euro-centric. You’re going to learn about a few great societies and a few great wars without expanding much beyond that. For the majority of podcast listeners, these same societies and wars dominate the time in their ears. One needs to simply focus on the amount of podcasts that are about the Roman Empire or about WWI to prove my point.

The world is full of fascinating history, and podcasters from around the world are trying to spotlight these areas, some with entire podcasts about the area, others with miniseries within their podcast, still others with stand alone episodes on these various areas.

In my next few articles for Bello Collective, I will be focusing on these areas of the world that have not necessarily been in the mainstream of historical discussion and the podcasts that are bringing these areas and countries to your ears.

Before we start the tour, there are a number of history podcasts that do a really good job of finding and spotlighting these under-represented areas. These are some of the all-stars:

• Stuff You Missed in History Class- This is an access point for so many people for history podcasts, in many different respects. They are also very good at finding historical stories that fly under the radar. I guess that is kind of their thing. This includes many of these under-represented areas.
• Around the World in 80 Days- This worldwide trio spotlights and discusses the history and current state of various out-of the way places such as Newfoundland, Easter Island, Lapland, and Brunei. Oftentimes, podcasts with multiple hosts get off topic, really silly or obnoxious, but not here. This podcast stays nice and tight on interesting details and facts.
• The Lesser Bonapartes- Here is a history podcast where the banter actually works. This is because the hosts research their topics out very well and give an excellent accounting of the history they are covering. Highlights include their series on Ethiopia, Moorish Spain, The Moghul Empire, and Venice.
• Dan Snow’s History Hit- This podcast touches on many different places and has so many different takes on history than most shows and I expect that this will continue. From North Korea to reenactments of the Battle of Hastings, you will find something to love.
• History Buffs- This is another podcast that spotlights a lot of different histories from all over the world. They drew me in with an episode about President McKinley, and I have been hooked since.
• Footnoting History- Oh so many episodes on oh so many topics! This podcast gives us the stories from the historical weeds, and they are fascinating. My personal favorite was about animal trials in Medieval Europe.

History Around the World: An Audio Storytelling Guide

• Europe
• Asia (coming soon)
• Africa (coming soon)
• North America (coming soon)
• South America (coming soon)
• Antarctica (coming soon)
• Australia (coming soon)

The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.

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