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Fuelling the Empire: South Africa's Gold and the Road to War

For more than a century following its discovery, South Africa held little interest for the imperial powers of Europe. When gold was discovered there toward the end of the nineteenth century, the territory suddenly became one of the most hotly contested pieces of real estate in the world. Fuelling the Empire tells the story of the South African gold rush, the vast political and economic forces it set in motion, and the devastating military conflict to which it gave rise???the Boer War, the first large-scale human tragedy of the twentieth century.

This is a very busy graphic, showing the Piri Reis map on the South American coast. At the mouth of the Amazon, in an area with incredible names like "Villa de Macedonian", and Amapa, Macapa, etc., the viewer can see a symbol of a hairy ape man, defecating, and holding a skull.

I have actually seen this squatting figure in a on Templar architecture on a Danish island in the Baltic, as if this was the universal figure of "Gold Mine".

The message is clear, if one comes across a hairy, bearded white figure, his intentions are one thing only... Gold.

However, Gold to the Amerindian peoples was not the standard of currency. Pearls, glass beads, turquoise, feathers, emeralds, those were the currency of the time.

Gold was "the feces of the Gods", as depicted in this figure taking a "squat".

In the same Piri Reis image of South America, we also have a commentary section overlaying faintly visible roads, convergences, King/Queen portraits.

This strongly suggests that the Piri Reis map was not a compilation map, but in fact a "painted over map", deliberately obscuring navigational islands, mineral areas, and bountiful food sources.

The final interesting point is the location of the "Hairy Ape Man Gold Mine", in that the etymology of names, Macapa, Amapa, Igarapa, strongly suggests that this land was named after the giant snake, such as Anaconda, which inhabit the Amazon River area. Of course, the giant snake of ancient Egypt was "Apep", which transported the Sun God Ra on his nightly journey across the underworld sky.

It also suggests an affinity towards "King Solomon's Mines", which were from "the Land of Ophir", aka "Opera", "Ahh-per-Ra".

Just back from a road trip to Colorado! This capture is from the ghost town of Nevadaville, Colorado. This one of the few fairly complete old gold mines that is still left to photograph.

More photos to follow........

What makes a country go to war? At what stage in that sequence of events, of action and reaction, bluff and brinkmanship does war become unavoidable? The South African War was the first large-scale human tragedy of the twentieth century - the prelude to a century that was to be characterised by such large-scale and avoidable tragedy. The cost in human, environmental and financial terms was colossal. Approximately 60,000 men women and children were killed from countries that not only included Britain and South Africa, but also France, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Moreover, the peace terms that allowed for the continuation of discriminatory racial policies set the stage for a century of racial inequality and strife in South Africa.


In this incisive work, South African author, John Stephens, considers the slide to a war that nobody wanted. This is a story of the shaping of South Africa. It is also a universal story: one of pride, greed and fear - of humans behaving in a very human way.

What makes a country go to war? At what stage in that sequence of events, of action and reaction, bluff and brinkmanship does war become unavoidable? The South African War was the first large-scale human tragedy of the twentieth century - the prelude to a century that was to be characterised by such large-scale and avoidable tragedy. The cost in human, environmental and financial terms was colossal. Approximately 60,000 men women and children were killed from countries that not only included Britain and South Africa, but also France, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Moreover, the peace terms that allowed for the continuation of discriminatory racial policies set the stage for a century of racial inequality and strife in South Africa.


In this incisive work, South African author, John Stephens, considers the slide to a war that nobody wanted. This is a story of the shaping of South Africa. It is also a universal story: one of pride, greed and fear - of humans behaving in a very human way.