Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We first hear about a bloodless war between Denmark and Canada, that involved whisky.
In 1984, the two nations were disputing the ownership of the tiny Hans Island, just off the coast of Greenland. It might be the friendliest territorial dispute ever.
We hear from Tom Hoyem and Alan Kessel, politicians on either side.
And we have historian Ditte Melitha Kristensen, from the National Museum and Archives of Greenland, to shed some light on the history of the country.
Plus, how Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva discovered the richest tomb ever found in the America’s: the final resting place of the ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan.
Also, we go back to the 1960s when 1,500 Torah scrolls appeared at a synagogue in London.
And a Crimea double-bill. We go back to 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukranian peninsula, and then back to the 1980s, when it was used as a holiday camp for children across the Soviet Union.
Contributors: Tom Hoyem— Minister for Greenland in Denmark. Alan Kessel— Assistant Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs in Canada. Ditte Melitha Kristensen — Greenland historian. Walter Alva— Archaeologist. Phillippa Bernard — Founder member of Westminster Synagogue. Maria Kim Espeland — One of the thousands of children who visited the Artek holiday camp.
(Photo: Greenland. Credit: Thomas Traasdashi/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
How Sri Lanka's president survived a suicide bombing
The Syrian civil war
Artists who made history
The Marcos regime in the Philippines
The war in Transnistria
Fighting for Uyghur rights in China
Algeria's War of Independence
The Falkands War
Protesting against Putin
Ukrainian history special
Women who made history
Russia under Putin
LGBT history special
The Ukraine crisis: an eyewitness history
Kazakhstan's new capital
Fifty years since Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday
The rise of Boko Haram
Hitler's Indian ally: Subhas Chandra Bose
Mozambique's Eduardo Mondlane: From professor to freedom fighter
A history of games
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins