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COPYRIGHT 2004 University of Pretoria, Institute for Strategic Studies
1. INTRODUCTION
What follows is an overview of the salient phases in Zimbabwe's eventful history, from early times until the present. It is a story of successive inflows of peoples, attracted by the natural wealth and equitable climate of the plateau land between the middle courses of the Zambezi and the Limpopo rivers. In the 20th century an economically strong state, called Rhodesia, was developed in the area by immigrants of European stock during an era of European imperialism. It was negotiated out of existence towards the end of that century to make way for a resurrected, independent Zimbabwean state. Modern Zimbabwe emerged in a world totally different from the one in which ancient Zimbabwe existed for several centuries. However, within less than two decades modern Zimbabwe landed itself in a national crisis, mainly of its own doing.
2. EARLY SETTLEMENT
In the course of the first millennium of the Christian era, Bantu-speaking groups from the north crossed the Zambezi River, replacing the Stone Age peoples roaming the area. The newcomers were the bearers of Iron Age culture and brought with them the skill of mining and smelting metals. At a later stage they were joined by the ancestors of the Karanga who founded a kingdom on the central plateau during the early centuries of the second millennium AD. The Karanga kingdom was the first significant state south of the Zambezi. The kingdom was known by the same name as its capital, Great Zimbabwe (Houses of Stone), built on terraces with granite foundations on which monumental stone walls were erected. The stone edifices were built through successive generations by what must have been quite large labour forces, directed by strong leaders. (1))
Located in a central position on the shortest route to the coast, Zimbabwe predominated in a large area where the king's subjects extracted gold from rocks and streams. This was exchanged, together with ivory, for cloth and other articles, supplied by Muslim traders plying the Indian Ocean coast as far south as Sofala (near present-day Beira).
Around 1450 the Zimbabwe kingdom had reached its zenith and began to crumble with different groups migrating in all directions, presumably because the area around the capital had become overpopulated and the land exhausted. A prominent group moved westward, founding the Torwa kingdom with its capital at Khami, near present-day Bulawayo. Similar to Great Zimbabwe the new capital had impressive stone structures.
The reigning king at Great Zimbabwe moved northward, across the plateau, with many of his subjects, founding a new kingdom along the Zambezi River valley. This kingdom became known by the dynastic name of its rulers, Munhumutapa (variants being Mwene Mutapa, Monomotapa). The new kingdom expanded in the direction of the Indian Ocean during the 16th century and the gold-mining industry and gold trade was resumed. The kingdom's capitals continued to be built with massive stone walls, though not on the same scale as at Great Zimbabwe. From the middle of the 16th century the Portuguese began to establish trade relations with Munhumutapa and eventually became a strong influence in the kingdom.
The inevitable fragmentation of Munhumutapa in the course of time led to the emergence of several independent groups under their own kings and chieftains. Examples were the Zezuru and Manyika of the northern plateau and others living in what eventually became Portuguese Mozambique. Sharing a common culture and speaking related tongues, these peoples were later classified by ethnologists as Shona (Mashona), speaking Chishona languages. (2)) An important development was the revival of the Zimbabwe kingdom under the Rozwi Changamire dynasty. Towards the end of the 17th century the Changamire kingdom controlled the entire region, including Munhumutapa, and played a key role in resisting Portuguese occupation of the land to the west of the Chimanimani Mountains (the present-day border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique).
By the early 19th century Changamire had fallen into disarray and became too weak to resist the onslaughts of Nguni warlords from south of the Limpopo during the period of the Mfecane (Difaqane). Zwangendaba and his followers crossed the Limpopo in the 1830s and destroyed the Changamire state before moving on to the Lake Malawi region. In contrast to Zwangendaba, Mzilikazi and his Ndebele (Matabele) came to settle in the area north of present-day Bulawayo around 1840. They soon brought much of the country north of the Limpopo under their control. King Mzilikazi died in 1868 and was succeeded by a son, Lobengula, at a stage when European explorers and prospectors were identifying the country's gold deposits, including the gold diggings of the early inhabitants. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand (South Africa) in the mid-1880s stimulated further European interest in the perceived gold wealth to the north of the Limpopo.
Cecil John Rhodes, a diamond magnate based in the Cape Colony and a member of the Cape parliament, sensed that it was time to bring the interior of the Southern African subcontinent under British control in order to be able to exploit the region's natural resources. Acting on behalf of Rhodes, a group of agents, in October 1888, obtained a written contract from King Lobengula (the Rudd Concession) that conceded to Rhodes' syndicate "the complete and exclusive charge over all metals and minerals in his kingdom". Rhodes construed Lobengula's kingdom as to include all the land between the Limpopo and the Zambezi rivers as far east as Mozambique. When the king's advisers pointed out to Lobengula that he had signed away more than he intended, the king repudiated the concession but to no avail. Rhodes went ahead to establish the British South Africa Company (BSAC) that was granted a royal charter in 1889 to implement the concession.
An armed group assembled by the BSAC, the Pioneer Column, slipped into the land of the Shona and raised the Union Jack at a place they named Fort Salisbury (later Salisbury, now Harare) in September 1890. Thus a vast territory on both sides of the Zambezi River that had not been occupied by other European powers, came under BSAC (and British) control. (3)) The land of the Ndebele (Matabeleland) was annexed by the BSAC three years later. King Lobengula fled to the north but perished on the way. Some Shona groups, becoming aware that white people were settling in their territory, joined the Ndebele in a general uprising against the whites in 1896. It became known in later years as the 'First Chimurenga' (First Liberation War). Combined BSAC and British forces put down the rebellion. Rhodes made peace with the Ndebele in October 1896 but the Shona war ended only in late 1897 at great cost of life on both sides.
3. THE RHODESIA ERA
By 1895 BSAC control had been consolidated throughout the land that was now called Rhodesia, after Rhodes. Rhodesia was subsequently subdivided into Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). White settlement began in all earnest, especially in the higher-lying plateau areas. Towns were laid out and farms were made available in the rural areas. By the early years of the 20th century Southern Rhodesia's main centres had been connected with Beira in Mozambique, the nearest port, and with South Africa's railways via Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana). This greatly facilitated mining operations that had been going on since 1890. Rhodesia's railways would ultimately provide strategic links in the subcontinental railway network.
During the first 50 years or so of white settlement in the Rhodesias, exploitation of their minerals did not turn out to be as profitable as previously thought. The BSAC lacked the resources for the development and administration of the territories, leading to dissatisfaction among the settlers. They nevertheless rejected, in a referendum held in October 1922, an offer by the South African government to buy out the BSAC and to incorporate Southern Rhodesia. As a result, the British Imperial government assumed direct responsibility for both Rhodesias. Southern Rhodesia became a crown colony on 12 September 1923 with the BSAC administrator being replaced by a British governor. At this stage Southern Rhodesia's white population numbered about 35 000 while estimates of the black population ranged from 500 000 to 750 000.
3.1 Towards white supremacy
Britain** granted a constitution with responsible self-government for the white population in October 1923. The small, partially elected legislative...
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