Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique. With a population of roughly 16.9 million people as per 2024 estimates, the country's largest ethnic group are the Shona, who make up 80% of the population, followed by the Northern Ndebele and other smaller minorities. Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele being the most common.
This article provides a detailed survey of notable events and people in the history of Zimbabwe, focusing mainly on the period since the late 15th century.
Early History
Archaeological records date archaic human settlement of present-day Zimbabwe to at least 500,000 years ago. Zimbabwe's earliest known inhabitants were most likely the San people, who left behind a legacy of arrowheads and cave paintings.
Until roughly 2,000 years ago, what would become Zimbabwe was populated by ancestors of the San people. Bantu inhabitants of the region arrived and developed ceramic production in the area.
Societies speaking proto-Shona languages first emerged in the middle Limpopo River valley in the 9th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands. The Zimbabwean plateau became the centre of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th century.
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The first Bantu are thought to have reached Zimbabwe between the 5th and 10th centuries CE. Zimbabwe is home to many stone ruins, including those known as Great Zimbabwe (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986). Some ruins date from about the 9th century, although the most elaborate belong to a period after the 15th century and are of Bantu origin.
These Bantu speakers were the makers of early Iron Age pottery belonging to the Silver Leaves or Matola tradition, of the third to fifth centuries A.D., found in southeast Zimbabwe. More substantial in numbers in Zimbabwe were the makers of the Ziwa and Gokomere ceramic wares, of the fourth century A.D. A later phase of the Gokomere culture was the Zhizo in southern Zimbabwe. Zhizo communities settled in the Shashe-Limpopo area in the tenth century.
Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, helping to develop the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the 13th century. This was the precursor to the Shona civilisations that dominated the region from the 13th century, evidenced by ruins at Great Zimbabwe, near Masvingo, and by other smaller sites. The main archaeological site used a unique dry stone architecture.
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first in a series of sophisticated trade states developed in Zimbabwe by the time of the first European explorers from Portugal. They traded in gold, ivory and copper for cloth and glass. From about 1250 until 1450, Mapungubwe was eclipsed by the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. This Kalanga state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwe's stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdom's capital of Great Zimbabwe.
Ruins of Great Zimbabwe
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Kingdom of Mutapa and Rozvi Empire
From c. 1450 to 1760, the Kingdom of Mutapa ruled much of the area of present-day Zimbabwe, plus parts of central Mozambique. It is known by many names including the Mutapa Empire, also known as Mwene Mutapa or Monomotapa as well as "Munhumutapa", and was renowned for its strategic trade routes with the Arabs and Portugal.
As a direct response to increased European presence in the interior a new Shona state emerged, known as the Rozwi Empire. Relying on centuries of military, political and religious development, the Rozwi (meaning "destroyers") expelled the Portuguese from the Zimbabwean plateau in 1683.
The Portuguese, who arrived on the east coast of Africa at the end of the 15th century, dreamed of opening up the interior and establishing a route to connect their eastern settlements with Angola in the west. The first European to enter Zimbabwe was probably António Fernandes, who tried to cross the continent and reached the neighbourhood of Que Que (now Kwekwe). Nearly 50 years later the Mwene Matapa (“emperor”), Negomo Chirisamhuru Mupunsagutu, was baptized by a Jesuit father, and in 1569 an abortive Portuguese military expedition entered the interior in search of gold.
Around 1821 the Zulu general Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan successfully rebelled against King Shaka and established his own clan, the Ndebele. The Ndebele fought their way northwards into the Transvaal, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and beginning an era of widespread devastation known as the Mfecane. When Dutch trekboers converged on the Transvaal in 1836, they drove the tribe even further northward, with the assistance of Tswana Barolong warriors and Griqua commandos. After losing their remaining South African lands in 1840, Mzilikazi and his tribe permanently settled in the southwest of present-day Zimbabwe in what became known as Matabeleland, establishing Bulawayo as their capital. Mzilikazi then organised his society into a military system with regimental kraals, similar to those of Shaka, which was stable enough to repel further Boer incursions.
British South Africa Company and Colonization
In the 1880s, European colonists arrived with Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company (chartered in 1889). In 1888, Rhodes obtained a concession for mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele peoples. He presented this concession to persuade the government of the United Kingdom to grant a royal charter to the company over Matabeleland, and its subject states such as Mashonaland as well. Rhodes used this document in 1890 to justify sending the Pioneer Column, a group of Europeans protected by well-armed British South Africa Police (BSAP) through Matabeleland and into Shona territory to establish Fort Salisbury (present-day Harare), and thereby establish company rule over the area.
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In 1893 and 1894, with the help of their new Maxim guns, the BSAP would go on to defeat the Ndebele in the First Matabele War.
In 1895, the BSAC adopted the name "Rhodesia" for the territory, in honour of Rhodes. In 1898, "Southern Rhodesia" became the official name for the region south of the Zambezi river, which later adopted the name "Zimbabwe". The region to the north, administered separately, was later termed Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia).
Shortly after the disastrous Rhodes-sponsored Jameson Raid on the South African Republic, the Ndebele rebelled against white rule, led by their charismatic religious leader, Mlimo. The Second Matabele War of 1896-1897 lasted in Matabeleland until 1896, when Mlimo was assassinated by American scout Frederick Russell Burnham.
Southern Rhodesia and Federation
The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia on 12 September 1923. Shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force. Under the new constitution, Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony, subsequent to a 1922 referendum.
Rhodesians of all races served on behalf of the United Kingdom during the two World Wars in the early-20th century.
The 1930 Land Apportionment Act restricted black land ownership to certain segments of the country, setting aside large areas solely for the purchase of the white minority. This act, which led to rapidly rising inequality, became the subject of frequent calls for subsequent land reform.
In 1953, in the face of African opposition, Britain consolidated the two Rhodesias with Nyasaland (Malawi) in the ill-fated Central African Federation, which Southern Rhodesia essentially dominated. Growing African nationalism and general dissent, particularly in Nyasaland, persuaded Britain to dissolve the union in 1963, forming three separate divisions.
Unilateral Declaration of Independence
Following Zambian independence (effective from October 1964), Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front government in Salisbury dropped the designation "Southern" in 1964 (once Northern Rhodesia had changed its name to Zambia, having the word Southern before the name Rhodesia became unnecessary and the country simply became known as Rhodesia afterwards).
Intent on effectively repudiating the recently adopted British policy of "no independence before majority rule", Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965. The United Kingdom deemed the Rhodesian declaration an act of rebellion but did not re-establish control by force. The British government petitioned the United Nations for sanctions against Rhodesia pending unsuccessful talks with Smith's administration in 1966 and 1968.
A civil war ensued when Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), supported actively by communist powers and neighbouring African nations, initiated guerrilla operations against Rhodesia's predominantly white government. ZAPU was supported by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and associated nations such as Cuba, and adopted a Marxist-Leninist ideology; ZANU meanwhile aligned itself with Maoism and the bloc headed by the People's Republic of China.
Smith declared Rhodesia a republic in 1970, following the results of a referendum the previous year, but this went unrecognised internationally.
In March 1978, Smith reached an accord with three African leaders, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who offered to leave the white population comfortably entrenched in exchange for the establishment of a biracial democracy. As a result of the Internal Settlement, elections were held in April 1979, concluding with the United African National Council (UANC) carrying a majority of parliamentary seats. On 1 June 1979, Muzorewa, the UANC head, became prime minister and the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
The Rhodesian Bush War
Lancaster House Agreement and Independence
Following the fifth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 1 to 7 August in 1979, the British government invited Muzorewa, Mugabe, and Nkomo to participate in a constitutional conference at Lancaster House. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and reach an agreement on the terms of an independence constitution, and provide for elections supervised under British authority allowing Zimbabwe Rhodesia to proceed to legal independence.
With Lord Carrington, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, in the chair, these discussions were mounted from 10 September to 15 December in 1979, producing a total of 47 plenary sessions.
On 21 December 1979, delegations from every major interest represented reached the Lancaster House Agreement, effectively ending the guerrilla war.
On 11 December 1979, the Rhodesian House of Assembly voted 90 to nil to revert to British colonial status. With the arrival of Christopher Soames, the new governor on 12 December 1979, Britain formally took control of Zimbabwe Rhodesia as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia.
Britain lifted sanctions on 12 December and the United Nations on 16 December.
During the 1980 Southern Rhodesian general election, Mugabe and the ZANU party secured a landslide victory.
On 11 April 1980, Southern Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe
Post-Independence Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's first president after its independence was Canaan Banana in what was originally a mainly ceremonial role as head of state. Opposition to what was perceived as a Shona takeover immediately erupted around Matabeleland.
During the 1990s, students, trade unionists, and other workers often demonstrated to express their growing discontent with Mugabe and ZANU-PF party policies. In 1996, civil servants, nurses, and junior doctors went on strike over salary issues.
The general health of the population also began to significantly decline; by 1997 an estimated 25% of the population had been infected by HIV in a pandemic that was affecting most of southern Africa.
Land redistribution re-emerged as the main issue for the ZANU-PF government around 1997.
President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF party leadership found themselves beset by a wide range of international sanctions. In 2002, the nation was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations due to the reckless farm seizures and blatant election tampering. The following year, Zimbabwean officials voluntarily terminated its Commonwealth membership.
In 2001, the United States enacted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA).
By 2003, the country's economy had collapsed. It is estimated that up to a quarter of Zimbabwe's 11 million people had fled the country.
On 29 March 2008, Zimbabwe held a presidential election along with a parliamentary election. The results of this election were withheld for two weeks, after which it was generally acknowledged that the Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai (MDC-T) had achieved a majority of one seat in the lower house of parliament.
In September 2008, a power-sharing agreement was reached between Morgan Tsvangirai and President Mugabe, permitting the former to hold the office of prime minister. Due to ministerial differences between their respective political parties, the agreement was not fully implemented until 13 February 2009.
In July 2016, nationwide protests took place regarding the economic collapse in the country.
In November 2017, the army led a coup d'état following the dismissal of Vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, placing Mugabe under house arrest. If this rate of growth had been maintained for the next 37 years, Zimbabwe would have, in 2016, a GDP of US$52 billion. Instead it had a formal sector GDP of only US$14 billion, a cost of US$38 billion in lost growth.
The population growth in 1980 was among the highest in Africa at about 3.5 per cent per annum, doubling every 21 years. Had this growth been maintained, the population would have been 31 million. Instead, as of 2018, it is about 13 million. The discrepancies were believed to be partly caused by death from starvation and disease, and partly due to decreased fertility. The life expectancy has halved, and deaths from politically motivated violence sponsored by the government exceed 200,000 since 1980.
Key Events in Zimbabwe's History
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1890 | Union Jack raised in Salisbury; British South African Company occupies Mashonaland. |
| 1893 | First Anglo-Ndebele War breaks out. |
| 1896 | Ndebele and Shona uprisings against settlers. |
| 1922 | British South African Company rule ends. |
| 1965 | Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Ian Smith. |
| 1980 | Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister as Zimbabwe achieves independence. |
| 2008 | Tsvangirai's MDC claims victory in presidential elections. |
| 2017 | Military coup leads to Mugabe's resignation. |
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