Pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe
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Pre-colonial history
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Colonial history  |
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The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe lasted until the British government granted colonial status to Southern Rhodesia in 1923.
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[edit] Ancient civilization
Archaeologists have found Stone-Age implements, Khoisan cave paintings, arrowheads, pottery and pebble tools in several areas of Zimbabwe, a suggestion of human habitation for thousands of years, and the ruins of stone buildings provide evidence of more recent civilization. The most impressive of these sites are the Great Zimbabwe ruins, after which the country is named, located near Masvingo. Evidence suggests that these stone structures were built between the 9th and 13th centuries AD by indigenous Africans who had established trading contacts with commercial centers on Africa's southeastern coast.
There have been many civilizations in Zimbabwe as is shown by the ancient stone structures at Khami, Great Zimbabwe and Dhlo-Dhlo. The first major civilization to become established was the Mwene Mutapa (or Monomotapas), who were said to have built Great Zimbabwe, in the ruins of which was found the soapstone bird that features on the Zimbabwean flag. By the mid-1440s, King Mutota's empire included almost all of the Rhodesian (Zimbabwean) plateau and extensive parts of what is now Mozambique. The wealth of this empire was based on small-scale industries, for example iron smelting, textiles, gold and copper, along with agriculture. The regular inhabitants of the empire's trading towns were the Swahili merchants with whom trade was conducted.
The Gokomere people, a Bantu-speaking group of migrant farmers, inhabited the Great Zimbabwe site from about AD 500, displacing earlier Khoisan people. From about 1000, the fortress took shape, reaching its peak by the fifteenth century. These were the ancestors of the Shona (or Mashona) people, who make up about 80% of modern Zimbabwe's population. Later they formed the Rozwi Empire, which continued until the nineteenth century.
[edit] Arrival of the Portuguese
In the early 16th century AD the Portuguese arrived, destroyed this trade and began a series of wars which left the empire so weakened that it was near collapse in the early 17th century. Several Shona states came together to form the Rozwi Empire which covered more than half of present day Zimbabwe. By 1690 the Portuguese had been forced off the plateau and the Rozwi controlled much of the land formerly under Mwene Mutapa. Peace and prosperity reigned over the next two centuries and the centres of Doloo-Doloo, Khami, and Great Zimbabwe reached their peaks. As a result of the mid-19th century turmoil in Transvaal and Natal, the Rozwi Empire came to an end.
[edit] Ndebele invasion
The Matabele (Ndebele) people in the south arrived in 1834 -- Mzilikazi fleeing Shaka.
[edit] British occupation
The British entered Matabeleland in the 1880s, under the leadership of Cecil Rhodes, who extracted mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele. He did this by sending John Moffat, son of the missionary Robert Moffat who was trusted by Lobengula, to persuade the latter to sign a treaty of friendship with Britain, and to look favourably on Rhodes' proposals brought by his agent Charles Rudd. Lobengula was assured that no more than ten white men would mine in Matabeleland, but this was left out of the actual document Lobengula signed, the Rudd Concession. Furthermore it stated that the mining companies could do anything necessary to their operations. When Lobengula discovered later what the concession really meant, he tried to renounce it, but the British Government ignored him.[1][2]
Rhodes used this concession to persuade the British government to grant a royal charter to his British South Africa Company (BSAC) over Matabeleland and its subject states such as Mashonaland. Through such concessions and treaties, many of which were deceitful,[1] he promoted the colonization of the region's land, labor, and precious metal and mineral resources.[3] In 1895 the BSAC adopted the name 'Rhodesia' for Zambesia, after Cecil Rhodes, and in 1898 'Southern Rhodesia' was officially adopted for the part south of the Zambezi,[4] which later became Zimbabwe.
The Rudd Concession was a first step towards occupation of good land, but Lobengula's Ndebele were too strong for a direct invasion. Rhodes planned instead to surround Matebeleland with British-controlled lands, and British Bechuanaland was already established in the west. To the east was Mashonaland, and the Shona were at the time and subjects of Lobengula, and therefore covered by the Rudd Concession. Rhodes used this to justify sending the Pioneer Column in 1890 of white settlers protected by well-armed British South Africa Police (BSAP), the BSAC's own paramilitary force. Rhodes said they hoped to start a "new Rand" from the ancient gold mines of Mashonaland but the gold had been largely depleted, and the settlers became farmers. Rhodes then cynically declared that Lobengula had never really conquered the Shona, so Mashonaland was independent of Matabeland, thus exploiting tribal rivalries to cement the settlers' occupation.[1]
The next step was to provoke the neighbouring Ndebele into war, and the BSAP defeated them in the first Matabele War (1893-94). Lobengula died while fleeing north, and the Ndebele were defeated and European immigration began in earnest. John Moffat belatedly realised the way in which he had been used by Rhodes and opposed the war. The British government suspected that Rhodes knew that the gold was depleted and that Rhodes' primary aim was to settle Mashonaland and Matabeleland all along, and after that and the Jameson Raid on the Transvaal he was not trusted to the same extent.[1]
The Matabele and Shona again rose up in rebellion in 1896 and 1897, known in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, against the encroachment on their native lands by white settlers.[5] Again the BSAP defeated them and the Ndebele and Shona became subject to the Rhodes administration, which led to the land distribution favouring whites and displacing Shona, Ndebele and other black people. The land issue in Zimbabwe remains a controversial issue to this day.
[edit] Rule by the British South Africa Company and Legislative Council
From 1894 the colony's executive branch was run by the BSAC's administrator. The Southern Rhodesia Order in Council created a quasi-legislature called the Southern Rhodesia Legislative Council. Elections were held in 1899, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1911, 1914 and 1920.
There was a gradual de-facto transition from complete rule by the British South Africa Company to self government by the white settlers. By 1903 the Southern Rhodesia Legislative Council consisted of seven officials of the British South Africa Company and seven elected settlers. In 1907 later the settlers had the majority of the seats. By the outbreak of the First World War, settlers had formed the Campaign for Responsible Government (later the Responsible Government Association) under Charles Coghlan, who became Rhodesia's first Prime Minister. In 1918, the BSAC cut back on expenditure and public services such as the mail system, which worsened its popularity among settlers. Agitation continued to grow for self rule independent of any private corporation. The Legislative Council election of 1920 resulted in a majority who favored immediate moves towards establishing 'Responsible Government' within the colony. Immediately after the election, the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the United Kingdom government to inaugurate responsible government, and the United Kingdom's response was establishing a Commission under Earl Buxton, a former Liberal minister. The Commission reported in 1921 that the Colony was ready for responsible government and that a referendum should be held to confirm it. On October 27, 1922 a referendum was held on the future of the colony as to whether it should join the Union of South Africa or establish self-government. The self-government camp won the referendum by a wide margin.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Parsons, Neil (1993). A New History of Southern Africa, Second Edition. London: Macmillan. Pages 178-181.
- ^ Hensman, Howard. Cecil Rhodes: A Study of a Career. Page 106-107.
- ^ Bryce, James. Impressions of South Africa. Page 170.
- ^ Gray, J. A. (1956). "A Country in Search of a Name". The Northern Rhodesia Journal III (1) (1956). Page 78.
- ^ Palamarek, Ernie. Hatari. Page 132.
- ^ "Robert Thorne Coryndon: Proconsular Imperialism in Southern and Eastern Africa, 1897-1925 By Christopher P. Youé", Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1986.
