Zimbabwe: A History

Like many basically every African nation Zimbabwe has a long, beautiful history. But it also has a long history of colonization, oppression, and turmoil. But on today’s journey. We are just going to do a quick over view.

A Quick Run Down.

The first Europeans to arrive in Zimbabwe were the Portuguese. Arriving in 1560, they wasted no time undoing what the Shona Tribes had built. First, they destroyed trade with the Swahili people, then they started a series of wars that weakened the tribal empire. But then several communities came together to form the Rozwi Empire and by 1690 they were able to force the Portuguese back and gain control of the land. For the next two centuries, they had peace, relatively speaking. Then in the 1800’s the Ndebele people began migrating through and decided they wanted to go to war. They made quick work, conquered the Rozwi people, and took control of the empire. Their rule was short-lived though, because in the 1880s, under the leadership of Cecil Rhodes, the British sent exploration parties with treaties of friendship for the Ndebele people to sign. Their real goal however was mining. So in the most British way possible, the treaties were quickly undermined after gaining the people’s trust. When the Ndebele tried to denounce the treaty, the British people just ignored them and carried on.

Cecil Rhodes, after securing the mining operations for his company was able to convince the British government to further colonize the land. He then named the colony after himself, calling it Rhodesia. It would then take them until 1980 to finally regain their independence.