Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ, –wi/; Shona pronunciation: [/z̤i.ᵐba.bwe/]), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare, and the second largest is Bulawayo.
A country of roughly 15 million people, Zimbabwe’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 the most common. Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Beginning in the 9th century, during its late Iron Age, the Bantu people (who would become the ethnic Shona) built the city-state of Great Zimbabwe; the city-state became one of the major African trade centers by the 11th century but was abandoned by the mid 15th century. From there, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, followed by the Rozvi and Mutapa empires. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes demarcated the Rhodesia region in 1890 when they conquered Mashonaland and later in 1893 Matabeleland after the First Matabele War.
Company rule ended in 1923 with the establishment of Southern Rhodesia as a self-governing British colony. In 1965, the white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980.
Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU–PF party won the general election following the end of white minority rule and has remained the country’s dominant party since. He was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987, after converting the country’s initial parliamentary system into a presidential one, until his resignation in 2017. Under Mugabe’s authoritarian regime, the state security apparatus dominated the country and was responsible for widespread human rights violations. From 2000 to 2009 the economy experienced decline and hyperinflation before rebounding after the use of currencies other than the Zimbabwean dollar was permitted, although growth has since faltered. In 2017, in the wake of over a year of protests against his government as well as Zimbabwe’s rapidly declining economy, a coup d’état resulted in Mugabe’s resignation. Emmerson Mnangagwa has since served as Zimbabwe’s president.
The name “Zimbabwe” stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city (Masvingo) in the country’s south-east. Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that “Zimbabwe” derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as “houses of stones” (dzimba = plural of imba, “house”; mabwe = plural of ibwe, “). The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the modern-day Masvingo province. Archaeologist Peter Garlake claims that “Zimbabwe” represents a contracted form of dzimba-hwe, which means “venerated houses” in the Zezuru dialect of Shona and usually references chiefs’ houses or graves. Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1898), Rhodesia (1965), and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). The first recorded use of “Zimbabwe” as a term of national reference dates from 1960 as a coinage by the black nationalist Michael Mawema, whose Zimbabwe National Party became the first to officially use the name in 1961. The term “Rhodesia”—derived from the surname of Cecil Rhodes, the primary instigator of British colonization of the territory—was perceived by African nationalists as inappropriate because of its colonial origin and connotations.
According to Mawema, black nationalists held a meeting in 1960 to choose an alternative name for the country, proposing names such as “Matshobana” and “Monomotapa” before his suggestion, “Zimbabwe”, prevailed. It was initially unclear how the chosen term was to be used—a letter written by Mawema in 1961 refers to “Zimbabweland” — but “Zimbabwe” was sufficiently established by 1962 to become the generally preferred term of the black nationalist movement. Like those of many African countries that gained independence during the Cold War, Zimbabwe is an ethnically neutral name. It is debatable to what extent Zimbabwe, being over 80% homogenously Shona and dominated by them in various, can be described as a nation state. The constitution acknowledges 16 languages, but only embraces two of them nationally, Shona and English. Shona is taught widely in schools, unlike Ndebele. Zimbabwe has additionally never had a non-Shona head of state.
Archaeological records date 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. Approximately 2,000 years ago, the first Bantu-speaking farmers arrived during the Bantu expansion. 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 center of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th 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 11th century. This was the precursor to the Shona civilizations that dominated the region during the 13th to 15th centuries, 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 trading states which had developed in Zimbabwe by the time the first European explorers arrived from Portugal. These states traded gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass.
By 1220, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe eclipsed Mapungubwe. This Shona state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwe’s stone architecture. 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. The Portuguese sought to monopolise this influence and began a series of wars which left the empire in near collapse in the early 17th century.
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. 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. By 1838 the Ndebele had conquered the Rozwi Empire, along with the other smaller Shona states, and reduced them to vassaldom. 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. Mzilikazi died in 1868; following a violent power struggle, his son Lobengula succeeded him.
Colonial era and Rhodesia (1888–1964) The Union Jack was raised over Fort Salisbury on 13th September 1890. 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. 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. Rhodes additionally sought permission to negotiate similar concessions covering all territory between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika, then known as “Zambesia”. In accordance with the terms of aforementioned concessions and treaties, mass settlement was encouraged, with the British maintaining control over labor as well as over precious metals and other mineral resources. The Battle of Shangani on 25th October 1893.
In 1895, the BSAC adopted the name “Rhodesia” for the territory, in honor of Rhodes. In 1898 “Southern Rhodesia” became the official name for the region south of the Zambezi, 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. Shona agitators staged unsuccessful revolts (known as Chimurenga) against company rule during 1896 and 1897. Following these failed insurrections, the Rhodes administration subdued the Ndebele and Shona groups and organized the land with a disproportionate bias favoring Europeans, thus displacing many indigenous peoples.
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. Proportional to the white population, Southern Rhodesia contributed more per capita to both the First and Second World Wars than any other part of the empire, including Britain.
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 Rhodesia’s 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.
The Portuguese tried to invade the central highlands several times but did not succeed, but it was Cecil Rhodes, a British politician and entrepreneur who, with his private army, succeeded in venturing into these lands in a later period with respect to the colonization of other African territories by the Europeans. 
Cecil Rhodes, who at that time held 90% of the diamond market in the world, swore the Ndebele people and their King Lobenguela, infact he gave them some rifles and an old steamship in return for the chance to take advantage of all the mining resources in their lands.
This was the typical modus operandi of the British South Africa Company, or BSAC; a commercial company owned by Cecil Rhodes who, thanks to trickery, money and strength, managed to obtain concessions of most of South Africa.
Sir Cecil Rhodes became the administrator of the state that took his name and was founded on May 3, 1895; Rhodesia included much of today’s Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Rhodesia became a steady British rule at the end of the XIX century; thanks to the huge funds and work of the British South Africa Company, this young state, divided into two by the Zambezi River, soon became acquainted with the English efficiency in colonization, but suffering, as well, the exploitation of its resources.
The territory of Rhodesia was divided into two parts by using the Zambezi River as a separation line: Southern Rhodesia and North Rhodesia were constituted. Southern Rhodesia’s military, as happened for other British colonies, fought alongside the United Kingdom during World War II. 
After World War II, in 1953, despite much of the Bantu’s opposing population, North Rhodesia, South Rhodesia and Nyassaland, today’s Malawi, were reunited in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyassaland; in this federation Zimbabwe assumed a primary role but the federation was short lived because it was strongly opposed by both black and white movements and hence, in 1963, it was dissolved. While, in these years, many British settled in these lands and the population of the colony increased, some federations were also set up to protect the interests of whites
When Cecil Rhodes died in 1902, Southern Rhodesia, along with North Rhodesia, remained under the control of the BSAC until, in 1923, following a referendum, they were proclaimed a British colony and passed under the direct control of the Crown.
While multiracial democracy was finally introduced to Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesians of European ancestry continued to enjoy minority rule. 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).
he first inhabitants of the present Zimbabwe date back to the Stone Age, but it is with the Iron Age that we have certain evidence of the presence of man in this area.
Already from that time they practiced agriculture and farming, especially on the plateaus of the country, working metals like gold and copper and developing business, that will distinguish them in their growth and development.
The Karanga and the Rozwi populations, both affiliated to the Shona ethnicity, and the Ndebele, or Matebele in Zulu, all of Bantu origin, settled over the centuries in different areas of Zimbabwe.
The Karanga, one of the groups belonging to the Shona ethnic group, settled in the Eastern part of the country, in the area bordering today’s Mozambique, and founded the Empire of Mutapa; their skill in metalworking, the development of livestock and the economic and commercial management gave the Empire the chance to grow and prosper until the XV century.
The strong and flourishing expansion pushed this population to seek new alternatives and new territories; the expansion of the empire’s territories was also partly the cause of the beginning of its decline; but in Zimbabwe there are still clear testimonies of its importance, there are many archaeological remains, including the ancient capital of Great Zimbabwe, from which derives the current name of the country.
Subsequently, the Karanga moved the capital of the Empire to Khami and founded a new kingdom, the Butua Kingdom or Butwa, usually trading with the Arabs and the Portuguese.
Meanwhile, the Rozwi, also belonging to the Shona, around the XVI and XVII centuries, began to take control of the whole area of today’s Zimbabwe and subsequently extended control over almost all of Southern Africa; they fought several battles against the Portuguese who sought to enter the territory with the intent of expanding their trade; the Rozwi, however, managed to defeat them on more than one occasion.
Around the XVII century began the decline of the Rozwi empire, partly caused by some famines; but it was the arrival from the South of the Zulu people, under the military leadership of Shaka, that inevitably marked the end of this reign now fallen to the brink. This favored the Ndebele, who took advantage of the opportunity to settle in today’s Bulawayo establishing their capital and occupying the Western area of Zimbabwe; from here they moved to the Shona lands subduing them for about a century, until, at the end of the XIX century, they rebelled, this revolt was known as Chimurenga. From that moment on, every Shona rebellion will be called “Chimurenga”.
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. This marked the first such course taken by a rebel British colony since the American declaration of 1776, which Smith and others indeed claimed provided a suitable precedent to their own actions. 
Declaration of independence and civil war (1965–1980)
Ian Smith signing the Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965 with his cabinet in audience
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. In December 1966, the organization complied, imposing the first mandatory trade embargo on an autonomous state. These sanctions were expanded again in 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 neighboring 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 unrecognized internationally. Meanwhile, Rhodesia’s internal conflict intensified, eventually forcing him to open negotiations with the militant communists.
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 Internal Settlement left control of the Rhodesian Security Forces, civil service, judiciary, and a third of parliament seats to whites. On 12 June, the United States Senate voted to lift economic pressure on the former Rhodesia.
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 elections of February 1980, Mugabe and the ZANU party secured a landslide victory. Prince Charles, as the representative of Britain, formally granted independence to the new nation of Zimbabwe at a ceremony in Harare in April 1980.
Zimbabwe’s first president after its independence was Canaan Banana in what was originally a mainly ceremonial role as head of state. Mugabe was the country’s first prime minister and head of government. In 1980, Samora Machel told Mugabe that Zimbabwe was the “Jewel of Africa” but added: “Don’t tarnish it!”.
Opposition to what was perceived as a Shona takeover immediately erupted around Matabeleland. The Matabele unrest led to what has become known as Gukurahundi (Shona: ‘the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains’). The Fifth Brigade, a North Korean-trained elite unit that reported directly to Mugabe, entered Matabeleland and massacred thousands of civilians accused of supporting “dissidents”. Estimates for the number of deaths during the five-year Gukurahundi campaign ranged from 3,750 to 80,000. Thousands of others were tortured in military internment camps. The campaign officially ended in 1987 after Nkomo and Mugabe reached a unity agreement that merged their respective parties, creating the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) Elections in March 1990 resulted in another victory for Mugabe and the ZANU–PF party, which claimed 117 of the 120 contested seats.
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. Despite the existence of a “willing-buyer-willing-seller” land reform programme since the 1980s, the minority white Zimbabwean population of around 0.6% continued to hold 70% of the country’s most fertile agricultural land.
n 2000, the government pressed ahead with its Fast Track Land Reform programme, a policy involving compulsory land acquisition aimed at redistributing land from the minority white population to the majority black population. Confiscations of white farmland, continuous droughts, and a serious drop in external finance and other support led to a sharp decline in agricultural exports, which were traditionally the country’s leading export-producing sector. Some 58,000 independent black farmers have since experienced limited success in reviving the gutted cash crop sectors through efforts on a smaller scale.
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). It came into effect in 2002 and froze credit to the Zimbabwean government.
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. Three-quarters of the remaining Zimbabweans were living on less than one U.S. dollar a day. Following elections in 2005, the government initiated “Operation Murambatsvina”, an effort to crack down on illegal markets and slums emerging in towns and cities, leaving a substantial section of urban poor homeless. The Zimbabwean government has described the operation as an attempt to provide decent housing to the population, although according to critics such as Amnesty International, authorities have yet to properly substantiate their claims.
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 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. By December 2010, Mugabe was threatening to completely expropriate remaining privately owned companies in Zimbabwe unless “western sanctions” were lifted. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attended the Independence Day celebrations in South Sudan in July 2011.
A new constitution approved in the Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013 curtails presidential powers. Mugabe was re-elected president in the July 2013 Zimbabwean general election which The Economist described as “rigged” and the Daily Telegraph as “stolen”.
The Movement for Democratic Change alleged massive fraud and tried to seek relief through the courts. In a surprising moment of candor at the ZANU–PF congress in December 2014, President Robert Mugabe accidentally let slip that the opposition had in fact won the contentious 2008 polls by an astounding 73%. After winning the election, the Mugabe ZANU–PF government re-instituted one party rule, doubled the civil service and, according to The Economist, embarked on “misrule and dazzling corruption”. A 2017 study conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) concluded that due to the deterioration of government and the economy “the government encourages corruption to make up for its inability to fund its own institutions” with widespread and informal police roadblocks to issue fines to travelers being one manifestation of this.
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. The army denied that their actions constituted a coup. On 19 November 2017, ZANU–PF sacked Robert Mugabe as party leader and appointed former Vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place. On 21 November 2017, Mugabe tendered his resignation prior to impeachment proceedings being completed. Although under the Constitution of Zimbabwe Mugabe should be succeeded by Vice-president Phelekezela Mphoko, a supporter of Grace Mugabe, ZANU–PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke stated to the Reuters news agency that Mnangagwa would be appointed as president.
On 30 July 2018 Zimbabwe held its general elections, which were won by the ZANU-PF party led by Mnangagwa. Nelson Chamisa who was leading the main opposition party MDC Alliance contested the election results claiming voter fraud, and subsequently filed a petition to the Constitution Court of Zimbabwe. The court confirmed Mnangagwa’s victory, making him the newly elected president after Mugabe.
In 1965 Ian Douglas Smith, prime minister of Southern Rhodesia and secretary of the leading white party, the Rhodesian Front unilaterally proclaimed the independence of today’s Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom and the country assumed the name of the Republic of Rhodesia.
The British Kingdom opposed this gesture and the Republic of Rhodesia was not recognized either by the United Kingdom or by the UN, that for the first time applied economic sanctions.
This caused many revolutions within the country and immediately the first civil wars began, triggered above all by a social and economic policy by Smith very similar to apartheid.
The constitution was rewritten and based on the principle that British whites descendent had to be the leaders of the country they had founded with great difficulty, careless of the fact that they were numerically a minority; according to Smith the blacks should gradually integrate into the socio-economic structure of Rhodesia without, however, overturning it.
Ian Smith identified in the Ndebele a population more incline to dialogue with his government, while the Shona proved more hostile and for this reason they were considered enemies.
The white government of Rhodesia led the country to a very high economic level so that it could be nicknamed “the Switzerland of Africa”.
The International community, with the exception of South Africa and Portugal, opposed this approach, and the main black parties, especially those of Shona’s matrix, began a period of revolt; even the drafting of a new Constitution in 1969 failed to solve the problem and bring stability to the country.
The riots continued and were guided by the two main ethnic parties: the ZAPU, Zimbabwe African People’s Union, of Ndebele’s matrix, more willing to dialogue and led by Joshua Nkomo and the ZANU, Zimbabwe African National Union, of Shona’s matrix, very violent and guided by Robert Mugabe, the latter were clearly supported by the USSR and the Warsaw Pact.
In December 2017 the website Zimbabwe News, calculating the cost of the Mugabe era using various statistics, said that at the time of independence in 1980, the country was growing economically at about five per cent a year, and had done so for quite a long time. 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. The Mugabe government has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of at least three million Zimbabweans in 37 years. According to World Food Programme, over two million people are facing starvation because of the recent droughts the country is going through.
In 2018, President Mnangagwa announced that his government would seek to rejoin the Commonwealth, which is as of 2023 conducting a fact-finding mission prior to asking the Secretary-General to issue a recommendation.
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa, lying between latitudes 15° and 23°S, and longitudes 25° and 34°E. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east and northeast. Its northwest corner is roughly 150 meters from Namibia, nearly forming a four-nation quadripoint. Most of the country is elevated, consisting of a central plateau (high veld) stretching from the southwest northwards with altitudes between 1,000 and 1,600 m. The country’s extreme east is mountainous, this area being known as the Eastern Highlands, with Mount Nyangani as the highest point at 2,592 m. The highlands are known for their natural environment, with tourist destinations such as Nyanga, Troutbeck, Chimanimani, Vumba and Chirinda Forest at Mount Selinda. About 20% of the country consists of low-lying areas, (the low veld) under 900m. Victoria Falls, one of the world’s largest and most spectacular waterfalls, is located in the country’s extreme northwest and is part of the Zambezi river.
Over geological time Zimbabwe has experienced two major post-Gondwana erosion cycles (known as African and post-African), and a very subordinate Plio-Pleistocene cycle.
Zimbabwe has a subtropical climate with many local variations. The southern areas are known for their heat and aridity, while parts of the central plateau receive frost in winter. The Zambezi valley is known for its extreme heat, and the Eastern Highlands usually experience cool temperatures and the highest rainfall in the country. The country’s rainy season generally runs from late October to March, and the hot climate is moderated by increasing altitude. Zimbabwe is faced with recurring droughts. In 2019, at least 55 elephants died because of drought. Severe storms are rare.
Zimbabwe contains seven terrestrial ecoregions: Kalahari acacia–baikiaea woodlands, Southern Africa bushveld, Southern miombo woodlands, Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands, Zambezian and mopane woodlands, Zambezian halophytics, and Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic in the Eastern Highlands.
The country is mostly savanna, although the moist and mountainous Eastern Highlands support areas of tropical evergreen and hardwood forests. Trees found in the Eastern Highlands include teak, mahogany, enormous specimens of strangler fig, forest Newtonia, big leaf, white stinkwood, chirinda stinkwood, knobthorn and many others.
In the low-lying parts of the country fever trees, mopane, combretum and baobabs abound. Much of the country is covered by miombo woodland, dominated by brachystegia species and others. Among the numerous flowers and shrubs are hibiscus, flame lily, snake lily, spider lily, leonotis, cassia, tree wisteria and dombeya. There are around 350 species of mammals that can be found in Zimbabwe. There are also many snakes and lizards, over 500 bird species, and 131 fish species.
Large parts of Zimbabwe were once covered by forests with abundant wildlife. Deforestation and poaching has reduced the amount of wildlife. Woodland degradation and deforestation caused by population growth, urban expansion and use for fuel are major concerns and have led to erosion which diminishes the amount of fertile soil. Local farmers have been criticized by environmentalists for burning off vegetation to heat their tobacco barns. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.31/10, ranking it 81st globally out of 172 countries.
Zimbabwe is a republic with a presidential system of government. The semi-presidential system was abolished with the adoption of a new constitution after a referendum in 2013. Under the constitutional changes in 2005, an upper chamber, the Senate, was reinstated. The House of Assembly is the lower chamber of Parliament. In 1987 Mugabe revised the constitution, abolishing the ceremonial presidency and the prime ministerial posts to form an executive president—a presidential system. His ZANU-PF party has won every election since independence—in the 1990 election the second-placed party, Edgar Tekere’s Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM), obtained 20% of the vote.
During the 1995 parliamentary elections most opposition parties, including the ZUM, boycotted the voting, resulting in a near sweep by the ruling party. When the opposition returned to the polls in 2000, they won 57 seats, only five fewer than ZANU-PF. Presidential elections were again held in 2002 amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud. The 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections were held on 31 March, and multiple claims of vote rigging, election fraud and intimidation were made by the Movement for Democratic Change party and Jonathan Moyo, calling for investigations into 32 of the 120 constituencies. Moyo participated in the elections despite the allegations and won a seat as an independent member of Parliament.
In 2005, the MDC split into two factions: the Movement for Democratic Change – Mutambara (MDC-M), led by Arthur Mutambara which contested the elections to the Senate, and the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) led by Morgan Tsvangirai which was opposed to contesting the elections, stating that participation in a rigged election is tantamount to endorsing Mugabe’s claim that past elections were free and fair. The two MDC camps had their congresses in 2006 with Tsvangirai being elected to lead MDC-T, which became more popular than the other group.
In the 2008 general election, the official results required a run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. The MDC-T challenged these results, claiming widespread election fraud by the Mugabe government. The run-off was scheduled for 27 June 2008. On 22 June, citing the continuing unfairness of the process and refusing to participate in a “violent, illegitimate sham of an election process”, Tsvangirai pulled out of the presidential run-off, the election commission held the run-off, and President Mugabe received a landslide majority.The MDC-T did not participate in the Senate elections, while the MDC-M won five seats in the Senate. The MDC-M was weakened by defections from members of parliament and individuals who were disillusioned by their manifesto. On 28 April 2008, Tsvangirai and Mutambara announced at a joint news conference in Johannesburg that the two MDC formations were co-operating, enabling the MDC to have a clear parliamentary majority. Tsvangirai said that Mugabe could not remain president without a parliamentary majority.
In mid-September 2008, after protracted negotiations overseen by the leaders of South Africa and Mozambique, Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in which Mugabe retained control over the army. Donor nations adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude, wanting to see real change being brought about by this merger before committing themselves to funding rebuilding efforts, which were estimated to take at least five years. On 11 February 2009 Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister by Mugabe. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit on 27 July 2023
In November 2008, the government of Zimbabwe spent US$7.3 million donated by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A representative of the organization declined to speculate on how the money was spent, except that it was not for the intended purpose, and the government has failed to honor requests to return the money.
The status of Zimbabwe politics has been thrown into question by a coup taking place in November 2017, ending Mugabe’s 30 year presidential incumbency. Emmerson Mnangagwa was appointed president following this coup and was officially elected with 50.8% of the vote in the 2018 Zimbabwean general election, avoiding a run-off and making him the third president of Zimbabwe.
The government has received negative comments among its citizens for always shutting down the internet in the past amid protests such as the one planned on the 31st of July. 2020.[137]
In July 2023, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa voiced support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Zimbabwe has a centralised government and is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status, for administrative purposes. Each province has a provincial capital from where government administration is usually carried out.
The names of most of the provinces were generated from the Mashonaland and Matabeleland divide at the time of colonization: Mashonaland was the territory occupied first by the British South Africa Company Pioneer Column and Matabeleland the territory conquered during the First Matabele War. This corresponds roughly to the precolonial territory of the Shona people and the Matabele people, although there are significant ethnic minorities in most provinces. Each province is headed by a provincial governor, appointed by the president. The provincial government is run by a provincial administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. Other government functions at provincial level are carried out by provincial offices of national government departments.
The provinces are subdivided into 59 districts and 1,200 wards (sometimes referred to as municipalities). Each district is headed by a district administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. There is also a Rural District Council, which appoints a chief executive officer. The Rural District Council is composed of elected ward councilors, the district administrator, and one representative of the chiefs (traditional leaders appointed under customary law) in the district. Other government functions at district level are carried out by district offices of national government departments.
At the ward level there is a Ward Development Committee, comprising the elected ward councilor, the kraalheads (traditional leaders subordinate to chiefs) and representatives of Village Development Committees. Wards are subdivided into villages, each of which has an elected Village Development Committee and a headman (traditional leader subordinate to the kraalhead).
Since the early 2000s, Zimbabwe has been under sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union that have shaped Zimbabwe’s domestic politics as well as the country’s relations with the Western nations. In 2002, Zimbabwe held general elections and ahead of that election the EU sent observers, but the election observer team was forced to leave the country. In February 2002 the EU placed targeted or restrictive measures on Zimbabwe. At least 20 government officials were banned from entering Europe, and EU funding was halted. Prior to the elections there was $128 million that was budgeted for the Zimbabwean government from 2002 to 2007, this was cancelled. Nevertheless, the EU only stopped funding the government directly but it continued sending money only through aid agencies and NGOs.
After some years the EU and Zimbabwe resolved some of their disputes and a lot of the Excanctions were removed. Only Mugabe and his wife remained on the list while other government officials were removed. However, the EU still did not give Zimbabwe money. So, the government channels money through NGOs as it was seen in the 4 March 2019 – 21 March 2019 Cyclone Idai. The United States also imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. There are two types of U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe. The first one is Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) and the second one is the Targeted Sanctions Program. ZIDERA made several demands, the first one was that Zimbabwe must respect human rights, second Zimbabwe must stop its interference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, third Zimbabwe must stop the expropriation of white farms. If none of these demands were met, the U.S. would block the IMF and the World Bank from lending money to Zimbabwe. A new ZIDERA came into effect in 2018 with the motto that, Restore Democracy or there won’t be any friendship, there must be free elections, free media and human rights, Zimbabwe must enforce the ruling of the SADC Tribunal. The Targeted Sanctions Program was implemented in 2003, which lists Zimbabwean companies and people who are not allowed to deal with U.S. companies. The sanctions on Zimbabwe have been in place for more than two decades. In March 2021 the U.S. renewed its sanctions on Zimbabwe. Historical GDP per capita development in southern African countries, since 1950
The main foreign exports of Zimbabwe are minerals, gold, and agriculture. Zimbabwe is the largest trading partner of South Africa on the continent. Taxes and tariffs are high for private enterprises, while state enterprises are strongly subsidized. State regulation is costly to companies; starting or closing a business is slow and expensive. Tourism also plays a key role in the economy but has been failing in recent years. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force released a report in June 2007, estimating that 60% of Zimbabwe’s wildlife had died since 2000 as a result of poaching and deforestation. The report warns that the loss of life combined with widespread deforestation is potentially disastrous for the tourism industry. The information and communications technology sector has been growing at a fast pace. A report by the mobile internet browser company Opera in 2011 ranked Zimbabwe as Africa’s fastest growing market.
The mining sector is lucrative, with some of the world’s largest platinum reserves being mined by Anglo American plc, Zimplats, and Impala Platinum Zimplats, the nation’s largest platinum company, has proceeded with US$500 million in expansions, and is also continuing a separate US$2 billion project, despite threats by Mugabe to nationalize the company.
The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, are considered the biggest diamond find in over a century. They have the potential to improve the fiscal situation of the country considerably, but almost all revenues from the field have disappeared into the pockets of army officers and ZANU–PF politicians. In terms of carats produced, the Marange field is one of the largest diamond-producing projects in the world, estimated to have produced 12 million carats in 2014 worth over $350 million. As of October 2014, Metallon Corporation was Zimbabwe’s largest gold miner.
Zimbabwe’s commercial farming sector was traditionally a source of exports and foreign exchange and provided 400,000 jobs. However, the government’s land reform program badly damaged the sector, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. For example, between 2000 and 2016, annual wheat production fell from 250,000 tons to 60,000 tons, maize was reduced from two million tons to 500,000 tons and cattle slaughtered for beef fell from 605,000 head to 244,000 head. Coffee production, once a prized export commodity, came to a virtual halt after seizure or expropriation of white-owned coffee farms in 2000 and has never recovered. For the past ten years, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics has been assisting Zimbabwe’s farmers to adopt conservation agriculture techniques, a sustainable method of farming that can help increase yields. By applying the three principles of minimum soil disturbance, legume-based cropping and the use of organic mulch, farmers can improve infiltration, reduce evaporation and soil erosion, and build up organic soil content. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of smallholders practicing conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe increased from 5,000 to more than 150,000. Cereal yields rose between 15 and 100 per cent across different regions. The government declared potato a national strategic food security crop in 2012.
Mvurwi, a region in Mashonaland Central Province, once fell in the “breadbasket region” of Zimbabwe, with fertile soils. However, over the past 30 years, this is one of the areas that have been negatively impacted by the land reforms, causing it to be less prosperous than it was in the late 20th century.
Since the land reform programme in 2000, tourism in Zimbabwe has steadily declined. In 2018, tourism peaked with 2.6 million tourists. In 2016, the total contribution of tourism to Zimbabwe was $1.1 billion (USD), or about 8.1% of Zimbabwe’s GDP. Employment in travel and tourism, as well as the industries indirectly supported by travel and tourism, was 5.2% of national employment.
Several airlines pulled out of Zimbabwe between 2000 and 2007. Australia’s Qantas, Germany’s Lufthansa, and Austrian Airlines were among the first to pull out and in 2007 British Airways suspended all direct flights to Harare. The country’s flagship airline, Air Zimbabwe, which operated flights throughout Africa and a few destinations in Europe and Asia, ceased operations in February 2012. As of 2017, several major commercial airlines had resumed flights to Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has several major tourist attractions. Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, which are shared with Zambia, are located in the north-west of Zimbabwe. Before the economic changes, much of the tourism for these locations came to the Zimbabwe side, but now Zambia is the main beneficiary. The Victoria Falls National Park is also in this area and is one of the eight main national parks in Zimbabwe, the largest of which is Hwange National Park.
The Eastern Highlands are a series of mountainous areas near the border with Mozambique. The highest peak in Zimbabwe, Mount Nyangani at 2,593 m (8,507 ft.) is located there as well as the Bvumba Mountains and the Nyanga National Park. World’s View is in these mountains, and it is from here that places as far away as 60–70 km (37–43 mi) are visible and, on clear days, the town of Rusape can be seen.
Zimbabwe is unusual in Africa in that there are a number of ancient and medieval ruined cities built in a unique dry stone style. Among the most famous of these are the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Masvingo. Other ruins include Khami, Dhlo-Dhlo and Naletale. The Matobo Hills are an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 km (22 mi) south of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe. The hills were formed over two billion years ago with granite being forced to the surface, then being eroded to produce smooth “whaleback dwalas” and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning ‘Bald Heads’. They have become a tourist attraction because of their ancient shapes and local wildlife. Cecil Rhodes and other early white colonists like Leander Starr Jameson are buried in these hills at World’s View.
There are many successful small-scale water supply and sanitation programs, but there is an overall lack of improved water and sanitation systems for the majority of Zimbabwe. According to the World Health Organization in 2012, 80% of Zimbabweans had access to improved (i.e. clean) drinking water sources, and only 40% of Zimbabweans had access to improved sanitation facilities. Access to improved water supply and sanitation is noticeably limited in rural areas. There are many factors that continue to determine the nature of water supply and sanitation in Zimbabwe for the foreseeable future; three major factors are the severely depressed state of the Zimbabwean economy, the reluctance of foreign aid organizations to build and finance infrastructure projects, and the political instability of the state.
The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird appears on the national flags and the coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (first on Rhodesian pound and then Rhodesian dollar). It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle. The famous soapstone bird carvings stood on walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe.
Balancing rocks are geological formations all over Zimbabwe. The rocks are perfectly balanced without other supports. They are created when ancient granite intrusions are exposed to weathering, as softer rocks surrounding them erode away. They have been depicted on both the banknotes of Zimbabwe and the Rhodesian dollar banknotes. The ones found on the current notes of Zimbabwe, named the Banknote Rocks, are located in Epworth, approximately 14 km (9 mi) south east of Harare. There are many different formations of the rocks, incorporating single and paired columns of three or more rocks. These formations are a feature of south and east tropical Africa from northern South Africa northwards to Sudan. The most notable formations in Zimbabwe are located in the Matobo National Park in Matabeleland.
The national anthem of Zimbabwe is “Raise the Flag of Zimbabwe” (Shona: Simudzai Mureza wedu WeZimbabwe; Northern Ndebele: Kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe). It was introduced in March 1994 after a nationwide competition to replace Ishe Komborera Africa as a distinctly Zimbabwean song. The winning entry was a song written by Professor Solomon Mutswairo and composed by Fred Changundega. It has been translated into all three of the main languages of Zimbabwe.