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The influence of British colonization on Zimbabwe
15 paragraphs on great zimbabwe
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Zimbabwe is a land locked country, and is located in South-Central part of the African continent. Harare is the capital city of Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1890 as "Salisbury" in honor of British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. The name was changed to Harare in 1982, being named after the Shona Chieftain. Zimbabwe’s population growth rate is the second highest in the world. The population of Harare alone is around 1,600,000, which makes it the largest city in Zimbabwe. The motto of Zimbabwe is “Unity, Freedom, Work ”.
Some major events in Zimbabwe's go all the way back to 700 AD. In 700 AD, The Arabian's and Persian's traded with ivory, rhino, horn, gold, shells and slaves. In 1888, The ruler, signed an agreement that granted mineral rights to the British South African Company. In 1923, Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British Colony. In 1953, Great Britain set up the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which included Northern and Southern Rhodesia as territories. In 1964, the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved. Northern Rhodesia became Zambia and Southern...
Lloyd, Tevor Owen. "Great Britain and South Saharan Africa Imports and Exports, 1854 and 1900." Chart. The British Empire: 1558-1995. 2012. Print.
Although it is usually 19th century European imperialism that appears in Western literature, Africans have felt pressure from outside powers for over a thousand years. By the year 1200, most of Northern Africa had adopted Islam, and the population consisted mainly of a blend of Arab and Berber peoples. It was at this time that the enslavement of black Africans along the eastern coast of the continent by Arabian pirates began. This slave trade, however, met fierce resistance from the flourishing African kingdoms of Kush and the Somali king, Nagus Yeshaq, who was a Christian Becker). Because the strength of the Arabic incursions was based mainly on conversion, the Islamic armies never penetrated deeply into sub-Saharan Africa.
Images of whiteness in Zimbabwe projected in the media have been of white population as victims being disposed of land and exposed to violence. In the award-winning documentary, Mugabe and the White African, the film focuses on white Zimbabwean family who challenges the Fast Track land redistribution program. David McDermott Hughes’ interprets the perspectives of land and landscape and its origins. In Whiteness in Zimbabwe, David McDermott Hughes principal argument is that European settlers identified themselves with the African landscape rather than with the social characteristics of the native Africans. The importance of landscape to white identity led to the engineering and structural development of the landscape. Hughes contends that the white colonizers used the land, nature and ecology to escape the social problems, to avoid ‘the other’ which in this case was the black Zimbabweans that were sharing the same living space. Through such landscape engineering, the white Zimbabweans believed that they would belong to Zimbabwe and Africa. However, Hugh argues that “by writing themselves to single-mindedly into the landscape, many whites wrote themselves out of society (p. 25).” Furthermore, Hughes argues that this was not a form of racism, but rather escaping the social surrounding to avoid conflict. This concept has led to Hughes to wanting to stop romanticizing of land in order to avoid social issues.
Rhodesia transitioned to Zimbabwe between the years of 1965-1979. After a brutal 15 years of fighting for the right to govern and to gain full power. The black majority gained its rule. They made this happen because collectively as a nation, the black majority of Rhodesia decided to all come together and help fight off the British Colonialist that had taken their land. They fought for the rule of the government of Rhodesia and got rid of Ian Smith and his Rhodesian Government and had the ZANU-PF take control. Furthermore, Robert Mugabe became the new president of the country and led to making the Nation stronger than ever before. That stable point in their government enabled them to rule their people and lock their interests internally helping Rhodesia transition into the country it is now known as, Zimbabwe.
New African Vol. 1.492 (2010): 14. History Reference Center -. 2010 - EBSCO Industries, Inc. Web.
Dr. Noah Zerbe is a professor and chair of the department of politics at Humboldt State University in California and someone who has spent time in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. Dr. Zerbe goes in depth into the factors that surrounded the 2002 famine in Africa, where 14 million Africans were on the brink of starvation. The Malawi president, just a season before the famine, sold off all of Mal...
In 1806, Britain would take possession of the Dutch Cape colony during the Napoleonic wars with Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France. The Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers in Africa, would come to resent this British rule and Britain's anti-slavery policies that would be forced upon them. Much of the Boer way of life depended on the work from their slaves. In attempts to free themselves from British rule the Boers would make the “Great Trek” in 1833. They would press into tradition tribal territory and would found the twin republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Peace between the new republics and the British would hold until gold and diamonds were discovered, in 1867. In the spirit of greed, war was inevitable to break out between the Boer and the British, although peace did hold for several years after the discovery. In 1890 skirmishes would begin and in 1899 an all-out war prec...
Nyota, S., & Sibanda, F. (2012). Digging for Diamonds, Wielding New Words: A Linguistic Perspective on Zimbabwe's ‘Blood Diamonds’. Journal Of Southern African Studies, 38(1), 129-144. doi:10.1080/03057070.2012.656436
During Imperialistic times South Africa was a region of great resources that was greatly disputed over (Ellis). Europe’s main goal during these times was to compete against each other and played a “game” of which country can imperialize more African countries than the other. Imperialism was a curse to South Africa, because many wars, laws, and deaths were not necessary and would not have happened if South Africa were not imperialized.
"The wind of change is blowing through this [African] continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it" (Macmillan). This speech, made by the prime minister of England in 1960, highlights the vast changes occurring in Africa at the time. Changes came quickly. Over the next several years, forty-seven African countries attained independence from colonial rule. Many circumstances and events had and were occurring that led to the changes to which he was referring. The decolonization of Africa occurred over time, for a variety of complex reasons, but can be broken down into two major contributing factors: vast changes brought about in the world because of World War II and a growing sense of African nationalism.
Genocide, destruction, poor infrastructure, Rwanda a recovering country that cannot shed it’s bad reputation. Before Belgium colonized Rwanda there were Hutu’s and Twa’s, later on in the 1300’s the Tutsi’s migrated over. When these ethnic groups met they created a common culture and language, they were equals. However the ethnic divisions perpetuated by Belgium resulted in a Genocide that tarnished Rwanda’s global image. People can note that Belgiums reign created chaos and terror, in addition politic issues regarding government power and the treatment of it’s people shaped modern day Rwanda.
And, like may other ancient cities, Great Zimbabwe has been concealed by legend. Many people told myths about Great Zimbabwe. But, it wasn’t until the late 1800s when archaeological record became severely damaged an almost not decodable; when Europeans were attracted by the myth of abundant gold from King Solomon’s mines found in the Great Zimbabwe.
Old South Africa is best described by Mark Uhlig, “The seeds of such violent conflict in South Africa were sown more than 300 years ago, with the first meetings of white settlers and indigenous black tribes in an unequal relationship that was destined one day to become unsustainable” (116).
There has been a surge of Faith Based Organisations in Postcolonial Zimbabwe. FBOs have contributed positively to the Zimbabwean society although they have been over looked and little study has been done concerning these organisations, only secular organisations have been well studied and thus unfair on the part of FBOs. FBOs are hinged on a religious backbone in the work that it is involved in unlike Non Governmental Organisations which have no religious attachment to it. Both FBOs and NGOs maybe involved in the same work ie advocacy or Humanitarian assistance but they differ when it comes to religious tie. It is however argued that FBOs are a form of NGOs as they all focus on development and offering assistance whether financial or humanitarian. The need to address the Zimbabwean crisis drove many FBOs to actively participate and engage themselves in matters concerning the country. Organisations like Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Council of Churches have been operating in the country before independence but from the late 1990s they were numerous organisations that were formed. The increase can be contributed to the absenteeism of rule of law which these FBOs wanted to put to an end as well as availability of Foreign Donors willing to sponsor developmental and The FBOs like Habakkuk Trust have been engaged in sustainable development projects to help economically people who need help. The organisation which is based in Bulawayo, works closely with communities in Matabeleland in sustainable development (www.habakkuktrust.org) Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) was formed by a group of church leaders who felt that the political, economical and social challenges in Zimbab...
An Economic History of West Africa. New York: Columbia UP, 1973. Print.