Zimbabwe, republic (150,803 sq mi/390,580 sq km; 1992 estimated population 10,975,000; 2004 estimated population 12,671,860), S central Africa; (cap.) Harare (formerly Salisbury). Zimbabwe is bordered on the N and NW by Zambia (boundary formed by the Zambezi River, with Lake Kariba reservoir in the NW); on the NE and E by Mozambique, on the S by South Africa (Limpopo River), and on the SW and W by Botswana (Shashe River on the SW).
Geography and Climate
The terrain is mainly a plateau with four physical realms. The high veld, or central plateau, above 4,000 ft/ 1,219 m, crosses the country SW-NE. On each side of it lies the middle veld, from 3,000 ft/914m to 4,000 ft/1,219 m high, divided by deep river valleys, and beyond it the low veld, at elevation below 3,000 ft/914 m, including the Zambezi Valley in the N and the Limpopo and Save river valleys in the S and SE. The fourth region, the Eastern Highlands, is a narrow, mountainous belt along the Mozambique border. It includes the Nyanga, Vumba, and Chimanimani ranges and highest point in Zimbabwe, Mount Inyangani (8,503 ft/2,592 m); the lowest point in Zimbabwe (532 ft/162m) is at confluence of Save and Runde rivers in the SE, on the Mozambique border. The central plateau is source for numerous streams, nearly all of which are perennial, including the Save, Runde, Umzingwani, Shangani, Gwayi, Manyame, and Mazowe rivers. The climate is generally warm, with summer rains, November–March. Rainfall varies from about 70 in/178 cm in the highlands to less than 25 in/64 cm in S.
Population
Zimbabwe’s official languages are English, Ndebele, and Shona; English is the main commercial language. Since independence in 1980, the European pop. of Zimbabwe has dropped to about 200,000 most of whom are descendants of settlers; 98% of the population is African.
Economy
Zimbabwe’s economy is basically agricultural, with tobacco the principal cash crop and corn the chief food source. Other crops include cotton, soybeans, sorghum, peanuts, citrus fruit, sunflowers, wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, flowers, macadamia nuts, coffee, tea. Wheat and sugarcane require irrigation; sugarcane is grown on a few large plantations along the Save and Runde rivers in the SE. Dairying is important in the high veld. Before independence, c.6,000 farmers, mostly white, owned half of the 82,251,000 acres/33,300,000 ha of agricultural land, as opposed to the comparatively meager land holdings of 840,000 communal farmers. By the 1990s, however, such ownership of large-scale tracts of farm land was reduced by one-third through government land purchase and redistribution. There is hardwood timber harvesting in the highlands, and general teak and mahogany harvesting in the high and middle veld. There is a variety of mineral resources, including gold, nickel, asbestos, tin, iron, copper, chromite, and coal. Diamond mining began at Beitbridge, on the S boundary, in 1992; platinum mining at Chegutu in 1996. Among Zimbabwe’s industrial products are iron and steel, cement, food products, machinery, textiles, and consumer goods. Most of Zimbabwe’s power is generated by the Kariba Southern Hydroelectric Station at Kariba Dam, on the Zambezi Rover. The Lake Kariba reservoir provides commercial and sport fishing, primarily tiger fish. There are several small reservoirs for irrigation and recreation. The country has domestic and international air service, and good road and railroad networks.
National Parks and Archaeological Sites
Zimbabwe has an extensive national park system, including Hwange National Park in the W (the largest); Victoria Falls, Zambezi , and Kazuma Pan national parks in NW; Chizarira, Matusadona, and Mana Pools national parks in the N; Matobo and Gonarezhou national parks in the S; and Chimanimani, Nyanga (see Nyanga Mountains), and Mtarazi Falls national parks in the E. All park units serve as refuges for large wildlife populations. There are also several recreational parks, most centered on reservoirs, and safari areas, for game hunting. There are numerous stone-walled ruins throughout Zimbabwe, especially along the S margin of the high veld, the most important at Great Zimbabwe National Monument, S of Masvingo town, in the S center. Also important are the ruins at Khami National Monument, W of Bulawayo; the Naletale and Dhlodhlo national monuments, SW of Gweru; and the Dziva ruins, NW of Nyanga (town).
History to 1893
There are a number of Iron Age sites in Zimbabwe, with artifacts dating from A.D. c.180. These early cultures were supplanted by Bantu-speaking peoples, who migrated into the area after the 5th century; the ruins at Zimbabwe date from the 12th to the 15th century. In the early 16th century, the Portuguese made contact with Shona-dominated states and developed a trade in gold and other items. During the 1830s, the Shona-speaking people were subjected to Ndebele invaders, who forced them to pay tribute. British and Boer traders and hunters moved into the area, and the London Missionary Society established a mission to the Ndebele in 1861. In 1889 the British South Africa Company, organized by Cecil J. Rhodes, obtained a charter to promote commerce and colonization in the region. Leander Starr Jameson, an associate of Rhodes, led a column of South African and British pioneers deep into the interior, where they founded (1890) Fort Salisbury.
History - 1893 to 1923
Fighting in 1893 resulted in the defeat of the Ndebele and the takeover of their territory by Rhodes’s company. Both the Ndebele and the Shona staged unsuccessful revolts against the British in 1896–1897. The settlers pressed the company for political rights, and in 1914 the British government renewed the company’s charter on the condition that self-government be granted to the settlers by 1924. In late 1922, settlers voted in a referendum to reject proposals for incorporation into the Union of South Africa and instead to make Rhodesia a self-governing colony under the British Crown, a status that became effective on September 12, 1923.
History - 1923 to 1971
In 1953, Southern Rhodesia became a member of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, despite African objections to a European-dominated federal structure. In the early 1960s, a new constitution was adopted that provided for limited African political participation; however, the Africans remained unappeased. In 1963 the federation broke up as African majority governments assumed control in Northern Rhodesia and in Nyasaland (renamed Zambia and Malawi, respectively). After the federation’s demise, conservative trends hardened in Southern Rhodesia (which became known simply as Rhodesia). The government of staunch conservative Ian Smith proclaimed a unilateral declaration of independence on November 11, 1965. Britain called the proclamation an act of rebellion but refused to reestablish control by force. When negotiations in 1966 failed to produce an agreement, Britain requested UN economic sanctions against Rhodesia. In 1969, Rhodesia voted to become a republic as of March 2, 1970. In 1971, Britain and Rhodesia reached an accord that provided for gradually increased African political participation, but without any guarantee of eventual black majority rule. However, after a British commission’s hearings in Rhodesia revealed widespread African opposition to the terms, Britain refused to recognize Rhodesian independence on the basis of the accord.
History - 1971 to 1980
Two nationalist organizations, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), operating from bases in Mozambique and Zambia, respectively, carried out guerrilla warfare campaigns against the white government throughout the 1970s. Fighting escalated as Smith refused to grant democratic rights. Smith appealed to conservative factions in the U.S. and Britain in an attempt to gain recognition for his government, but failed. In 1979, a white-only referendum approved a new constitution and renamed the country Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. In 1979, an agreement was reached to provide for a legally independent, democratically governed Zimbabwe; a new constitution; and a cease-fire. Zimbabwe reverted to British colonial rule until the transition to self-rule was complete. In the elections of April 1980, Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF (Patriotic Front) party won by a comfortable margin, and he became prime minister when Zimbabwe-Rhodesia achieved independence and became the Republic of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.
History - 1980 to 1987
The period 1982 to 1987 represents a dark side in Zimbabwe’s short history of independence. Soon after the country attained independence, the Matabeleland region became a center of antagonism between members of the two guerrilla groups that had fought to end white minority rule: ZIPRA (Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army), the armed wing of ZAPU, and ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army), the military arm of ZANU. In August 1981, 106 military instructors arrived from North Korea and began training what was to be known as the Fifth Brigade, made up of Shona-speaking recruits from ZANLA. Politically, Mugabe’s ZANU, which won the elections initially, agreed to share power with ZAPU, led by Joshua Nkomo, to foster reconciliation. The power-sharing arrangement broke down in 1982 following discoveries of arms caches, which the ZANU-led government alleged ZAPU was stockpiling to stage a coup. ZAPU ministers were summarily dismissed and political leaders detained as the Mugabe government launched a campaign against supposed dissidents in the provinces of Matabeleland North, South, and the Midlands, led exclusively by the North-Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. The counter-insurgency campaign led to political repression, human rights abuses, mass murders, and property burnings in Matabeleland, a stronghold of the ethnic minority Ndebele affiliated with ZAPU. During the five-year campaign, human rights organizations suggest that nearly 20,000 people lost their lives. A peace accord was finally negotiated and signed in 1987 between the ruling party and the ZAPU leadership, which reintegrated ZAPU into the government and restored stability in the country. The Fifth Brigade was subsequently disbanded.
History - 1987 to Present
For almost a decade, the Mugabe government had blindly embraced a Marxist-Leninist ideology that frightened foreign investors and retarded economic growth. In 1991, the ZANU-PF party officially abandoned the Marxist ideological rhetoric. Zimbabwe’s constitution provides for an executive president as head of state to be elected by the 150-member parliament. Despite a 1992 coalition of the leading opposition parties, ZANU-PF continues to dominate the political landscape. In the 1996 presidential election, Mugabe won 92.7% of the vote after the other two candidates withdrew in protest of unfair electoral practices. However, less than 30% of registered voters participated compared to over 70% in the previous two elections. The 2002 elections were widely condemned as fraudulent, and general strikes called by opposition groups in 2003 were brutally suppressed. The country continues to confront major challenges. Recurring droughts have negatively impacted economic growth (the 1992-1993 drought being the most severe). The land distribution program in 2002 was poorly handled and led to mass flight by white farmers, further crippling the economy. The unprecedented AIDS pandemic has caused excessive mortality and environmental degradation, particularly in ecologically fragile areas, and has continued to degrade Zimbabwean living standards. With its rich natural resource base and largely educated population, it has the potential not only to overcome current problems, but to achieve sustainable human development as well.
Government
Executive President Robert Gabriel Mugabe continues as president, and also as head of government.
