Zimbabwe's Liberation

Zimbabwe’s Liberation

            Shortly after Rhodesia was liberated, the Central African Federation formed. The CAF was made up of three nations, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. The CAF was not completely liberated in the fact that it kept many of the ideals forced upon the people by the Europeans. The CAF struggled and to stay afloat until Zimbabwe decided to leave, seeking a better life of independence. After Zimbabwe’s decision to leave the CAF disbanded.

            Zimbabwe has not been very successful as an independent nation, due to many dependencies with its culture. Before its colonization Zimbabwe was split into two tribes who were not very technologically advanced. However, after European influence Zimbabwe became an industrial Nation. The problem was, the Europeans decided to leave Zimbabwe before it was a stable, self maintaining nation. This caused Zimbabwe to go into an economical tailspin. Ever since their independence Zimbabwe has been in an economic crisis. Even today, Zimbabwe is in a state of hyper inflation. The current estimate as of 5/4/2012 is 1 ZWD (Zimbabwean Dollar) = 0.00376319 USD (US Dollar).

Zimbabwe's Colonial Experience

Zimbabwe's Colonial Experience

            While under the control of the British Empire, living conditions in Zimbabwe decreased rapidly. The controlling class (British) kept the lower class (natives) completely away from power. Under British control, only 2% of the Native people were allowed to vote. This successfully kept the leaders and power on the British side.

            Not only did the British keep power from the Natives, they also inflected many hardships on them. The British did not want Colonies to be united so they decided to regularly uproot the native families and even whole villages at a time. This also helped keep the natives in poor economic conditions. With the living and economic conditions decreasing civil unrest began to rise within Zimbabwe. The Overwhelming British presence began to seem less and less important to the Natives. A revolution was soon to come. Even with Zimbabwe’s rising in power British ideals will never truly leave Zimbabwe. Many lessons taught by the missionaries and explorers during the colonization period will stay in the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans for many generations to come.

Initial Conquest

Initial Conquest

     

      The Colonization of Zimbabwe would not have been possible without the vision of Cecil Rhodes. During the expansion of the British Empire, Africa became a prize for all British explorers. Zimbabwe, to Cecil Rhodes, was one of the greatest prizes for him to conquer and rid of non-white customs. Cecil Rhodes found that there were two rival tribes in the area. These tribes were called the Shona and the Ndebele. As Rhodes began to take parts of Zimbabwe away from them, this caused more and more unrest between the tribes.  

       After much patience the Tribes revolted. This revolt was called the First Chimurenga. With no unity between the tribes, they stood no chance. Rhodes first went after the Shona, forcing them to join an alliance with the British against their sworn enemy, the Ndebele.  The Shona couldn’t afford to disagree. Rhodes and his men had the upper hand in the battles with their major advancements in military technology. Eventually Rhodes was able to force the Ndebele to surrender. With one tribe on the brim of annihilation by the hands of Rhodes, Zimbabwe as a whole stood no chance against him. As a result Zimbabwe officially fell under British command on October third, 1888. Soon it was renamed Rhodesia in honor of its conquer Cecil Rhodes.