History Of Zimbabwe
The foremost civilization known to inhabit Zimbabwe was the Mwene Mutapa or Monomatapas. In the middle of 1440's, the region was ruled by King Mutota whose jurisdiction spread over the Rhodesian plateau. The economy of the empire rested on agriculture and small-scale industries such as iron smelting, textiles, gold and copper. |
With the advent of the Portuguese in the 16th century, not only was the trade shattered but the empire was crippled as well. However, many of the Shona states together formed the Rozwi Empire and fought against the Portuguese. By 1690, the rule once under Mwene Mutapa was taken over by the Rozwi. The next two centuries witnessed prosperity until the fall of the Rozwi Empire in the 19th century. The treaty of 1888 with the British South Africa Company granted them the permission to mine gold in the territory. The authority of the Ndebele was ousted in 1893 with the increase in the European immigration.
Conflict further heightened with the establishment of the referendum of 1922 wherein the Whites opted for self governance and the blacks were denied from voting. The laws that followed in 1930 and 1934 prevented Africans from ownership and trading rights resulting in the Africans working on wages for the whites in their farms, mines and factories. The wages were meager and conditions of work extremely poor. A series of alterations in the political scenario finally led to the collaboration between the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). In 1966, both ZAPU and ZANU commenced with guerrilla warfare resulting in large scale emigration of the whites from Rhodesia. Pressure mounted on the US to reconsider its policies. Non-racial elections were held in 1980, wherein Mugabe's ZANU party gained success. Although, the whites still managed to preserve many rights but the same were nullified in 1988.
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