Zimbabwe

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The Republic of Zimbabwe is a country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Victoria Falls, Zambesi river, Kariba Dam and Limpopo river. It is surrounded by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west, Zambia to the north and Mozambique to the east.

Republic of Zimbabwe

Image:Zimbabwe_flag_medium.png Image:Zimbabwe_Coat_of_Arms.png

National motto: Unity, Freedom, Work

image:LocationZimbabwe.png

Official language English, Shona, Ndebele

Capital Harare

Harare's coordinates 17ÃÂÃÂ° 50' S, 31ÃÂÃÂ° 03' E

President Robert Mugabe

Area
- Total
- % water Ranked 59th
390,580 km²
1%

Population
- Total (2003)
- Density Ranked 66th
12,576,742
32/km²

Independence
- Declared
- Recognised Rhodesian civil war
(as Rhodesia) in 1965
(as Zimbabwe) in 1980

Currency Zimbabwe dollar (Z$)

Time zone UTC +2 (DST, yes or not)

National anthem Ngaikomborerwe nyika yeZimbabwe (Blessed be the land of Zimbabwe)

Internet TLD .ZW

Calling Code 263

Table of contents

1 History
2 Politics
3 Provinces
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
7 Culture
8 Miscellaneous topics
9 External links

History

Main article: History of Zimbabwe

Iron Age Bantu-speaking peoples began migrating into the area about 2,000 years ago, including the ancestors of the Shona, who account for roughly four fifths of the country's population today. Ruins at Great Zimbabwe, a Shona-speaking state, attest the existence of a medieval Bantu civilization in the region. Linked to the establishment of trade ties with Muslim merchants on the Indian Ocean coast around the early 10th century CE, Great Zimbabwe began to develop in the 11th century. The state traded gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass. It ceased to be the leading Shona state in the mid-15th century.

In 1837 the Shona were conquered by the Ndebele, who forced them to pay tribute. Later in the 19th century British and Boer traders, hunters, missionaries, and hunters stated encroaching on the area.

In 1888 British imperialist Cecil Rhodes extracted mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele. In 1889 Rhodes obtained a charter for the British South Africa Company, which conquered the Ndebele and their territory (named "Rhodesia" in 1895 after Cecil Rhodes) and promoted the colonization of the region and its land, labor, and precious metal and mineral resources. Both the Ndebele and the Shona staged unsuccessful revolts against white colonialist encroachment on their native lands in 1896-1897.

In 1911 the territory was divided into Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia, the latter becoming a self-governing British colony in 1922. In 1953 the two parts of Rhodesia were reunited in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and after its dissolution in 1963 the whites demanded independence from Southern Rhodesia (Rhodesia from 1964).

As African majority governments were assuming control in neighboring Northern Rhodesia and in Nyasaland, the white-minority government, led by Ian Smith, declared unilateral independence on November 11, 1965. The United Kingdom called the declaration an act of rebellion but did not reestablish control by force. When negotiations in 1966 and 1968 proved fruitless, the UK requested UN economic sanctions against Rhodesia. The white-minority regime declared itself a republic in 1970. It was not recognized by the UK or by any other nation.

As guerrilla activities fighting minority rule intensified, the Smith regime opened negotiations with the leaders of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZANU), led by Robert Mugabe, and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZAPU), led by Joshua Nkomo. With his regime near the brink of collapse, Smith in March 1978 signed a desperate accord with three black leaders who offered safeguards for whites headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa.

Muzorewa, who not only had the support of Smith but with the white-minority regime in South Africa as well, lacked credibility among significant sectors of the African population. The Muzorewa government soon faltered. In 1979 a Commonwealth Conference to hold an all-party conference in an attempt to negotiate a settlement in the civil war.

Following the conference, held in London (1979-80), Britain's Lord Soames was appointed governor to oversee the disarming of revolutionary guerrillas, the holding of elections, and the granting of independence to an uneasy coalition government with Joshua Nkomo, head of Zimbabwe African People's Union. In the free elections of February 1980, Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) won a landslide victory. Mugabe has won reelection ever since.

In 1982 Nkomo was ousted from his cabinet, sparking fighting between ZAPU supports in the Ndebele-speaking region of the country and the ruling ZANU. A peace accord was negotiated in 1987, resulting in ZAPU's merger (1988) into the ZANU-PF.

The drought in southern Africa, perhaps the worst of the century, affected Zimbabwe so severely that a national disaster was declared in 1992. The drought confounded the country's debt crisis. The ensuing IMF-backed economic adjustment and austerity program caused further widespread hardship.

Despite majority-rule, whites made up less than 1% of the population but held 70% of the country's commercially viable arable land. Land redistribution reemerged as the vital issue beginning in 1999.

In the aftermath of Mugabe's handling of the land crisis, which moved to redistribute land to blacks, Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations on charges of human rights abuses and of election tampering in 2002. Later, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth.

The UN has recently estimated that 34% of the population has HIV/AIDS.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a republic, with a bicamerial parliament and a president. Robert Mugabe was elected Prime Minister in 1979, and in 1986 revised the constitutuion to make himself executive president. Mugabe and his party have won every election since coming to power. Presidential elections were last held in 2002 amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation, and fraud.

Provinces

Main article: Provinces of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is divided into 8 provinces and 2 cities with provincial status: Bulawayo (city), Harare (city), Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Midlands.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Zimbabwe

Economy

Main article: Economy of Zimbabwe

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles to consolidate earlier progress in developing a market-oriented economy. Its involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, has already drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. Badly needed support from the IMF suffers delays in part because of the country's failure to meet budgetary goals. Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998 to 59% in 1999 and to 208% in February 2003, expected to reach 350% by the end of the year. The economy is being steadily weakened by AIDS; Zimbabwe has the highest rate of infection in the world.

The destruction of much of Zimbabwe's agricultural base through the seizing of mainly white-owned farms throughout 1999 and 2000 has decimated the Zimbabwean economy. The political situation makes it unlikely that the West will be inclined to do much more than provide sustenance assistance.

The lack of foreign currency, as well as the difference between the official exchange rate (officially 55 to the US$, while 1600 to the dollar is available on the black market) have resulted in fuel shortages and a lack of basic supplies. Libya supplied fuel, partially in exchange for land, but Zimbabwe could not meet the basic payments, and supplies have been stopped. Without fuel, the demise of the economy continues apace.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Zimbabwe

Culture

Main article: Culture of Zimbabwe

Music of Zimbabwe
Holidays in Zimbabwe
List of writers from Zimbabwe

Miscellaneous topics

External links

SADC Database - Database on Food & Agriculture in SADC Countries
World-wide press freedom index - Rank 122 out of 139 countries (report 2002)
Amnesty International (Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum

Africa

Other areas

Commonwealth of Nations