Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, and formerly Southern Rhodesia, the Republic of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia, is a landlocked country in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It borders South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east. The official language of Zimbabwe is English, however the majority of the population speaks Shona which is the native language of the Shona people, it is one of the native languages of Zimbabwe along with Sindebele which is spoken by the Matabele people.

From circa 1250–1629, the area that is known as Zimbabwe today was ruled under the Mutapa Empire, also known as Mwene Mutapa, Monomotapa or the Empire of Great Zimbabwe, which was renowned for its gold trade routes with Arabs. However, Portuguese settlers destroyed the trade and began a series of wars which left the empire near collapse in the early 17th century. In 1834, the Matabele people arrived while fleeing from the Zulu leader Shaka, making the area their new empire, Matabeleland. In the 1880s, the British arrived with Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company. In 1898, the name Southern Rhodesia was adopted.

As colonial rule was ending throughout the continent, and as African-majority governments assumed control in neighboring Northern Rhodesia and in Nyasaland, the white-minority Rhodesia government led by Ian Smith declared unilateral independence on November 11, 1965. The United Kingdom deemed this an act of rebellion, but did not reestablish control by force. The white-minority regime declared itself a "republic" in 1970. It was not recognized by the UK or any other state, other than white minority-led South Africa.

A civil war ensued, led by Robert Mugabe and assisted by African National Congress forces from South Africa.

On 18 April 1980, the country attained independence and along with it a new name, Zimbabwe, new flag, and government led by Robert Mugabe of ZANU. Canaan Banana served as the first president with Mugabe as Prime Minister. In 1987, the government amended the Constitution to provide for an Executive President and abolished the office of Prime Minister. The constitutional changes went into effect on 1 January 1988, establishing Robert Mugabe as President.

Under the leadership of President Mugabe, land issues, which the liberation movement promised to solve, reemerged as the vital issue in the 1990s. Despite majority-rule, whites made up less than one percent of the population but held 70% of the country's commercially viable arable land because of the color line arising from British colonialism. <ref>PBS, Online NewsHour, "Land Redistribution in Southern Africa." [1]</ref> Mugabe began to redistribute land to blacks in 2000 with a compulsory land redistribution.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a hard currency shortage, which has led to hyperinflation and chronic shortages in imported fuel and consumer goods. Mugabe's critics blame his program of land reform. Zimbabwe's current economic and food crisis, described by some observers as the country's worst humanitarian crisis since independence, has been attributed, in varying degrees, to a drought affecting the entire region, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the government's price controls and land reforms.<ref>Crisis profile: Zimbabwe's humanitarian situation(26 July 2005) Reuters Foundation AlertNet</ref>

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Precolonial era 2.2 Colonisation (1888–1965) 2.3 UDI and civil war (1965–1979) 2.4 Independence (1980) 3 Geography 4 Administrative divisions 5 Government and politics 6 Human rights 7 Military 7.1 Zimbabwe National Army 8 Economy 9 Demographics 9.1 Refugee crisis 10 Education 11 Culture and recreation 11.1 Food 12 Tourism 13 National symbols, insignia and anthems 13.1 Zimbabwe Bird 13.2 Balancing Rocks 13.3 National anthem 14 See also 15 References 16 External links 16.1 Government 16.2 News 16.3 Directories 16.4 Tourism 16.5 Other 16.6 Online Entertainment

[edit] Etymology

The name Zimbabwe derives from "" meaning "big house of stone" in the Shona language.<ref name="bighouse">Zimbabwe, History Department of UKZN.</ref> Its use as the country's name is a tribute to Great Zimbabwe, site of the capital of the Empire of Great Zimbabwe. In other languages, such as German, the initial Z is replaced with an S so as to produce the same sound in the phonics of the said language; for example Zimbabwe is spelled "Simbabwe".<ref> </ref>

[edit] History

[edit] Precolonial era

Stone Age hunters, related to today's Khoisan people, settled in the area about 5000 years ago or earlier. They painted scenes of life in hundreds of caves across Zimbabwe; these are known as the Bushman paintings.<ref name="paintings">Chippindale, Christopher. Pictures in Place: Looking at Pictures in Place. Page 15.</ref> Iron Age Bantu-speaking peoples began migrating into the area about 2,000 years ago, eventually displacing the earlier hunters. These included the ancestors of the Shona, who account for roughly four-fifths of the country's population today.<ref> </ref><ref></ref>

By the Middle Ages, there was a Bantu civilization in the region, as evidenced by ruins at Great Zimbabwe and other smaller sites, whose outstanding achievement is a unique dry stone architecture. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Muslim merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, helping to develop Great Zimbabwe 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 1837-8, the Shona were conquered by the Ndebele, who arrived from south of the Limpopo and forced them to pay tribute and concentrate in northern Zimbabwe.<ref name="conquered">So Who Was Shaka Zulu- Really? Africa Stage</ref>

[edit] Colonisation (1888–1965)

In 1888, British entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes extracted mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele.<ref name="mining">Hensman, Howard. Cecil Rhodes: A Study of a Career. Page 106–107.</ref> He used this concession to persuade the British government to grant a royal charter to his British South Africa Company (BSAC) over Matabeleland and its subject states such as Mashonaland, and to negotiate similar concessions covering all territory between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika, referred to as 'Zambesia'. Through such concessions and treaties, many of which were deceitful,<ref name="treaties">Parsons, Neil. A New History of Southern Africa, Second Edition, 1993. London: Macmillan. Pages 178–181.</ref> he promoted the colonisation of the region's land, labor, and precious metal and mineral resources.<ref name="bsac">Bryce, James. Impressions of South Africa. Page 170.</ref> In 1895 the BSAC adopted the name 'Rhodesia' for Zambesia, after Cecil Rhodes, and in 1898 'Southern Rhodesia' was officially adopted for the part south of the Zambezi,<ref name="adopted">Gray, J. A. (1956). "A Country in Search of a Name." The Northern Rhodesia Journal III (1) (1956). Page 78.</ref> which later became Zimbabwe. The part to the north was administered separately by the BSAC and was later named Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia.

The Shona staged unsuccessful revolts (Chimurenga) against the encroachment on their lands in 1896 and 1897.<ref name="revolts">Palamarek, Ernie. Hatari. Page 132.</ref> Both the Ndebele and Shona became subject to the Rhodes administration. This was the beginning of a larger settlement of white settlers that led to land distribution favouring whites, displacing both the Shona and Ndebele and other black people.

Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony in October 1923, following a referendum a year earlier. Rhodesians fought for the United Kingdom during World War II. Among other contributions to the war effort were Rhodesian ground and air forces involved in the East African Campaign. This campaign fought against the Axis forces in Italian East Africa.

In 1953, in the face of African opposition,<ref name="fed">Parsons (1993). Page 292.</ref> Britain joined the two parts of Rhodesia with Nyasaland (now Malawi) in the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland which was dominated by Southern Rhodesian settlers. Growing African nationalism and unrest, particularly in Nyasaland, forced Britain to dissolve it in 1963, and each of the three countries went their separate ways. On November 11, 1965, Ian Smith made history when he unilaterally declared independence from Britain and Southern Rhodesia dropped the designation 'Southern', becoming the Republic of Rhodesia in 1970.<ref name="declaration">Judd, Denis. Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1765 to the Present. Page 372.</ref><ref name="desig">Parsons (1993). Pages 318–320.</ref>

[edit] UDI and civil war (1965–1979)

After the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), the British government requested United Nations economic sanctions against Rhodesia as negotiations with the Smith administration in 1966 and 1968 ended in stalemate. The Smith administration declared itself a republic in 1970 which was recognized only by South Africa,<ref name="only">Malawi political background</ref><ref name="stalemate">Zambia political background NationsEncyclopedia.com, 2003</ref> then governed by its apartheid administration. Over the years, the guerrilla fighting against Smith's UDI government intensified. As a result, the Smith government opened negotiations with the leaders of the Patriotic Fronts — Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). ZANU was led by Robert Mugabe and ZAPU was led by Joshua Nkomo.

In March 1978, with his regime near the brink of collapse, Smith signed an accord with three black leaders, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who offered safeguards for white civilians. As a result of the Internal Settlement, elections were held in April 1979. The United African National Council (UANC) party won a majority in this election. On June 1 1979, the leader of UANC, Abel Muzorewa, became the country's Prime Minister and the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The internal settlement left control of the country's police, security forces, civil service, and judiciary in white hands. It assured whites of about one third of the seats in parliament. It was essentially a power-sharing arrangement which did not amount to majority rule.<ref name="endsanctions">1 June 1979 BBC News</ref> However, on June 12, the United States Senate voted to end economic sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.

On December 1, 1979, delegations from the British and Rhodesian governments and the Patriotic Front met in London and signed the Lancaster House Agreement, ending the civil war.<ref name="lancaster">Preston, Matthew. Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective. Page 25</ref> Following the Meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government held in Lusaka from August 1–7 1979, the British government invited Muzorewa and the leaders of the Patriotic Front to participate in a Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House. The purpose of the Conference was to discuss and reach agreement on the terms of an Independence Constitution, and that elections should be supervised under British authority to enable Rhodesia to proceed to legal independence and the parties to settle their differences by political means. Lord Carrington, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, chaired the Conference.<ref name="chair">Chung, Fay. Re-living the Second Chimurenga: memories from the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, Preben (INT) Kaarsholm. Page 242.</ref> The conference took place from 10 September–15 December 1979 with 47 plenary sessions.

[edit] Independence (1980)

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 ZAPU. In the free elections of February 1980, Mugabe and his ZANU won a landslide victory.<ref> </ref> Mugabe has won re-election ever since.

In 1982, Nkomo was ousted from his cabinet, sparking fighting between ZAPU supporters 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.

Land issues, which the liberation movement promised to solve, re-emerged as the vital issue for the ruling party beginning in 1999. Despite majority rule, and the existence of a "willing buyer-willing seller" land reform programme since the 1980s, ZANU (PF) claimed that whites made up less than 1% of the population but held 70% of the country's commercially viable arable land (though these figures are disputed by many outside the Government of Zimbabwe). Mugabe began to redistribute land to blacks in 2000 with a compulsory land redistribution; charges that the programme as a whole is designed to reward loyal Mugabe deputies have persisted in Zimbabwe since the beginning of the process.

The legality and constitutionality of the process has regularly been challenged in the Zimbabwean High and Supreme Courts; however, the policing agencies have rarely acted in accordance with courts' rulings on these matters. The chaotic implementation of the land reform led to a sharp decline in agricultural exports, traditionally the country's leading export producing sector.<ref name="humanrightswatch">.</ref> Mining and tourism have surpassed agriculture. As a result, Zimbabwe is experiencing a severe hard currency shortage, which has led to hyperinflation and chronic shortages in imported fuel and consumer goods. In 2002, Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations on charges of human rights abuses during the land redistribution and of election tampering.<ref name="tampering">Zimbabwe suspended indefinitely from Commonwealth, HumanRightsFirst.org, 8 December 2003</ref>

Following elections in 2005, the government initiated "Operation Murambatsvina," a supposed effort to crack down on illegal markets and homes that had seen slums emerge in towns and cities. This action has been widely condemned by opposition and international figures, who charge that it has left a substantial section of urban poor homeless. The Zimbabwe government has described the operation as an attempt to provide decent housing to the population although they have yet to deliver any new housing for the forcefully removed people.<ref name="muram">Zimbabwe: Housing policy built on foundation of failures and lies, Amnesty International, 9 August 2006</ref>

Zimbabwe's current economic and food crisis, described by some observers as the country's worst humanitarian crisis since independence, has been attributed, in varying degrees, to a drought affecting the entire region, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the government's price controls and land reforms.<ref name="problems">Crisis profile: Zimbabwe's humanitarian situation, July 26, 2005. AlertNet.</ref>

Life expectancy at birth for males in Zimbabwe has dramatically declined since 1990 from 60 to 37, the lowest in the world. Life expectancy for females is even lower at 34 years.<ref>"Zimbabwe Life Expectancy Lowest In The World", Public Health News, 10 April, 2006</ref> Concurrently, the infant mortality rate has climbed from 53 to 81 deaths per 1,000 live births in the same period. Currently, 5.6 million Zimbabweans live with HIV.<ref name="hiv">Guardian article, The wasteland — inside Mugabe's crumbling state, March 17, 2007 The Guardian</ref>

[edit] Geography

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Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, surrounded by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east and northeast. Zimbabwe also meets Namibia to the west at a single point. To the south, Zimbabwe is separated from South Africa by the Limpopo River. The north-western border is defined by the Zambezi River. Zimbabwe's highest peak is Mount Nyangani (formerly Mount Inyangani), at 2,592 m (8,504 ft);<ref> </ref> it lies within the Nyanga National Park in the east of the country. The lowest point of Zimbabwe is the junction of the Runde and Save rivers 162 m (531 ft). Victoria Falls is a popular tourist destination on the Zambezi.

Zimbabwe's climate is largely tropical, however this is moderated by altitude. It has a short rainy season which lasts about four months between November and March. The terrain of Zimbabwe is mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld) and a mountainous range in the east.

Natural hazards in Zimbabwe include recurring droughts and unpredictable rainfall, though severe storms are rare. There are several environmental issues in Zimbabwe including deforestation, soil erosion, land degradation, and air and water pollution. The black rhinoceros herd — once the largest concentration of the species in the world — has fallen significantly.<ref> </ref> Poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution. Some of these problems have worsened by the current political crisis, whereby Zimbabweans are cutting down forests for firewood or for sale.<ref> </ref>

[edit] Administrative divisions

Zimbabwe is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status.<ref> </ref> These are territorial divisions for the purposes of administrative, political and geographical demarcation. The provinces are subdivided into 59 districts and 1,200 municipalities. Zimbabwe's provinces are Bulawayo (city), Harare (city), Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Midlands. The names of the provinces are generally generated from the Mashonaland and Matabeleland divide which existed before colonisation. These two lands were the tribal homes of the Shona people and the Matabele people. The provinces have regional capitals and these are generally, on the whole, in the centre of the province but not always the largest town/city in the province.<ref> </ref>

[edit] Government and politics

Zimbabwe has a parliamentary government. Under constitutional changes in 2005, an upper chamber, the Senate, was reinstated.<ref name="reinstated">Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 17) Act, 2005 NGO Network Alliance Project</ref> The House of Assembly is the lower chamber of Parliament.

President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front has been the dominant political party in Zimbabwe since independence.<ref>Mugabe, Robert. (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> In 1987 then-prime minister Mugabe revised the constitution and made himself president. His ZANU party has won every election since independence. In particular, the elections of 1990 were nationally and internationally condemned as being rigged, with the second-placed party, Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement, winning only 16% of the vote.<ref> </ref> Presidential elections were last held in 2002 amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud.<ref name="allegations">Zimbabwe: Election Fraud Report, University of Pennsylvania, 18 April 2005</ref> The next Presidential elections are due to be held in 2008, although Mugabe is currently trying to amend the constitution in an attempt to stay in power until 2010.<ref name="amend">Mugabe could stay on until 2010, South African Mail and Guardian, 21 January 2007</ref> The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai is the largest opposition party. The MDC is currently split into two factions. One faction, led by Welshman Ncube contested the elections to the Senate, while the other, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, opposed to contesting the elections, stating that participation in a rigged election is tantamount to endorsing Mugabe's claim that past elections were free and fair. However, the opposition parties have resumed participation in national and local elections as recently as 2006. The two MDC camps had their congresses in 2005 with Morgan Tsvangirai being elected to lead the main splinter group which has become more popular than the other group. Mutambara, a robotics professor and former NASA robotics specialist has replaced Welshman Ncube who was the interim leader after the split. Morgan Tsvangirai did not participate in the Senate elections, while the Mutambara faction participated and won five seats in the senate. The Mutambara faction has however been weakened by defections from MPs and individuals who are disillusioned by their manifesto. As of 2007, the Tsvangirai-led MDC has become the most popular, with crowds as large as 20,000 attending their rallies as compared to between 500–5,000 for the other splinter group.<ref></ref> There is wide disagreement in Zimbabwe and neighbouring states as to whether a divided MDC can win presidential elections against a disciplined ruling party. The opposition continues to be weak in rural areas, where a large number of the population of Zimbabwe resides.

The 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections were held on March 31 and multiple claims of vote rigging, election fraud and intimidation were made by the MDC and Jonathan Moyo, calling for investigations into 32 of the 120 constituencies.<ref name="moyo">Mugabe's former ally accuses him of foul play, March 12, 2005. Independent Online Zimbabwe.</ref> Jonathan Moyo participated in the elections despite the allegations and won a seat as an independent member of Parliament.

[edit] Human rights

There are widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the Mugabe administration and his party, ZANU-PF.

According to human rights organizations such as Amnesty International<ref name ="AI"> </ref> and Human Rights Watch<ref name = "hrw"> </ref> the government of Zimbabwe violates the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law. There are assaults on the media, the political opposition, civil society activists, and human rights defenders. Opposition gatherings are frequently the subject of brutal attacks by the police force, such as the crackdown on a March 11, 2007 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally. In the events, party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 49 other opposition activists were arrested and severely beaten by the police. After his release, Morgan Tsvangirai told the BBC that he suffered head injuries and blows to the arms, knees and back, and that he lost a significant amount of blood.<ref name = "bbc_Morgan"> </ref> The police action was strongly condemned by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and the United States.<ref name="BBC report"></ref> While noting that the activists had suffered injuries, but not mentioning the cause of them,<ref>