The first peoples

By around 300AD, Bantu-speaking iron-age farmers had spread into southern Africa and settled in the Zimbabwe region. Around 1000AD, they were joined by groups from the north, such as the Karanga and Rozwi. These and other groups formed the early Shona kingdoms.

From the 11th to the 15th century, the Shona peoples thrived in a prosperous society, worshipping a supreme deity called Mwari. A huge city rose up at the centre of the Shona empire. The remains of this city – known as Great Zimbabwe – can still be seen today. See the Map of Zimbabwe for its location.

Conflict was stirred up by Arab traders, as rival local leaders sought to take control of the gold and ivory being exchanged for cloth, beads and other luxuries. When the Portuguese arrived in the 1500s, they took sides in these disputes to gain the trade for themselves. The locals resented Portuguese interference and by the turn of the 17th century, these first Europeans had left the Zimbabwean plateau for good.

The British take-over

In the 18th century, the Ndebele people fled north (to escape the Zulu clan) and settled in the Bulawayo area of Zimbabwe. By the mid-18th century, the British began taking an interest in the region.

Initially, only a few missionaries, traders and explorers, such as David Livingstone went north of the Limpopo. See Malawi History & Politics to find out more about Livingstone. But with reports of gold in the region, prospectors began flooding in.

Cecil Rhodes, who had arrived in South Africa in 1871, was a mining man. But it wasn’t just about gold for Rhodes. He wanted to expand British interests through the region and tricked the local African leaders into giving him concessions to their land. It wasn’t long before white settlers from South Africa were taking over farmland.

In 1891, the British annexed all land north of the Transvaal, between Portuguese-controlled Mozambique and German South-West Africa. Any opposition from local peoples, such as the Ndebele, was suppressed. Administered by Rhodes’ British South Africa (BSA) Company, the region was named Rhodesia (after Cecil Rhodes) in 1894.

The birth of modern-day Zimbabwe

When BSA administration ended in 1922, the white ruling class opted for self-government. Soon, a law was passed which restricted the right of black people to own land and forced many into labour.

Britain created a Central African Federation in 1953 – made up of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi). But this federation broke up when Zambia and Malawi gained independence a decade later. In 1965, the white minority-rule government of the Rhodesian Front, under Ian Smith, broke away from Britain. Stripping black people of rights, this government sparked international outrage and economic sanctions were introduced.

Black Zimbabweans had been fighting to regain their rights for many years and opposition parties formed, such as the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) under Joshua Nkomo. In 1963, this party split and the more radical wing broke away to form the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). Guerrilla warfare broke out and this turned into civil war in the 1970s.

Civil war was crippling the country. Britain helped negotiate a ceasefire and a new constitution in 1979. The following year elections were held and the Republic of Zimbabwe became independent in April 1980.

Recent times

The Zanu-PF parties merged in 1987 and Robert Mugabe became executive president of the country.

Violence and unrest have continued to plague Zimbabwe over the last two decades, with the Zanu-PF party challenged by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tzvangirai. The two parties currently both govern in a power-sharing agreement reached in 2008.