Zimbabwe Culture, Geography and History

Early History

The land of Zimbabwe has been occupied since the 9th century, with tribes first emerging in the Limpopo Valley before starting to occupy the highlands. Zimbabwe's early society developed into a series of kingdoms which traded commodities such as gold and copper with other nations. The Great Zimbabwe ruins are a remnant of this illustrious time in Zimbabwean history and can be visited while travelling in the Masvingo area.

Portuguese settlers arrived in the 16th century, having a devastating effect on the empire. Trade was halted and a series of wars rendered the empire near collapse at the dawn of the 17th century. The British arrived in the late 19th century, by way of Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, which lobbied to colonise the area and control the land (and precious minerals within). By 1898 the area of Zimbabwe was known as Southern Rhodesia (with modern day Zambia known as Northern Rhodesia).

The Shona and Ndebele (along with other indigenous tribes) staged revolts against their colonisers, which were largely unsuccessful and lead to displacement, with land unfairly being allocated to European settlers, rather than local tribal people whose ancestors and families had lived there for centuries. In part, this issue of disproportionate allocation of land would return to haunt modern Zimbabwe many years later.