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General Knowledge :: HISTORICAL EVENTS BY COUNTRY :: ZIMBABWE

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Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Historical Dates

About ad 1000	Shona-speaking people began building the walled city of Great Zimbabwe near present-day Masvingo.
1100s	Great Zimbabwe established trading links with East African ports and traded goods for products from as far away as China and Indonesia.
1500s	Portuguese explorers visited Zimbabwe and traded with local gold-mining states.
1855	The Scottish missionary David Livingstone visited Victoria Falls during his explorations along the Zambezi River.
1888	The Ndebele king granted mineral rights to British empire builder Cecil Rhodes.
1893	Rhodes's British South Africa Company controlled most of present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe. Two years later the region was named Rhodesia. The area of present-day Zambia became Northern Rhodesia, and the area of present-day Zimbabwe, Southern Rhodesia.
1896-1897	British forces crushed African rebellions as new gold discoveries attracted more Europeans to the region.
1923	Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony.
1953	The British government created the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, encompassing Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (present-day Malawi).
1959	The Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River was completed, creating Lake Kariba and providing an abundant source of water and power for Northern and Southern Rhodesia.
1962	Election boycotted by black nationalists to protest voting restrictions.
1963	The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved.
1964	Nyasaland became independent as Malawi and Northern Rhodesia as Zambia. Southern Rhodesia changed its name to Rhodesia. Great Britain refused to grant independence to Rhodesia until it gave the African majority a greater political voice.
1965	The government of Rhodesia unilaterally declared its independence. Rhodesia was the first British colony to break away without consent since the United States did so nearly 200 years earlier.
1970s	Rhodesia declared itself a republic. Fighting erupted between Rhodesian forces and African guerrilla groups.
1978	Voting restrictions were eased, allowing more blacks to vote.
1979	A black-majority government was elected, but was rejected by the people because of its close ties to the former white government. Widespread fighting ensued before a cease-fire was arranged.
1980	Free democratic elections were held and Robert Mugabe, a nationalist leader and politician, became prime minister. The new government proclaimed the country the Republic of Zimbabwe.
1990s	The Zimbabwean government passed an act in 1992 to redistribute white-owned government land to black farmers; a study later revealed that the land was not redistributed but leased to government officials.