The history of Rhodesia is not a happy chapter in British
colonialism, as it becomes a textbook example of how colonialism was used to justify the
impoverishment of Africans and the seizing of resources by whites. If you want to know
more, you may find it interesting to read "No Witchcraft for Sale" by Doris Lessing that
is set in Rhodesia and concerns an inter-racial
conflict.
British colonists arrives in the country they
called Rhodesia, which was named after British financier Cecil Rhodes, in the late
1800s. They seized the country's most fertile, productive farmland for themselves.
Africans were removed from their ancestral homelands to communal lands, where the soil
was poor and raising crops was difficult. The displaced African farmers became a source
of cheap labour in cities and mines. As a result, the white minority enjoyed a high
standard of living while the black majority barely scraped
by.
Civil war tore apart the country of Southern Rhodesia
after it declared independence from Britain in 1965. After years of fighting between
black nationalists and government troops, Southern Rhodesia emerged as the republic of
Zimbabwe under the leadership of a black African, Robert Mugabe, in 1980. He still
remains in power today and is known as one of the most infamous African
despots.
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