Southern Rhodesia

Zimbabwe, 1923–1980. Draft, not yet reviewed

Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked, self-governing colony of the British Empire in what is today the country of Zimbabwe. The colony's territory was initially conquered and administered by the British South Africa Company, which was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes for the purpose of occupying and settling the region. In 1965, the South Rhodesian government under Prime Minister Ian Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and oversaw the escalating Rhodesian Bush War between the white minority-controlled government and African nationalist forces. British rule was briefly reinstated in December 1979 until it was granted full independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe in April 1980.

Seat of power: Harare

Rulers

John Chancellor

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1923–1928

He became a colonial administrator serving as the 20th Governor of Mauritius from 13 September 1911 to 28 January 1916, Trinidad and Tobago (1916-1921) and Southern Rhodesia (1923-1928).

Portrait of John Chancellor: לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית, Public domain, file

Cecil Hunter-Rodwell

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1928–1934

In 1928 Rodwell was appointed Governor of Southern Rhodesia. He returned to South Africa to work in the mining industry at the end of his term in 1934.

Herbert Stanley

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1935–1942

He served at different times as Governor of Northern Rhodesia, Ceylon and Southern Rhodesia. Earlier, as Resident Commissioner for Southern and Northern Rhodesia, he refused to allow settlers to take land from Africans, instead assigning 21,500,000 acres exclusively for the use of Africans.

Portrait of Herbert Stanley: Basso, Public domain, file

Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1942–1944

He was Governor of Southern Rhodesia from 1942 to 1944, High Commissioner for Southern Africa from 1944 to 1951, and Governor of Kenya from 1952 to 1959.

Portrait of Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale: Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), Public domain, file

Campbell Tait

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1945–1946

He was the fifth Governor of Southern Rhodesia after his naval retirement in 1944, serving from 1945 to 1946.

Peveril William-Powlett

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1954–1959

In retirement William-Powlett served as Governor of Southern Rhodesia from 1954 until 1959.

Portrait of Peveril William-Powlett: The National Archives UK - Flickr account, OGL v1.0, file

Christopher Soames

Governor of Southern Rhodesia, 1979–1980

He served as a European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia.

Portrait of Christopher Soames: Moshe Milner, Public domain, file

Culture

In 1890 the Pioneer Column set out from South Africa and established Fort Salisbury (now Harare) in Mashonaland.
In 1953, the United Kingdom united the colony of Southern Rhodesia and the protectorates of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
The settler-controlled government also passed racially discriminatory land-ownership restrictions, banned Africans from higher levels in the civil service for most of its history, and implemented an extensive racial pass system that limited Africans' ability to live and work in most of the colony.
University College of Rhodesia received its first intake of students in 1952. In 1980 it was renamed the University of Zimbabwe.

Picture

The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls and was completed in 1905.

Image: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.