# The Chronicle of Zimbabwe: From the great medieval stone city of the Shona, through the Mutapa and Rozvi states, the Ndebele kingdom, British colonisation as Southern Rhodesia, and a long liberation war to independence in 1980. History of Zimbabwe: From the great medieval stone city of the Shona, through the Mutapa and Rozvi states, the Ndebele kingdom, British colonisation as… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/ZWE/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-13 Founding: Independence from the United Kingdom — 18 April 1980. Zimbabwe became an internationally recognised independent state at midnight on 18 April 1980, ending nearly a century of colonial and white-minority rule that had begun with the British South Africa Company's occupation in 1890. Independence followed the Lancaster House Agreement of 21 December 1979, which ended the liberation war (the Second Chimurenga) and provided for a ceasefire, a new constitution and supervised elections. Robert Mugabe's ZANU(PF) won the February 1980 election, and Mugabe became the country's first prime minister. The new nation took its name from Great Zimbabwe, the medieval Shona stone city whose ruins had stood as a symbol of African achievement throughout the colonial era. Zimbabwe takes its name from Great Zimbabwe, the largest medieval stone city in sub-Saharan Africa, built by ancestors of the Shona between roughly the 11th and 15th centuries and grown rich on a gold trade that reached the Swahili coast and the Indian Ocean world. Great Zimbabwe's decline was followed by the Mutapa empire and the Rozvi and Torwa states, whose dry-stone tradition survives at Khami. In the nineteenth century the Ndebele kingdom of Mzilikazi and his son Lobengula dominated the south-west, until Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company secured the Rudd Concession in 1888, sent the Pioneer Column north in 1890, and seized the country, which became the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia. Early African resistance in the risings of 1896–97 — remembered as the First Chimurenga — was crushed, opening decades of white-minority rule. In 1965 Ian Smith's government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence; the liberation war, the Second Chimurenga, was waged by ZANU under Robert Mugabe and ZAPU under Joshua Nkomo until the Lancaster House Agreement of December 1979 paved the way to internationally recognised independence on 18 April 1980. The decades since have been marked by the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland in the 1980s, the chaotic fast-track land reform and economic collapse of the 2000s, and the removal of Mugabe in 2017. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Great Zimbabwe and the gold trade — c. 1000 – c. 1450 Ancestors of the Shona raised the largest stone city in sub-Saharan Africa, controlling a gold and ivory trade that reached the Swahili coast and beyond. - c. 11th century: **Great Zimbabwe is built** — Ancestors of the Shona began raising the mortarless granite walls of Great Zimbabwe, which would become the largest stone city in sub-Saharan Africa and give the modern nation its name. [unesco-greatzim, britannica-greatzim, wiki-greatzim] - 13th–14th century: **Apex of the gold trade** — At its height the city held perhaps 10,000–18,000 people and controlled a gold and ivory trade reaching the Swahili coast at Sofala and Kilwa; Chinese porcelain, Persian glass and a Kilwa coin have been excavated there. [unesco-greatzim, britannica-greatzim, wiki-greatzim] - c. 15th century: **Decline and abandonment** — Great Zimbabwe was abandoned, probably owing to resource exhaustion and shifting trade routes, as the centre of power moved north toward the Zambezi and successor states. [britannica-greatzim, wiki-greatzim, britannica-zim-history] - 1986: **Inscribed as a World Heritage Site** — UNESCO inscribed Great Zimbabwe National Monument as a World Heritage Site, recognising it as a unique testimony to the Bantu civilisation of the Shona between the 11th and 15th centuries. [unesco-greatzim] ## Mutapa, Torwa and Rozvi — c. 1450 – c. 1830 Successor states inherited Great Zimbabwe's gold trade — the Mutapa empire toward the Zambezi, and the Torwa and Rozvi states centred on Khami in the south-west. - c. 15th century: **Rise of the Mutapa empire** — The Mutapa (Mwenemutapa) empire emerged toward the Zambezi, inheriting Great Zimbabwe's gold trade and ruling much of the northern plateau and parts of present-day Mozambique. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-mutapa, britannica-torwa] - from c. 1505: **Portuguese intervention in the gold trade** — Portuguese traders based at Sofala and on the Zambezi pressed into the interior, establishing fairs and interfering in Mutapa politics, steadily weakening the empire over the next century. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-mutapa] - c. 1450–1680: **The Torwa state and Khami** — In the south-west the Torwa state built its capital at Khami near present-day Bulawayo, continuing the stone-walling tradition in decorated terraces; Khami is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [britannica-torwa, unesco-khami] - c. 1680: **The Rozvi state under Changamire Dombo** — Changamire Dombo founded the Rozvi state, absorbing the Torwa and expelling Portuguese fairs from the plateau around the 1690s; Rozvi power dominated the region until the Mfecane in the 1830s. [wiki-rozvi, britannica-torwa, britannica-zim-history] Figures: - Changamire Dombo (ruled late 17th century) — Founder of the Rozvi state. Shona warrior-ruler who built the Rozvi (Changamire) state, absorbed the Torwa kingdom and drove Portuguese traders from the Zimbabwe plateau around the 1690s. ## The Ndebele kingdom and British conquest — 1838 – 1923 Mzilikazi's Ndebele built a kingdom in the south-west; then the Rudd Concession, the Pioneer Column and two wars delivered the country to Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company as Southern Rhodesia. - c. 1838–1840: **The Ndebele settle the south-west** — Mzilikazi led the Ndebele north during the Mfecane and established a centralised military kingdom around Bulawayo, dominating the south-western plateau and its Shona inhabitants. [britannica-mzilikazi, britannica-lobengula, britannica-zim-history] - 1888–1890: **Rudd Concession and the Pioneer Column** — Lobengula signed the 1888 Rudd Concession granting mining rights to Rhodes's agents; Rhodes won a royal charter in 1889 and in 1890 the British South Africa Company's Pioneer Column occupied Mashonaland, raising the flag at Fort Salisbury on 13 September. [britannica-zim-history, britannica-lobengula, wiki-pioneer] - 1893: **First Matabele War** — Company forces invaded and destroyed the Ndebele kingdom; Lobengula fled and soon died, and the British South Africa Company annexed Matabeleland. [britannica-lobengula, britannica-zim-history] - 1896–1897: **First Chimurenga risings** — The Ndebele and Shona rose against Company rule in revolts inspired in part by spirit mediums such as Nehanda and Kaguvi; the risings were crushed and their leaders executed. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-history-zim] - 1 October 1923: **Southern Rhodesia becomes a self-governing colony** — After a settler referendum, Company rule ended and Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony, with land and political power reserved for the white minority. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-history-zim] Figures: - Lobengula (c. 1836–1894) — Last king of the Ndebele. Son of Mzilikazi who ruled the Ndebele kingdom from 1868, signed the 1888 Rudd Concession under pressure, and saw his state destroyed by the British South Africa Company in 1893 before his death. - Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) — Founder of the British South Africa Company. British mining magnate and imperialist whose chartered company conquered the country in 1890 and named it Rhodesia, driving the colonisation of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia. ## White rule, UDI and the liberation war — 1923 – 1980 Decades of white-minority rule led to Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 and a long liberation war — the Second Chimurenga — that ended in majority rule. - 1930: **Land Apportionment Act** — Settler legislation formalised racial division of land, reserving the most productive areas for the white minority and restricting African landholding, a grievance that fuelled later nationalism. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-history-zim] - 1963: **Founding of ZANU and ZAPU** — African nationalism crystallised in two movements: ZAPU under Joshua Nkomo and the breakaway ZANU, soon led toward armed struggle by figures including Robert Mugabe. [britannica-zim-history, britannica-mugabe, wiki-bushwar] - 11 November 1965: **Unilateral Declaration of Independence** — Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front declared independence from Britain to preserve white-minority rule; Britain and the UN refused recognition and imposed sanctions. [britannica-smith, britannica-zim-history, wiki-udi] - c. 1966–1979: **The liberation war (Second Chimurenga)** — Guerrilla forces of ZANU (ZANLA) and ZAPU (ZIPRA), based in Mozambique and Zambia, waged an escalating war against the Rhodesian state through the 1970s. [wiki-bushwar, britannica-zim-history, britannica-mugabe] - 21 December 1979: **Lancaster House Agreement** — Talks in London produced an agreement providing for a ceasefire, a new constitution and British-supervised elections, ending the war and opening the path to majority rule. [wiki-lancaster, britannica-zim-history] Figures: - Ian Smith (1919–2007) — Prime Minister of Rhodesia. Leader of the Rhodesian Front who issued the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence and led the white-minority regime through the liberation war until the Lancaster House settlement. - Joshua Nkomo (1917–1999) — Leader of ZAPU. Veteran nationalist who founded and led ZAPU, a central figure in the liberation struggle and, after the 1987 Unity Accord, a vice-president of Zimbabwe. ## Independence, Gukurahundi and the Mugabe years — 1980 – present Independence under Mugabe was scarred by the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s, the land reform and hyperinflation of the 2000s, and Mugabe's removal in 2017. - 18 April 1980: **Independence under Robert Mugabe** — Zimbabwe became an internationally recognised independent state, with Mugabe's ZANU(PF) in power after winning the February 1980 election. [britannica-zim-history, britannica-mugabe] - 1983–1987: **The Gukurahundi massacres** — The army's Fifth Brigade carried out massacres in Matabeleland and the Midlands targeting ZAPU supporters and Ndebele civilians; estimates of the dead range from several thousand to over twenty thousand. The campaign ended with the 1987 Unity Accord. [wiki-gukurahundi, britannica-zim-history] - from 2000: **Fast-track land reform** — The government backed often-violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms; the disruption, with drought and sanctions, helped trigger a severe economic collapse. [britannica-zim-history, wiki-history-zim] - 2008–2009: **Hyperinflation and dollarisation** — Inflation reached among the highest rates ever recorded, peaking in late 2008; in 2009 Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency for foreign ones such as the US dollar. [wiki-hyperinflation, britannica-zim-history] - 21 November 2017: **Mugabe forced from power** — After a military intervention and the threat of impeachment, Robert Mugabe resigned after thirty-seven years in power, and Emmerson Mnangagwa became president. [britannica-mugabe, britannica-zim-history, wiki-history-zim] Figures: - Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) — Prime Minister and President of Zimbabwe. Liberation-war leader of ZANU who became Zimbabwe's first prime minister in 1980 and later executive president, ruling for thirty-seven years until forced from office in 2017; his rule encompassed both independence and decades of repression and economic decline. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:ZWE:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/ZWE/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [unesco-greatzim] Great Zimbabwe National Monument — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364/ - [unesco-khami] Khami Ruins National Monument — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/365/ - [britannica-greatzim] Great Zimbabwe — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Zimbabwe - [wiki-greatzim] Great Zimbabwe — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe - [britannica-zim-history] Zimbabwe: History — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Zimbabwe - [britannica-torwa] Torwa: historical state, Africa — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Torwa - [wiki-mutapa] Mutapa Empire — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mwenemutapa_Empire - [wiki-rozvi] Rozvi Empire — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozvi_Empire - [britannica-mzilikazi] Mzilikazi — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mzilikazi - [britannica-lobengula] Lobengula — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lobengula - [wiki-pioneer] Pioneer Column — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Column - [wiki-history-zim] History of Zimbabwe — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Zimbabwe - [britannica-smith] Ian Smith — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ian-Smith - [britannica-mugabe] Robert Mugabe — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Mugabe - [wiki-udi] Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia) — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilateral_Declaration_of_Independence_(Rhodesia) - [wiki-bushwar] Rhodesian Bush War (Second Chimurenga) — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Bush_War - [wiki-lancaster] Lancaster House Agreement — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_House_Agreement - [wiki-gukurahundi] Gukurahundi — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gukurahundi - [wiki-hyperinflation] Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe - [wikipedia-kingdom-zimbabwe] Kingdom of Zimbabwe — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Zimbabwe - [statedept-zimbabwe] A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Zimbabwe — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/zimbabwe Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Zimbabwe: From the great medieval stone city of the Shona, through the Mutapa and Rozvi states, the Ndebele kingdom, British colonisation as Southern Rhodesia, and a long liberation war to independence in 1980.", terralore.co/country/ZWE/chronicle, retrieved .