Matabele History of Southern Africa Southern Rhodesia
1911-1923






Regular Stamps issued by the British South Africa Company



Matabeleland and Mashonaland under the British South Africa Company, 1890-1911



Administration : In 1889, Cecil Rhodes obtained from the British government a charter for his BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY permitting him to set up a colony in Southern Africa. Rhodes obtained a treaty from illiterate Matabele King LOBENGULA (1888), who virtually signed the sovereignty over Mashonaland over to Rhodes. Rhodes had FORT SALISBURY established (1890) and took steps to take control of the country. Salisbury became the administrative center of the BSAC territory of Mashonaland, and, after 1901, of the merged territories of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. In 1911 the territory was transformed into the SOUTHERN RHODESIA PROTECTORATE, still under the control of the BSAC.

Conquest / Pacification : An incident was provoked and the Matabele decisively defeated in 1893; King Lobengula died soon after, and the Matabele Kingdom was annexed by the BSAC. A combined Matabele/Mashona rebellion was suppressed in 1896/1897. Mapondera's Revolt was defeated in 1901.
The Maçequeçe Incident, a clash with Portuguese forces over a border village in 1891, was peacefully solved. In 1899 the Rhodesia Regiment was formed; it immediately saw action in the Boer War.

Economic Prospects : Rhodes pursued two interests, (a) the strategic policy of establishing a territory stretching from the Cape to Cairo under British control, and (b) the quest for gold - he was convinced that mines equally to those of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, Transvaal) were to be found in Mashonaland. His hopes were quickly disappointed, and he focussed his interest elsewhere. As the British South Africa Company obtained a treaty from the King of Barotseland and territory further north (see Northern Rhodesia), a road was built across Mashonaland to Livingstone and from there the Great North Road to the copper mines of Katanga.
While Southern Rhodesia did not fulfil Rhodes' expectations of another Witwatersrand, Rhodesia had a lot of minerals to offer. Gold mining (in quantities disappointing Rhodes) began immediately; coal mining in 1903, copper mining in 1906, asbestos mining in 1907, tin mining in 1908. Early Rhodesia lived through a mineral rush, at a time when the country still lacked basic infrastructure. To work the mines, Chibaro (forced labour) was used.
Matabeleland and Mashonaland were opened for white settlement and many white farmers immigrated. They grew cotton (which had been grown by the Shona and Matabele before the arrival of the Europeans), tobacco, maize, held cattle. Oxen were of critical importance, as ox-carts provided standard transportation in the colony's early days. Railroad construction began in 1897; the year after, Umtali was connected by rail with the port of Beira in Moçambique. The railroad network would soon grow to reach the mining regions. The Rinderpest epidemic of 1896-1898 threatened the colony's transportation system; camels were imported to provide a temporary alternative.

Infrastructure : Logistically, Southern Rhodesia depended on the port of Beira; on the other hand, she had very trong ties to the Cape Colony. Southern Rhodesia had no towns (Salisbury and Bulawayo, at best, qualified as boomtowns); only in 1935 would Salisbury be granted the status of a city. The country had practically no roads, no bridges, a railroad network in its infancy, trails used by ox-carts. The most basic institutions, such as banks and hospitals, followed the pioneers and prospectors, with a delay of several years. In contrast to the U.S. frontier, Southern Rhodesia lacked the element of outlaws. Bulawayo got electricity in 1897, 16 years before Salisbury.

Society : Southern Rhodesia saw a continuous influx of white immigrants, and, in these early years, experienced a lack of white women. The native population, for 1900, is estimated at 692,000, consisting mainly of Mashona and Matabele (Ndebele).
The natives were quickly integrated in the growing export-oriented economy. Harare, a black suburb of Salisbury, was established as a township in 1907. Southern Rhodesia developed into a segregated society; blacks were forbidden to enter Salisbury.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Books on the Matabele and early Rhodesia, introduced by Books of Zimbabwe
History of Zimbabwe, from Infoplease and from Africanet
Ndebele, from South African Languages
The Old Bulawayo Archaeological Project
The Tati Concession Lands. The Destruction of Lobengula and the Matabele, 1880-1893, from Great Epic Books
Establishing Shona Hegemony in Matabeleland : a Deliberate Case of Language Imperialism and Ethnic Cleansing, from Mthwakazi Action , a political site; has a lot of historical information <¤Ð¤¢> Chibaro: African Mine Labour in S.Rhodesia 1900-33 (Onselen), from Review of African Political Economy - Vol. 4 No. 9
DOCUMENTS Indaba Rhodesian Library
Flag of the British South Africa Company, from FOTW
British South Africa Company Charter, from Stanley Portal Hyatt Homepage
1890 map of Matabeleland, from Stanley Portal Hyatt Homepage, from Britannica, American 1890 edition
Diary of a Soldier of Fortune, by Stephen Portal Hyatt, participated in the conquest of Matabeleland
From British Military Medals : British South Africa Company Medal, 1890-1897
The British South Africa Company : Reports on the Native Disturbances in Rhodesia, 1896-1897, posted by Indaba Rhodesian Library
Howard Hensman, A History of Rhodesia (1900), posted by Richard Allport
REFERENCE D. Chanaiwa, African Initiatives and Resistance in Southern Africa, pp.194-220; M.H.Y. Kaniki, The Colonial Economy : the former British Zones, pp.382-419, in : A. Adu Boahen, Africa under Colonial Administration, Vol.VII of UNESCO General History of Africa, Oxford : Heinemann 1985 [G]
Article South Africa (British), in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 pp.193-195, 1898 pp.196-198 [G]
Article Rhodesia, in : Statesman's Year Book 1901 pp.218-222, 1905 pp.236-241, 1910 pp.189-194 [G]
Article : British South Africa Company, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.135-138 [G]
Article : Rhodesia, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.670-671 [G]
Article : British South Africa, in : Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events 1894 pp.104-107 [G]
Rhodes, 1997, cc
Historical documentaries on the history of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe, from Memories of Rhodesia : Rhodesia 1890-1980, 2 Volumes
Catherine Radziwill, Cecil Rhodes, Man and Empire-Maker (1918), posted online by Gutenberg Library Online



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First posted in 2001, last revised on October 15th 2007

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