Southern Rhodesia

From Metapedia

Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa, known today as Zimbabwe.

Origin as 'Rhodesia'

The territory was originally referred to as 'South Zambezia' but the name 'Rhodesia' came into use in 1895. The designation 'Southern' was adopted in 1901 and dropped from normal usage in 1964 and Rhodesia became the name of the country until the creation of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979.

Named after Cecil Rhodes, the British empire-builder who was one of the most important figures in British expansion into southern Africa, obtained mineral rights in 1888 from the most powerful local traditional leaders through treaties such as the Rudd Concession and the Moffat Treaty signed by King Lobengula of the Ndebele.

The British government agreed that Rhodes' company, the British South Africa Company (BSAC) would administer the territory stretching from the Limpopo to Lake Tanganyika under charter as a protectorate. Queen Victoria signed the charter in 1889.

In 1899, a Legislative Council was created with a minority of elected seats, through which the BSAC had to pass government measures. The electorate was almost exclusively comprised of white settlers, and the proportion of elected seats increased steadily over time. Prior to about 1918, the opinion among the electorate supported continued BSAC rule but opinion changed because of the development of the country and increased settlement. In addition, a decision in the British courts that land not in private ownership belonged to the British crown rather than the BSAC gave great impetus to the campaign for self-government.

Becomes known as 'Southern Rhodesia'

The territory north of the Zambezi, now Zambia, which was the subject of separate treaties with African chiefs, was admininistered separately by the BSAC as North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia from 1890 and 1897 respectively. The whites in the territory south of the river paid it scant regard though, and generally used the name 'Rhodesia' in a narrow sense to mean their part. The designation 'Southern' was used from 1901, especially when the BSAC merged the administration of the two northern territories as Northern Rhodesia in 1911.

The Legislative Council election, in 1920, returned a large majority of candidates of the Responsible Government Association and it became clear that BSAC rule was no longer practical. Opinion in Britain and South Africa favoured incorporation of Southern Rhodesia in the Union of South Africa, but, by forcing the pace of negotiation, the Southern Rhodesians obtained unfavourable terms and the electorate backed Responsible Government in a 1922 referendum. Self-government began in October 1923. Charles Patrick John Coghlan was the first Premier of Southern Rhodesia and upon his death in 1927 he was succeeded by Howard Unwin Moffat.

During World War II, Southern Rhodesian military units participated on the side of the United Kingdom. Specifically, Southern Rhodesian forces were involved in the East African Campaign.

Southern Rhodesia developed an economy that was narrowly based on the production of a small number of primary products (notably, chrome and tobacco). It therefore became very vulnerable to the economic cycle. The deep recession of the 1930s gave way to a post-war boom. This boom prompted the immigration of about 200,000 white settlers between 1945 and 1970, taking the white population up to 270,000. A large number of these immigrants were from the British working class.

In the 1940s, the founding of a University to serve central African countries was proposed. Such a University was eventually established in Salisbury, with funding provided by British, CAF and Rhodesian governments and some private sources. University College of Rhodesia (UCR) received its first intake of students in 1952. Until 1971 it awarded degrees of the Universities of London and Birmingham. In 1971 UCR became the University of Rhodesia and started awarding its own degrees. In 1980 it was renamed the University of Zimbabwe.

1953–1965

In 1953, with calls for independence mounting in many of its African possessions, the United Kingdom created the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (or the Central African Federation 'CAF'), which consisted of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, respectively). The idea was to try and steer a middle road between the differing aspirations of the Black Nationalists, the Colonial administration and the White settler population. The CAF sought to emulate the experience of Australia, Canada and South Africa – wherein groups of colonies had been federated together in order to form viable independent nations. Originally designed to be "an indissoluble federation", the CAF quickly started to unravel. It suffered the fate of similar ventures undertaken in the closing days of Empire including the West Indies Federation and East African Community.

The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved on January 1, 1964. When Northern Rhodesia was granted independence by Britain on October 24, 1964, it changed its name to Zambia; Southern Rhodesia remained a British colony, resisting attempts to bring African participation into the government. The colony changed its name to Rhodesia although the new name was not recognised by the United Kingdom. In 1965, Rhodesia declared itself independent as a white-ruled government.