History

Human technology developed from simple foraging innovations to hunting techniques, and by the middle of the Stone Age hunter-gatherer societies were born. The first nomadic groups were known as the San, who gradually merged with the Khoi-Khoi and occupied caves and natural shelters all over southern Africa – evidence of which can be seen in the rock faces and cave paintings in Great Zimbabwe even today. Zimbabwe’s earliest citizens were probably hominids (pre-homo sapiens) who, delighted upon discovering that they had learned how to walk upright, started roaming the savannas and bushveld of southern Africa nearly 4 million years ago.

Some historians maintain that this area also attracted Iron Age settlers from the north of the continent.

The diverse groups evolved a culture around a common language – Bantu – and activities such as gold mining and agriculture. Bantu culture was the seedbed of Shona society, which rapidly became an immensely wealthy trading empire. The most important Shona deity was called Mwari, and soon, an elaborate cult of worship and ritual developed around her in the Great Zimbabwe area.

However, by the 15th century, over-population and political turmoil wreaked havoc on the Shonas, who disintegrated into autonomous states. For the next few centuries and right until the 19th century, the Rozwi state remained the most important political entity.

But nothing remains permanent for ever. The Shona state of Rozwi was finally brought down by the Ndebele, who assassinated the Rozwi leader in 1834 and established their own state with the capital at Bulawayo. The Ndebele state in turn was threatened by European bounty hunters from the Cape (among others, the colonist Cecil Rhodes) who started moving into Shona and Ndebele territory. Following a stream of white settlement, the state of Rhodesia was established by 1895 with a white legislature.

The numbers of whites swelled and so did resistance to colonialism. The latter took the form of revolts and random strikes on white officials by the end of the 19th century - known in history as Chimurenga, the War for Liberation. White repression intensified and when many prominent Chimurenga leaders were hanged, the crusade came to an uncertain end in 1897.

By the 1920s and 30s, the colonial powers-that-be resorted to their usual bag of tricks to retain power over Black Africans – passing legislation that excluded black Africans from land ownership rights and from skilled work. Work on white farms, mines and factories with poor wages and conditions were what was left to the Africans.