White People in Zimbabwe - Background

Background

Zimbabwe (then known as Southern Rhodesia) was selected as a settlement colony by South African, British and Afrikaner colonists from the 1890s onwards, following the subjugation of the Matabele, (Ndebele), and Shona nations by the British South Africa Company (BSAC). The early white settlers came in search of mineral resources, finding deposits of coal, chromium, nickel, platinum, and gold. They also found some of the best farmland in Africa. The central part of Rhodesia is a plateau which varies in altitude between 900 m and 1,500 m (2,950 and 4,900 ft) above sea level. This gives the area a sub-tropical climate which is conducive to European settlement and agricultural practices.

Over 3000 white soldiers who assisted in the BSAC takeover of the country were given land grants of 3,000 acres or more, and black people living on the land became tenants. Later, Land Apportionment and Tenure Acts reserved extensive low rainfall areas for black only tribal trust lands and high rainfall areas for white ownership, which gave rise to cases of black people being excluded from their own land. White settlers were attracted to Rhodesia by the availability of tracts of prime farmland that could be purchased from the state at low cost. This resulted in a major feature of the Rhodesian economy—the "white farm". The white farm was typically a large (>100 km² (>38.6 mi²)) mechanised estate, owned by a white family and employing hundreds of black people. Many white farms provided housing, schools, and clinics for black employees and their families. At the time of independence in 1980, over 40% of the country's farming land was contained within 5,000 white farms. It was claimed that these farms provided 40% of the country's GDP and up to 60% of its foreign earnings. Major export products included tobacco, beef, sugar, cotton, and maize.

The minerals sector was also important. Gold, asbestos, nickel, and chrome were mined by foreign-owned concerns such as Lonrho (Lonmin since 1999) and Anglo American. These operations were usually run by white managers, engineers, and foremen.

The Census of 3 May 1921 found that Southern Rhodesia had a total population of 899,187, of whom 33,620 were Europeans, 1,998 were Coloured (mixed races), 1,250 Asiatics, 761,790 Bantu natives of Southern Rhodesia, and 100,529 Bantu aliens. The following year, Southern Rhodesians rejected, in a referendum, the option of becoming a province of the Union of South Africa. Instead, the country became a self-governing British colony. It never gained full dominion status, although unlike other colonies it was treated as a de facto dominion, with its Prime Minister attending the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences.