Matabeleland in the context of "Southern Rhodesia"

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⭐ Core Definition: Matabeleland

Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers and are further separated from Midlands by the Shangani River in central Zimbabwe. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people who were called "Amatabele" (people with long shields – Mzilikazi 's group of people who were escaping the Mfecani wars). Other ethnic groups who inhabit parts of Matabeleland include the Tonga, Bakalanga, Venda, Nambya, Khoisan, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Tsonga.

The capital and largest city is Bulawayo, other notable towns are Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Lupane, Esigodini, Hwange Gwanda and Maphisa. The land is fertile but semi arid. This area has coal and gold deposits. Industries include gold and other mineral mines, and engineering. There has been a decline in the industries in this region as water is in short supply due to scarce rainfall. Promises by the government to draw water for the region through the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project have not been carried out, continuing water shortages.

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👉 Matabeleland in the context of Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South Zambesia until Britain annexed it at the behest of the British South Africa Company. The colony was then renamed for that company’s founder, Cecil Rhodes. The bounding territories were Bechuanaland (Botswana), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Portuguese Mozambique (Mozambique) and the Transvaal Republic (for two brief periods known as the British Transvaal Colony; from 1910, the Union of South Africa and, from 1961, the Republic of South Africa). Since 1980, the colony's territory is the independent nation of Zimbabwe.

This southern region, known for its extensive gold reserves, was first purchased by the BSAC's Pioneer Column on the strength of a mineral concession extracted from its Matabele king, Lobengula, and various majority Mashona vassal chiefs in 1890. Though parts of the territory were laid-claim-to by the Bechuana and Portugal, its first people, the "Bushmen" (or Sān or Khoisan), had possessed it for countless centuries beforehand and had continued to inhabit the region. Following the colony's unilateral dissolution in 1970 by the Republic of Rhodesia government, the Colony of Southern Rhodesia was re-established in 1979 as the successor state to the Republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia which, in-turn, was the predecessor state of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Its only true geographical borders were the rivers Zambezi and Limpopo, its other boundaries being (more or less) arbitrary, and merging imperceptibly with the peoples and domains of earlier chiefdoms of pre-colonial times.

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Matabeleland in the context of Bulawayo

Bulawayo (/bʊləˈwɑːjoʊ/, /-ˈweɪoʊ/; Northern Ndebele: Bulawayo) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about 1.2 million. Bulawayo covers an area of 546 square kilometres (211 square miles) in the western part of the country, along the Matsheumhlope River. Along with the capital Harare, Bulawayo is one of two cities in Zimbabwe that are also provinces.

Bulawayo was founded by a group led by Gundwane Ndiweni around 1840 as the kraal of Mzilikazi, the Ndebele king and was known as Gibixhegu. His son, Lobengula, succeeded him in the 1860s, and changed the name to koBulawayo and ruled from Bulawayo until 1893, when the settlement was captured by British South Africa Company soldiers during the First Matabele War. That year, the first white settlers arrived and rebuilt the town. The town was besieged by Ndebele warriors during the Second Matabele War. Bulawayo attained municipality status in 1897, and city status in 1943.

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Matabeleland in the context of Lobengula

Lobengula Khumalo (c. 1835 – c. 1894) was the second and last official king of Mthwakazi (historically called Matabeleland in English). Both names in the Ndebele language mean "the men of the long shields", a reference to the Ndebele warriors' use of the Nguni shield.

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Matabeleland in the context of Gundwane Ndiweni

Gundwane "Mkhaliphi" Ndiweni (also known as Khondwane Ndiweni) was a military leader and the first Paramount Chief of Matabeleland. He is credited for founding modern day Matabeleand and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. He set up the first of the four capitals, Gibixhegu around modern-day Bulawayo. He was also the maternal uncle of King Mzilikazi - a brother to the kings mother, Cikose Ndiweni.He is best known for leading King Mzilikazi's splinter group to settle in Matabeleland after they left Zululand. For military and security reasons, King Mzilikazi split his migrating kingdom into two. One group was led by himself and the other led by Gundwane Ndiweni. Ndiweni's group traveled through central Botswana arriving in the region now known as Matebeleland, near present-day Bulawayo.He appointed Prince Nkulumane, Mzilikali's son as the Prince, a role he served until Mzilikazi reunited with them. It is unclear what happened to him after 1836. His son, Monyebe Ndiweni, narrates that he died bravely in battle defending Mzilikazi. However, it is suggested by some historians that he was executed by Mzilikazi in 1836 along with other prominent leaders for treason due to this appointment and other rumored plots against the King. His own son was Monyebe Ndiweni, who was executed by Mzilikazi in 1862 for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Southern Rhodesia ← Bulawayo ← Lobengula ← Gundwane Ndiweni
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Zimbabwe → Matabeleland North Province → Bulawayo → Matabeleland South Province → Limpopo River → Zambezi → Northern Ndebele people → Anglicisation of names → Tonga people of Zambia and Zimbabwe → Bakalanga → Venda people → Nambya → Khoisan → Xhosa people → Sotho people → Tswana people → Tsonga people → Plumtree, Zimbabwe → Victoria Falls → Beitbridge → Lupane District → Esigodini → Hwange → Gwanda → Maphisa → Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project →