Zimbabwe travel guide

The Mutapa Empire
Great Zimbabwe was the 15th century capital of the Mutapa Empire, a ruling Shona dynasty whose kingdom stretched through vast swathes of southern Africa all the way to the Indian Ocean. The Shona people still make up 80 percent of the country’s population and the language, of the same name, is an official one. Great Zimbabwe is the largest stone structure remaining in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is a symbol of how great the Mutapa Empire was. They exploited minerals such as copper and gold and also traded in ivory, working with, rather than against, Portuguese traders.

The Portuguese takeover
The Mutapa Empire set up trading deals and worked hand in hand with the Portuguese until, in 1561, religion edged in and a Portuguese Jesuit missionary converted the king to Christianity. The Muslim merchants were not happy and killed the Jesuit, resulting in a full on invasion by the Portuguese during which they seized the mines and took control of the ivory routes. These famous ivory routes can be followed today on safari vacations that take you through Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, now thankfully a wildlife corridor protected by the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Trans Frontier Conservation Area. The Portuguese invasion was a ruthless, bloody one, massacring local traders and putting in place Portuguese land owners known as prazeiros along the Lower Zambezi. However, throughout all of this, the Mutapa king kept up relations making money from them by various means, including duties levied on imported goods and keeping control of gold resources. After a failed attempt to expel the Portuguese in 1629, the king was overthrown and even though Mutapa remained independent, with the Portuguese Mavura Mhande Felipe on the throne, it really was a puppet set up. It was the Portuguese that were pulling all the strings at this stage.

The Rozwi Dynasty
By the 17th century, a dynasty of Rozwi pastoralists of the Great Zimbabwe region started to challenge both the Mutapa Empire and the Portuguese, wiping out Portuguese strongholds and becoming the leading Shona empire for a while, although the fights between the Mutapa and the Rozwi continued, the latter seeking the support of the Portuguese. Ownership and control of territories was constantly shifting, which resulted in Mambo Chioko, the last king of the Mutapa dynasty, being killed in battle against the Portuguese in 1917.

The Ndebele clan & the creation of Bulawayo
A new rebel clan started to gather force in the 1820s-30s, finally conquering the Rozwi Empire in 1838, taking over the southwest of present day Zimbabwe and creating a new capital of Bulawayo. Led by the Zulu general Mzilikazi, he continued to rule until 1868 when his son, Lobengula, succeeded him. It was he who had to contend with the next big arrival: The British, and in particular Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (BSAC) who gained a concession for mining rights from King Lobengula in 1888.

British rule & the British South Africa Company
Once mining and territorial rights had been handed over, the BSAC gained a royal charter from the UK government over vast territories, meaning there was British control over resources, mineral and human. This included a region stretching between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika known as 'Zambesia’ which was renamed Rhodesia in 1895, in honour of Rhodes. This was divided into Southern Rhodesia, south of the Zambezi, and Northern Rhodesia. The former went on to become Zimbabwe and the latter Zambia. Despite revolts by the Shona, the British retained power until 1965.

Ian Smith & the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)
As neighbouring countries started to win independence from British rule and majority African governments started to rebuild their countries, the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia, led by Ian Smith, declared themselves independent from the UK on 11 November 1965, issuing a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Although the British saw this as a rebellion they did not attempt to regain control. Smith declared the country the Republic of Rhodesia in 1970, and civil war ensued. The opposing parties were ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) and a breakaway group, ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) led by Robert Mugabe. Both parties had military wings and it was ZANU that went on to win the elections in 1980 when independence was attained. It merged with ZAPU seven years later to form ZANU-PF, which still rules under Mugabe today. Just a little cool detail, on the day of independence, 18 April 1980, along with other international dignitaries was Bob Marley who famously sang 'Zimbabwe', a song he wrote for the occasion. Two years later the capital city of Salisbury was renamed Harare.

Robert Mugabe
The idyll of independence was short lived, with Mugabe issuing control over the media and establishing a strong military force around him and his party. Tensions rose between guerrilla forces supporting ZAPU and ZANU, giving Mugabe the excuse to put in place a "Law and Order Maintenance Act," whereby anyone could be detained without charge. The behaviour of a dictator was emerging, one notorious action being that of 20,000 civilian deaths within the Ndebele tribe in 1983-84. Civil unrest grew, culminating in a general strike in 1997 and ongoing discontent. The economy started to implode and within a couple of decades Zimbabwe was transformed from one of Africa’s richest countries to the complete opposite. Mugabe also enforced the takeover of farmland owned by white landowners which led to a conflict with the International Monetary Fund, not helping its economic situation, nor its agricultural one which fell into mismanagement.

Opposition to Mugabe
There was always a strong movement to win back power by opposition leaders, such as Morgan Tsvangirai who beat Mugabe in 2008, though he was forced to withdraw due to violence carried out against his supporters. Mugabe’s power did start to dwindle however, with the country’s all important War Veterans' Association withdrawing support for him in July 2016. The country had had enough of economic ruin and food shortages. The local currency collapsed, and the official currency became the US Dollar with the South African Rand usually accepted as well.  Indeed, if shopping there today, if you are due back some change in a supermarket, there often isn’t any. You will be offered sweets or chewing gum instead. After Mugabe claimed he would run for election again in 2018, or prepared the way for his wife to take over, opposition kicked off again big time.

Political coup November 2017
Following the events of a military coup d'état in November 2017 and his deposition as leader of ZANU-PF, Robert Mugabe finally resigned. He was replaced by Zanu PF former ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who will run as presidential candidate in elections during 2018. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe, one of democracy and equality, but it is a question of watch this space.The economy is starting to pick up and tourism, responsible tourism, plays an important role in helping the people get back on their feet again. With more than chewing gum and sweets hopefully.