2002-2003: Mugabe clings to
power after a disputed election,
then forces nearly all remaining
whites off their farms. Violent
crackdown on the opposition
intensifies.
2000: The government decides
to take white farms without
compensation. Governmentbacked squatters occupy white
land.
2000
Black 98%
1997-1999: Economic crisis
leads to high food prices,
sparking riots and strikes in
cities. Mugabe asks Britain and
other donors to reinstate
funding for land reform.
South Asian
and mixed 1%
AFRICA
Victoria
Falls
Southern Africa 2003
TANZANIA
ANGOLA
ZIMBABWE
MALAWI
ZAMBIA
1979-1980: An agreement brokered by Britain ends the war
and minority rule. Resistance
leader Robert Mugabe becomes
prime minister of the new nation
of Zimbabwe. Land reform
starts. Until 1990 the government agrees to transfer land to
blacks by buying farms from
white sellers at market prices.
MOZAMBIQUE
NAMIBIA
BOTSWANA
ZIMBABWE
SWAZILAND
LESOTHO
SOUTH
AFRICA
MATETSI
SAFARI
AREA
Lake Kariba
Hwange
CHETE
SAFARI AREA
MATUSADONA
NATIONAL PARK
Bulawayo
Fox Farm
Delvillewood Farm
Chinhoyi
HWANGE
NATIONAL PARK
NGAMO
STATE FOREST
GWAYI
STATE FOREST
Zambe
zi
KARIBA DAM
Kachere Farm
Harare
Kadoma
EPWORTH
Chipesa Farm
Kwekwe
Gweru
Mutare
ZIMBABWE
1972: Sporadic black guerrilla
attacks develop into a
full-scale civil war.
White 1%
1965
RHODESIA
1965: Refusing to give up
minority white rule, Prime
Minister Ian Smith unilaterally
declares Rhodesia's independence from Britain.
Alford Farm
MALAWI
ZAMBIA
Chiredzi
BECHUANALAND
RHODESIA
1964: Malawi and Zambia become
independent black-ruled states.
GONAREZHOU
NATIONAL PARK
SWAZILAND
BASUTOLAND
1953-1963: Britain unites
Southern Rhodesia (present-day
Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia
(Zambia), and Nyasaland
(Malawi).
1930: A new law divides the
colony into European- and
African-occupied areas,
consolidating whites' hold
on the best land.
1950
FEDERATION OF RHODESIA
AND NYASALAND
Principally
BlackZimbabwean
Land
1953
TANGANYIKA
BECHUANALAND
SWAZILAND
BASUTOLAND
Hwange
Bulawayo
1923
TANGANYIKA
EPWORTH
1900
SOUTHWEST
AFRICA
UNION OF
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTHERN
RHODESIA
0 km 600
Mutare
ZIMBABWE
600
Chiredzi
SWAZILAND
BASUTOLAND
British possession
0 mi
Gweru
NYASALAND
BECHUANALAND
BRITISH SOUTH
AFRICA COMPANY
1890: Politician and entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes creates the
British South Africa Company
(BSAC) to colonize what will
become Zimbabwe. European
settlers arrive in search of gold.
Harare
Kwekwe
NORTHERN
RHODESIA
1894: Reserves are created for
Africans on drier, less fertile
areas as whites occupy the
best land.
Prime
Agricultural
Land
Chinhoyi
Kadoma
1923: After a vote by white
settlers in 1922, the selfgoverning British colony of
Southern Rhodesia is
established.
National
Land
FEDERATION
OF RHODESIA
AND
NYASALAND
SOUTHERN RHODESIA
1896-1897: The BSAC crushes
uprisings by the Ndebele and
Shona.
Principally
WhiteZimbabwean
Land
N
Map perspective includes 100-mile
(161-kilometer) grid.
SOURCES: COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION OF
ZIMBABWE; LAND TENURE CENTER, UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
2003 PROTECTED AREAS DATA: UNEP WORLD
CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAPS
© 2003 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.