seven equal horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green with a white isosceles triangle edged in black with its base on the hoist side; a yellow Zimbabwe bird representing the long history of the country is superimposed on a red five-pointed star in the center of the triangle, which symbolizes peace; green symbolizes agriculture, yellow - mineral wealth, red - blood shed to achieve independence, and black stands for the native people

Coat of Arms

• tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

• 20 00 S, 30 00 E

• total: 3,066 km
  border countries: Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa 225 km, Zambia 797 km

• Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

• coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals

• total: 390,580 sq km
  land: 386,670 sq km
  water: 3,910 sq km
• (Compare to other countries)

• mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld); mountains in east

• landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with Zambia; in full flood (February-April) the massive Victoria Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

National parks & reserves

• Cecil Kop National Park
  Chimanimani National Park
  Chizarira National Park
  Hwange National Park
  Gonareshou National Park
  Mana Pools National Park
  Matobo National Park
  Matusadona National Park
  Matopos National Park
  Tshabalala National Park

Iron Age Bantu-speaking people began migrating into the area about 2,000 years ago, including the ancestors of the Shona, who account for roughly four fifths of the country's population today. Ruins at Great Zimbabwe, a Shona-speaking state, attest the existence of a medieval Bantu civilization in the region. Linked to the establishment of trade ties with Muslim merchants on the Indian Ocean coast around the early 10th century, Great Zimbabwe began to develop in the 11th century. The state traded gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass. It ceased to be the leading Shona state in the mid-15th century.

As of 1837 the Shona were frequently raided by the Ndebele, led by king Mzilikazi who was fleeing Shaka and his Zulu during the Mfecane, and forced them to pay tribute. Later in the 19th century British and Boer traders, hunters, and missionaries started encroaching on the area.

Colonial Era
In 1888, British imperialist Cecil Rhodes extracted mining rights from king Lobengula of the Ndebele. In 1889, Rhodes obtained a charter for the British South Africa Company (BSAC), which conquered the Ndebele and their territory (named "Rhodesia" in 1895 after Cecil Rhodes) and promoted the colonization of the region and its land, labour, and precious metal and mineral resources. Both the Ndebele and the Shona staged unsuccessful revolts against white colonialist encroachment on their native lands in 1896-1897. Chief Garikai Chiremba was captured by the British and it has been rumoured that he tipped his captors to the whereabouts of ancient Zimbabwean platinum smelting secrets.

Southern Rhodesia was administered by Rhodes' BSAC before becoming a self-governing British colony in 1922. In 1953, Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) were combined with Nyasaland, (now called Malawi) to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation. After the federation was dissolved in 1963, the white minority administration in Southern Rhodesia (known simply as Rhodesia from 1964) demanded independence, but the British government had adopted a policy of NIBMAR — No Independence Before Majority African Rule.

In response, the government of Prime Minister Ian Smith made a unilateral declaration of independence on November 11, 1965. The United Kingdom called the declaration a direct act of rebellion but did not attempt to reestablish control by force. When negotiations in 1966 and 1968 proved fruitless, the UK requested UN economic sanctions against Rhodesia. In an attempt to distance the country from its colonial master, Smith declared Rhodesia a republic in 1970, but this did not result in international recognition.

Civil War
Resistance to white rule strengthened from the late 1960s, mostly consisting of sporadic attacks on white farmers, the setting of landmines and the politicisation of rural populations. With the end of white rule in neighbouring Mozambique in 1975, guerrilla activities intensified into a large-scale uprising known as the Second Chimurenga or the "Bush War".

The Smith regime opened negotiations with the leaders of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), led by Robert Mugabe after the assassination of Herbert Chitepo in Zambia in 1975, and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), led by Joshua Nkomo. With his regime near the brink of collapse, Smith in March 1978 signed a desperate accord with three black leaders who offered safeguards for whites headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa.

Muzorewa, who not only had the support of Smith but with the white-minority regime in South Africa as well, lacked credibility among significant sectors of the African population. The Muzorewa government soon faltered. In 1979, the British Government asked all parties to come to Lancaster House in an attempt to negotiate a settlement in the civil war.

Independence
Following the conference, held in London (1979-1980), Britain's Lord Soames was appointed governor to oversee the disarming of revolutionary guerrillas, the holding of elections, and the granting of independence to an uneasy coalition government with Joshua Nkomo, head of Zimbabwe African People's Union. In the free elections of February 1980, Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) won a landslide victory. Mugabe has won re-election ever since.

In 1982 Nkomo was ousted from his cabinet, sparking fighting between ZAPU supporters in the southern Ndebele-speaking region of the country and the ruling ZANU. The fighting was marked by a genocide of the Ndebele people by ZANU's infamous Fifth Brigade (known as the Gukurahundi), headed by Colonel Perence Shiri. Ultimately, Nkomo had no choice but to sign a peace accord in 1987, resulting in ZAPU's merger (1988) into the ZANU Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

The drought in southern Africa, perhaps the worst of the century, affected Zimbabwe so severely that a national disaster was declared in 1992. The drought compounded the country's debt crisis, and the ensuing IMF-backed economic adjustment and austerity program caused further widespread hardship.

Despite majority rule, whites made up less than 1% of the population but held 70% of the country's commercially viable arable land, of which 80% had been purchased legally since independence in 1980. However whites held no political power. Land redistribution from whites reemerged as the political issue beginning in 1999.

In the aftermath of Mugabe's handling of the land crisis, which moved to redistribute land to blacks, Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations on charges of human rights abuses and of election tampering in 2002. Later, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth. The seizure of the white-owned commercial farms led to starvation on a wide scale, as the production of crops ceased.

The UN has recently estimated that 25% of the population has HIV/AIDS, probably the fourth highest in the world, compared to about 0.65% average in the world.

Following elections in 2005, the government initiated "Operation Murambatsvina" in a supposed effort to crackdown on illegal markets and homes. This action has been widely condemned by opposition and international figures, who charge that it has left a large section of the urban poor homeless. From Wikipedia.

Archaeologists have found Stone-Age implements and pebble tools in several areas of Zimbabwe, a suggestion of human habitation for many centuries, and the ruins of stone buildings provide evidence of early civilization.

The most impressive of these sites is the "Great Zimbabwe" ruins, after which the country is named, located near Masvingo. Evidence suggests that these stone structures were built between the 9th and 13th centuries A.D. by indigenous Africans who had established trading contacts with commercial centers on Africa's southeastern coast.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to attempt colonization of south-central Africa.

Mass migrations of indigenous peoples took place. Successive waves of more highly developed Bantu peoples from equatorial regions supplanted the original inhabitants and are the ancestors of the region's Africans today.

End of the British South Africa company's charter. Southern Rhodesia's white settlements were given the choice of being incorporated into the Union of South Africa or becoming a separate entity within the British Empire. The settlers rejected incorporation, and Southern Rhodesia was formally annexed by the United Kingdom that year.

Until 1980, Rhodesia was an internally self-governing colony with its own legislature, civil service, armed forces, and police. Although Rhodesia was never administered directly from London, the United Kingdom always retained the right to intervene in the affairs of the colony, particularly in matters affecting Africans.

European immigrants concentrated on developing Rhodesia's rich mineral resources and agricultural potential.

Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became the independent states of Zambia and Malawi.

The European electorate in Rhodesia, however, showed little willingness to accede to African demands for increased political participation and progressively replaced more moderate party leaders. In April, Prime Minister Winston Field, accused of not moving rapidly enough to obtain independence from the United Kingdom, was replaced by his deputy, Ian Smith.

Prime Minster Smith led his Rhodesian Front Party to an overwhelming victory in the elections, winning all 50 of the first roll seats and demoralizing the more moderate European opposition.

Although prepared to grant independence to Rhodesia, the United Kingdom insisted that the authorities at Salisbury first demonstrate their intention to move toward eventual majority rule. Desiring to keep their dominant position, the white Rhodesians refused to give such assurances. On November 11, after lengthy and unsuccessful negotiations with the British Government, Prime Minister Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom.

The British Government considered the UDI unconstitutional and illegal but made clear that it would not use force to oppose it. On November 12, the UN also determined the Rhodesian Government and UDI to be illegal and called on member states to refrain from assisting or recognizing the Smith regime. The British Government imposed sanctions on Rhodesia and requested other nations to do the same.

Following the April coup in Portugal and the resulting shifts of power in Mozambique and Angola, pressure on the Smith regime to negotiate a peaceful settlement increased.

In addition, sporadic antigovernment guerilla activity, which began in the late 1960s, increased dramatically after 1972, causing destruction, economic dislocation, casualties, and a slump in white morale. In 1974, the major African nationalists groups--the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which split away from ZAPU in 1963--were united into the "Patriotic Front" and combined their military forces, at least nominally.

Because of a combination of embargo-related economic hardships, the pressure of guerilla activity, independence and majority rule in the neighboring former Portuguese territories, and a U.K.-U.S. diplomatic initiative, the Smith government agreed in principle to majority rule and to a meeting in Geneva with black nationalist leaders to negotiate a final settlement of the conflict.

Blacks represented at the Geneva meeting included ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo, ZANU leader Robert Mugabe, UANC chairman bishop Abel Muzorewa, and former ZANU leader Rev. Nadabaningi Sithole. The meeting failed to find a basis for agreement because of Smith's inflexibility and the inability of the black leaders to form a common political front.

Following elections in April, in which his UANC party won a majority, Bishop Muzorewa assumed office on June 1, becoming "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia's" first black prime minister.

However, the installation of the new black majority government did not end the guerilla conflict that had claimed more than 20,000 lives since 1972.

Shortly after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's conservative government took power in May, the British began a new round of consultations that culminated in an agreement among the Commonwealth countries as the basis for fresh negotiations among the parties and the British involving a new constitution, free elections and independence.

The British and the African parties began deliberations on a Rhodesian settlement at Lancaster House in London on September 10.

On December 10, in preparation for the transition under British authority to officially recognized independence, the "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia" reverted de facto to colonial status.

On December 12, British Governor Lord Christopher Soames arrived in Salisbury to reassert British authority over the colony. His arrival signaled the end of the Rhodesian rebellion and the "internal settlement," as well as the beginning of Zimbabwe's transition to independence. The UK lifted all remaining sanctions against Zimbabwe that day.

On December 21, after 3 months of hard bargaining, the parties signed an agreement at Lancaster House calling for a cease-fire, new elections, a transition period under British rule, and a new constitution implementing majority rule while protecting minority rights. The agreement specified that upon the granting of independence, the country's name would be Zimbabwe. The same day, the UN Security Council endorsed the settlement agreement and formally voted unanimously to call on member nations to remove sanctions.

During the transition period, nine political parties campaigned for the February 27-29 pre-independence elections. The elections were supervised by the British Government and monitored by hundreds of observers, most of whom concluded that, under the prevailing circumstances, the elections were free and fair and reflected the will of the people.

Robert Mugabe's ZANU (PF) party won an absolute majority and was asked to form Zimbabwe's first government.

In a series of public statements during the transition period, Prime Minister Mugabe indicated that he was committed to a process of national reconciliation and reconstruction as well as moderate socioeconomic change. His priorities were to integrate the various armed forces, reestablish social services and education in rural areas, and resettle the estimated one million refugees and displaced persons. Mugabe also announced that his government would begin investigating ways of reversing past discriminatory policies in land distribution, education, employment, and wages.

Mugabe stated that Zimbabwe would follow a nonaligned foreign policy and would pursue a pragmatic relationship with South Africa. He noted that while Zimbabwe opposed apartheid and would support democratic change in South Africa, it would not provide bases for anti-South African guerillas.

The British Government formally granted independence to Zimbabwe on April 18. Most nations recognized Zimbabwe following independence.

Parliament convened for the first time on May 13.

Zimbabwe became a member of the United Nations on August 25.

The government declared a curfew in areas of Matabeleland and sent in the army in an attempt to suppress dissidents. Credible reports surfaced of widespread violence and disregard for human rights by the security forces during these operations, and the level of political tension rose in the country as a result.

The pacification campaign, known as the "Gukuruhundi," or strong wind, resulted in as many as 20,000 civilian deaths. Nkomo (known as "Father Zimbabwe") and his lieutenants repeatedly denied any connection with the dissidents and called for an all-party conference to discuss the political problems facing the country.

In October, in accordance with the Lancaster House Accords, the constitution was amended to end the separate roll for white voters and to replace the whites whose reserved seats had been abolished; among the new members were 15 whites in the Senate and House of Assembly.

ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU agreed to unite in December.

Elections in March resulted in another overwhelming victory for Mugabe and his party, which won 117 of the 120 election seats. However, voter turnout was only 54%, and the campaign was not free and fair although the actual balloting was.

After the remaining restrictions of the Lancaster House agreement expired on April 18, the government embarked on a campaign of amending the existing constitution.

Not satisfied with a de facto one-party state, Mugabe called on the ZANU-PF Central Committee to support the creation of a de jure one-party state in September and lost.

The state of emergency was lifted in July.

Students protested in October against proposals for an increase in government control of universities.

In April, constitution enacted. Both the judiciary and human rights advocates fiercely criticized some of the first amendments because they restored corporal and capital punishment and denied recourse to the courts in cases of compulsory purchase of land by the government.

In May, students protesters clash with police.

In May, students protesters again clash with police.

In June, police prevented trade unionists from holding anti-government demonstrations.

In August and September, thousands of civil servants demanding salary increases organized a national strike.

In October and November, nurses and junior doctors went on strike over salary issues.

Beginning this year, Zimbabwe experienced a period of considerable political and economic upheaval. Opposition to President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF government has grown in recent years, in part due to worsening economic and human rights conditions.

The opposition led by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) established in September.

The MDC's first opportunity to test opposition to the Mugabe government came in February, when a referendum was held on a draft constitution proposed by the government. Among its elements, the new constitution would have permitted President Mugabe to seek two additional terms in office, granted government officials immunity from prosecution, and authorized government seizure of white-owned land.

The referendum was handily defeated.

Shortly thereafter, the government, through a loosely organized group of war veterans, sanctioned an aggressive land redistribution program often characterized by forced expulsion of white farmers and violence against both farmers and farm employees.

Parliamentary elections held in June were marred by localized violence, and claims of electoral irregularities and government intimidation of opposition supporters. Nonetheless, the MDC succeeded in capturing 57 of 120 seats in the National Assembly.

The March presidential election was preceded by months of intensive violence and intimidation against MDC supporters, and more than 50 people, mostly opposition supporters, were killed.

As a result of this election, the U.S., the EU, and other European countries imposed travel restrictions against senior Zimbabwean officials and embargoed the sale of arms to Zimbabwe. The U.S. and the EU also froze the financial assets of selected ruling party officials. The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe from council meetings for one year after its election observer team found the election neither free nor fair.

President Mugabe was declared the winner over challenger Morgan Tsvangirai by a 56-to-42 percent margin. Most international observers condemned the election as seriously flawed--the pre-election environment was neither free nor fair, and the election itself was marred by significant fraud and rigging--but regional opinions were mixed.

Soon after the election, the MDC filed a petition challenging Mugabe's victory, citing flaws in electoral laws, electoral irregularities and pre-election violence.

Violence escalated in the run up to rural council elections in September and various parliamentary by-elections.

At the mid-term suspension review in March, the three-country committee charged with deciding Zimbabwe's fate decided to continue the suspension until the next Commonwealth meeting in December. At this meeting, despite vigorous campaigning by South Africa, Zimbabwe was not invited to attend the meeting and the Commonwealth decided to continue with the suspension.

Immediately after this, Mugabe withdrew Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.

MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube, and Renson Gasela went on trial for treason. Charges against Ncube and Gasela were subsequently dropped and in October Tsvangirai was found not guilty.

Parliamentary by-elections in Kuwadzana, Highfield, Zengeza, and Lupane were marred by widespread intimidation and beatings. The government also passed legislation that curtailed free speech, free press, and rights of assembly.

The government subscribed to the electoral principles of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2004 but failed to implement key elements of the principles in advance of the parliamentary elections. The election process was marred by repressive legislation that limits freedom of speech and assembly; millions of expatriate Zimbabweans were not permitted to vote; the government used food distributions to influence an increasingly hungry population; an astonishingly high 10% (as high as 30% in some areas) of would-be voters were turned away; and discrepancies in officially announced results and the government's refusal to release key voting data have led to questions about the possibility of fraud.

In May, the government began Operation Restore Order and Murambatsvina, ostensibly to rid urban areas of illegal structures, illegal business enterprises, and criminal activities. The International Organization of Migration estimated that at least 300,000 people were displaced nationwide, as the operation moved from urban areas into rural areas and included apparently legal structures. 

 The government  interefered with non-governmental organization (NGO) efforts to provide emergency assistance to the displaced in many instances. Some families were removed to transit camps, where they had no shelter or cooking facilities and minimal food, supplies, and sanitary facilities. 

In August, the government dropped a second charge of treason against Tsvangirai.

• 404 (2004 est.) (Compare to other countries)

• total: 18,338 km
  paved: 8,692 km
  unpaved: 9,646 km (1999 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• Binga, Kariba

Fixed lines
& mobile telephones
(per 1,000 people)
(From ITU)

• 49.1 m (2000)
• 57.8 m (2003)

• 263

• .zw

• 500,000 (2002)
• (Compare to other countries)

Press

• The Chronicle
• The Financial Gazette
• The Herald
• The Standard
• The Sunday Mirror

TV

• Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)

Radio

• Studio 7
• SW Radio Africa
• Voice of the People
• Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)

• 17.1 (2000)
• 52.7 (2003)

• 0.0 (2000)
• NA (2003)

• 300,900 (2003)
• (Compare to other countries)

• 379,100 (2003)
• (Compare to other countries)

• UTC/GMT +2 hours
• Find the local time: Time and Date

• corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

• Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)
• Currency converter

• Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar - 4,303.28 (2004), 697.424 (2003), 55.036 (2002), 55.052 (2001), 44.418 (2000)
  note: these are official exchange rates, non-official rates vary significantly

• cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

• South Africa 11.9%, Zambia 6.3%, China 3.4% (2004)

• calendar year

• purchasing power parity - $24.37 billion (2004 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• -8.2% (2004 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

• South Africa 47.2%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 6.2%, China 4.4% (2004)

• mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel, wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

• 133% (2004 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• 70% (2002 est.)

• 70% (2002 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• Antelope Park
• Great Zimbabwe National Monument
• Harare - capital
• Mana Pools National Park
• Matobo National Park

• 2,256,000 (2003)

• Most travelers require a visa.

• Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas (1984)
• Great Zimbabwe National Monument (1986)
• Khami Ruins National Monument (1986)
• Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls (1989) transboundary property
• Matobhttp://whc.unesco.org/en/list/o Hills (2003)

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

• Coming from the road!

• The Chronicle
• The Financial Gazette
• The Herald
• The Standard
• The Sunday Mirror