You say they killed the original owners and stole their land. Any evidence at all of that or are you spewing racist hate speech?
In the 1880s, the British arrived with
Cecil Rhodes's
British South Africa Company. In 1898, the name
Southern Rhodesia was adopted.[SUP]
[19][/SUP] In 1888, British
colonialist Cecil Rhodes obtained a concession for
mining rights from
King Lobengula of the
Ndebele peoples.[SUP]
[20][/SUP] Cecil Rhodes presented this concession to persuade the government of the
United Kingdom to grant a
royal charter to his
British South Africa Company (BSAC) over
Matabeleland, and its subject states such as
Mashonaland. Rhodes sought permission to negotiate similar concessions covering all territory between the
Limpopo River and
Lake Tanganyika, then known as 'Zambesia'. In accordance with the terms of aforementioned concessions and treaties,[SUP]
[21][/SUP] Cecil Rhodes promoted the colonisation of the region's land, with British control over labour as well as precious metals and other mineral resources.[SUP]
[22][/SUP] In 1895 the BSAC adopted the name '
Rhodesia' for the territory of Zambesia, in honour of Cecil Rhodes. In 1898 '
Southern Rhodesia' became the official denotation for the region south of the Zambezi,[SUP]
[23][/SUP] which later became Zimbabwe. The region to the north was administered separately by the BSAC and later named
Northern Rhodesia (now
Zambia).
The Shona staged unsuccessful revolts (known as
Chimurenga) against encroachment upon their lands, by clients of BSAC and Cecil Rhodes in 1896 and 1897.[SUP]
[24][/SUP] Following the failed insurrections of 1896–97 the Ndebele and Shona groups became subject to Rhodes's administration thus precipitating
European settlement en masse which led to land distribution disproportionately favouring Europeans, displacing the Shona, Ndebele, and other
indigenous peoples.
Southern Rhodesia became a
self-governing British colony in October 1923, subsequent to a 1922 referendum.
Rhodesians served on behalf of the United Kingdom during
World War II, mainly in the
East African Campaign against
Axis forces in
Italian East Africa.
In 1953, in the face of African opposition,[SUP]
[25][/SUP] Britain consolidated the two colonies of Rhodesia with
Nyasaland (now
Malawi) in the ill-fated
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland which was dominated by Southern Rhodesia. Growing
African nationalism and general dissent, particularly in Nyasaland, persuaded Britain to dissolve the Union in 1963, forming three colonies. As colonial rule was ending throughout the continent and as African-majority governments assumed control in neighbouring
Northern Rhodesia and in
Nyasaland, the white-minority Rhodesia government led by
Ian Smith made a
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965, effectively repudiating the British plan that the country should become a multi-racial democracy. The United Kingdom deemed this an act of rebellion, but did not re-establish control by force. The white-minority government declared itself a "
republic" in 1970. A
civil war ensued, with
Joshua Nkomo's
ZAPU and
Robert Mugabe's
ZANU using assistance from the governments of
Zambia and
Mozambique. Although Smith's declaration was not recognised by the United Kingdom nor any other significant power, Southern Rhodesia dropped the designation 'Southern', and claimed nation status as the
Republic of Rhodesia in 1970.[SUP]
[26][/SUP][SUP]
[27][/SUP]