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The name "Zimbabwe" stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city in the country's south-east.Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that "Zimbabwe" derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as "houses of stones" (dzimba = plural of imba, "house"; mabwe = plural of ibwe, "stone").
This Kalanga state ruled much of the area that is known as Zimbabwe today, and parts of central Mozambique. It is known by many names including the Mutapa Empire , also known as Mwenemutapa was known for its gold trade routes with Arabs and the Portuguese . [ 19 ]
After that and the Jameson Raid on the Transvaal, they did not trust him to the same extent. [1] Soon after the Jameson Raid, the Ndebele and Shona rose up in rebellion against the encroachment on their native lands by European settlers, a struggle known in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga. Europeans called it the Second Matabele War (1896–97).
Today bearers of the Moyo Totem are found amongst The Kalanga people in Zimbabwe and Botswana as well as the Karanga people in the Masvingo area. According to Prof. Thomas Huffman (chairman of the wits school of Archeology, Geography and Environmental Studies), Kalanga was the language of the Mapungubwe Kingdom, which predates the Great ...
The last African countries to gain formal independence were Guinea-Bissau (1974), Mozambique (1975) and Angola (1975) from Portugal; Djibouti from France in 1977; Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom in 1980; and Namibia from South Africa in 1990. Eritrea later split off from Ethiopia in 1993. [210]
The Zimbabwe state was composed of over 150 smaller zimbabwes and likely covered 50,000 km² (19,000 square miles). It is unknown what caused Great Zimbabwe's decline from the 15th century, however land depletion or a depletion of critical resources, a decline in global trade, and increased regional competition likely played a role.
Its African origin only became consensus by the 1950s. [8] Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a national monument by the Zimbabwean government, and the modern independent state was named after it. The word great distinguishes the site from the many smaller ruins, known as "zimbabwes", spread across the Zimbabwe Highveld. [9]
Zimbabwe is a former member of the Commonwealth, having withdrawn in 2003, and the issue of Zimbabwe has repeatedly taken centre stage in the Commonwealth, both since Zimbabwe's independence and as part of the British Empire. [1] Zimbabwe was the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, gaining responsible government in 1923.