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1500s-1600s, Bush War, Cecil John Rhodes, Colonialism, Coup d'état, Early 1900s, Early History, Early Land Reform, Economic Decline, Fast Track Land Reform, Fight for Independence, Great Zimbabwe, Ndebele, Recent History, Robert Mugabe, Shaka

Early History

Ancient History
Paleontological discoveries throughout areas of northern Zimbabwe, including around Victoria Falls and along the Zambezi River, suggest that our the earliest hominids lived in this region of Africa beginning some 2 to 3 million years ago. Central (Zambia, northern Zimbabwe) and East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania area) are typically considered to be the origin of the human species.

In more recent history, early Stone Age tools dating back around 50 000 years ago have been discovered in present-day Zambia, indicating that our ancestors lived there at that time and presumably, ever since. Evidence suggests that the Stone Age culture developed in a southerly direction and that these early people only reached present-day Zimbabwe some 20 000 years later. This may have been due to climate and/or less suitable habitats for hunting further south at that time.

Late Stone Age people are believed to have lived in present-day Zimbabwe beginning around 30 000 years ago. The people of the late Stone Age are referred to as the Khoisan people (today called 'bushmen'), which are defined as belonging to two separate but related groups, the San and the Khoi. Both groups used a language with distinctive 'clicking' sounds that are still evident in various languages used today in various parts of Southern Africa.

Although related, the Khoi and San lived different lifestyles, with the San being hunter-gatherers and and Khoi being largely pastoralists. It is believed that the two groups coexisted peaceful in present-day Zimbabwe during the late Stone Age. There are still small populations of Khoisan people living in isolated regions of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

Iron Age
The earliest evidence of Iron Age cultures in present-day Zimbabwe are those of pottery found in Bambata Cave (in the Matobo National Park), which date to around 2 200 years ago. This pottery style has been linked to Bantu-speaking peoples, who migrated from East Africa.

The Bantu people intermingled with the Khoisan, with the Bantu language and farming culture displacing those of the Khoisan. Some of the Khoisan remained distinct and retained their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, but they fast became marginalized and pushed away to more remote and less hospitable lands.

Great Zimbabwe (1200-1500)

The discovery of copper and gold in present-day Zimbabwe led to a flourishing trade with merchants from the Indian Ocean coast, bringing wealth and leading to the development of Great Zimbabwe, which was located just south of the present-day town of Masvingo. Great Zimbabwe, which began as a small hilltop village and culminated as a large walled citadel, is estimated to have begun in the ninth century.

Great Zimbabwe served as the royal palace and home of the Shona monarchs, who had political power over the area and controlled the trade route to the coast. The shona exported gold, ironware, ivory, and slaves, in exchange for fabrics, glassware, porcelain, and other items from Europe and the Far East. The Shona dynasty ruled over a community of thousands living in the city, plus many thousands more in the surrounding hills, who provided labor for the metal industry and also farmed goods.

The walls of the city, most standing over 16 feet (5 meters) high and some towering 36 feet (11 meters) tall, were made from local stone and constructed without mortar. The interior of the city covered an area of 2.8 square miles (7.2 sq kms) and was home to an estimated 10 000 citizens at its peak. The city was the largest ancient structure in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

Great Zimbabwe is believed to have flourished from around 1200 to 1500, but came to a rapid demise, with evidence suggesting that the city was completely abandoned within the timespan of around 500 years. Different theories exist regarding the reason(s) for Great Zimbabwe's sudden decline, including the exhaustion of the gold mines, water shortages and famine caused by climate change, and political instability.

The surviving ruins of Great Zimbabwe are comprised entirely of stone, and include three distinct sites known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure. The Hill Complex is the oldest and was occupied from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. The Great Enclosure was occupied from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, and the Valley Complex from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

One theory postulates that the separate complexes represent the works of successive rulers. An alternate interpretation suggests that the complexes had different functions, with the Hill Complex serving as a temple, the Valley Complex as home for the citizens, and the Great Enclosure as the home of the king.

After the abandonment of Great Zimbabwe, the Shona empire splintered into various small dynasties that dispersed into the far reaches of today's Zimbabwe and even into eastern Botswana. The splinter groups of Shona continued to trade gold, cattle, ivory, and slaves with the Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast.

The Great Zimbabwe ruins are open to the public and are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1500s & 1600s

During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was no dominant dynasty amongst the Shona, with political turmoil defining the period and various Shona factions controlling smaller regions and often in conflict with one another. 

By the early 1500s, the Portuguese had established a stronghold along the coast of present-day Mozambique, and also taken control of the Zanzibar Islands off the coast of present-day Tanzania, usurping the trading empire built by the Arabs.

Portugal remained in control of the coast and its lucrative trade routes for the next two centuries, during which time they exploited vast areas of the interior, including present-day Zimbabwe, for its gold, ivory, and slaves.

In 1698, the Sultanate of Oman ousted the Portuguese from Zanzibar, effectively taking over most of the trade.

Rise of the Ndebele

1700s & 1800s
Throughout much of the 1700s, the lands south of the Limpopo River and north of the Orange River (the northeast of present-day South Africa) experienced tumultuous fighting between rival Nguni clans (the Nguni are a large group of various Bantu-speaking people present in the East and Southern Africa for around 7 000 years).

The fighting and struggles between the increasingly militaristic ethnic groups is thought to be due to competition over land suitable for farming maize (corn), which was introduced from the Americas by the Portuguese in around 1750. The widespread maize production resulted in a dramatic increase in the population of the local people living in the Natal region of South Africa.

The cultivation of maize requires more water than native grains and a ten-year drought in the early 1800s resulted in fierce competition for water resources amongst the three major ethnic groups (the Ngwane, the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa) living in the area of South Africa then called Natal.

Mfecane (1815-1840)
The word Mfecane is an Nguni word meaning 'crushing' and is used to describe the violent period of chaos and war among the ethnic groups living in northeast South Africa between 1815 and 1840. The Sotho people call the period Defecane or Lifaquane, meaning 'scattering' or 'forced migration'.

During this period of great upheaval, an estimated two million people in the region (present-day northeast South Africa and southern Zimbabwe) were killed. This period was significant for Zimbabwe as it gave rise to the Zulu and Ndebele nations.

Dingiswayo (1780-1817)
The son of the chief of the Mthethwa ethnic group was a young man named Godongwana, who was exiled after he plotted a coup against his father. During his exile, Godongwana changed his name to Dingiswayo and became exposed to the highly organized and disciplined military tactics of the Europeans.

Upon the death of his father in around 1800, Dingiswayo returned to claim the chieftainship of the Mthethwa and began implementing his newly learned European military ideas within his regiments. The new chief also brought numerous other autonomous ethnic chiefdoms into his fold, creating the region's first organized and well-trained military regiment comprised of local Nguni warriors.

Shaka of the Zulus (1787-1828)
One of Dingiswayo's promising young soldiers was Shaka, the illegitimate son of the chief of the Zulu clan. At that time, the Zulus were a mostly peaceful and minor Nguni clan. Shaka was spurned by his father and spent his childhood amongst his mother's settlement, later joining Dingiswayo's regiment. Shaka rose quickly in the ranks of the warriors and after the death of his father in 1816, he took control of the Zulu clan, while still recognizing the larger Mthethwa clan with Dingiswayo as their chief.

In 1817, a bitter war was waged between King Zwide of the Mthethwa people and King Dingiswayo of the Ndwandwe people over control of lands and trade routes, including Delagoa Bay (now Maputo). The Mthethwa were victorious and Dingiswayo was executed. The surviving Mthethwa forces allied in confederation with the Zulu clan under the leadership of Shaka. Shaka continued to assimilate smaller clans in the region and in 1818, when the Ndwandwe clan attacked the Zulus at the Battle of Gqokli Hill, the Zulus were victorious.

Shaka initiated a practice of absorbing the young men and most women of his defeated enemies, while killing the elderly and all men of fighting age. Shaka's innovative and harshly disciplined military tactics allowed the Zulus to become the dominant clan in the region. By the late 1820s, the Zulus had effectively developed a vast kingdom and taken control of all land in what is current-day KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 1828, Shaka was assassinated by his half brothers Dingane and Mhlangana, with Dingane assuming the Zulu throne.

Mzilikazi (1790-1868)
One of Shaka's generals was Mzilikazi, a Khumalo clan chief and the grandson of King Zwide. Instead of aligning with his grandfather, Mzilikazi chose to join Zwide's greatest rival, Shaka and the Zulus. Mzilikazi quickly rose through the Zulu ranks, but in 1821, a disagreement between Shaka and Mzilikazi over cattle ownership led to a falling out between the two. Shaka attacked and killed many of Mzilikazi's army, but the general and the survivors escaped. 

Other clans joined with Mzilikazi and over the next five years or so, he led his new kingdom on military campaigns into inland territories north and west of the Zulus. Mzilikazi made many enemies along the way, including the Boers (European immigrants fleeing British rule in the Cape Colony). Mzilikazi called his growing empire the AmaNdebele (called the Matebele by the British), meaning 'people of the long shields' and in 1826, they settled on land northwest of what is today Pretoria, South Africa.

Mzilikazi and his growing Ndebele army soon dominated what is today the Transvaal region of South Africa. The Ndebele waged a brutal and devastating war on the clans in the area, eliminating all opposition and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. His 'scorched earth' methods (destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy, including land, crops and homesteads) proved highly successful in maintaining a safe buffer between the Ndebele and their enemies.

In 1837-1838, the arrival of large numbers of Boer settlers led to fierce battles between the Ndebele and the armed Boers, taking a great toll on Mzilikazi's forces. To avoid further losses, Mzilikazi decided to abandon the region and lead the Ndebele north , across the Limpopo River into what is today Zimbabwe. Mzilikazi and his followers settled in the area now known as Matabeleland, which covers all of western Zimbabwe, with his new capital at Bulawayo (meaning 'place of slaughter').

Lobengula (1845-1894)
Mzilikazi died in 1868, creating a power struggle between his two sons - Lobengula and Nkulumane. After more than a year of civil war between the two, the younger son, Lobengula, was appointed king of the Ndebele.

Lobengula continued his father's policy of friendly dealings with white traders and hunters, allowing them access to Ndebele lands in exchange for guns, cloth, liquor, and other items of trade. The discoveries of gold and the Great Zimbabwe ruins (which were believed to be King Solomon's mines) by white explorers led to a gold rush.

Early colonialism (1885-1900)

Cecil John Rhodes
A long-held belief that the Ndebele land was rich in mineral deposits, including gold, brought more and more white fortune-seekers to Lobengula's land. The eventual discovery of gold in Ndebele territory caught the attention of Cecil John Rhodes, the British businessman who had made a huge fortune in diamonds at the Kimberley mines in South Africa.

Rhodes was extremely ambitious and sought to expand his wealth by tapping into the promising Ndebele land for minerals, but he also had aspirations to build a railway connecting the Cape of South Africa with Cairo, Egypt and he wanted to route the railway through Lobengula's land.

By the late 1880s, there were numerous British companies vying for access to the Ndebele land, but in 1888, Lobengula signed a concession granting Rhodes' British South Africa Company (BSAC) exclusive access to all mineral rights on the Ndebele land between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers (essentially the western half of present-day Zimbabwe). It is widely accepted that the illiterate Lobengula was duped into signing away much more than he intended, and in 1889, Britain granted the BSAC full administrative control of the lands.

Rhodes promptly invited 200 white settlers (many of them Boers from South Africa) to settle on the lands he had acquired (now referred to as Matabeleland). In 1890, guided by the famous hunter Frederick Courtney Selous and accompanied for 500 armed guards, the settler caravan skirted east of the Ndebele land, traveling through Mashonaland and arriving at the site of present-day Harare, where they built a fort, which they named Salisbury.

Lobengula had by now realized that he had been duped and that the BSAC wanted more than just mineral rights to his land, but he still considered himself the sovereign ruler of Matabeleland. Furthermore, the gold deposits that Rhodes had hoped for were not materializing, and the BSAC needed to recover costs on the failed venture, leading Rhodes to attack Lobengula in 1893.

Once again, Rhodes used deception and falsely claimed that the Ndebele had attacked first and that his men acted defensively (which was untrue). The BSAC, with their superior weaponry, including the rapid-fire Maxim Gun and canons, inflicted heavy casualties on the Ndebele, and Lobengula was forced to abandon his city at Bulawayo. The city was burnt and he fled northwest with his followers. Lobengula was never captured nor heard of again and reports of his death in 1894 were never confirmed. 

With Lobengula defeated, nothing stood in Rhodes' way and in 1894, Britain granted the BSAC full administration over both Matabeleland and Mashonaland (effectively all of present-day Zimbabwe), plus unspecified lands north of the Zambezi River (present-day Zambia).

Rhodes now considered all of this land as the property of the BSAC and confiscated all cattle and huge tracts of prime farming land, which he bestowed on the white settlers. Hut taxes were imposed on the locals and they became nothing more than marginalized labor for the whites. Life became nearly intolerable for both the Ndebele and the Shona.

In 1896, the Ndebele organized and rose up against the BSAC, laying siege to Bulawayo, but they were no match for the superior weaponry of Rhodes' troops. The Shona also revolted in the east, but they too were repelled. The Ndebele continued to raid white farms, using guerrilla tactics and eventually Rhodes was forced to make concessions, leading to a peaceful settlement. In 1897, the British government officially renamed the colony as Rhodesia, elevating Rhodes' status yet further.

In 1902, Cecil Rhodes passed away at the age of 48 years old after contracting a chest ailment onboard a ship back to Cape Town, where he died a few weeks later.

Colonial Era (1900-1979)

Early 1900s
The early 1900s was a time of large-scale European immigration into Rhodesia, which had been renamed Southern Rhodesia in 1899, so as to differentiate it from Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia). Meanwhile, without Rhodes, the BSAC was struggling financially and in 1923, it handed over administration of the country to the British government. The all-white settlers then filed a referendum for self-government, which was granted.

In the 1930s, white empowerment continued to increase, with 75 000 square miles (195 000 sq kms) of fertile farmland allocated to 50 000 whites and 44 000 square miles (115 000 sq kms) allocated to one million blacks. Laws were enacted prohibiting blacks from holding skilled jobs and preventing them from living in the white areas. Essentially, blacks were predestined to live lives of subservience to the whites.

The word apartheid is almost always associated with the country of South Africa, but in fact, Southern Rhodesia's institutionalized policies of racial segregation with authoritarian white supremacy predates such practices in South Africa by several decades.

Fight for Independence (1950-1979)
By the 1950s, the first organized black resistance to minority rule was formed as the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) under the leadership of Joshua Nkomo. The SRANC was officially banned in 1959, but reformed in 1960 as the National Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP gained more and more followers and staged a number of strikes and protests, some turning violent, leading the government to declare a state of emergency and to ban the NDP.

By now, Britain had mandated that it would only grant independence to its African protectorates if there were racial equality and black majority rule. Subsequently, in 1964, two neighboring British protectorates, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, both gained their independence from Britain with black majority rule, as Zambia and Malawi, respectively.

Southern Rhodesia's all-white government, headed now by Prime Minister Ian Smith, worried that the tide was moving their country to a similar fate, and in 1965, in an effort to maintain power, declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom. The UDI was not recognized by Britain and economic sanctions were imposed by the United Nations. Despite international condemnation, Rhodesia's government endured with the assistance of South Africa, Portuguese-run Mozambique, and others.

Following the banning of the NDP, Joshua Nkomo resurfaced as the leader of a newly formed independence movement called the Zimbabwe Africa People's Union (ZAPU). ZAPU gained strength, but in 1963, part of the group's membership split from ZAPU and formed as the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), with Robert Mugabe as its Secretary. Both organizations were fighting against white minority rule, but were predominantly aligned based on tribal lines, with ZAPU's membership largely comprised of Ndebele and ZANU's mostly of Shona.

ZAPU and ZANU were banned by Ian Smith's government, forcing both movements to relocate their operations from Southern Rhodesia to outside locations, including Lusaka, Dar-es-Salaam, and London, where they began organizing their military wings.

Rhodesian Bush War (1964-1979)
ZAPU unsuccessfully attacked Rhodesian forces in 1964 and ZANU launched its first attack on Rhodesian forces at Chinhoyi in April 1966, setting off the Rhodesian Bush War (also called the Second Chimurenga or Zimbabwe War of Liberation). Although both ZANU and ZAPU were fighting for the same thing, they were not working together nor coordinating their efforts, so the first years of the war were largely ineffective in terms of gains against the government forces.

Both factions operated from outside the country, with ZAPU (funded and trained by the Russians) based in Zambia and ZANU (funded and trained by the Chinese) located in Mozambique. By the early 1970s, the war had become extremely bloody and many of the whites living in the country had fled.

The freedom fighters were making good progress against Ian Smith's government and in 1974, Mozambique won its independence from Portugal. Mozambique's new black-majority government withdrew its support for Rhodesia, leaving only South Africa lending support to Smith's regime. However, South Africa soon bowed to international pressure as well and withdrew its support as well.

In 1979, after several failed negotiation attempts between Smith and ZANU/ZAPU, Margaret Thatcher, the newly elected Prime Minister of Britain, held talks at Lancaster House in London. An agreement was finally reached after more than forty meetings. A ceasefire and amnesty were declared, the UDI was dismantled, international sanctions were removed, and free elections were to be held within six months.

Although the war was now over, the agreed upon compromise was still unfairly skewed towards white interests. The whites comprised less than 3% of the population but retained 20% of the new parliamentary seats.

Land reform was a key element of the negotiations and the agreement held that there was to be no mandatory land redistribution for at least ten years, offering a smooth transition period and farmers wishing to sell would be bought out by the British government. The white-owned farms in Rhodesia were crucial to the country's survival, providing roughly 50% of the country's foreign export revenue, as well as feeding the entire domestic population.

Early Independence (1980-1989)

Robert Mugabe
In March 1980, the newly named country of Zimbabwe held its first general elections, with Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) defeating Joshua Nkomo and the Zimbabwe African People's Union - Patriotic Front (ZAPU-PF) by a 3-to-1 margin.

Mugabe gained international popularity, receiving acclaim for promising fair treatment for all Zimbabweans, including whites. In an effort to create a government of national unity, Mugabe invited members of his rival ZAPU party (including Nkomo) and even some whites to join his cabinet.

In the first year of Mugabe's term as Prime Minister, disgruntled former guerrillas of the mostly Ndebele ZAPU party initiated factional uprisings in Matabeleland. The situation worsened in 1982 after arms caches were discovered, leading Mugabe to fear a civil war was being planned. Prominent ZAPU supporters were imprisoned, Joshua Nkomo was removed from the cabinet (he fled to England), and all former ZAPU members in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) deserted the army to avoid imprisonment.

Gukurahundi (1983-1987)
In 1983, Mugabe sent his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, a special operations infantry division reporting directly to him, to put a halt to the unrest by the Ndebele "dissidents".

What ensued can only be called ethnic cleansing, with thousands of Ndebele detained and sent to re-education camps or executed. Many of the executions were held in public, with the condemned forced to first dig their own graves, before being shot in front of their family and fellow villagers. The two-year operation was called Gukurahundi, which means "the rain which washes away the chaff".

From 1983 to late 1984, the Fifth Brigade committed widespread human rights abuses against the Ndebele people, including rape, murder, and torture. In some cases, entire villages were purged. In the end, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) estimated that over 20 000 people were killed and classified the events as a genocide. The international community essentially took little notice nor did anything to interfere.

Besides the devastating Gukurahundi, the first ten years of Zimbabwe's independence did little to change the lives of most of its people. The Lancaster House Agreement's ten-year transition period for land reform kept white-owned farms running and the country's economy grew, with an emerging black middle-class.

Early Land Reform (1980-2000)
A key component of the Constitution agreed upon at Lancaster House in 1980 was a ten year postponement of any land redistribution from white owners to the impoverished blacks. A principle of "willing buyer, willing seller" was included, whereby white land owners could sell their properties with funding offered by the British government thru 1990.

The Zimbabwe government had first option to purchase the land and if it declined, it could then be sold on the open market. Many whites were happy to sell and offered their farms for sale, but Mugabe's government overwhelmingly declined to purchase most land. Selling the farms on the open market was also nearly impossible, as most Zimbabweans had very little money.

Britain gave Zimbabwe millions of dollars during the 1980s to fund the purchase of white-owned farms, with almost none used by the government for that purpose, the majority having been diverted into defense expenditures.

In 1990, when the ten-year land reform holding period ended, the government passed an amendment to the constitution allowing for the confiscation of land from white-owners with "fair compensation" without agreement from the owner.

In 1992, the Land Acquisition Act was passed, which allowed confiscation of white-owned land without any compensation. Roughly 1 500 white-owned farms were soon taken over and the owners were evicted, often violently. The voluntary land redistribution program hoped for by the British had failed. The productive farms which accounted for a large amount of the country's exports and most of its domestic food were now in disuse.

Further, instead of being given to Zimbabwe's landless poor, most of the roughly 500 farms that were purchased by the government (using British funding), were instead given to Mugabe's supporters, including military officers, influential businessmen, cabinet ministers, police officials, and other personal friends. Britain was understandably unhappy about the misuse of these funds and pulled all future funding.

The poor and landless Zimbabweans that took possession of the remaining farms received no title to the land, no agricultural training, nor any funding to purchase equipment, seed, or fertilizer, thus forcing them into subsistence farming on the once commercially productive real estate they now occupied. 

The dispossessed white farmers stopped paying on their mortgages, leading to massive losses for Zimbabwe's banks. In light of Mugabe's mishandling of the British funding, the international community, including the World Bank, offered no aid and froze all Zimbabwe assets. The loss of most of its productive farming now turned Zimbabwe into a food importer for the first time ever and its economy was in rapid decline.

Mugabe Secures Control (1985-1987)
The large-scale slaughter of the Ndebele people during Operation Gukurahundi caused a growing distrust and resentment towards the ZANU-PF party and Mugabe was concerned about the upcoming national elections to be held in June 1985. In an effort to secure votes, ZANU-PF Youth League brigades used wide scale harassment, intimidation and violence against many of ZAPU-PF's supporters. In spite of these tactics, ZAPU-PF won all 15 parliamentary seats in Matabeleland.

Violence continued between the two parties and Mugabe ordered numerous ZAPU officials, including the mayor of Bulawayo, be detained. Additionally, the ZAPU party offices were forcibly closed and all ZAPU-controlled district councils were dissolved.

In an attempt to avoid further unrest, negotiations began and after two difficult years, ZANU-PF and ZAPU-PF merged in December 1987, with the ZAPU name eliminated. The merger resulted in 99 of the 100 parliamentary seats being held by ZANU-PF. Zimbabwe had effectively become a de-facto one-party state.

After the elimination of ZAPU-PF, Zimbabwe's constitution was amended to declare Robert Mugabe as Executive President, a new position that afforded him the combined roles of head of state, head of government, and commander of the armed forces. He also had the power to dissolve parliament, declare martial law, and run for President for an unlimited number of terms. The amendments also abolished the 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites per the Lancaster House Agreement.

Economic Decline

The 1990s
With the expiration of the ten-year land reform transition period (in 1990) and the onset of the confiscation of white-owned farms, Zimbabwe's economy began to deteriorate. Once called "the bread basket of Southern Africa", with a very strong farming export industry, this began to change in the 1990s. The 1990s were a time of negative economic growth in Zimbabwe, and several events exacerbated its economic woes.

War Veterans (1997)
In 1997, a group of disgruntled soldiers calling itself the Zimbabwean Liberation War Veterans Association (ZLWVA) organized. The group had some 50 000 members claiming to be ex-soldiers (from both ZANU and ZAPU) from the recent war. The group staged several violent protests, demanding cash gratuities and pensions for their service, as they saw politicians growing rich while they suffered.

It should be stated that many of the "so-called" veterans, most notably its leader Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, took no part in the war as soldiers or otherwise. A large portion of its membership would have been mere children at the time of the war. As the intensity of the war veterans' strikes and pressure tactics grew, Mugabe decided that rather than further aggravating the situation and in hopes of gaining the support of this obviously dangerous group, he would pay them off.

Accordingly, in early 1998, although the country's treasury could not afford it, each member of the War Veterans Association was paid 50 000 Zimbabwe Dollars (ZWD), as well as a tax-free monthly pension of ZWD 2 000 (roughly double the average monthly black wage at the time). A special levy was imposed to fund the payments, but the work force revolted and the country had to borrow to meet the obligations.

Congo War (1998)
In 1998, in a highly controversial move, President Mugabe entered Zimbabwe into the civil war (called the Second Congo War) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mugabe aligned Zimbabwe with the government forces of Laurent Kabila, who had seized control of the country in 1997 and was now fighting former Tutsi allies from Rwanda and Burundi, who had turned on him.

The move clearly lacked any political or strategic advantage for Zimbabwe, and it is widely believed that Mugabe's motivation was for personal financial enrichment. In return for committing his country's troops and equipment to help keep Kabila in power, Mugabe received business deals within the booming Congolese diamond and gold mining industries.

The costs of this venture were estimated to have been 3 million USD per day, a huge drain on Zimbabwe's already dwindling treasury. Most economists agree that this venture was the beginning of Zimbabwe's economic downfall.

Fast Track Land Reform (2001-2005)
As of 1997, most of Zimbabwe's most fertile land was still in the hands of thousands of white farmers, with the small percentage of farms that had been purchased by the government since 1980 distributed among Mugabe's ministers and other ruling party loyalists and government officials.

In 2001, President Mugabe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which permitted white-owned farms to be taken by force without any compensation required. The farm invasions, which mostly occurred between 2000 and 2003, were mainly carried out by members of the War Veterans Association in a countrywide assault on its 4 000 commercial farms.

Farm owners and their employees were typically given one day to vacate the land with no prior warning given. Those who resisted were beaten and some were murdered. Livestock, pets, horses, and wildlife were slaughtered and the homes were ransacked and often burned. The local police were directed not to interfere. According to UN data, approximately 300 000 black Zimbabwean farm workers lost their jobs and over one million black Zimbabweans were displaced, most ending up in squatter camps.

Sadly, most of those that partook in the land grab rampage had no interest in setting themselves up as farmers; rather, the main activity in the land seizures was the theft and consumption of farm assets. Besides displacing thousands of families, the consequences included the disruption of bond payments on the properties and a dramatic decline in the country's agricultural production.

The fast track land grab can surely be said to be the main impetus that started the country into its coming economic collapse. Zimbabwe's commercial farms were some of the most productive in the world and domestically, they accounted for much of the country's economic growth since independence, generating one-half of Zimbabwe's export revenue and employing one-third of the country's workforce.

Agricultural Collapse (1998-2008)
By 2003, Zimbabwe had the fastest declining economy in the world, shrinking at a rate of 18% per year. This was largely due to the un-budgeted expenditures outlined above, combined with the worsening agriculture situation, which was primarily due to the farm invasions.

Zimbabwe's previously efficient and productive commercial farms had now been divided up into smaller landholdings occupied by unskilled farmers. The smaller farms eliminated economies of scale available to the once larger farms. Furthermore, the new farmers did not have access to bank loans, as they were not given deeds nor official ownership, meaning that the land could not be used as collateral.

Between 1998 and 2007, commercial farm production in Zimbabwe dropped significantly as follows: maize (corn) down 69%, wheat down 77%, soybeans down 43%, tobacco down 69%, sugar down 31%, dairy down 53%, and beef down 66%.

2002 Presidential Election
In 1999, a new political party called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, was formed to oppose the ruling ZANU-PF in the upcoming 2002 elections. Tsvangirai was a former ZANU-PF member and a prominent trade union leader. The MDC opposed the increasing powers granted to Mugabe's position as executive president.

The MDC gained strong support, especially amongst the educated and urban populace. Fearing he may not win in the 2002 elections, Mugabe sent the War Veterans and ZANU-PF Youth Militia groups on a mission to ensure his victory. The groups roamed the country, using violence and intimidation to "persuade" anyone not producing a ZANU-PF membership card into voting for Mugabe. Allegations of beatings, rape, torture, and even murder were widespread.

Due to the growing food shortage in the country resulting from drought and the farm seizures, much of Zimbabwe was increasingly hungry and government-controlled grain supplies were used as further incentive, with grain allocations given only to ZANU-PF card holders.

Unsurprisingly, the results of the 2002 elections had Mugabe elected as the winner (for a 6-year term) with 56% of the vote, while Tsvangirai received 42%. Reports of fraud, poll tampering, and vote rigging were widespread and the results were condemned by the international community. The USA, EU, UK, and Australia all refused to recognize the obviously flawed results and imposed sanctions on personal assets held by Mugabe and various ZANU-PF officials.

2005 Parliamentary Elections
Parliamentary elections for all 120 elected seats were held in March 2005. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party won 78 of the 120 seats, while the MDC secured 41 seats, with one independent winner. The results meant that ZANU-PF held a two-thirds majority and could change the Constitution.

Similar intimidation tactics were once again used to secure votes throughout the country and as in the 2002 elections, widespread electoral fraud was alleged by international observers.

Operation Murambatsvina (2005)
In May 2005, following the parliamentary elections, President Mugabe initiated Operation Murambatsvina, which translates to "remove the rubbish". The project was a large-scale governmental campaign to forcibly clear township slums in urban areas across the country.

Mugabe stated the project was "a vigorous clean-up campaign to restore sanity" and called the program an "urban renewal campaign." However, Murambatsvina is widely considered to be an attempt to punish the urban poor, who had overwhelmingly supported the MDC in the 2002 and 2005 elections, by moving them into rural areas, where their votes could be more easily controlled and manipulated.

The national police carried out the demolitions, with the support of the military and the National Youth Service. Many of those removed were forced to destroy their own homes, often at gunpoint, before being evicted with whatever they could carry. While some homes were shacks, many were solid permanent structures owned by citizens with established, though informal businesses.

The United Nations estimates that more than 700 000 people were directly affected via the loss of their homes or livelihood and that more than 2.4 million were indirectly affected.

Hyperinflation (2005-2009)
As of April 2006, Zimbabwe's inflation rate exceeded 1 000 percent and the national currency was almost useless. Re-denominated notes were issued in August 2006 and inflation continued to skyrocket. By the end of 2008, the inflation rate was estimated at 98% per day, meaning that the prices of goods essentially doubled every day.

The precursors leading to the high inflation are discussed above, with the primary factors being the continued printing of money to fund the country's involvement in the Congo war and payouts to war veterans. Additionally, the sharp decline in agricultural output resulting from the land reforms led to a severe shortage of grains and other food. Finally, it is widely believed that President Mugabe was funneling money from the national treasury into foreign personal bank accounts.

In June 2007, the government instituted a price freeze on all goods, making it illegal to raise prices on goods sold publicly. Unfortunately, this made the cost of manufacturing goods higher than producers could charge, causing them to stop production and leading to a serious shortage of most items.

The shortage of staple items led to a run on the shops as people rushed to purchase what goods remained. The shelves at the shops were increasingly empty and most people used a barter system on the surging black market to obtain food and other staple items.

The final printing of Zimbabwean bank notes included a denomination of 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars. The paper bank notes were needed in such supply that people had to carry bags of money to the shops in order to pay for only a few staple items. Sadly, it was cheaper to use paper bank notes for toilet paper than to use them to purchase actual toilet paper.

With the price of goods raising daily, people had to spend whatever money they received immediately to mitigate the devaluation. The price of a bus commute in the morning would be far more expensive for the ride home that same day. People who had savings in local banks lost pretty much everything and only those who had invested or saved in foreign bank accounts survived this crisis.

In January 2009, Zimbabwe's dollar collapsed and the government stopped printing its currency and lifted the restriction to use only Zimbabwean dollars. After this collapse, the public was allowed to use the foreign currency of their choice, with most using the US dollar.

Recent History

2008 Elections
Elections were scheduled for March 2008 to elect the President and Parliament. Due to the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe, this election was expected to be the toughest challenge to date for Mugabe. As in the past, voter intimidation and vote tampering were expected.

In February 2008, Simba Makoni, a long-time senior member of ZANU-PF and former Finance Minister, announced that he was leaving ZANU-PF to run as an independent candidate. Morgan Tsvangirai also announced his candidacy, running under his faction in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. As the elections approached, both opposition candidates and their followers were subjected to harassment and violence by the police and ZANU-PF members.

Voting took place on 29 March and unofficial preliminary results indicated very favorable results for Tsvangirai and the MDC parliamentary candidates. Days went by with no results announced, leading to fears that Mugabe and the ZANU-PF were manipulating the voting results.

Over a month passed and on 02 May, results were finally announced. Tsvangirai had received 47.9% of the votes, while Mugabe received 43.2% of the votes. Zimbabwe's constitution requires over 50% of the voting to elect the President, meaning a runoff election would be required, which was scheduled for 27 June.

In the weeks leading up to the runoff, MDC supporters were subjected to violent attacks by ZANU-PF supporters, which the government claimed were perpetrated by MDC itself. The situation worsened when Tsvangirai and several other MDC officials and supporters were arrested by the government. Several diplomats from the US and UK, who were in Zimbabwe to investigate reports of pre-election results, were also detained.

Mugabe stated that he would not relinquish power if he lost in the runoff election and that the War Veterans would be armed and ready to ensure his continuing rule.

As the date of the runoff election approached, the inflammatory rhetoric, violence, and intimidation escalated and on 22 June, Tsvangirai announced that he was withdrawing from the election. Tsvangirai stated that the election would be a "violent sham", that it had no chance of being free and fair, and that his supporters were at risk of being killed if they voted for him.

The runoff election was held anyway and Mugabe declared the winner. The election was criticized by independent observers as being neither free nor fair, and was condemned by the international community.

Power Sharing (2009)
In January 2009, under pressure from South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and the South African Development Community (SADC), Mugabe announced that he would accept a power-sharing government with Tsvangirai in the new position of Prime Minister.

Mugabe and the ZANU-PF retained control over the police and armed forces, which left Tsvangirai and the MDC relatively powerless. While Tsvangirai had veto power to block any proposed parliamentary proposals, this only served to perpetuate the uneasy truce between the two parties and stalemate all governmental progress.

In the meantime, Zimbabwe's economy continued to stagnate, causing local and foreign investment to drop off dramatically.

2013 Elections
In March 2013, a new constitution was agreed upon by both parties and passed by public referendum by an overwhelming vote. The constitution called for immediate elections, which were to be held in July. The new constitution declared that presidents would be limited to two five-year terms and removed presidential veto power over proposed legislation. It also created new offices, including an independent electoral committee, an independent prosecuting authority, and an anti-corruption department.

As in all prior elections, accusations of widespread voter intimidation in rural areas, vote rigging, and tampering with electoral rolls were made by independent observers and electoral commissioners. Upon investigation it was revealed that the electoral rolls included roughly one million invalid names, including many deceased voters and excluded one million valid voters, mostly in urban areas (where Mugabe lacked support).

Once again, Robert Mugabe was was elected as president with 61% of the vote and claimed his sixth term as president. His ZANU-PF party also dominated in the parliamentary elections, winning 160 seats, while Tsvangirai's MDC party won 49 seats. Tsvangirai called the elections a "huge farce" and stated that the MDC would not participate in Mugabe's government.

Coup d'état (2017)
In October 2017, tensions escalated between rival factions within ZANU-PF, one backing Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country's Vice-President and the other supporting First Lady Grace Mugabe, the President's wife. Grace Mugabe was backed by the Generation 40 (G40), a faction of younger officials within ZANU-PF. Mnangagwa, a long-time ally of the President and a veteran of the war, had the support of several prominent generals within the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF).

Robert Mugabe was now 93 years old and Mnangagwa and Grace Mugabe were both vying for position to succeed the President, whose health was fading. Mnangagwa alleged publicly that he had been poisoned at a political rally in August and accused Grace Mugabe of ordering the poisoning via a dairy farm she owned. Grace Mugabe denounced the accusation as ridiculous and untrue and publicly criticized Mnangagwa, saying he was attempting to destabilize the country and undermine the Presidency.

On 06 November, President Mugabe dismissed Vice-President Mnangagwa, leaving Grace Mugabe as the only contender to succeed Robert Mugabe as President. Several generals in the ZDF publicly declared that only a veteran of Zimbabwe's war for independence, should rule the country.

On 08 November, Mnangagwa, who was receiving threats against him and his family, fled Zimbabwe to Mozambique and then to South Africa. Mnangagwa, speaking from South Africa, vowed to return and called for members of ZANU-PF to abandon the President. Many of Mnangagwa's senior supporters were then targeted for disciplinary sanctions by Grace Mugabe.

Constantino Chiwenga, a war veteran and current Commander of the ZDF, was at this time on an official visit to China, where he learned that Robert Mugabe had ordered his arrest upon his return to Zimbabwe. This advance notice allowed him to make plans to avoid arrest and on 12 November, soldiers loyal to Chiwenga disguised as baggage handlers, overpowered the Zimbabwean police at the airport and escorted him to his military headquarters.

On 13 November, Chiwenga released a statement chastising the government for the dismissal of officials in the ZANU-PF party and warned that the military would intervene if the "treacherous shenanigans" continued.

On 14 November, convoys of Chiwenga's soldiers and armored military vehicles embarked from their headquarters and into Harare. Several roads were blocked by the soldiers, including the one leading the President Mugabe's private residence and the one leading to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the state broadcaster.

On 15 November, the homes of numerous high ranking ZANU-PF officials and other supporters were raided by the military, including those of the Minister of Higher Education, the Minister of Local Government, as well Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Finance and a Grace Mugabe supporter, in whose home around US$10 million in cash was discovered.

Later that day, Major General Sibusiso Moyo, the army's Chief of Staff, spoke on a ZBC broadcast, stating that it was not a military takeover and that President Mugabe was safe and unharmed, but was under house arrest. Moyo also said that the military was targeting criminals in the government who were responsible for the country's dire socio-economic problems.

On 19 November, President Mugabe was officially removed from the ZANU-PF party, along with the First Lady Grace Mugabe and more than 20 of her associates. Mugabe responded in a public speech, saying he would not resign the presidency. The ZANU-PF then issued Mugabe a deadline of noon the next day to step down or face impeachment.

On 21 November, a ZANU-PF caucus made a motion to impeach Mugabe, alleging the following: serious misconduct; failure to obey, uphold and defend the Constitution; willful violation of the Constitution; and inability to perform the functions of the Office because of physical or mental incapacity. That evening, President Mugabe officially resigned.

On 22 November, the ZANU-PF party nominated Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over as interim President. Mnangagwa returned from South Africa the next day and on 24 November, he was sworn in to serve out the remainder of Mugabe's term ending in 2018.

Mugabe Post-Presidency
There was little interest among the ruling ZANU-PF officials in prosecuting Mugabe after his resignation and both he and his wife were granted immunity from prosecution via full diplomatic status. Mugabe was also granted a five-bedroom house, two dozen staff members, personal vehicles, and a payment of around ten million US dollars. He was also permitted to keep all personal wealth and business interests amassed during his long rule.

In early 2019, it became known that Mugabe had been receiving medical treatments in Singapore for around eight weeks. The former president remained hospitalized in Singapore, where he died at the age of 95 on 06 September 2019. The cause of his death was not officially disclosed, but was reported to be from advanced cancer.

2018 Elections
In the July 2018 general elections, Emmerson Mnangagwa, running for the ZANU-PF party, won with 50.7% of the votes. Morgan Tsvangirai, who was expected to run against Mnangagwa for the MDC party, died in February 2018, so Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's new leader, ran instead. Chamisa received 44.4% of the votes.

Allegations of continued improprieties in Zimbabwe's voting system were again cited and the credibility of its electoral process are still in question by its citizens and the international community. Although the 2018 elections were peaceful for the first time ever, the MDC claim that the elections were rigged in ZANU-PF's favor.

The ruling ZANU-PF party has rejected the idea of forming a government of national unity with the MDC party. The next general elections in Zimbabwe are scheduled for 2023. The ZANU-PF has approved Mnangagwa as its candidate in 2023.

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