There is currently no single-volume history of Zimbabwe that provides detailed coverage of the country's experience from precolonial times to the present. This book examines Zimbabwe's precolonial, colonial and post-colonial social, economic and political history and relates historical factors and trends to more recent developments in the country. Zimbabwe is a country with a rich history, dating from the early San hunter-gatherer societies. The arrival of British imperial rule in 1890 impacted the country tremendously, as the European rulers developed and exploited Zimbabwe's resources, which gave rise to a movement of African nationalism and demands for independence. This process culminated in the armed conflict of the 1960s and 1970s, a war of liberation that ended with Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. The 1990s were marked by economic decline and the rise of opposition politics. In 1999, Mugabe and his party embarked on a violent and chaotic land reform program that disrupted the country's prosperous agricultural sector and plunged the nation's economy into a downward spiral. Political violence and human rights violations made Zimbabwe an international pariah state, with struggles continuing to this day. This book is targeted primarily at students of Zimbabwean history, but will be useful to both scholars of Zimbabwean history and those unfamiliar with the country's past.

From early human civilisation to today, this book illuminates the history of southern Africa. Interweaving social, cultural and political history, archaeology, anthropology and environmentalism, Neil Parsons and Alois Mlambo provide an engaging account of the region's varied past. Placing African voices and agency at centre stage rather than approaching the subject through a colonial lens, A History of Southern Africa provides an engrossing narrative of the region. This textbook is ideal for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of History and African Studies, and will provide an essential grounding for those taking courses in the history of southern Africa. Its lively and accessible approach will appeal to anyone with an interest in global history.

From Cecil Rhodes' articulation of his white-dream, and British emigration and settlement, the actions and attitudes of white Rhodesians and British officialdom have always been contentious, and relations between Zimbabwe and Britain of great public interest. This study of the history of white immigration into Zimbabwe, draws on quotations from government and other sources, now housed in British and Zimbabwean national archives. The author traces immigration into Southern Rhodesia from British occupation in 1890, to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. He considers emigration in the wider context of the changing nature of Britain and the Empire, and discusses the social engineering carried out by the Rhodesians and the British: on the one hand to try and ensure a dominant and economically and industrially successful white class in Rhodesia, and the maintenance of gender balance in the settler society; and on the other, to discourage immigration of other white nationals into Rhodesia. He goes on to show however, how these racially motivated policies and other historical developments meant that the Rhodesian dream was never realised.

From early human civilisation to today, this book illuminates the history of southern Africa. Interweaving social, cultural and political history, archaeology, anthropology and environmentalism, Neil Parsons and Alois Mlambo provide an engaging account of the region's varied past. Placing African voices and agency at centre stage rather than approaching the subject through a colonial lens, A History of Southern Africa provides an engrossing narrative of the region. This textbook is ideal for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of History and African Studies, and will provide an essential grounding for those taking courses in the history of southern Africa. Its lively and accessible approach will appeal to anyone with an interest in global history.