ONE LAND · 4 ATLASES
History of Zimbabwe in maps
Zimbabwe as it appears in 4 interactive history atlases, from 1890 to 1994: Zimbabwe. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Zimbabwe before it was Zimbabwe? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Zimbabwe · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Zimbabwe · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position |
Zimbabwe · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) · Decolonization of Africa
Southern Rhodesia’s white settlers declared independence unilaterally in 1965 rather than accept majority rule, and held out for fifteen years through sanctions and a bush war against Mugabe’s and Nkomo’s guerrillas. The 1979 Lancaster House settlement brought majority-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980 — with a land clause that deferred the central grievance for a decade, and detonated catastrophically when it expired. The negotiated end of a settler state, and its unpaid bill.
| British-ruled — the opening position | |
| Settler-minority rule | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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