MAPS OF HISTORY · HISTORY OF · Zimbabwe

ONE LAND · 3 ATLASES

Zimbabwe, on the map of history

What was Zimbabwe before it was Zimbabwe? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — 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 · The Great War, 1914–1918

OPEN WWI ON THE LIVING MAP →

Zimbabwe · The Cold War, 1945–1991

OPEN THE COLD WAR ON THE LIVING MAP →

Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) · The Decolonization of Africa, 1945–1994

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.

OPEN THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA ON THE LIVING MAP →