Zimbabwe — map and facts

About Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa with a population of approximately 16 million people. Its capital is Harare, located in the north-east of the country on a high plateau at about 1,490 metres above sea level. Zimbabwe is a presidential republic; Robert Mugabe, who had led the country since independence in 1980, was forced from power in November 2017 following a military intervention and was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa. Zimbabwe experienced one of the worst economic collapses in modern history in the 2000s, marked by hyperinflation that reached billions of percent annually, mass unemployment, and collapse of public services. The country abandoned its dollar in 2009 and adopted a multi-currency system. Mnangagwa's government has struggled to restore economic stability amid continued political repression. Zimbabwe is ethnically dominated by the Shona, who make up roughly 70 percent of the population, followed by the Ndebele. English, Shona, and Ndebele are among sixteen official languages. Agriculture and mining remain the economic mainstays.

Geography and Landscape

Zimbabwe is entirely landlocked, bordered by Zambia to the north, Mozambique to the east, South Africa to the south, and Botswana to the west and southwest. The country straddles the high plateau known as the Highveld, which runs northeast to southwest at elevations of 1,200 to 1,600 metres and comprises the country's agricultural heartland. To the east, the Eastern Highlands rise to their peak at Mount Nyangani, the country's highest point at 2,592 metres, along the Mozambican border. The Zambezi River forms the northern border with Zambia, and Victoria Falls, one of the world's largest waterfalls at a width of 1,708 metres, straddles this border and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lake Kariba, the world's largest man-made reservoir by volume, was created by damming the Zambezi in the late 1950s. The Limpopo River forms much of the southern border with South Africa. The climate is subtropical and moderated by altitude, with a wet season from November to March.

History

The Zimbabwe Plateau has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The ancestors of the Shona people established the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, centred on the monumental stone enclosure known as Great Zimbabwe near the modern town of Masvingo, which served as the capital of a wealthy trading empire from approximately the eleventh to the fifteenth century. The Mutapa empire succeeded it, controlling trade in gold and ivory with the East African coast. In the nineteenth century the Ndebele, led by King Mzilikazi and later Lobengula, established a kingdom in the southwest. Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company obtained a royal charter and sent the Pioneer Column into the territory in 1890, colonising it as Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing colony in 1923. White-minority government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 under Prime Minister Ian Smith, prompting international sanctions and a guerrilla liberation war. Independence was achieved on 18 April 1980 under Robert Mugabe. His government's seizure of white-owned farms after 2000 triggered economic collapse. Mugabe's removal in 2017 raised hopes that have been only partially fulfilled.