Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia
1923–1980
Flag (1924–1964) Coat of arms (1924–1981)
Anthem: " British colony (1923–1965 1979-1980)
Capital	Salisbury
Common languages	English (official) Shona and Sindebele widely spoken, some Afrikaans
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Monarch
• 1923-1936	George V
• 1936	Edward VIII
• 1936–1952	George VI
• 1952–1964[a]	Elizabeth II
• 1979–1980	Elizabeth II
Governor
• 1923–1928 (first)	John Chancellor
• 1959[b]–1965[c]	Humphrey Gibbs
• 1979–1980 (last)	Christopher Soames
Charles Coghlan
• 1964[d] (last)	Ian Smith
Legislature	Legislative Assembly
History
• BSAC administration	1890–1923
• Annexed by the UK	12 September 1923 (1923)
• Responsible Government	1 October 1923
• Federation	1953–1963
• UDI	11 November 1965
• Republic declared	3 March 1970
• Zimbabwe Rhodesia	1 June 1979
• Independence	18 April 1980
Area
1904[1]	372,518 km2 (143,830 sq mi)
Population
• 1904[1]	605,764
Currency	Southern Rhodesian pound Rhodesian pound Rhodesian dollar
Preceded by Succeeded by 1923: Company rule in Rhodesia 1963: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1979: Zimbabwe Rhodesia 1953: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1964: Rhodesia 1980: Zimbabwe
Today part of	Zimbabwe
^ The unrecognized government purported to have Elizabeth II continue to reign under the unrecognized title, Queen of Rhodesia, after 1964 and until the abolition of the unrecognized Rhodesian monarchy in 1970. ^ Gibbs' governorship of Southern Rhodesia began during the Federation period. For a brief time, Gibbs was also the Acting Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. ^ Gibbs' de facto governorship ended with the internationally unrecognized declaration of independence on 11 November 1965, as the attached 1965 Constitution abolished the post and created the positions of Governor-General and Officer Administering the Government (for when a Governor-General was not appointed by the Queen of Rhodesia). On 17 November 1965, his responsibilities were bestowed by the unrecognized government upon Clifford Dupont as Acting Officer Administering the Government. Gibbs remained the de jure legal Governor until 24 June 1969. ^ Smith continued to lead the unrecognized government as Prime Minister of Rhodesia until 1 June 1979.

Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked

The British colony was established de jure in 1923, having earlier been occupied, constructed and administered by the British South Africa Company and its sub-concessionaires who were mostly British subjects. In 1953, it was merged into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which lasted until 1963. Southern Rhodesia was renamed Rhodesia and remained a de jure British colony until 1980. However, the Rhodesian government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965 and established a fully independent Rhodesia, which immediately became an unrecognised state. In 1979, it reconstituted itself under majority rule as Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which also failed to win international recognition. After a period of interim British control following the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979, the country achieved internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980.

History

Origin as "Rhodesia"

Initially, the territory was referred to as "South Zambezia", a reference to the River

The British government agreed that Rhodes' company, the

The territory north of the Zambezi was the subject of separate treaties with African chiefs: today, it forms the country of Zambia. The first BSAC Administrator for the western part was appointed for Barotseland in 1897 and for the whole of North-Western Rhodesia in 1900. The first BSAC Administrator for the eastern part, North-Eastern Rhodesia, was appointed in 1895.^[8][9] The whites in the territory south of the river paid it scant regard though, and generally used the name "Rhodesia" in a narrow sense to mean their part. The designation "Southern Rhodesia" was first used officially in 1898 in the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council of 20 October 1898, which applied to the area south of the Zambezi,^[10] and was more common after the BSAC merged the administration of the two northern territories as Northern Rhodesia in 1911.

As a result of the various treaties between the BSAC and the black tribes, Acts of Parliament delineating BSAC and Crown Lands, overlapping British colonial commission authority of both areas, the rights of the increasing number of British settlers and their descendants were given secondary review by authorities. This resulted in the formation of new movements for expanding the self-government of the Rhodesian people which saw BSAC rule as an impediment to further expansion.

The

In view of the outcome of the referendum, the territory was annexed by the United Kingdom on 12 September 1923.^{[11][12][13][14]} Shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force.^[15][13] Under this constitution Sir Charles Coghlan became the first Premier of First Cabinet of Southern Rhodesia and upon his death in 1927 he was succeeded by Howard Unwin Moffat.

During World War II, Southern Rhodesian military units participated on the side of the United Kingdom. Southern Rhodesian forces were involved on many fronts including the East and North African campaigns, Italy, Madagascar and Burma. Southern Rhodesian forces had the highest loss ratio of any constituent element, colony, dependency or dominion of the British Empire forces during World War II. Additionally, the Rhodesian pilots earned the highest number of decorations and ace appellations of any group within the Empire. This resulted in the Royal Family paying an unusual state visit to the colony at the end of the war to thank the Rhodesian people.

Economically, Southern Rhodesia developed an economy that was narrowly based on production of a few primary products, notably, chrome and tobacco. It was therefore vulnerable to the economic cycle. The deep recession of the 1930s gave way to a post-war boom. This boom prompted the immigration of about 200,000 white settlers between 1945 and 1970, taking the white population up to 307,000. A large number of these immigrants were of British working-class origin. The black population was about 6 million.^[16]

In the 1940s, the founding of a university to serve central African countries was proposed. Such a university was eventually established in

In 1953, with calls for independence mounting in many of its African possessions, the United Kingdom created the

On 7 October 1964, the Southern Rhodesian government announced that when Northern Rhodesia achieved independence as Zambia, the Southern Rhodesian government would officially become known as the Rhodesian Government and the colony would become known as Rhodesia.^[18]

On 23 October of that year, the Minister of Internal Affairs notified the press that the Constitution would be amended to make this official. The Legislative Assembly then passed an Interpretation Bill to declare that the colony could be referred to as Rhodesia. The Bill received its third reading on 9 December 1964, and passed to the Governor for royal assent.^{[citation needed]}

However, no royal assent was granted to the Bill. Section 3 of the Southern Rhodesia (Annexation) Order 1923 provided that Southern Rhodesia "shall be known as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia" and the Southern Rhodesia (Constitution) Act 1961 and the

While the new name was widely used, 'Southern Rhodesia' remained the colony's formal name in United Kingdom constitutional theory: for example, the Act passed by the United Kingdom Parliament declaring the independence a legal nullity was entitled the Southern Rhodesia Act 1965.^[21]

Following the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Southern Rhodesia Constitution (Interim Provisions) Order 1979, establishing the offices of Governor and Deputy Governor of Southern Rhodesia, filled by Lord Soames and Sir Antony Duff respectively.^[22]

The new Governor arrived in Salisbury on 12 December 1979, and on that day the Parliament of Zimbabwe Rhodesia handed power over to him by passing the Constitution of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (Amendment) (No. 4) Act, declaring that "Zimbabwe Rhodesia shall cease to be an independent State and become part of Her Majesty's dominions". After elections in February 1980, the colony ceased to exist when the new country of Zimbabwe became independent at midnight on 17 April 1980.^[23]

Part of a series on the
History of Zimbabwe
Ancient history Leopard's Kopje c. 900 – c. 1075 Mapungubwe Kingdom c. 1075 – c. 1220 Zimbabwe Kingdom c. 1220 – c. 1450 Butua Kingdom c. 1450–1683 Mutapa Kingdom c. 1450–1760
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia	June–December 1979
Lancaster House Agreement	December 1979
British Dependency	1979–1980
Zimbabwe	1980–present
Gukurahundi	1982–1987
Second Congo War	1998–2003
Coup d'état	2017

Judiciary

List of chief justices of Southern Rhodesia:

See also

• Administrative posts of the British South Africa Company in Southern Rhodesia
• Albert John Lutuli
  , a famous South African born in Southern Rhodesia
• Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
• History of Zimbabwe
• List of presidents of Zimbabwe
• President of Rhodesia
• Southern Rhodesia in World War I
• Matebeleland and annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate