RHODESIA 



6595 



RHODESIA 



therefore, through communication 

 between Cape Town and Beira in 

 one direction, and between Cape 

 Town and the mouth of the Congo 

 (partly by river communication) 

 in the other. Rlys. also connect 

 Victoria and Selukwe with Gwelo, 

 and the Ayrshire and Abercorn 

 districts with Salisbury. A further 

 line runs from the 

 Gwanda mining 

 district to the 

 main Rhodesian 

 railway. 



In S. Rhodesia 

 the two chief 

 tribes are the 

 Matabele and 

 Mashonas. In N. 

 Rhodesia the W. 

 portions, the 

 country of the 

 B a r o t s e, were 

 under the control 

 of Lewanika, and 

 the E. portions 

 were occupied by 

 u nimp or tant 

 tribes settled in 

 village communi- 

 ties. The native 

 ')c-. of S. Rho- 

 ciesia was esti- 

 mated at 730,000 

 in 1914, and that 

 of N. Rhodesia at 

 about 850,000. 

 The census, 



council, consisting of the adminis- 

 trator, six nominees of the com- 

 pany, and twelve members elected 

 by voters. The first legislative 

 council was elected in 1899. 



For administrative purposes 

 S. Rhodesia was divided into thirty 

 districts, and N. Rhodesia, which 

 until 1911 consisted of the two 



RHODESIA 



English Miles 



&" >'' 

 If' BECBUA&ALAND 



"^-PROTECT* 



Rhodesia. 



Map of the British colonial possession in 

 Southern Africa 



1911, showed the number of Euro- 

 peans to be 23,606, but ten years 

 later it was approximately 33,500. 

 The chief towns are Bulawayo, the 

 commercial centre of Matabeleland, 

 Salisbury, the seat of the ad- 

 ministration, Hartley, Gatooma, 

 Umtali, Victoria, Gwelo, and 

 Selukwe, hi S. Rhodesia ; and 

 Livingstone, the administrative 

 capital of N. Rhodesia, Fort Jame- 

 son, Fife, and Broken Hill hi N. 

 Rhodesia. Salisbury, Bulawayo, 

 Gwelo, and Umtali are muni- 

 cipalities. 



In 1888 the portion of Rhodesia 

 now known as S. Rhodesia was 

 declared to be within the British 

 sphere of influence, and on Oct. 29, 

 1889, a royal charter was granted 

 to the British South Africa Com- 

 pany, conferring upon it powers of 

 administration. Subsequently, in 

 1891, the whole of British territory 

 W. of the Zambezi, with the ex- 

 ception of the Nyasaland Protec- 

 torate, was placed, subject to cer- 

 tain conditions, under the control 

 of the company. The Imperial 

 government was represented by a 

 resident commissioner who acted 

 on behalf of the high commissioner 

 of South Africa. ~ Until 1923 S. 

 Rhodesia was presided over by an 

 administrator assisted by an execu- 

 tive council, and by a legislative 



provinces of Barotseland, or N.W. 

 Rhodesia, and N.E. Rhodesia, into 

 ten districts. v. E. tewin 



ARCHAEOLOGY. The task of trac- 

 ing the early movements of man- 

 kind along the highways over 

 which S. Africa was first peopled 

 has hardly begun. The Bushman 

 paintings found in Mashonaland 

 caves are not necessarily of high 

 antiquity. The outstanding in- 

 terest of prehistoric Rhodesia lies 

 hi its innumerable mine- workings, 

 as well as hi upwards of 500 ruined 

 stone structures, scattered over an 

 area 700 m. square between the 

 Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. The 

 workings, sometimes descending 

 150 ft., are estimated to have 

 moved more than 100,000,000 

 tons of reef. The gold output 

 necessarily reached the outside 

 world by the E. coast, whence it 

 was presumably transported by 

 Arabian mariners. 



Of the strongholds, which were 

 formed of small granite or diorite 

 blocks, some, especially at Zim- 

 babwe, display skilful work ; 

 others, as at Dhlo-Dhlo or Mombo, 

 Khami, Nanatali, and Umtali, are 

 inferior, often of undressed blocks. 

 Some authorities explain the 

 former as due to a pre-Bantu 

 population, perhaps Hamitic, un- 

 der Arabian direction, the latter to 



Bantu-speaking negroids who imi- 

 tated the old work hi a clumsier 

 style, after the original impulse had 

 passed away. 



At Inyanga are many hill-forts, 

 besides hundreds of stone-lined 

 pits, extensive aqueducts, and 

 remains of stone-walled terraces. 

 They point to a highly developed 

 agriculture based on irrigation, 

 and Arab influence is suggested. 



In some of the structures import- 

 ed objects, such as Nankin china, 

 Cambay beads, and Indian fabrics, 

 betray medieval trading activity. 

 According to D. Randall-Mad ver, 

 nothing older than the 14th cen- 

 tury A.D. has been identified, and 

 all the constructions, even at Zim- 

 babwe, are unaided Bantu work. 



In 1921 a fossil skull discovered 

 in the Bone Cave at Broken Hill 

 appeared to relate to the most 

 primitive human remains hitherto 

 found in Asia and Europe, and to 

 confirm the presence of man in 

 S. Africa hi remote times. 



E. O. Harxner 



HISTOKY. If the period of the 

 Portuguese missions hi the 16th 

 century be disregarded, European 

 intercourse with Rhodesia com- 

 menced with the missionary travels 

 of David Livingstone, who in 

 June, 1851, reached the central 

 Zambezi at Sesheke, and the hunt- 

 ing expeditions of William Cotton 

 Oswell. Subsequently Livingstone, 

 with Sir John Kirk, explored the 

 Zambezi as far as the Barotse 

 country, and hi 1866 discovered 

 Lakes Bangweulu and Mweru, the 

 S. end of Lake Tanganyika, and 

 the upper course of the Luapula- 

 Lualaba-Congo. The country was 

 traversed by a few Boer and 

 British hunters, as Viljoen, Martin 

 Swart, John Lee, and Schinder- 

 hutte ; Fairbairn and Dawson, 

 two young Scots traders who es- 

 tablished a store at Bulawayo ; 

 and George Westbeeck, who traded 

 hi the Barotse regions. Two mission 

 stations were established among 

 the Matabele, previous to the con- 

 quest by Britain, near Bulawayo, 

 but the main stream of mis- 

 sionary effort followed hi the wake 

 of Livingstone. 



In 1872 Lobengula's kraal was 

 visited by F. C. Selous, who sub- 

 sequently travelled through the 

 country and was of the greatest 

 assistance to Cecil Rhodes. On 

 Feb. 11, 1888, a treaty was made 

 with Lobengula by Rhodes's agent 

 J. S. Moffat, and subsequently on 

 Oct. 30, 1888, another treaty was 

 signed by the Matabele chief and by 

 C. D. Rudd, Rochfort Maguire, and 

 F. R. Thompson. Under the com- 

 mand of Col. Pennefather and the 

 leadership of F. C. Selous, the 

 pioneer expedition of about 500 



