50 Fun Facts About Zimbabwe

What is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe?

It was founded in 1890 by Rhodes's Pioneer Column as a fort named after the British prime minister, and renamed in 1982.

Zimbabwe's capital was known by what name until 1982?

The Pioneer Column named the fort for Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, when it arrived in Shona territory in 1890.

The name Zimbabwe is usually said to derive from a Shona phrase meaning what?

Dzimba-dza-mabwe refers to the medieval stone city near Masvingo; a rival reading gives 'venerated houses'.

The states that culminated in Great Zimbabwe grew rich exchanging gold, ivory and copper with merchants from where?

Trade began around the early 10th century and first built up Mapungubwe in the Limpopo valley; the goods coming back were cloth and glass.

Great Zimbabwe's massive walls are famous for being built how?

The Great Enclosure was built in the 13th and 14th centuries and probably served as a royal residence; the site is UNESCO-listed.

The soapstone carving that appears on Zimbabwe's flag and coat of arms depicts what?

Eight such birds once stood on the walls and monoliths of Great Zimbabwe; the emblem was also used by Rhodesia on its currency.

Which Shona empire, called Monomotapa by the Portuguese, ruled much of Zimbabwe from c.1450?

Portuguese attempts to monopolise its gold trade left it near collapse; the Rozvi ('destroyers') then drove the Portuguese off the plateau in 1683.

Which Zulu general rebelled against Shaka around 1821 and founded the Ndebele kingdom in Matabeleland?

His people conquered the Rozvi and set up a royal capital in the south-west; his son succeeded him after a violent power struggle in 1868.

From which Ndebele king did Cecil Rhodes obtain the 1888 mining concession used to justify colonisation?

Rhodes waved the Rudd Concession to win a royal charter for his British South Africa Company; the Ndebele were defeated by Maxim guns in 1893.

Which US-born scout assassinated the Ndebele religious leader Mlimo in 1896?

He later inspired Baden-Powell's scouting movement; the Shona risings of the same years are remembered as the first great war of resistance.

In which year did Southern Rhodesia become a self-governing British colony?

A 1922 referendum had rejected joining South Africa; the 1930 Land Apportionment Act then reserved the best land for whites.

Which prime minister issued Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965?

He was defying Britain's policy of 'no independence before majority rule'; the date, 11 November, was chosen to coincide with Armistice Day.

The 1979 agreement that ended Rhodesia's guerrilla war was signed at which London venue?

Lord Carrington chaired 47 plenary sessions between September and December 1979; Britain briefly resumed colonial rule under Governor Christopher Soames.

In what year did Zimbabwe gain internationally recognised independence?

Robert Mugabe's ZANU won the election in a landslide and he became the first prime minister; Samora Machel told him he had inherited 'the jewel of Africa'.

What was Gukurahundi?

The Fifth Brigade, an elite unit answering directly to Mugabe, killed thousands accused of supporting 'dissidents'; the Shona word means the early rain that washes away the chaff.

Which country trained Zimbabwe's notorious Fifth Brigade?

Estimates of the dead range from 3,750 to 80,000; the campaign ended with a unity accord that created ZANU–PF.

Robert Mugabe switched from prime minister to executive president in which year?

He abolished both the ceremonial presidency and the premiership; the same year his party merged with Nkomo's ZAPU.

What did the government launch in 2000 that led to the eviction of more than 4,000 white farmers?

Wheat output fell from 250,000 to 60,000 tonnes and Zimbabwe became a net food importer; coffee growing never recovered.

At hyperinflation's peak in November 2008, monthly inflation reached roughly what?

A 100-trillion-dollar note could not buy a bus fare; the government stopped publishing statistics and later let people use foreign currencies instead.

What was the face value of the largest banknote issued during Zimbabwe's hyperinflation?

The notes are now collectors' items; the economy rebounded only after a multi-currency system was adopted in 2009.

Which opposition leader became prime minister in 2009 under a power-sharing deal with Mugabe?

He had pulled out of the 2008 run-off citing violence; Mugabe later let slip that the opposition had actually won 73% in 2008.

Which vice-president's sacking triggered the November 2017 coup that ended Mugabe's rule?

Nicknamed 'the Crocodile' after his guerrilla unit, he was installed as president within days and won disputed elections in 2018 and 2023.

Where did Robert Mugabe die in September 2019, aged 95?

He had made regular trips there for medical treatment; his 37 years in power ended with a coup in 2017.

How many official languages does Zimbabwe recognise?

English and the two main African languages are the most widely used, but only two are embraced nationally.

Zimbabwe lies between which two great rivers?

The northern one carries Victoria Falls and fills Lake Kariba, the world's largest reservoir; the southern one forms the border with South Africa.

What is Zimbabwe's highest point, at 2,592 metres in the Eastern Highlands?

The Eastern Highlands are cool and wet, unlike the searing Zambezi valley; Mount Binga is just over the border in Mozambique.

What is Zimbabwe's largest national park, home to the lion Cecil?

Formerly Wankie Game Reserve, it lies in Matabeleland North and holds one of Africa's biggest elephant populations.

Cecil the lion, killed in 2015 in an outcry that went global, was shot with what by an American dentist?

Walter Palmer wounded him with an arrow and finished him with a compound bow 10 to 12 hours later; he had a permit and was never charged.

Cecil Rhodes is buried at 'World's View' in which range of granite hills in Matabeleland?

Leander Starr Jameson lies nearby; the hills' San rock art helped make them a national park and UNESCO site.

What geological curiosity, pictured on Zimbabwe's banknotes, is most spectacular in Matabeleland's granite hills?

The 'Banknote Rocks' stand at Epworth, 14 km from the capital.

The Marange fields, discovered in 2006, are one of the world's largest sources of what?

They have been called the biggest find in over a century, producing an estimated 12 million carats in 2014; the country also has some of the largest platinum reserves.

What is sadza, the staple of Zimbabwean meals?

It is eaten with relishes, curdled milk or dried Tanganyika sardines called kapenta; the Ndebele call it isitshwala.

The mbira dzavadzimu, central to Shona ceremonies, is what kind of instrument?

The name means 'voice of the ancestors'; the tines are plucked with the thumbs and the board is often set in a calabash resonator.

Thomas Mapfumo created which political genre, named after the Shona word for the liberation struggle?

Oliver Mtukudzi and the Bhundu Boys are the other Zimbabwean acts best known abroad.

Which Nobel laureate grew up in Southern Rhodesia and set her first novel, 'The Grass Is Singing', there?

She left for London in 1949 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007; her Children of Violence sequence is also set in Rhodesia.

Which Zimbabwean writer's 1978 debut 'The House of Hunger' won the Guardian Fiction Prize?

'We Need New Names' and 'Glory', a satire of the 2017 coup by a younger Zimbabwean novelist, were both Booker-shortlisted.

Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, winner of seven Olympic medals, took up which post in June 2025?

She is the first woman and first African to lead the International Olympic Committee; her golds came in the 200m backstroke in 2004 and 2008.

Zimbabwe became a full member of the International Cricket Council, with Test status, in which year?

The team's most famous protest came at the 2003 World Cup, when Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands to mourn 'the death of democracy'.

Zimbabwean golfer Nick Price won three majors. Which was the odd one out among them?

He won the PGA Championship twice and the Open at Turnberry, and was ranked world number one in the mid-1990s.

Zimbabwe's second city, founded as the Ndebele royal capital around 1840, is which?

It remains the heart of Matabeleland; The Chronicle is printed there and The Herald in the capital.

Which two ethnic groups make up about 95% of Zimbabwe's population?

The country is over 80% Shona and has never had a non-Shona head of government.

Zimbabwe boasts Africa's highest rate of what, at around 90% in 2013?

Heavy investment in schools after independence is credited; the University of Zimbabwe dates from 1952.

Zimbabwe's Kariba, shared with Zambia, holds what world record?

Its filling in the late 1950s prompted Operation Noah to rescue thousands of stranded animals.

From 1953 to 1963 Southern Rhodesia dominated a federation with Northern Rhodesia and which territory?

African opposition, especially in Nyasaland (now Malawi), persuaded Britain to dissolve it; the two northern territories then got majority rule while the south did not.

Which country does NOT border Zimbabwe?

South Africa completes the set of four; the Zimbabwe-Zambia-Botswana-Namibia meeting point at Kazungula is a famous near-quadripoint.

In which year was Zimbabwe suspended from the Commonwealth over farm seizures and vote rigging?

The following year Zimbabwe quit the organisation altogether, though President Mnangagwa said in 2018 he would seek to rejoin.

What does Gukurahundi, the Shona name for the 1980s Matabeleland campaign, literally mean?

The killings were carried out by the Fifth Brigade after unrest over what Ndebele people saw as a Shona takeover.

Zimbabwe's national anthem, adopted in 1994 after a competition, replaced which song?

The winning entry, 'Raise the Flag of Zimbabwe', was written by Professor Solomon Mutswairo and composed by Fred Changundega.

According to the 2022 census, roughly what share of Zimbabweans are Shona?

The Ndebele, descended from 19th-century Zulu migrations, make up about 14%, and white Zimbabweans less than 1%.

What is released at Zimbabwe's Independence Day celebrations to symbolise peace?

Fighter jets fly over, the anthem is sung and the president lights the flame of independence at the Harare stadium.