50 free Zimbabwe trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Zimbabwe trivia quiz runs from the stone city that gave the country its name to the coup that ended Robert Mugabe's rule: the Shona kingdoms of Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa, Mzilikazi and Lobengula, Cecil Rhodes and the Pioneer Column, Ian Smith's UDI, the Lancaster House Agreement, Gukurahundi, land reform, the 100-trillion-dollar note and the 2017 handover to Emmerson Mnangagwa. It also covers what visitors and fans know Zimbabwe for — Victoria Falls, Hwange and Cecil the lion, the Matobo Hills and the balancing rocks, sadza and the mbira, Doris Lessing and NoViolet Bulawayo, Nick Price's majors, Test cricket and swimmer-turned-IOC-president Kirsty Coventry. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe?
Harare
It was founded in 1890 by Rhodes's Pioneer Column as a fort named after the British prime minister, and renamed in 1982.
Q 02Zimbabwe's capital was known by what name until 1982?
Salisbury
The Pioneer Column named the fort for Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, when it arrived in Shona territory in 1890.
Q 03The name Zimbabwe is usually said to derive from a Shona phrase meaning what?
Houses of stone
Dzimba-dza-mabwe refers to the medieval stone city near Masvingo; a rival reading gives 'venerated houses'.
Q 04The states that culminated in Great Zimbabwe grew rich exchanging gold, ivory and copper with merchants from where?
Arab traders on the Indian Ocean coast
Trade began around the early 10th century and first built up Mapungubwe in the Limpopo valley; the goods coming back were cloth and glass.
Q 05Great Zimbabwe's massive walls are famous for being built how?
Of dry stone, without mortar
The Great Enclosure was built in the 13th and 14th centuries and probably served as a royal residence; the site is UNESCO-listed.
Q 06The soapstone carving that appears on Zimbabwe's flag and coat of arms depicts what?
A bird
Eight such birds once stood on the walls and monoliths of Great Zimbabwe; the emblem was also used by Rhodesia on its currency.
Q 07Which Shona empire, called Monomotapa by the Portuguese, ruled much of Zimbabwe from c.1450?
Mutapa
Portuguese attempts to monopolise its gold trade left it near collapse; the Rozvi ('destroyers') then drove the Portuguese off the plateau in 1683.
Q 08Which Zulu general rebelled against Shaka around 1821 and founded the Ndebele kingdom in Matabeleland?
Mzilikazi
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.
Q 09From which Ndebele king did Cecil Rhodes obtain the 1888 mining concession used to justify colonisation?
Lobengula
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.
Q 10Which US-born scout assassinated the Ndebele religious leader Mlimo in 1896?
Frederick Russell Burnham
He later inspired Baden-Powell's scouting movement; the Shona risings of the same years are remembered as the first great war of resistance.
Q 11In which year did Southern Rhodesia become a self-governing British colony?
1923
A 1922 referendum had rejected joining South Africa; the 1930 Land Apportionment Act then reserved the best land for whites.
Q 12Which prime minister issued Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965?
Ian Smith
He was defying Britain's policy of 'no independence before majority rule'; the date, 11 November, was chosen to coincide with Armistice Day.
Q 13The 1979 agreement that ended Rhodesia's guerrilla war was signed at which London venue?
Lancaster House
Lord Carrington chaired 47 plenary sessions between September and December 1979; Britain briefly resumed colonial rule under Governor Christopher Soames.
Q 21Which opposition leader became prime minister in 2009 under a power-sharing deal with Mugabe?
Morgan Tsvangirai
He had pulled out of the 2008 run-off citing violence; Mugabe later let slip that the opposition had actually won 73% in 2008.
Q 22Which vice-president's sacking triggered the November 2017 coup that ended Mugabe's rule?
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Nicknamed 'the Crocodile' after his guerrilla unit, he was installed as president within days and won disputed elections in 2018 and 2023.
Q 23Where did Robert Mugabe die in September 2019, aged 95?
Singapore
He had made regular trips there for medical treatment; his 37 years in power ended with a coup in 2017.
Q 14In what year did Zimbabwe gain internationally recognised independence?
1980
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'.
Q 15What was Gukurahundi?
A 1980s massacre campaign in Matabeleland
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.
Q 16Which country trained Zimbabwe's notorious Fifth Brigade?
North Korea
Estimates of the dead range from 3,750 to 80,000; the campaign ended with a unity accord that created ZANU–PF.
Q 17Robert Mugabe switched from prime minister to executive president in which year?
1987
He abolished both the ceremonial presidency and the premiership; the same year his party merged with Nkomo's ZAPU.
Q 18What did the government launch in 2000 that led to the eviction of more than 4,000 white farmers?
Fast Track Land Reform
Wheat output fell from 250,000 to 60,000 tonnes and Zimbabwe became a net food importer; coffee growing never recovered.
Q 19At hyperinflation's peak in November 2008, monthly inflation reached roughly what?
79.6 billion percent
A 100-trillion-dollar note could not buy a bus fare; the government stopped publishing statistics and later let people use foreign currencies instead.
Q 20What was the face value of the largest banknote issued during Zimbabwe's hyperinflation?
100 trillion dollars
The notes are now collectors' items; the economy rebounded only after a multi-currency system was adopted in 2009.
Q 24How many official languages does Zimbabwe recognise?
16
English and the two main African languages are the most widely used, but only two are embraced nationally.
Q 25Zimbabwe lies between which two great rivers?
Zambezi and Limpopo
The northern one carries Victoria Falls and fills Lake Kariba, the world's largest reservoir; the southern one forms the border with South Africa.
Q 26What is Zimbabwe's highest point, at 2,592 metres in the Eastern Highlands?
Mount Nyangani
The Eastern Highlands are cool and wet, unlike the searing Zambezi valley; Mount Binga is just over the border in Mozambique.
Q 27What is Zimbabwe's largest national park, home to the lion Cecil?
Hwange
Formerly Wankie Game Reserve, it lies in Matabeleland North and holds one of Africa's biggest elephant populations.
Q 28Cecil the lion, killed in 2015 in an outcry that went global, was shot with what by an American dentist?
A bow and arrow
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.
Q 29Cecil Rhodes is buried at 'World's View' in which range of granite hills in Matabeleland?
Matobo
Leander Starr Jameson lies nearby; the hills' San rock art helped make them a national park and UNESCO site.
Q 30What geological curiosity, pictured on Zimbabwe's banknotes, is most spectacular in Matabeleland's granite hills?
Balancing rocks
The 'Banknote Rocks' stand at Epworth, 14 km from the capital.