When is Zimbabwe Rhodesia shown on the map?

The border data draws Zimbabwe Rhodesia 1979–1982. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was Zimbabwe Rhodesia?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Zimbabwe Rhodesia covered about 395,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Africa · Independence and the modern states

Zimbabwe Rhodesia

drawn on the map 1979–1982

Zimbabwe Rhodesia was a short-lived, internationally unrecognised state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980 — the final, failed attempt to resolve the Rhodesian conflict without the exiled liberation movements. Its capital was Salisbury, its population about 6.7 million, and its currency the Rhodesian dollar.

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Shown on the map: 1979–1982
Peak area: 395k km²
Region: Africa

Overview

History

The state grew out of the "Internal Settlement" signed on 3 March 1978 between Ian Smith's Rhodesian government and three moderate African nationalist leaders — Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and Chief Jeremiah Chirau — while the government continued to fight the Rhodesian Bush War against the Patriotic Front alliance of Robert Mugabe's ZANU and Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU, which rejected the deal. The settlement created an interim biracial executive council and promised elections, a new constitution and an end to the civil war and international sanctions.

In the April 1979 election — the first with a black-elected majority — Muzorewa's United African National Council won the common-roll seats and he became prime minister on 1 June 1979, with Josiah Zion Gumede as ceremonial president. The 100-member House of Assembly reserved 28 seats for the old (effectively white) voter roll, and the civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces remained in white hands; Smith himself sat in cabinet as minister without portfolio. The state's very name was a compromise: black nationalists had championed "Zimbabwe" ("houses of stone") since 1960, while whites clung to "Rhodesia"; critics mocked the hybrid as "Rhobabwe."

Decline and legacy

The gamble failed. No country recognised the new state; the Commonwealth dismissed its constitution as no more legal than the UDI constitution it replaced, UN Security Council Resolution 448 condemned the election as "null and void," and US President Jimmy Carter kept sanctions in place, judging the vote neither fair nor free. The war raged on, and at the Commonwealth summit in Lusaka in August 1979 Britain brokered a new constitutional conference at Lancaster House. The Lancaster House Agreement of 21 December 1979 ended the war: on 11–12 December 1979 Zimbabwe Rhodesia voted itself back into British rule as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia under Governor Lord Soames, sanctions were lifted, and fresh elections followed. ZANU's landslide victory in February 1980 led to internationally recognised independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980 — a lifespan of barely ten months for one of Africa's most curious non-states.

Common questions

What was Zimbabwe Rhodesia?: Zimbabwe Rhodesia was a short-lived, internationally unrecognised state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980 — the final, failed attempt to resolve the Rhodesian conflict without the exiled liberation movements. Its capital was Salisbury, its population about 6.7 million, and its currency the Rhodesian dollar.
When is Zimbabwe Rhodesia shown on the map?: The border data draws Zimbabwe Rhodesia 1979–1982. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was Zimbabwe Rhodesia?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Zimbabwe Rhodesia covered about 395,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled Zimbabwe Rhodesia?: The state grew out of the "Internal Settlement" signed on 3 March 1978 between Ian Smith's Rhodesian government and three moderate African nationalist leaders — Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and Chief Jeremiah Chirau — while the government continued to fight the Rhodesian Bush War against the Patriotic Front alliance of Robert Mugabe's ZANU and Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU, which rejected the deal.
How did Zimbabwe Rhodesia end?: The gamble failed. No country recognised the new state; the Commonwealth dismissed its constitution as no more legal than the UDI constitution it replaced, UN Security Council Resolution 448 condemned the election as "null and void," and US President Jimmy Carter kept sanctions in place, judging the vote neither fair nor free.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia — Zimbabwe Rhodesia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_Rhodesia

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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