A History of Rhodesia

by Robert Blake

Overview

First published in 1977, A History of Rhodesia is a history of the origins and course of modern European occupation of ‘Southern Rhodesia’, ‘Rhodesia’ as it has been termed since the old ‘Northern Rhodesia’ became independent under the name Zambia in 1963. Robert Blake describes the years of the Monomotapa; the Portuguese occupation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the Ndebele kingdom of the nineteenth century; the advent of Cecil Rhodes and the establishment of the Chartered Company which ruled Rhodesia until 1922; the period Southern Rhodesia enjoyed a self-governing colony from 1923 to 1951; the years of the Central African Federation from 1953 to its dissolution in 1963; and finally the dramatic course of events which led to Ian Smith’s government making a unilateral declaration of independence in 1965. The years since UDI are covered by a long epilogue that takes the story forward to the early months of 1977.

Rhodesian history is a strange and intriguing compound of romance, idealism, courage, arrogance, avarice and accident. Rhodesia’s story is not only that of economic, political, ideological and external forces which have shaped it—it is also that of the individuals who made—or failed to make decisions: Rhodes, Lobengula, Jameson, Lord Malvern, Roy Welensky, Garfield Todd, Joshua Nkomo, Ian Smith.

Written with access to many collections of papers not normally available to historians, Robert Blake’s book is a major contribution to the history of colonial and post-colonial Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032955599
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/01/2024
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	458
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert Blake was an English historian. He was the author of the definitive biography of Disraeli. Educated at King Edward VI School, Norwich and Magdelan College, Oxford, where he took a First in Modern Greats, he served in the Royal Artillery during the war, became a prisoner of war in Italy from 1942–4, and escaped. He was Senior Proctor, 1959–60 and a Conservative member of the Oxford City Council, 1957–65.

Table of Contents

Introduction  Part One: The Chartered Company  1. The Land and the early conquerors  2. The Ndebele kingdom 1700–1886  3. Cecil Rhodes 1853–89  4. The concession and the Charter 1888–89  5. The Pioneer column 1889–90  6. The Map is drawn 1890–91  7. Settlement and war 1890–93  8. Conquest  1893–95  9. Rebellion  1896–97  10. The aftermath 1897–1902  11. The rule of the Company 1902–18  Part Two: A Self-Governing Colony  12. Responsible government 1914–23  13. The new order 1923–31  14. The decline of the Rhodesian Party 1927–33  15. The Huggins era 1933–39  16. War and aftermath  1939–48  17. The origins of Federation  1945–51  18. Federation achieved 1951–53 Part Three: Federation and the White Backlash  19. Southern Rhodesian Society  1946–53  20. The heyday of Federation 1953–57  21. A turning point 1957  22. The fall of Todd 1957–58  23. The decline of the Federation 1956–60  24. The eclipse of Whitehead 1960–62  25. The Rhodesian Front 1962–63  26. The Fall of Field 1964  27. Smith 1964–65  28. UDI 1965  Epilogue 1965–77 Appendix: The Beit Trust 

Editorial Reviews

Review of the first publication:

‘It must be said at once that A History of Rhodesia is an excellent read…’

— Robin Palmer, The International Journal of African Historical Studies

From the Publisher