Etymology
- The name “Zimbabwe” stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city (Masvingo) in the country’s south-east whose remains is now a protected site.
- Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1898), Rhodesia (1965), and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979).
What does the name Zimbabwe mean?
The name Zimbabwe is derived from the Shona, dzimba dzemabwe, meaning houses of stone or stone buildings, today symbolized by the Great Zimbabwe Ruins near the present day town of Masvingo.
What was Zimbabwe name before?
Prior to its recognized independence as Zimbabwe in 1980, the nation had been known by several names: Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
Who named the Shona people?
Ken Mufuka in his book, Dzimbahwe, cites the example of the Arab traveller, Ibu Said, (1214-1286) who wrote about a certain people called Soyouna (Shona) inhabiting the whole land of Zambezia.
What does Shona mean in Zimbabwe?
Shona. / (ˈʃɒnə) / noun. plural -na or -nas a member of a Sotho people of S central Africa, living chiefly in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family.
Where did the Shona tribe came from?
Zimbabwe
The Shona people (/ˈʃoʊnə/) are part of the Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora including global celebrities such as Thandiwe Newton.
Was Great Zimbabwe built by Africans?
In 1905, however, the British archaeologist David Randall-MacIver concluded the ruins were medieval, and built by one or more of the local African Bantu peoples. His findings were confirmed by another British archaeologist, Gertrude Caton-Thompson, in 1929, and this remains the consensus today.
What are 5 interesting facts about Zimbabwe?
- Languages.
- Independence.
- Victoria Falls, the world’s largest waterfall.
- We have the world’s biggest man-made lake.
- King Solomon’s gold mines.
- Zimbabwe is a top producer of Tabaco.
- We love the Flame Lilly.
- Large Elephant population.
Who invented Shona?
The written form of the Shona language dates back to the 1830s when the missionaries visiting Zimbabwe decided to put the oral form of the language to written form. The initial aim was motivated by the need to translate the bible into local languages.
Who is the Shona God?
Mwari also known as Musikavanhu, Musiki, Tenzi and Ishe, is the Supreme Creator deity according to Shona traditional religion. It is believed that Mwari is the author of all things and all life and all is in him. The majority of this deity’s followers are concentrated in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
How old is Shona tribe?
The Shona are a people whose ancestors built great stone cities in southern Africa over a thousand years ago. Today, more than 10 million Shona people live around the world.
What language is closest to Shona?
Languages with partial intelligibility with Shona, of which the speakers are considered to be ethnically Shona, are the S15 Ndau language, spoken in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and the S13 Manyika language, spoken in eastern Zimbabwe, near Mutare specifically Chipinge.
Is Shona similar to Japanese?
However, in comparison, Japanese sounds more similar to Shona than Chinese. Korean is also very similar to Japanese and thus sounds more Shona than Chinese, but not as much as Japanese.
Which tribe came first in Zimbabwe?
Archaeological records date human settlement of present-day Zimbabwe to at least 500,000 years ago. The earliest known inhabitants were probably San people, who left behind arrowheads and cave paintings. The first Bantu-speaking farmers arrived during the Bantu expansion around 2,000 years ago.
Venda people share ancestry with Lobedu people and Kalanga people. They are also related to Sotho-Tswana peoples Sotho-Tswana and Shona groups. All these tribes were under the Venda kingdom.
Is Shona Irish or Scottish?
This name has Irish, Gaelic, and Hebrew origins and is the female form of John, so it could be a sweet way to honor a family name, or just a cute name in its own right.
Was there slavery in Great Zimbabwe?
Timbuktu became a great center of learning as well as of commerce. But her downfall, like Great Zimbabwe’s, involved slavery. When Europe began buying slaves, Africans set up huge trading enterprises on the West African coast and Timbuktu’s economy weakened. Moroccan invaders took it over in 1591.
Who first Colonised Zimbabwe?
During the 1880s and 1890s, the British South Africa Company initiated colonisation by Whites, backed by a royal charter from Queen Victoria: company rule over the country began in 1890, when the Pioneer Column marched to Mashonaland, founded Fort Salisbury and settled in the area.
Why did the whites come to Zimbabwe?
Present-day Zimbabwe (known as Southern Rhodesia from 1895) was occupied by the British South Africa Company from the 1890s onward, following the subjugation of the Matabele, (Ndebele), and Shona nations. Early white settlers came in search of mineral resources, hoping to find a second gold-rich Witwatersrand.
Why is Zimbabwe so rich?
As other southern African countries, Zimbabwean soil is rich in raw materials, namely platinum, coal, iron ore, and gold. Recently, diamonds have also been found in considerable deposits. Copper, chromite and nickel deposits also exist, though in lesser amounts.
What made Zimbabwe so poor?
Zimbabwe’s economic development continues to be hampered by price and exchange rate instability, the misallocation of productive resources, low investment, and limited structural transformation.