WINDS OF CHANGE
AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE • FROM RHODESIA TO ZIMBABWE
1890-1980
On February 3, 1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan delivered a portentous speech to the Parliament of South Africa. Referring to the "wind of change" that was blowing over the continent, he announced the United Kingdom's intention to divest itself of its African colonies. In fact, this process was already underway, the Gold Coast colony having achieved independence as Ghana in 1957. Britain's other West African colonies were granted independence between 1960 and 1965. The colonies of British East Africa gained independence between 1961 and 1964. In British South Africa, however, the process was much more drawn out, lasting until 1980.The term British South Africa can be confusing. Originally it referred to the territories that came under the authority of the British South Africa Company in 1890, as distinct from those territories that came to constitute the Union of South Africa. In 1923, the Company ceded its governing authority to the British government, which established protectorates over Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and made Southetrn Rhodesia, which has a relatively large white population, a self-governing colony.In 1953, the three territories were united as the autonomous Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Economically the federation proved successful, but pressure from black nationalist groups for full independence resulted in its demise after ten years. Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland gained independence as Zambia and Malawi in 1964, but the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia balked at black majority rule, declaring independence unilaterally and maintaining it for sixteen years in the face of an insurgency by black nationalists. The Republic of Rhodesia, as it became, received no international recognition save from South Africa and Portugal. By the mid-1970s Rhodesian whites were coming to accept the inevitability of black majority rule. and this became a reality in 1980, with Rhodesia transformed into the Republic of Zimbabwe.
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The first flags of Rhodesia were of the standard British colonial pattern. During the period of the British South Africa Company's rule, the Union Jack was the proper flag of nationality. It was often flown together with the Company's flag, a Union Jack defaced with the BSAC badge. This also served as the flag of the Company's regional administrators. When The British government assumed direct control, Southern Rhodesia, as it then was called, received a British Blue Ensign with the shield of the colony's arms in the fly. Originally this was on a white circular background, which was later deleted. The original flag of the Governor of Southern Rhodesia was unusual in that there was no garland surrounding the shield of the arms. In 1952 it was replaced by a blue flag displaying a royal crown, first the Tudor Crown and then, as shown, St. Edward's Crown, the style preferred by Queen Elizabeth II. This flag was not used after Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965.
British South Africa Company • Regional Administrator's Flag 1890-1923 |
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Southern Rhodesia • Government Flag 1924-64 |
Southern Rhodesia • Government Flag 1964-68 |
Southern Rhodesia • Governor's Flag 1924-52 |
Southern Rhodesia • Governor's Flag 1952-65 |
FEDERATION OF RHODESIA AND NYASALAND |
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![]() Government Flag 1953-63 |
![]() Governor-General's Flag 1953-63 |
REPUBLIC OF RHODESIA • ZIMBABWE RHODESIA With the dissolution of the Federation in 1963, all three of its members were slated for full independence. This caused no particular problems in the protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, whose white European populations were small. They became independent as Zambia and Malawi in 1964. But the situation in the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia was quite different. In 1963 a tenth of the colony's population was white, mostly of British origin. These people rejected the British government's policy of "no independence before majority rule," arguing that the black population was unprepared to assume responsibility for Southern Rhodesia, which by African standards boasted an advanced economy. Both the British government and the majority of black Rhodesians rejected the white minority's preferred policy: a gradual, step-by-step transition to majority rule. Negitiations in pursuit of a compromise soon broke down, and the result was a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) by Rhodesia's white minority government on November 11, 1965. The Rhodesian government proclaimed its continuing loyalty to the Crown, hoping to achieve dominion status on a par with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but this was unacceptable to both Britain and the black majority. Further negotiations went nowhere and in 1970, Rhodesia declared itself to be a republic, severing its formal connection to the British Crown. Two years perviously, it had adopted a new flag: vertical stripes of green, white and green with the full national arms on the white stripe. The republican constitution provided for a president in the role of head of state, whose flag displayed the full arms on a light blue field. |
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![]() National Flag 1968-79 |
![]() Presidential Flag 1968-79 |
National Flag 1979 |
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REBUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE |
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National Flag Since 1980 |
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Presidential Flag 1981-86 |
Presidential Flag Since 1986 |
Flag of
ZANU-PF |