Zimbabwe's Timeline From 1200AD -1980AD.

  Zimbabwe's Timeline From 1200AD -1980AD.

1200 AD - 1600AD:Raise and decline of the Monomotapa Great Empire ,which was associated with the Great Zimbabwe Monument,with gold ,mining and international trade. 

1830s:Ndebele people fleeing Zulu wars and Boer invasion in present-day South Africa move north and settle in what becomes known as Matebeleland.

1830-1890s:European hunters ,traders and missionary explore the region from the south.They include Cecil John Rhodes.

1889:Rhodes' British South Africa Company (BSA) gains a British mandate to colonise what becomes Southern Rhodesia.

1890:Pioneer Column of whites settlers arrives from south at the site of future capital Harare.

1893:Ndebele uprising /Umvukela against BSA rule is crushed.

1896-1897:First Chimurega/Umvukela(Shona-Ndebele) revolt against British South Africa Company's Administration of the territory.The First Chimurega is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence.Mlimu, the Matebele spiritual/religious leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confontation.

1896:In June 1896, Mashayamombe led the uprising of the Zezuru(Shona) people located to the south-west of the capital Salisbury.Mashayamombe worked with the local spiritual leader Kaguvi.The third phase of Chimurega was joined by the Hwata Dynasty of Mazoe.They succeded in driving away British settlers from their lands on 20 June 1896.Three months later, the British South Africa Police(BSAP) regrouped and established control over the Hwata people after their Mambo(King) surrendered together with his spirit medium,Nehanda Nyakasikana.Hwata  and Nehanda Nyakasikana were sentenced to death and excuted.

1897:Mlimo was eventually assassinated in his temple in Matobo Hills forcing people to lay down their arms.The First Chimurega thus ended in October 1897.Matebeleland and Mashonaland were unified under Company rule and their territory named Southern Rhodesia.

1912:Africa National Congress(ANC) formed with main objectives to seek equitable distribution of the land.

1922:BSA administration ends , the white minority opts for self-government.

1928:The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union formed to defend the rights of workers, but also became the voice of the African people generally ,ICU introduced singing of the pan-African anthem NkosiSikileleAfrika/IsheKomborera Afrika.

1930:Land Apportionment Act restricts blacks access to land , forcing  many into  wage  labour.

1935:The Southern-Africa Congress held the first conference.

1948:The General Strike - the first general strike organised by Africans of this country , and it spreads from Bulawayo all over the nation.

1951:The Land Husbanary Act - which consolidated the alienation of land from its rightful African owners, and subdivided it along racial lines

1953:Britain creates the Central African Federation , made up of Southern Rhodesia(Zimbabwe),Northern Rhodesian(Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi)

1954:The Southern Rhodesia African Trades Union - formed by Reuben Jamela,Joshua Nkomo,Jason Moyo and many others.

1959:The Church was involved in oppositions to drastic measure of the ruling class and  one of her voices was that of Bishop of Umtali(Mutare),Donald Raymond Lamont ,who said:"Can you in conscience blame the Africans,if,ekeing out a tenuous existence from the poor soil in an overcroweded Reserve, is swayed by subverse propaganda, when close beside him there lie hundreds of acres of fertile soil which he may not occupy ,not grace, because although it lies unused and unattended, it belongs to some  individual  or group of individuals, who perhaps do not even live in the country, but who hold the land in the hopes of profit from speculation?"

1960:Law and Maintenance Act -the drastic nature of this legilation led to protest even in Parliament.National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed.

1961:Massy rally held by NDP in Highfield in March.Zimbabwe African Peoples' Union (ZAPU) founded.

1962:ZAPU banned.

1963:Zimbabwe African National Patriotic Union(Patriotic Front)(ZANU PF) founded.Some ZIPRA military actions, mainly  of urban sabotage, were organised in Salisbury(Harare) and Bulawayo.Meikles Hotel was set on fire with more than thirteen cars burnt and many people injured.Federation breaks up when Zambia and Malawi gain independence.The Organisation of African Unity was formed.25th May declared a holiday -Africa Day.

1963-1964:The Rhodesian government started massive clampdown on political activity ,which resulted in  nearly all nationalists across the country arrested and incarcerated ,and nationalist movement was banned.

1964:Moffatt Hadebe led the foiled 'Ezidube Attack' near Kezi, during which all of his men captured or killed by Rhodesians.Clarion Call to War- with the Rhodesian Front Party keen on declaring independence from Britain ,ZANU, on its Congress held in Gweru, came with a plan of military resistance and the president of ZANU ,Ndabaningi Sithole,published a statement instructing African people to prepare for war.

1965:A group of lectures of Zambia and Rhodesia collaborated with ZAPU.The group was operating under Giovanni Arrighi and included John Reed, John Conradie and Ivan Dixon.They were bringing explosives through Chirundu Border and distibuting them to ZAPU youths.They were discovered and arrested.Conradie was sentenced to twelve years.The multi-racial  couple Patrick Matimba and his Dutch wife, Adrian van Hoorn, who, after being frustrate in their quest to stay as family by Rhodesian regime,retaliated by planting bombs in five different hotels in Salisbury.Smith unilaterally declares independence under white minority rule, sparking international and economic sanctions.

1966:ZANLA Chinhoyi Battle-the group of about 20 guerrilla fighters divided into three teams , infiltrated into country , with orders to cut power lines and attack white farmers.One of teams killed a white farmer and his wife.The teams attempted ,but without much success ,to blow up electricity pylons.One group consisting of 7 fighters ,camped outside Sinoia(Chinhoyi), was noticed, and betrayed by an undercover policeman.The police, supported by Royal Rhodesia Air Force (4 helicopters),shot them,after 12 hours of battle ,to the last.

1972:Joint Military Command -ZANU and ZAPU presented to the OAU comprehensive Unity Plan Document, but the differences forced parties to go separate ways.A new offensive -ZANU Chairman,Herbert Chitepo, talked about it while visiting Sweden.By the end of the year ,ZANLA began moving fighters and equipment into Rhodesia and established a transit camp at Chifombo(Zambia/Mozambique border) and started operations in three sectors.

1974:The Unity Accord -the Zimbabwean liberation parties signed it. N. Sithole signed for ZANU ,Bishop A. Muzorewa for Africa National Council, J. Nkomo for ZAPU ,and J. Chikerema for the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe(FROLIZI).They formed a new ANC and Bishop Muzorewa become president.

1975:Herbert Chitepo was assassinated in Lusaka ,Zambia.

1976:The Front States -a 'War Council' comprised of independent African states, nearest the liberation war frontline and overseeing the liberation struggle in southern Africa.The founders members were Tanzania and Zambia and the first Chair of the Frontline States was President Nyerere.

1977:Bishop Lamont was arrested ,and later exiled.

1978:Smith yields to for negotiated settlement.Elections for a transitional legislature were boycotted by the Patriotic Front made up of ZANU and ZAPU.A new government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia , led by Bishop Muzorewa , fails to gain international recognition.Liberation war continues.

1979:A new Zimbabwe-Rhodesia constitution was approved in a nearly Whites-only referendum.The first parliamentary elections were held.The United African National Congress, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, won 51 seats.The Zimbabwe African National Union, led by Ndabaningi Sithole won 12 seats.Bishop Abel Muzorewa was sworn the first black PM of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia,the name given to the country in the brief period before full independence.On May 31, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia proclaimed its independence following a British brokered cease-fire.

1979:The Lancaster House Agreement was signed in London.It ended biracial rule in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia following negotiations between representatives of the Patriotic Front (PF), consisting ZAPU and ZANU and the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government, represented by Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Ian Smith.Six days after the Lancaster House Agreement was signed Josiah Tongogara was killed in a car accident in Mozambique on 26 December 1979.

1980:The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was established by 9 countries with the Lusaka declaration (Angola,Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe). The main aim was to coordinating development projects in order to lessen economic dependence on apartheid South Africa.On August  17, 1992,it  was transformed into the Southern African Development Community(SADC).By 2008 it included 15 members.Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF party win first independence elections.Robert Mugabe is named prime minister  and includes ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo in his cabinet as minister of home affairs.Canaan Banana became first president of Zimbabwe.

18 April 1980:Zimbabwe declares its independence.Zimbabwe got full membership of United Nations.