Until after the Second World War, the landlocked British possession of Southern Rhodesia was not developed as an indigenous African territory, but rather as a unique state that reflected its multiracial character.[5] This situation certainly made it very different from other lands that existed under colonial rule, as many Europeans had arrived to make permanent homes, populating the towns as traders or settling to farm the most productive soils.[6][7] In 1922, faced with the decision to join the Union of South Africa as a fifth province or accept nearly full internal autonomy, the electorate cast its vote against South African integration.[8][9][10]
In early April 1966, two groups of ZANLA insurgents recently trained at a Chinese military facility in Nanjing crossed into Rhodesia from Zambia, having been issued vague instructions to sabotage important installations and kill white farmers.[44] Five were arrested by the Rhodesian security forces almost immediately.[44] Another seven initially evaded capture and planned to destroy an electric pylon near Sinoia.[44] Their explosive charges failed to detonate and were discovered by the security forces, who tracked the insurgents to a nearby ranch on April 28.[44] All seven were cornered and killed after a brief firefight; this event is considered to be the first engagement of the Rhodesian Bush War.[85][86] The action at Sinoia has been commemorated by supporters of the guerrillas since as "Chimurenga Day", and occupies a place of pride in ZANU hagiography.[84]
LS 11 Pro Farm Crack.rar
By December 1972, ZANLA had cached arms and established a vast underground network of informants and supporters in northeastern Rhodesia.[84] As a result of the erosion of Portuguese authority in Mozambique's border provinces due to the Mozambican War of Independence, ZANLA was also able to establish external sanctuaries there.[84] It was also in the process of cultivating a military alliance with the leading black nationalist movement in Mozambique, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO).[84] On December 21, a group of ZANLA insurgents under Rex Nhongo crossed into Rhodesia from Mozambique and raided an isolated commercial farm.[71] In the successive months, this attack was followed by a succession of raids on white farmers throughout the northeastern districts of the country and resulted in several casualties among the security forces.[71] The propaganda value of these raids, coupled with the success of ZANLA's politicisation campaign, denied intelligence to the security forces and furnished more recruits for the insurgents.[71] In response, the Rhodesian security forces began coordinating operations in Mozambique with the Portuguese army to intercept ZANLA insurgents before they could cross the border.[87]
However, after a meeting with Robert Mugabe and the central committee of ZANU (PF), Ian Smith was reassured that whites could and should stay in the new Zimbabwe. Mugabe promised that he would abide strictly by the terms of the Lancaster House Agreement and that changes in Zimbabwe would be made gradually and by a proper legal process. In a CBS news interview, Mugabe claimed that Rhodesian whites "...are still in control of the economy, the majority being commercial farmers."[120] Mugabe, however, would reverse his commitment to these agreements some years later; the regime began confiscating white-owned farmlands. This is widely blamed for leading to the deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy, which plagues the country today.[121]
Economically, Southern Rhodesia developed an economy that was narrowly based on the production of a few primary products, notably, chromium and tobacco. It was therefore vulnerable to the economic cycle. The deep recession of the 1930s gave way to a post-war boom. This boom prompted the immigration of about 200,000 whites between 1945 and 1970, taking the white population up to 307,000. A large number of these immigrants were of British working-class origin, with others coming from the Belgian Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and later Angola and Mozambique. They established a relatively balanced economy, transforming what was once a primary producer dependent on backwoods farming into an industrial giant which spawned a strong manufacturing sector, iron and steel industries, and modern mining ventures. These economic successes owed little to foreign aid apart from the immigration of skilled labour. 2ff7e9595c
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