Map - Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)
Flag of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 15 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most common. Beginning in the 9th century, during its late Iron Age, the Bantu people (who would become the ethnic Shona) built the city-state of Great Zimbabwe; the city-state became one of the major African trade centres by the 11th century, controlling the gold, ivory and copper trades with the Swahili coast, which were connected to Arab and Indian states. By the mid 15th century, the city-state had been abandoned. From there, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, followed by the Rozvi and Mutapa empires.

The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes demarcated the Rhodesia region in 1890 when they conquered Mashonaland and later in 1893 Matabeleland after a fierce resistance by Matabele people known as the First Matabele War. Company rule ended in 1923 with the establishment of Southern Rhodesia as a self-governing British colony. In 1965, the white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its government under Robert Mugabe and from which it withdrew in December 2003.

Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU–PF party won the general election following the end of white minority rule; he was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his resignation in 2017. Under Mugabe's authoritarian regime, the state security apparatus dominated the country and was responsible for widespread human rights violations. From 2000 to 2009 the economy experienced decline and hyperinflation before rebounding after the use of currencies other than the Zimbabwean dollar was permitted, although growth has since faltered. On 15 November 2017, in the wake of over a year of protests against his government as well as Zimbabwe's rapidly declining economy, Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the country's national army in a coup d'état, and Mugabe resigned six days later. Emmerson Mnangagwa has since served as Zimbabwe's president.

Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

The name "Zimbabwe" stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city (Masvingo) in the country's south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that "Zimbabwe" derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as "houses of stones" (dzimba = plural of imba, "house"; mabwe = plural of ibwe, "stone"). The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the modern-day Masvingo province. Archaeologist Peter Garlake claims that "Zimbabwe" represents a contracted form of dzimba-hwe, which means "venerated houses" in the Zezuru dialect of Shona and usually references chiefs' houses or graves.

Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1898), Rhodesia (1965), and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). The first recorded use of "Zimbabwe" as a term of national reference dates from 1960 as a coinage by the black nationalist Michael Mawema, whose Zimbabwe National Party became the first to officially use the name in 1961. The term "Rhodesia"—derived from the surname of Cecil Rhodes, the primary instigator of British colonisation of the territory during the late 19th century—was perceived by African nationalists as inappropriate because of its colonial origin and connotations.

According to Mawema, black nationalists held a meeting in 1960 to choose an alternative name for the country, proposing names such as "Matshobana" and "Monomotapa" before his suggestion, "Zimbabwe", prevailed. A further alternative, put forward by nationalists in Matabeleland, had been "Matopos", referring to the Matopos Hills to the south of Bulawayo.

It was initially unclear how the chosen term was to be used—a letter written by Mawema in 1961 refers to "Zimbabweland" — but "Zimbabwe" was sufficiently established by 1962 to become the generally preferred term of the black nationalist movement. In a 2001 interview, black nationalist Eddison Zvobgo recalled that Mawema mentioned the name during a political rally, "and it caught hold, and that was that". The black nationalist factions subsequently used the name during the Second Chimurenga campaigns against the Rhodesian government during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964–1979. Major factions in this camp included the Zimbabwe African National Union (led by Robert Mugabe from 1975), and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (led by Joshua Nkomo from its founding in the early 1960s).

 
Currency / Language 
ISO Currency Symbol Significant figures
ZWL Zimbabwean dollar 2
ISO Language
SN Shona language
Neighbourhood - Country  
Map - Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)
Map
Google Earth - Map - Zimbabwe
Google Earth
Openstreetmap - Map - Zimbabwe
Openstreetmap
Map - ZimbabweZimbabwe_relief_location_map.jpg
Zimbabwe_relief_loca...
1100x998
freemapviewer.org
Map - Zimbabwe1014px-Zimbabwe_regions_map.svg.jpg
1014px-Zimbabwe_regi...
1014x825
freemapviewer.org
Map - Zimbabweimage.jpg
image.jpg
1398x1740
freemapviewer.org
Map - ZimbabweSatellite_image_of_Zimbabwe_in_December_2002.jpg
Satellite_image_of_Z...
3490x3086
freemapviewer.org
Map - ZimbabweZimbabwe_Topography.jpg
Zimbabwe_Topography....
1326x1159
freemapviewer.org
large_detailed_road_...
3000x2507
www.vidiani.com
detailed_political_a...
2260x2956
www.vidiani.com
zimbabwe_physio-2002...
2000x2467
www.lib.utexas.edu
Zimbabwe-rotate.jpg
2056x1552
nextadventure.com
ZimbabweMap1.png
2000x1556
images1.wikia.nocook...
Zimbabwe_location_ma...
1566x1455
upload.wikimedia.org
Gr_Zimbabwe_map.png
1305x1659
upload.wikimedia.org
zimbabwe.jpg
1453x1402
www.footiemap.com
political-map-of-Zim...
1412x1216
www.ezilon.com
Zimbabwe-physical-ma...
1412x1206
www.ezilon.com
Zimbabwe-road-map.gi...
1412x1195
www.ezilon.com
detailed_topographic...
1326x1159
www.vidiani.com
Zimbabwe_Topography....
1326x1159
upload.wikimedia.org
Zimbabwe_regions_map...
1098x1348
upload.wikimedia.org
4326310-political-ma...
1200x1200
us.123rf.com
3053304-map-shaped-f...
1200x1200
us.123rf.com
7386280-zimbabwe-map...
1200x1200
us.123rf.com
African-Map-highligh...
1200x1200
victoriafalls24.com
zim-map-large.jpg
1000x1313
www.victoriafalls-gu...
detailed_political_a...
1025x1255
www.vidiani.com