Zimbabwe

The **Republic of Zimbabwe** is a country in the southern part of the continent of Africa. Its capital city is Harare.

## Geography

Zimbabwe is surrounded by other countries, and so it has no coast on the sea. This type of country is called _landlocked_. The countries that surround Zimbabwe are Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.

Zimbabwe is home to the famous waterfall, Victoria Falls, which is located on the Zambezi River and also the Great Zimbabwe, the ancient architectural monument from which the country was named after.

### Vegetation (Fauna and Flora)

The country is mostly savanna. In the east it is moist and mountainous with tropical evergreen and hardwood forests. Trees include teak and mahogany, knobthorn, msasa and baobab. Among the many flowers and shrubs are hibiscus, spider lily, leonotus, cassia, tree wisteria and Dombeya.

There are around 350 species of mammals in Zimbabwe. There are also many snakes and lizards, over 500 bird species, and 131 fish species.

## History

The area that is now Zimbabwe was added to the British Empire around 1890. Zimbabwe is also known by its old name of **Rhodesia. **In 1965, it became an independent country when Prime Minister Ian Smith announced the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (U.D.I). The government was mostly controlled by the white population, similar to South Africa at the time. African citizens were given full equality in 1980, and the country's name was officially changed to Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe led the country as the Prime Minister and President for 37 years. Though Mugabe was elected fairly at first, he became a dictator, and had put in place a number of cruel and disastrous laws. On November 21, 2017, Mugabe resigned as President of Zimbabwe.

## Language

The country Zimbabwe has a mixture of languages; Shona, Ndebele, Venda, Manyika, Nyanja, Chagani, and a unique-unified Zimbabwean English.

## Economy

Zimbabwe uses the currencies of several other countries. The government uses the United States dollar. The economy is currently in a bad situation. Foreign currency reserves are at very low levels, and the Zimbabwean Dollar has become very devalued. Just recently, three zeroes were taken off the Zimbabwean dollar (for example, $1,000,000 (one million dollars) would become $1000 (one thousand dollars)). Many observers link this to Mugabe's controversial Land Reform programme.
- Agriculture: Most people in Zimbabwe work in the field of agriculture: cattle, poultry, pigs, vegetables, millet, sorghum, maize, rice, cassava, tea, coffee, groundnuts, cotton, wheat, sugar cane, timber.
- Mining: Copper, silver, tin, coal, nickel, cobalt, gold, iron ore, asbestos, chrome.
- Manufacturing: Iron, steel, food processing, textiles, brewing, wood, furniture, tobacco.
- Other: Tourism centering on the Victoria Falls and the game parks.

## 2017 coup d'état

On November 15, 2017, President Robert Mugabe was placed under house arrest as Zimbabwe's military took control in a coup. On November 25, 2017, Mugabe resigned  from the Presidency terms.

## Provinces

Zimbabwe is divided into 8 provinces and 2 cities that are the same as a province.

|Province|Capital|Population|Total area km²|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Bulawayo|Bulawayo|1,200,337|900|
|Harare|Harare|2,123,132|872|
|Manicaland|Mutare|1,752,698|36,459|
|Mashonaland Central|Bindura|1,152,520|28,347|
|Mashonaland East|Marondera|1,344,955|12,444|
|Mashonaland West|Chinhoyi|1,501,656|57,441|
|Masvingo|Masvingo city|1,485,090|56,566|
|Matabeleland North|Lupane|749,017|75,025|
|Matabeleland South|Gwanda|683,893|54,172|
|Midlands|Gweru|1,614,941|49,166|

## Cities

The largest cities are:
|colspan="8" align="center" bgcolor="#FFA500"|**Cities in Zimbabwe**|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Rank**|**City**|**Population**|**Province**|**Image**||||
|**Census 1982**|**Census 1992**|**Census 2002**|**Est. 2007**|||||
|1.|Harare|656,011|1,189,103|1,444,534|1,607,022|Harare||
|2.|Bulawayo|413,814|621,742|676,787|713,340|Bulawayo||
|3.|Chitungwiza|172,556|274,912|321,782|352,204|Harare||
|4.|Mutare|69,621|131,367|170,106|193,629|Manicaland||
|5.|Gweru|78,918|128,037|141,260|148,935|Midlands||
|6.|Kwekwe|47,607|75,425|93,072|103,210|Midlands||
|7.|Kadoma|44,613|67,750|76,173|81,008|Mashonaland West||
|8.|Masvingo|30,523|51,743|69,993|80,630|Masvingo||
|9.|Chinhoyi|24,322|43,054|56,794|65,109|Mashonaland West||
|10.|Marondera|19,971|39,384|52,283|60,291|Mashonaland East||

## Sports

Football is the most popular sport in Zimbabwe. Rugby union and cricket are also popular. Zimbabwe has won eight Olympic medals.

Zimbabwe has also done well in the Commonwealth Games and All-Africa Games. Kirsty Coventry won 11 gold medals in swimming.
Zimbabwe has also been at Wimbledon and the Davis Cup in tennis.  Zimbabwe has also done well in golf. Other sports played in Zimbabwe are basketball, volleyball, netball, and water polo, as well as squash, motorsport, martial arts, chess, cycling, polocrosse, kayaking and horse racing. Most of these sports don't have international representatives but instead stay at a junior or national level.

## Related pages

- List of rivers of Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe at the Olympics
- Zimbabwe national football team

## Infobox (country)

- **conventional long name**: Republic of Zimbabwe
- **common name**: Zimbabwe
- **image flag**: Flag of Zimbabwe.svg
- **image coat**: Coat of Arms of Zimbabwe.svg
- **image map**: Zimbabwe (orthographic projection).svg
- **national motto**: "Unity, Freedom, Work."
- **national anthem**:

_National Anthem of Zimbabwe, Kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe_

- **ethnic groups year**: 2003
- **demonym**: Zimbabwean
- **capital**: Harare
- **latd**: 17
- **latm**: 50
- **latns**: S
- **longd**: 31
- **longm**: 3
- **longew**: E
- **largest city**: Harare
- **government type**: Semi-presidential republic
- **leader title1**: List of Presidents of Zimbabwe, President
- **leader name1**: Emmerson Mnangagwa
- **leader title2**: Vice President of Zimbabwe, 1st Vice-President
- **leader name2**: Constantino Chiwenga
- **leader title3**: Vice President of Zimbabwe, 2nd Vice-President
- **legislature**: Parliament of Zimbabwe, Parliament
- **upper house**: Senate of Zimbabwe, Senate
- **lower house**: House of Assembly of Zimbabwe, House of Assembly
- **sovereignty type**: Independence
- **established event1**: Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia), Declared
- **established date1**: 11 November 1965
- **established event2**: Recognised
- **established date2**: 18 April 1980
- **established event3**: Constitution of Zimbabwe
- **established date3**: 15 May 2013
- **area rank**: 60th
- **area km2**: 386,850
- **area sq mi**: 149,364
- **percent water**: 1.02
- **population estimate**: 16,750,327
- **population estimate rank**: 72nd
- **population estimate year**: 2016
- **population census year**: 2012
- **population density km2**: 26
- **population density sq mi**: 57
- **population density rank**: 170th
- **gdp ppp**: $7.731 billion
- **gdp ppp year**: 2013
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $589
- **gdp nominal**: $10.978 billion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2013
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $837
- **gini year**: 2009
- **gini**: 50.1
- **hdi**: 0.516
- **hdi year**: 2015
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi rank**: 154th
- **currency**: various<sup>a</sup>
- **time zone**: Central Africa Time
- **utc offset**: +2
- **drives on**: Left
- **calling code**: +263
- **cctld**: .zw
- **footnote a**: The Zimbabwean dollar is no longer in active use after it was officially suspended by the government due to Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, hyperinflation. The United States dollar (US$), South African rand (R), Botswana pula (P), Pound sterling (£) and Euro (€) are now used instead.<big></big> The United States dollar has been adopted as the official currency for all government transactions.