Company rule in Rhodesia The British South Africa Company ' s administration of what became Rhodesia was chartered in 1889 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom , and began with the Pioneer Column ' s march north - east to Mashonaland in 1890 . Empowered by its charter to acquire , govern and develop the area north of the Transvaal in southern Africa , the Company , headed by Cecil Rhodes , raised its own armed forces and carved out a huge bloc of territory through treaties , concessions and occasional military action , most prominently overcoming the Matabele army in the First and Second Matabele War s of the 1890s . By the turn of the century , Rhodes ' Company held a vast , land - locked country , bisected by the Zambezi river . It officially named this land Rhodesia in 1895 , and ran it until the early 1920s . The area south of the Zambezi became Southern Rhodesia , while that to the north became North - Western and North - Eastern Rhodesia , which were joined in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia . Each territory was administered separately , with an administrator heading each territorial legislature . In Southern Rhodesia , which attracted the most white immigrants and developed fastest , a Legislative Council was established in 1898 . This comprised a blend of Company - nominated officials and elected members , with the numbers of each fluctuating over time . Partially motivated by Rhodes ' dream of a Cape to Cairo Railway , railway and telegraph lines were laid across previously barren Rhodesia with great speed , linking South Africa to the Belgian Congo ' s southern Katanga province by 1910 . The British South Africa Police , responsible for law enforcement in Southern Rhodesia , was established in 1896 . A number of police forces north of the river amalgamated to form the Northern Rhodesia Police in 1911 . Northern and Southern Rhodesians fought alongside the British in the Second Boer War and the First World War ; about 40 % of Southern Rhodesian white men fought in the latter , mostly on the Western Front in Europe . Black soldiers served in East Africa with the Rhodesia Native Regiment . As the number of elected members in the Legislative Council rose , power in Southern Rhodesia gradually transferred from complete Company rule to effective self - government by the growing number of white settlers . In a 1922 referendum , Southern Rhodesians chose responsible government within the British Empire over incorporation into the Union of South Africa . The Company ' s charter was duly revoked by Whitehall in 1923 , and Southern Rhodesia became a self - governing colony of Britain in October that year . Northern Rhodesia became a directly - run British protectorate in April 1924 . Origins . Cecil Rhodes ' dream . Amidst the Scramble for Africa during the 1880s , the South African - based businessman and politician Cecil Rhodes envisioned the annexation to the British Empire of a bloc of territory connecting the Cape of Good Hope and Cairo — respectively at the southern and northern tips of Africa — and the concurrent construction of a line of rail linking the two . On geopolitical maps , British territories were generally marked in red or pink , so this concept became known as the " Cape to Cairo red line " . In the immediate vicinity of the Cape , this ambition was challenged by the presence of independent states to the north - east of Britain ' s Cape Colony : there were several Boer Republics , and to the north of these was the Kingdom of Matabeleland , ruled by King Lobengula . Having secured the Rudd Concession on mining rights from Lobengula in October 1888 , Rhodes and his British South Africa Company were granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in October 1889 . The Company was empowered under this charter to trade with local rulers , form banks , own and manage land , and raise and run a police force . In return for these rights , the Company would govern and develop any territory it acquired , while respecting laws enacted by extant African rulers , and upholding free trade within its borders . North to the Zambezi ; territorial rivalry with Portugal . The projected Company sphere was initially Matabeleland and its immediate neighbours between the Limpopo River and the Zambezi . Portugal ' s colonies in Angola and Mozambique , coastal territories respectively to the west and east of this general area , were over three centuries old , and Lisbon ' s alliance with Britain formally dated back to the 1386 Treaty of Windsor . However , the exceedingly lethargic pace of local Portuguese colonisation and development was such that even in the 1880s , Portugal ' s dominions in Mozambique comprised only a few scattered ports , harbours and plantations , all of which were administered from the island of Mozambique , just north of the Mozambique Channel . Angola differed little , with gigantic tracts of hinterland coming under the largely nominal purview of Portugal ' s modest colony on the coast . Rhodes regarded Portugal ' s scanty development of its African possessions with derision , and quietly planned to annex some of Mozambique into the Company domain so he could establish a major port at the mouth of the Pungwe River . He thought this might make an ideal sea outlet for his proposed settlement in Mashonaland , the area directly to Matabeleland ' s north - east where Lobengula held dominion over many Mashona chiefs . Rhodes believed that the Portuguese claim to Mozambique was tenuous enough that he could win much of it without provoking major ire : " the occupation of the Portuguese even along the coast line is in most places merely a paper one , " he privately wrote to Whitehall in late 1889 , " and if this has not been recognised by international agreement I think it might be left open . " But despite Rhodes ' convictions to the contrary , general consensus at the Berlin Conference of 1884 – 85 made Portugal ' s hold over the Mozambican coastline almost unshakeable , and the Portuguese were far from inactive there . They expanded quickly inland during the late 1880s , creating Manicaland in the eastern Mashona country . They also founded Beira , a port on Rhodes ' proposed Pungwe site , in 1890 . Portugal issued the so - called " Pink Map " around this time , laying claim to the very corridor of land between Angola and Mozambique that Rhodes so craved . The British government issued a firm ultimatum against the Portuguese claims in January 1890 , and Lisbon swiftly acquiesced , acceding to Whitehall ' s demand that the area be left open for the Company ' s drive north . Territorial expansion and consolidation . The Pioneer Column . The Pioneer Column , initially comprising about 100 volunteers referred to as " pioneers " , was raised by the Company during 1890 . Led by Major Frank Johnson , a 23 - year - old adventurer , the column was designed by the Company to be the instrument by which it would not only acquire Mashonaland , but also begin its development . Men from a wide variety of backgrounds therefore filled its ranks ; according to one member , " prospectors predominate , but nearly every trade and profession under the sun is represented . . . one troop is called the gentlemanly troop because the majority in it are brokers " . Most of the pioneers self - identified as South African rather than British , and many of them were Afrikaner s . At Rhodes ' insistence , several sons of the Cape Colony ' s leading families were also included . Each pioneer was promised of land and 15 mining claims in return for his service . Lobengula gave his approval to the ostensibly non - military expedition , but many of his " izinDuna " ( advisors ) were fiercely against it , seeing it as an appropriation of Matabele territory . Wary that one or more of these " izinDuna " might turn rogue and attack the pioneers , the Company gradually enlarged the escorting detachment of British South Africa Company ' s Police until it numbered 500 men , headed by Lieutenant - Colonel Edward Pennefather , an officer seconded from the British Army . To Johnson ' s chagrin , the Imperial officer was also given ultimate command of the column . The column was to move roughly east from Macloutsie , a small camp near the border of Matabeleland and Bechuanaland , and then march north to its destination . It would build a road as it went , found minor forts along the way , and finally establish a major town in Mashonaland . The pioneers would thereupon be released to start farming , prospecting and trading in the vicinity . Frederick Courteney Selous , a famed hunter with intimate knowledge of Mashonaland , was made the column ' s " intelligence officer " . He chose as its intended destination an open patch of veld he had discovered during his travels , which he called Mount Hampden . The proposed site was about to the north - east of Macloutsie . The column departed on 28 June 1890 , and on 11 July crossed the Tuli River into Matabeleland . Its first settlement , Fort Tuli , was inaugurated near the riverbank . Though Johnson was nominally in command of the pioneers , he was generally seen as untried and green when contrasted with the experienced , respected authority of Selous . According to most contemporary accounts , Selous was effectively in control . The officers were outwardly harmonious , but Johnson was privately troubled by pangs of jealousy . The column was initially accompanied by about 200 Ngwato provided by the Tswana chief Khama , who had firmly aligned his country with Britain . The Ngwato provided much assistance in building the new road , but animosity soon developed between them and the whites , principally because the latter were not used to treating blacks as equals . By mutual consent , the Ngwato returned home . As the column continued its march north , Selous split off with a small section and headed east to challenge the Portuguese in Manicaland . Pennefather and Johnson continued at the head of the main force and founded Fort Victoria , Fort Charter , and , on 12 September , Fort Salisbury . The site of Salisbury was a naturally flat and marshy meadow , bounded by a rough kopje ; the pioneers were about short of Mount Hampden , but Pennefather climbed the kopje , surveyed the open veld and insisted that it was " magnificent " , so they need go no further . He reported back to Rhodes in triumphant tones : " Site selected . . . All well . Magnificent country . Natives pleased to see us " . On the morning of 13 September 1890 , about 10 : 00 , the officers and men of the Pioneer Column paraded atop the kopje before an improvised flagstaff . With the column standing to attention , Lieutenant Edward Tyndale - Biscoe hoisted the Union Jack , a 21 - gun salute was fired , and three cheers were given for the Queen . Work then began on the fort , which was completed by the end of September . The Pioneer Column was then disbanded . Eastern skirmishes with Portugal . Instructed by Rhodes to hurry east , Selous met with the Manica chief , Mtassa , on 14 September 1890 , and agreed with him a concession whereby Mtassa promised not to ally with any other foreign power , and granted the Company exclusive rights to mine within his territory , as well as to build railways , bridges , canals and other projects typical of colonial settlement . In return , the Company gave Mtassa rifles and other equipment ( worth £100 in total ) , and a promise of protection against attacks by the Portuguese or the neighbouring Shangaan tribe . The Portuguese were livid , and despatched a small force to militarily overwhelm Mtassa and reclaim the area in early November 1890 . Captain Patrick Forbes rode to Mtassa ' s aid from Salisbury , quickly routed the Portuguese , and thereupon advanced all the way to Beira , securing further concessions from local chiefs along the way to build a railroad . Tense negotiations between Britain and Portugal followed , finally concluding with the Anglo - Portuguese Treaty of 1891 signed in Lisbon on 11 June 1891 : prominent among the numerous territorial revisions was the integration of Manicaland into the Company domain as part of Mashonaland . Britain concurrently recognised Portugal ' s authority over the entire Mozambican coast , putting an end to Rhodes ' designs for a Company port on the Mozambique Channel . North of the Zambezi ; failure in Katanga . Meanwhile , representatives of the Company crossed the Zambezi to venture even further north . The Shire Highlands of Nyasaland , far to the north - east on the banks of Lake Nyasa , had been settled by a modest number of British missionaries for about a decade , and in Barotseland , to the north - west , King Lewanika hosted François Coillard of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society . Rhodes sent Elliot Lochner north to negotiate with Lewanika in late 1889 , and in June 1890 the king signed the Lochner Concession , which gave the Company rights to mine , trade and build railways in Barotseland in return for British protection over his domain from external threats , and a British resident in Lewandika ' s court at Lealui . The British government thereupon chartered the Company to defend Barotseland , as well as all country to the east as far as Nyasaland , and to the north as far as Lake Tanganyika and Katanga . A country where resources were scarce and tropical disease was rampant , Barotseland offered comparatively few economic opportunities for the Company , and almost no incentive for white immigration . The main objective of Lochner ' s expedition was all along to clear a path towards Katanga , a mineral - rich area of central Africa even further to the north , in which Msiri ruled the Yeke Kingdom . Katanga was also coveted by the owner of the Congo Free State , King Leopold II of the Belgians , whose representatives Rhodes hoped to beat there . " I want you to get Msiri ' s , " Rhodes told one of his agents , Joseph Thomson ; " I mean Katanga . . . . You must go and get Katanga . " The efforts of Thomson and Alfred Sharpe to secure a Company concession over the area were furiously rebuffed by Msiri in late 1890 , and ultimately foiled by the 1891 – 92 Stairs Expedition — a multinational force in Leopold ' s service , led by a Canadian - born British Army officer , Captain William Grant Stairs — which violently clashed with the obstreperous Msiri , and eventually shot him dead when an attempt to arrest him turned into a firefight . Msiri had been in the habit of displaying the heads of his enemies atop poles outside his " boma " ( enclosure ) , and the expedition ' s men hoisted his own head alongside them in an attempt to strike fear into the locals . The country promptly capitulated to the Free State , ending the Company ' s expansion north . The Company did little to fulfil Britain ' s obligations to Lewandika ; having failed in Katanga , its hierarchy saw Barotseland as an unworkable inconvenience that might later be exchanged with Portugal . Whitehall took a radically different stance , regarding Lewandika ' s domain as an important buffer against potential claims further inland by the Portuguese . Neither the Company nor the British government proved eager to take practical responsibility for the Barotse ; in 1894 , while informing Britain of his willingness to administer on Whitehall ' s behalf north of the Zambezi , Rhodes stressed that he would not take Barotseland . So unclear was the kingdom ' s status that in 1896 the High Commissioner for Southern Africa , Lord Rosmead , asked rhetorically as to whose purview it actually came under . The promised British resident at Lealui remained conspicuously absent , despite Lewandika ' s repeated enquiries , until the appointment by Rhodes of Robert Thorne Coryndon in 1897 . The Matabele Wars ; the First " Chimurenga " . Though the Company made good on most of the pledges it had made to local leaders in Matabeleland , the assent of Lobengula and other less prominent figures , particularly regarding mining rights , was often evaded , misrepresented or even simply ignored . Company officials also demanded that Lobengula cease the habitual raids on Mashona villages by Matabele " impi s " ( regiments ) . Enraged by what he perceived as slights against his authority , Lobengula made war on Mashonaland in 1893 . Matabele warriors began the wholesale slaughter of Mashonas near Fort Victoria in July that year , and a Company - organised " indaba " ( tribal conference ) failed to end the conflict , which became the First Matabele War . The Company moved on Lobengula during October and early November 1893 , and used the inexorable firepower of its Maxim machine gun s to crush attacks by the far larger Matabele army as it rode south - west . As the whites approached his royal town at Bulawayo , Lobengula fled , torching it as he went . Company troops were despatched to bring him back , and the resultant pursuit north ended with the ambush and annihilation of the 34 - man Shangani Patrol by the remnants of Lobengula ' s army on 4 December 1893 . The king died from smallpox while on his way north in January 1894 , and his " izinDuna " made peace with the Company soon after . Bulawayo was rebuilt as a white - run city atop the ruins of the former Matabele capital . Rhodes subsequently funded education for three of Lobengula ' s sons . The Matabele rose again in 1896 at the behest of Mlimo , a spiritualist leader who was revered as a god by much of the local populace . The botched Jameson Raid on the Transvaal at the end of 1895 had severely depleted the Company ' s garrison in Matabeleland , and the settlers in Bulawayo had little to defend themselves with . Mlimo convinced his followers that the white man was responsible for all their ills — hut tax , forced work , locusts , rinderpest , drought and so on — and that he and other tribal prophets could ensure the success of a massed rebellion by turning the settlers ' bullets into water . This uprising , called the Second Matabele War or the First " Chimurenga " ( liberation war ) , began in March 1896 . Over the following three months the Matabele killed hundreds of isolated settlers and their families , but Bulawayo itself held out . When the Company mustered reinforcements from South Africa , the Matabele retreated into the Matopos Hills ; here Frederick Russell Burnham , an American scout long in Company service , discovered and killed Mlimo in June 1896 . Starting in August 1896 , Rhodes personally played a key role in ending the Matabele insurgency . With one of the widows of Mzilikazi ( Lobengula ' s father ) acting as a go - between , the Company and the rebel " izinDuna " arranged an " indaba " for 21 August : the " izinDuna " agreed to meet Rhodes and three companions in the Matopos Hills . At this meeting , the insurgents vehemently protested against their prior treatment under Company rule , prompting Rhodes to walk away from the other whites and to sit among the Matabele instead , apparently intending to symbolically demonstrate empathy and a spirit of reconciliation . He told the Matabele that he was on their side , and that he would personally ensure the non - recurrence of any abuses . The " izinDuna " would be fully restored to the status they had held under Lobengula , he said , and there would be no retribution against those who had taken part in the " Chimurenga " . After four hours , it was agreed to continue the talks . Bitterness endured among some of the rebels , but three further " indabas " progressed well , and the Matabele rising ended amicably in October 1896 . Around the same time , Mashona " svikiro " ( spiritualist prophets ) , most prominently Mukwati , Kaguvi and Nehanda Nyakasikana , instigated their own " Chimurenga " in Mashonaland . The Company forcibly put down this uprising during 1897 , and afterwards took significant steps to demilitarise the tribal population and improve relations with the local chiefs . Small pockets of Mashona unrest continued sporadically until 1903 , but peace endured in Matabeleland . Including both theatres , the " Chimurenga " has been estimated to have taken around 8 , 450 lives ; roughly 8 , 000 blacks died , and about 450 whites , of whom 372 were locally - based settlers . The rest were soldiers in Company or British service from outside Rhodesia . Administration . The name " Rhodesia " . The Company initially referred to each territory it acquired by its respective name — Mashonaland , Matabeleland and so on — but many of the first settlers instead called their new home " Rhodesia " , after Rhodes . In 1892 , the " Rhodesia Chronicle " and " Rhodesia Herald " newspapers were first published , respectively at Tuli and Salisbury . The Company officially applied the name Rhodesia in 1895 . Administrative divisions and centres . Matabeleland and Mashonaland , both of which lay south of the Zambezi , were first officially referred to collectively by Britain as " Southern Rhodesia " in 1898 , and were formally united under that name in 1901 . Meanwhile , the areas to the river ' s north became North - Western and North - Eastern Rhodesia , which were governed separately , and amalgamated in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia . The overall centre of Company administration was Salisbury , which was also the Southern Rhodesian capital . The administrative centre in North - Eastern Rhodesia was Fort Jameson , while in North - Western Rhodesia the capital was Kalomo initially , and Livingstone from 1907 . Livingstone became the capital of Northern Rhodesia when the two northern territories joined in 1911 , and remained so at the end of Company rule . Administrative posts , politics and legislature . The head of government in each territory under Company rule was in effect a regional administrator appointed by the Company . In Southern Rhodesia , a ten - man Legislative Council first sat in 1899 , originally made up of the administrator himself , five other members nominated by the Company , and four elected by registered voters . The number of elected members rose gradually under Company rule until they numbered 13 in 1920 , sitting alongside the administrator and six other Company officials in the 20 - member Legislative Council . The Company ' s Royal Charter was originally due to run out in October 1914 , but it was renewed for a further ten years in 1915 . In Northern Rhodesia , administration was entirely undertaken by the Company until 1917 , when an Advisory Council was introduced , comprising five elected members . This council did little to lighten the Company ' s administrative burden north of the river , but endured until the end of Company rule . Development . Railways and the telegraph . Chief among the endeavours pursued by the Company during its early years were the construction of railroads and telegraph wires across the territory it governed . These respective arteries of transport and communication , vital both for the successful development of the new country and for the realisation of Rhodes ' Cape to Cairo dream , were laid across the previously bare Rhodesian landscape with great speed . Strategically planned , the railways were not intended or expected to turn a profit during their early years ; their construction was largely subsidised by the Company . The telegraph line from Mafeking in South Africa reached Salisbury — one third of the way from Cape to Cairo — in February 1892 . Just under six years later , in December 1897 , the Bechuanaland railway from Vryburg reached Bulawayo , making it possible to travel between the Cape and Rhodesia by train . A narrow gauge railway towards Salisbury from the Mozambican port of Beira was begun by the Portuguese in 1892 , and reached the Rhodesian border at Umtali after six years . Umtali and Salisbury were linked in 1899 , on a different track gauge ; the gauges between Beira and Salisbury were regularised the following year . The Second Boer War then restricted the further extension of the line from Vryburg , but the completion of the Beira – Salisbury railway allowed the importation of materials . Salisbury was connected to Bulawayo and the Cape in 1902 . The Vryburg – Bulawayo railway was meanwhile extended up to the Zambezi , and across when the Victoria Falls Bridge opened in 1905 . Continuing through North - Western Rhodesia , the railway reached Élisabethville in Katanga — by this time part of the Belgian Congo — in 1910 . Agriculture and land distribution : the rise of Rhodesian tobacco . The Company originally hoped that gold prospecting between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers would reveal mineral deposits comparable to those of the South African Rand , and indeed acquired its charter in part because its founders convinced Whitehall that a " second Rand " would be found and exploited in what would become Southern Rhodesia , thereby providing more than enough capital to develop the territory without help from London . Though much gold was discovered during the 1890s , these grand expectations were not met . The Company resolved after about a decade that it could not financially sustain its domain through gold mining alone , and therefore shifted its priority to the development of white agriculture . To maximise the potential of new , white - run farms , the Company launched a wide - scale land settlement programme for white settlers . As part of this drive it reorganised the geographical distribution of native reserve areas , moving the reserves and often reducing them in size where the land was of particularly high quality . To ensure that the white farmers would retain the reliable access to markets that the nascent railway network provided , tribal reserve boundaries in various relevant places were redrawn by the Company to place the railway lines outside . The new hut taxes concurrently compelled black peasants to find paid work , which could be found in the new agricultural industry , though most tribesmen were reluctant to abandon their traditional lifestyles in favour of the capitalist labour market . Managers at farms and mines often had great trouble sourcing sufficient manpower . Tobacco , initially just one of several crops earmarked for wholesale production , soon emerged as Southern Rhodesia ' s most prominent agricultural product , though its early development was far from stable : aside from the climactic uncertainties of the unfamiliar country and the mercurial quality of the product , the early industry was cursed by a debilitating boom and bust cycle that continued well into the 1920s . All the same , tobacco endured as the territory ' s staple crop , while the growers came to dominate Southern Rhodesian politics , holding a majority in the Legislative Council from 1911 . Holding considerable political and economic power up to the end of Company rule in 1923 , the Southern Rhodesian tobacco industry retained its prominent position for decades afterwards . Immigration and economic performance . White immigration to the Company realm was initially modest , but intensified during the 1900s and early 1910s , particularly south of the Zambezi . The economic slump in the Cape following the Second Boer War motivated many South African whites to move to Southern Rhodesia , and from about 1907 the Company ' s land settlement programme encouraged more immigrants to stay for good . The Southern Rhodesian mining and farming industries advanced considerably during this period ; Southern Rhodesia ' s annual gold output grew in worth from £610 , 389 in 1901 to £2 , 526 , 007 in 1908 . The territory first balanced revenue and expenditure in 1912 . There were 12 , 586 whites in Southern Rhodesia in 1904 , and 23 , 606 in 1911 ; in 1927 , four years after the end of Company rule , the black and white populations in Southern Rhodesia were respectively 922 , 000 and 38 , 200 . The white population north of the river was far smaller , with only about 3 , 000 settlers spread across the of Northern Rhodesia . In the same area there were roughly a million black people . Northern Rhodesian whites were primarily concentrated in the far west , along the railway line between Bulawayo and Élisabethville in the Belgian Congo . A community of about 250 lived in the vicinity of Fort Jameson near the eastern border . In between were vast swathes of largely uninhabited bush , which lacked roads , railways and telegraph lines , making communication between the two white communities very difficult . The amalgamation of North - Western and North - Eastern Rhodesia in 1911 did little to improve the situation . Northern Rhodesia suffered as the result of its artificial nature — the country was not homogeneous in terms of population , history or geography — and unlike Southern Rhodesia , it never turned a profit or became self - supporting . During 1921 alone , the Company ' s administration of Northern Rhodesia lost it more than £1 . 25 million . Military and police . Evolution of the Southern Rhodesian police . In line with the terms of its royal charter , the Company formed the British South Africa Company ' s Police ( BSACP ) in late 1889 . A paramilitary , mounted infantry force , the BSACP initially boasted 650 men , but it proved so expensive to maintain that it was reduced to only 40 in 1892 . This rump force was renamed the Mashonaland Mounted Police . With its size regularly fluctuating , it and other more irregular units — prominently the Bulawayo Field Force , including figures such as Selous and Burnham as commanders — proceeded to play a central role in the two Matabele Wars of the 1890s . In 1895 , the Matabeleland Mounted Police was formed with 150 members ; this and the Mashonaland force were then collectively referred to as the Rhodesia Mounted Police . This was run directly by the Company until 1896 , when it was reorganised into an independent entity called the British South Africa Police ( BSAP ) . The word " Rhodesia " was omitted at the insistence of the British Secretary of State for the Colonies , Joseph Chamberlain , because Britain did not yet formally consider that the country ' s name , despite the Company ' s official adoption of it the year before . This constitutional anomaly was resolved by the Southern Rhodesia Order In Council adopted by the UK government in 1898 , but the BSAP name was retained . Police forces in Southern Rhodesia were initially all - white , but this changed over time : the Native Police Force , first raised in May 1895 , was made up entirely of Matabele non - commissioned officers and men , many of whom were veterans of Lobengula ' s " impis " . Its 200 members , of whom 50 were posted to Mashonaland , were trained in the Western manner , drilling and learning marksmanship . They were held in high regard by their white officers for their formidable soldiering ability , but they became hugely unpopular among the black civilian population for their perceived arrogance and abuse of the law they were supposed to uphold . At the 1896 " indaba " with Rhodes in the Matopos Hills , the Matabele chief Somabhulana complained at length about the native police , saying they did not respect the traditional tribal structure and generally oppressed the populace , reportedly raping young women on a regular basis . The parties duly agreed to abolish the native police in Matabeleland , and Rhodes promised not to reintroduce it . On its reconstitution in 1896 , the BSAP was authorised to recruit 600 officers and men in Matabeleland — all of whom were white because of Rhodes ' promise at the " indaba " — and 680 in Mashonaland , of whom 100 should be black . In practice , the " Native Contingent " in Mashonaland numbered 120 . The BSAP thereafter operated alongside the Southern Rhodesian Constabulary ( SRC ) , a town police force covering Salisbury , Bulawayo , Fort Victoria , Gwelo and Umtali . The constabulary was far smaller than the BSAP — in 1898 it included only 156 officers and men , black and white — and it was run by local magistrates , as opposed to the paramilitary BSAP , which had a military - style structure . The commissioned ranks in the BSAP were entirely white , but the number of black constables in its ranks gradually rose , with many being recruited abroad . This kind of recruitment was not uncommon in colonial Africa , as many white officials of the day believed that blacks who policed their own communities were easily corruptible , and often not inclined to properly ensure the payment of colonial institutions such as hut tax . In Southern Rhodesia , many constables came from Barotseland , Zululand and Zanzibar . Locally sourced black policemen were officially reintroduced to Matabeleland in 1904 ; that year the force nominally contained 550 whites and 500 blacks . The SRC was merged into the BSAP in 1909 , putting law enforcement in Southern Rhodesia into the hands of a single authority for the first time . Following the end of Company rule in 1923 , the BSAP endured as Southern Rhodesia ' s police force . Policing north of the Zambezi . North - Eastern Rhodesia was initially policed by locally - recruited rank - and - filers , led by white officers from south of the river ; the first force was raised in 1896 . During its early years it busied itself eliminating the slave trade , in which Arab traders captured local villagers for sale as slaves overseas . This objective was achieved by forcibly expelling all Arabs from the region . A more regular police force was then introduced by the Company in each of the northern territories . Because there were so few white immigrants to North - Eastern Rhodesia — and because most of them were men of the church or of business rather than potential recruits — the North - Eastern Rhodesia Constabulary was almost exclusively black , including all of its non - commissioned officers . North - Western Rhodesia attracted more white immigrants than its north - eastern counterpart , and its police force initially comprised an all - white detachment of Company police seconded from Southern Rhodesia . The unit proved expensive to maintain , however , and many of its constables fell victim to the unfamiliar tropical diseases of Barotseland . Local black constables were introduced in 1900 after the Company unsuccessfully attempted to recruit more whites . In 1902 , the Barotse Native Police was formed , with Bemba , Ngoni and Ila recruits making up most of the ranks . A much higher proportion of white officers and non - commissioned officers was present in North - Western Rhodesia than in the north - east . Minor forces of white policemen were formed in both territories ' towns . After North - Western and North - Eastern Rhodesia merged into Northern Rhodesia in 1911 , the police forces were amalgamated as the Northern Rhodesia Police ( NRP ) . Like the BSAP , the NRP was effectively a paramilitary rather than civil organisation , with its armed constables receiving martial training under military command . Because they were not trained in the civil manner considered normal in a more developed country , most of them were illiterate . The main purpose of the force during the early 1910s was not to police Northern Rhodesia ' s towns , but rather to prevent and combat potential uprisings . The constables were also considered suitable for use as soldiers in the bush . It was not a large force ; just before the outbreak of the World War I in 1914 , it had only 800 personnel . Rhodesian military involvement abroad . Second Boer War ( 1899 – 1902 ) . The BSAP served in the Second Boer War of 1899 – 1902 in its paramilitary capacity , with the newly formed Rhodesia Regiment also taking part , drawing most of its men from the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers . Rhodesia contributed approximately 1 , 000 men in all , about 20 % of the white male population at the time . The Rhodesia Regiment was disbanded in 1900 , shortly after the relief of Mafeking . World War I ( 1914 – 18 ) . With its fledgling white population largely characterised by youth , hardiness and Imperial patriotism , Southern Rhodesia proved a bountiful source of volunteers during the First World War , in which about 40 % of Southern Rhodesian white males of service age fought . The majority of Southern Rhodesian personnel served with British , South African and other regiments on the Western Front ( in Belgium and France ) . The Company raised exclusively Rhodesian units for African service . Following the start of the war in August 1914 , the Rhodesia Regiment was reformed in October , initially comprising 20 officers and 500 men , mostly Southern Rhodesians . This force , which became called the 1st Rhodesia Regiment , was sent to the Cape to fight alongside the South Africans in South - West Africa . The 2nd Rhodesia Regiment , raised a month later , was sent to the East African Front . Following the end of the South - West African Campaign in 1915 , the 1st Rhodesia Regiment was dissolved ; most of its men travelled to England to volunteer for the Western Front , while others joined the 2nd in East Africa . Boasting an effective strength of about 800 for the rest of its tour of duty , the 2nd Rhodesia Regiment returned home in April 1917 , and disbanded in October . Influenced by South Africa ' s reluctance to use black soldiers in what was widely considered a " white man ' s war " , Southern Rhodesia did not recruit blacks in large numbers until 1916 , when the number of potential white volunteers not already in uniform became too small to merit further drafts . The Rhodesia Native Regiment ( RNR ) was formed in that year to join the 2nd Rhodesia Regiment in East Africa , and included 2 , 507 men by 1918 . Organisers expected that most black volunteers would come from the Matabele people , famous for its martial tradition , and therefore originally named the unit the " Matabele Regiment " ; however , when the ranks proved to be ethnically diverse , the name was changed . Led by white officers , the black soldiers served with distinction in East Africa , soon becoming regarded as formidable bush fighters . Pitted against the German " Generalmajor " Paul von Lettow - Vorbeck — who was mounting a successful guerrilla campaign against the far larger Allied forces — they remained in East Africa for the rest of the war , returning home only in December 1918 , soon after von Lettow - Vorbeck surrendered at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia on 25 November . The RNR was thereupon dissolved . End of Company rule . 1922 Southern Rhodesian government referendum . In 1917 , the Responsible Government Association ( RGA ) was formed under the leadership of a Bulawayo - based lawyer , Sir Charles Coghlan . The new party sought self - government for Southern Rhodesia within the Empire , just as Britain had previously granted " responsible government " to its colonies in Australia , Canada , New Zealand and South Africa as a precursor to full Dominion status . It opposed the proposed integration of Southern Rhodesia into the Union of South Africa , which had been formed in 1910 by the South Africa Act 1909 , Section 150 of which explicitly provisioned for the accession of territories governed by the British South Africa Company . The Company originally stood against Southern Rhodesia ' s addition , fearing the territory might become dominated by Boers from the Transvaal , but abruptly changed its stance when , in 1918 , the Privy Council in London ruled that the Company did not own any unalienated land , and , therefore , could no longer sell it . The loss of this source of income hampered the Company ' s ability to pay dividend s to its shareholders , and caused its development of the Rhodesias to slow . The Company now backed Southern Rhodesia ' s incorporation into South Africa , hoping its membership in the union could help solve both problems . However , this prospect proved largely unpopular in Southern Rhodesia , where most of the settlers wanted self - government rather than rule from Pretoria , and came to vote for the RGA in large numbers . In the 1920 Legislative Council election , the RGA won ten of the 13 seats contested . A referendum on the colony ' s future was held on 27 October 1922 — at the suggestion of Winston Churchill , then Britain ' s Colonial Secretary , continuing the initiative of his preprocessor Viscount Milner — and responsible government won the day . Just under 60 % of voters backed responsible government from a turnout of 18 , 810 ; Marandellas was the only district to favour the union option , doing so by 443 votes to 433 . Self - government vs . direct rule . Southern Rhodesia was duly annexed by the Empire on 12 September 1923 , and granted full self - government on 1 October the same year . The new Southern Rhodesian government immediately purchased the land from the British Treasury for £2 million , and paid the same sum to the British South Africa Company for the country ' s mineral rights . The future administration of Northern Rhodesia , a proposition of little economic viability without its southern counterpart , was a burden the Company now endeavoured to rid itself of . Negotiations between the Company and the British government produced a settlement whereby the territory would become a protectorate under Whitehall , with government transferred to the Colonial Office in London , which would henceforth appoint a local governor . The Company would concurrently keep the country ' s mineral rights , extensive tracts of freehold property , and half the proceeds from future sales of land in what had been North - Western Rhodesia . Northern Rhodesia duly became an Imperial protectorate on 1 April 1924 , with Sir Herbert Stanley installed as the inaugural governor . British South Africa Company rule in Rhodesia was thereby ended .