Zimbabwe: A timeline of an almost failed state

I. Stone Age; hunter-gatherer San (Twa) presence (20,000–15,000 BC) of modern homo sapiens.

II. Iron Age; Niger-Congo Bantu pastoral migrations (2000–1500 BC).

III. Ophir; alleged "place of gold" first mentioned in the open source Hebrew Bible (c. 500 BC).

IV. Nyasa (Tumbuka, Chewa/Nyanja, Sena group) Bantu people (arrived c. 4–5 AD); Matola/Ziwa phases leading to capital Ziwa in present-day Nyanga, eastern Zimbabwe. Gokomere/Zhilo phases leading to capital Schroda (900–1000 AD) near the Limpopo River catchment of present-day Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Ziwa ruins and Schroda ruins abandoned to the north.

V. Kingdom of Mapungubwe (1075–1220); present-day South Africa area, south of the Limpopo.

VI. Kingdom of Zimbabwe (1220–1450); established in capital Zimbabwe after Mapungubwe ruins abandoned north of the Limpopo.

VII. Kingdom of Mutapa (1430–1760); established in capital Zvongombe after Zimbabwe ruins abandoned to the north in search of salt. Breakaway Kingdom of Butwa/Bukalanga (1450 — c. 1683) established in capital Khami after Zimbabwe ruins abandoned to the south west.

VIII. Rozvi Empire (1660–1866); amalgamation at capital Danangombe after the disintegration of the Mutapa and after Khami ruins abandoned by the Butwa.

IX. Ndebele Empire/Kingdom of Mthwakazi (1823–1894); established in capital Bulawayo as a tributary amalgamation of the migrant, small, militarily powerful Nguni — AbeZansi and AbeNhla — and the Twa — AbaTwa/AbaThwa — the large, scrambled, militarily weak Kalanga-Shona-Rozvi people of the various Mambos (kings, hence "city of kings") after capital Danangombe ruins abandoned and renamed Dlodlo ruins. Bulawayo named after KwaBulawayo [ruins], the kraal capital back in Zululand, South Africa where the Ndebele came from.

X. British South Africa Company/BSAC rule of Rhodesia (1890–1923); established in capital Fort Salisbury in the province of the British Mashonaland Protectorate through the Pioneer Column (September 12, 1890) with a border line splitting off Mthwakazi which is renamed province of British Matabeleland Protectorate after [Old] Bulawayo ruins abandoned in the Matabele War/Umvukela (1893–1894; 1896–1897 [War of the Red Axe/Impi yehloka Elibomvu/Umvukela II]) and new colonial city of Bulawayo established 1894.

XI. Self-governing Colony of Southern Rhodesia (1923–1953); after amalgamation of Matabeleland and Mashonaland provinces and the whites-only referendum against Rhodesia joining the Union of South Africa. British-governed Colony of Northern Rhodesia (1924–1953) established further north after search of gold abandoned by BSAC and whites-only referendum against Northern Rhodesia joining Southern Rhodesia.

XII. Federation of [North and South] Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963); decolonisation avoidance amalgamation of the 3 colonies after the independence of several African countries. Fort Salisbury upgraded to federal capital city of Salisbury 1953. [Amalgamation also known as Central African Federation]

XIII. [Unrecognised] Unilateral Declaration of Independence/UDI(November 11, 1965) of the self-governing Colony of Southern Rhodesia; after de-federation and independence of Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Malawi (Nyasaland).

XIV. [Unrecognised] Republic of Rhodesia (March 3, 1970); after international dismissal of the UDI of the colony of Rhodesia.

XV. [Unrecognised] Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (June 1, 1979); led by first black prime minister as unilateral power sharing by whites to quell the Rhodesian Bush War/Zimbabwe War of Liberation (July 4, 1964 — December 12, 1979) by blacks after international dismissal of the republic of Rhodesia.

XVI. British-governed Colony of Southern Rhodesia (December 11, 1979); through the Lancaster House (UK) Agreement (December 21, 1979) as multi-lateral power sharing between fragmented blacks and weakened whites after international dismissal of the republic of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.

XVII. Zimbabwe (April 18, 1980); after first internationally recognised elections. Battle of Entumbane civil war (November 9–10, 1980; February 8–12, 1981) in Bulawayo township of Entumbane by fragmented blacks. Capital Salisbury renamed Harare (1982). Gukurahundi Genocide (January 3, 1983 — December 22, 1987) and subsequent Unity Accord government to avert split of blacks (December 22, 1987). Government of National Unity (February 13, 2009 — August 22, 2013) by leading political parties to avert failed state.

XVIII. Mthwakazi (Dependency chiefdom; February 17, 2018); after Nyamande Lobhengula II (born Peter Zwide kaLanga Khumalo), descendent of the House of Khumalo ‘installed' 3rd king of the Ndebele. [Mthwakazi monarchy not to be confused with various political parties using the name "Mthwakazi" pushing for a territorial split of Zimbabwe.]

Mthwakazi (Dependency chiefdom; September 28, 2018); after Lobhengula II (born Collins Bulelani Khumalo), rival descendant of the House of Khumalo secretly ‘installed' 3rd king of the Ndebele.

The name Matabeleland is often attributed to the whites' inability to pronounce "Ndebele land." In actual fact, during the height of Mfecane/The Crushing civil wars (1815–1840), the subdued Sotho/Tswana nicknamed the fleeing Zulu clan who would become the New Ndebele (Northern Ndebele/Zimbabwe Ndebele), "matebe telele," the [terrifying] men of long shields, to distinguish them from the 1550s Old Ndebele (Southern Ndebele/South Africa Ndebele) of an earlier Zulu clan migration. The whites in classic propaganda thus preferred "Matabele" over Mthwakazi to create Rhodesia. In 1974, the scrambling internationally sanctioned whites during the height of the bush and cold wars, to confuse the hapless blacks all of a sudden remembered Mthwakazi through Bulawayo pop radio station Radio Mthwakazi (1974–1980) which was considered to be divisive Ndebele language broadcasting, anti-black liberation and anti-Shona by Mashonaland.

Sonny Jermain is a verbalist (verb-a-list: one who heals people with words) and a Mutwa-Bantu custodian. He is author of I Deserve to Be: Self-worth Is a Silent Killer.