All land, other than Crown Land, is freehold. Individual ownership is recog nised, but aliens may purchase land only with the approval of the Government.

GOVERNOR

His Excellency Sir Rupert Godfrey John, BA, Dip Ed

MINISTRIES

Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon. R. M. Cato
Minister of Trade and Agriculture, Hon. E. T. Joshua

Minister of Communications, Works and Labour, Hon. H. K. Tannis Minister of Health, Housing and Local Government, Hon. R. B. Russell Minister of Education, Community Development and Youth, Hon. C. St C. Dacon Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. G. C. Isaacs

Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Agriculture, Hon. V. I. Beache
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health, Housing and Local Government:
Hon. L. C. Latham

Attorney-General Hon. A. J. Williams, QC,

HOUSE OF Assembly

Speaker and Member for Central Leeward, Hon. A. T. Woods
Member for East St George, R. M. Cato

Member for South Central Windward, E. T. Joshua
Member for North Windward, Mrs I. I. Joshua
Member for North Central Windward, V. I. Beache
Member for South Windward, C. St C. Dacon
Member for Marriaqua, L. C. Latham
Member for West St George, A. F. Williams
Member for East Kingstown, R. B. Russell
Member for West Kingstown, H. K. Tannis
Member for South Leeward, G. C. Isaacs
Member for North Leeward, J. G. Thompson
Member for the Grenadines, J. F. Mitchell

CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT

JUDICIARY

Puisne Judge, St. Vincent Circuit: N. A. Berridge

Magistrates: D. H. K. MacIntyre, (Mrs) A. Cato and C. Collymore

Registrar, Supreme Court: S. Bertrand (Miss)

T

HE Country takes its name from Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) on whose initiative it was opened up for European settlement and development. Since the independence of Northern Rhodesia as the Republic of Zambia on the 24th October 1964 it has become the generally accepted practice to refer to the country as 'Rhodesia' and this title is therefore employed here, except where the use of Southern Rhodesia is appropriate in referring to past constitutional development. The legal name remains Southern Rhodesia.

Rhodesia extends from the Zambesi River (latitude 15° 50' S.) to the Limpopo River (latitude 22° 25′ S.) and from Botswana in longitude 25° 14' E. to Mozambique in longitude 33° 4' E. Entirely land-locked, its neighbours are Zambia on the north and north-west, Botswana on the south-west, the Republic of South Africa on the south, and Mozambique on the east and north-east. Part of the boundary to the north with Zambia runs through Lake Kariba which was formed by the damming of the Zambesi in the Kariba Gorge. This was completed in 1959. The Lake is 175 miles long, up to 20 miles wide, and covers 2,000 square miles.

The area of Rhodesia is 150,820 square miles, which is about three times the size of England. Although Rhodesia lies within the tropics the climate is not typically tropical owing to the elevation of much of the country, particularly in the High Veld areas where the majority of the population lives. Of the total area 21 per cent lies over 4,000 feet above sea-level. Temperatures range from a mean minimum of 40°F to a mean maximum of 85°F on the central plateau. The central plateau, known as the High Veld, traverses the country in a northeasterly direction until it links up with a narrow belt of mountainous country striking north and south along the eastern border. There are two important offshoots from the main plateau to the north-west and north of Salisbury. On either side of the main plateau is the Middle Veld which lies between 4,000 and 2,000 feet above sea-level. The Low Veld region, below 2,000 feet, is found long a narrow strip in the Zambesi valley and in a broader tract in the basin of he Limpopo and Sabi Rivers. The lowest point is 660 feet above sea-level where he Limpopo River leaves the country. The greatest rainfall occurs in the nountainous country along the eastern border where considerable areas have in annual mean of over 48 inches. In the centre of the country annual rainfall aries from a mean of 33 inches in the Salisbury area to a mean of 24 inches in he Bulawayo area.

The highiands are in two main portions. The northern portion is generally bout 6,000 feet high, rising at the highest point to 8,517 feet above sea-level. The southern portion forms the Vumba Mountains, the Chimanimani Range, which has peaks rising to a height of over 8,000 feet, and the Melsetter Uplands. Between them is the Umtali gap through which run the road and railway to Beira, the nearest outlet to the sea.

In December 1972 the total population was estimated to be 5,780,000, comrising 5,490,000 Africans, 267,000 Europeans, 17,800 persons of mixed race and ,600 Asians. (The accuracy of these figures cannot be determined). The African population is composed mainly of the Mashona and Matabele and their related ribes. No reliable figures are available of the breakdown into tribes but there is o doubt that in the country as a whole the Mashona and their related tribes are a the majority. The official language is English but Shona and Ndebele are

important vernaculars. Numerous Christian missions of various denominations including Anglican, Roman Catholic and non-Conformist are active throughout the country, but the majority of Africans are still non-Christian, adhering to tribal, animistic and other beliefs. There are small Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities.

The capital of Rhodesia is the city of Salisbury. Since its foundation in 1890, the city has become the centre of a large urban complex with a population in December 1972 estimated to be 490,000 of which 119,900 were Europeans. Salisbury and Bulawayo, the second largest city and the railway centre, possess the two largest concentrations of secondary industry in Rhodesia.

The other areas of greatest industrial development are situated in the Midlands (Gwelo, Que Que and Gatooma) and at Umtali, near the border with Mozambique.

Salisbury Airport, eight miles by road from the city, is the centre of Rhodesia's internal and external civil air communications. The other principal civil airport in Rhodesia, Woodvale Airport, is 10 miles from the city of Bulawayo.

The total mileage of roads open to traffic at the end of 1966, excluding those falling under the responsibility of local authorities, was 45,553 of which 3,602 were of bitumen standard. All the main centres of population are also served by Rhodesia Railways, which are connected with the South African, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Angola railway systems. Rhodesia has 2,706 miles of 3ft 6in gauge railway line.

The Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from Salisbury and Bulawayo using short and medium wave frequency modulation transmitters which, with the help of booster and satellite stations, provide country-wide coverage. Television is at present available in the Salisbury, Bulawayo, Gwelo and Umtali areas.

The last detailed economic statistics to be published were those for the year ending December 1965. In that year the Rhodesian Gross Domestic Product was £R352.1 million of which agriculture made up £R66·7m. (19·2 per cent) and the manufacturing industry £R66-6m. The régime claims that in 1972 the GDP was £R628.2 million of which agriculture made up £R109 million and manufacturing industry £R146 million.

In agriculture, the main crops were, until 1965, tobacco, sugar, maize and cotton. Since 1965 however, tobacco production has had to be cut back by over 60 per cent because of sanctions.

Rhodesia also produces a wide variety of minerals, notably asbestos, gold, chrome and copper. Other minerals produced in Rhodesia include coal, lithium, nickel and iron ore.

On 12th November 1965, immediately following the illegal declaration of independence, the Security Council passed a Resolution (No. 216) condemning the unilateral declaration of independence and calling upon all States not to recognise the illegal regime and to refrain from rendering any assistance to it. On 20th November 1965 the Security Council passed Resolution No. 217, which, inter alia, called on all States to do their utmost to break all economic relations with Southern Rhodesia, and included an embargo on oil and petroleum products. A large number of countries thereupon severed all trading links with Rhodesia and others placed a partial embargo on trade with Rhodesia. The United Kingdom applied a wide variety of economic and other sanctions to Rhodesia and by February 1966 had cut off virtually all trade with Rhodesia.

The effect of these international sanctions (which were still voluntary) was to reduce Rhodesia's exports from £142·5m. in 1965 to an annual rate of around £R100m., thereby causing a reduction in Rhodesia's imports of about one third. On 9th April 1966, following an attempt to supply petroleum to Rhodesia in defiance of Resolution No. 217, the Security Council passed another Resolution (No. 221) which called upon the United Kingdom to prevent, by the use of force if necessary, the arrival at Beira of vessels reasonably believed to be carrying oil destined for Rhodesia. The Resolution and the subsequent patrolling of the Mozambique Channel have effectively prevented the illegal regime from obtaining supplies of crude oil to operate their refinery at Umtali.

On 16th December 1966, the Security Council adopted a resolution (No. 232) on selective mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia.

The Security Council adopted a further resolution (No. 253) on 29th May 1968, which, inter alia, imposed comprehensive mandatory economic sanctions against Rhodesia covering virtually all trade.

On 18th March 1970, the Security Council adopted another resolution (No. 277), which, inter alia, called for the severance of all diplomatic, consular, trade and other relations with the illegal régime and the interruption of existing means of transportation to and from Rhodesia.

The provisions of previous resolutions were reaffirmed by Security Council resolutions on 17th November 1970 (No. 288), on 28th February 1972 (No. 314), on 28th July 1972 (No. 318), and on 29th September 1972 (No. 320). Some minor amendments in sanctions enforcement were recommended by Security Council resolution No 333 of 22nd May 1973.

HISTORY

It is thought that Rhodesia was first settled by peoples of Bantu stock (a linguistic classification) between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago, during a great southward migration which also led to the Bantu colonisation of Natal. These immigrants, who are believed to have been the ancestors of the tribes now collectively known as the Mashona, found the country inhabited by the so-called Bushmen, the last representatives of a succession of Stone Age cultures of which remains have been discovered 500,000 years old. The Bushmen, hunting peoples who possessed a highly developed artistic sense, were gradually displaced by the Bantu agriculturalists and have now almost disappeared from Rhodesia.

The second great movement of Bantu peoples into Rhodesia occurred in 1830, when off-shoots of the Bantu who had reached Natal, and who had by then combined to form the Zulu nation, moved northwards. The most important of these were the Matabele, under Mzilikazi, who eventually settled in the south-west of the country, in the area now known as Matabeleland.

As a result of their attempts in the sixteenth century to open up south central Africa from the east coast of Africa, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore what is now Rhodesia. In 1514 Antonio Fernandez reached the region of Que Que, and nearly half a century later the Jesuit priest Gonzalo da Silveira reached Mount Fura, where he was murdered after visiting and baptising the socalled Emperor Monomatapa. In 1569 Francesco Barreto led a large military expedition into the interior with the primary object of exploiting the reputed goldfields. The expedition failed and Barreto died at Sena on the Zambesi River.

For some three hundred years there was no further European contact with the hinterland until the coming of the great missionary-explorers, the hunters, traders and gold-seekers, who between them opened up much of Africa to European influence. David Livingstone first sighted the Zambesi river in 1851 and reached the Victoria Falls in 1855. In 1857 the missionary, Robert Moffat, visited Mzilikazi in Matabeleland, and this led to the establishment in 1861 of the first mission to the Matabele by the London Missionary Society. A second mission was established in 1875 at Hope Fountain.

In 1887 Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in the despatch of J. S. Moffat to Matabeleland to safeguard British interests. On 11th February 1888 Lobengula, son and successor to Mzilikazi, signed a treaty pledging not to cede territory without leave of the British High Commissioner at the Cape. Later in the same year, on 30th October, Lobengula granted the Rudd Concession over the minerals in his kingdom. This led to the formation of the British South Africa Company which was granted a Royal Charter on 29th October 1889 for the purpose of promoting trade, commerce, civilisation and good government in the region of Southern Africa lying immediately to the north of British Bechuanaland (now Botswana), and to the north and west of the then South African Republic, and to the west of the Portuguese Dominions. The Pioneer Column and its escort of police set out from Bechuanaland in 1890 and after skirting Matabeleland reached the present site of Salisbury on 12th September 1890, without bloodshed or incident. The Anglo-Portuguese Agreement of 1891, which was finally confirmed by Signor Vigliani's award in 1897, settled the boundary disputes with the Portuguese on the eastern border.

The Mashona at first accepted the arrival of the Europeans but the Matabele resented the restrictions which this placed on their use of Mashona territory. In 1893 a Matabele raid led to the first Matabele War which terminated the next year in the destruction of the Matabele power and the flight of Lobengula from Bulawayo. Matabeleland then came under the Chartered Company's civil administration.

Originally, the territories under the Company's administration were known as Zambesia, but on the 3rd May 1895 they were formally named ‘Rhodesia' by proclamation.

The second Matabele War broke out in 1896, due partly to the effects of drought and cattle disease and partly to resentment at the defeat in 1893. The War ended in August 1896 when Cecil Rhodes and a small party met the Matabele leaders in the Matopos Hills near Bulawayo and arranged a settlement. A simultaneous rebellion by the Mashona dragged on until 1897 when peace was finally restored.

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The territory was administered by the British South Africa Company from the commencement of European colonisation in 1890 until the grant of responsible government in 1923. The Charter granted to the Company provided that it was subject to review, and possible termination, after twenty-five years from the date of the grant, and every period of ten years thereafter. From the early years of the occupation the settlers had consistently criticised the Administration and at various times had demanded self-government. Their demands for increased representation on the Legislative Council, which consisted of elected members