Current Documents:
- The Federal Outlook monthly paper from 1960-1962
- Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Dept. Annual for 1942
- Rhodesia Native Affairs Dept. Annual for 1979
- Southern Rhodesia Report of Commision to enquire into the Preservation, etc., of the Natural Resources of the Colony. April, 1939
- Photographs from SR Report of Commision
- Link to a similar website on Northern Rhodesia. Much more comprehensive than this one.
(Link to a similar website on Northern Rhodesia. Much more comprehensive than this one.)
Like many people I first became interested in Zimbabwe and its prior existence as Rhodesia during the Farm Invasions. As I started to research this country's past I was shocked to find out how much interesting source material on Rhodesia was available at local libraries and how little information on Rhodesia was available on the web. Most websites concerning Rhodesia are homespun affairs run by expatriates and focus on nostalgia. I've decided to try to improve the quantity of useful historical information on Rhodesia available online by scanning as many of these original source materials as I have the time to and placing them online.
Neither the country nor any of the organizations which produced these documents still exist and so there are no copyright issues.
Descriptions
The Federal Outlook monthly paper from 1960-1962 In 1955 the British organized the colonies of N. Rhodesia, S. Rhodesia and Nyasaland in to the Central African Federation. In 1963 Nyasaland became independent as Malawi and in 1964 N. Rhodesia became independent as Zambia and in 1965 S. Rhodesia unilaterally declared itself independent as Rhodesia. In the first two no one was allowed to vote. In Rhodesia small numbers of blacks were allowed to vote, but most voters were white. This lasted until 1980 when Mugabe took over and both whites and blacks were given the right to vote for Robert Mugabe.
The most prominent leader of the Central African Federation was Roy Welensky and the most prominent party was his Federation Party. His party espoused the system Cecil Rhodes had instituted while he ran Cape Town of allowing anyone of any race to vote if they were literate and paid more than a certain amount in taxes. The party paper was the Federal Outlook and I have scanned the monthly issues from January 1960 to December 1962.
The value of these pages is the window they give into a society which is unlike anything in our world today. The Federal Party had a tremendous(and obviously misplaced) faith in the Cape system. As can be expected the Federal Party put its few black members front and center and publicized their support for the Cape system. One black party supporter says, "I believe that if one-man-one-vote is implemented we will disgrace ourselves for generations". This is the view commonly expressed in the Federal Outlook and the solution for this was believed to lie in their system based on a qualified vote.
The Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Dept. Annuals for 1942 and 1979. The Native Affairs Department was, as it's name would imply, in charge of native affairs. This meant overseeing life on what were then called the Tribal Trust Lands and are now called the Communal Lands. These documents are a yearly collection of writings on African culture and history. Some of the writings were meant to facilitate white-black interaction and others were motivated solely by historical and intellectual curiousity. I picked these documents to scan because I think they provide an invaluable insight into the Rhodesia of that era. The annual for 1979 was the last ever. I will eventually add the oldest annual I have access to, which is from the 1920s. I hope that the range of annuals will shed light on whatever historical changes occured.
Southern Rhodesia Report of Commision to enquire into the Preservation, etc., of the Natural Resources of the Colony. April, 1939 This report details the conditions of Rhodesia's farmlands and identifies possible problems and solutions. It has extensive information on land degradation in areas under black control, which may be relevant to today's controversies.
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The purpose of this site is to try and get the world to start dealing with the interaction between culture and success in a mature and intelligent manner. Poll: Do you believe culture influences success? Yes 67.03% No 17.5% Uncertain 15.3% - Newest Articles - Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world. While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work. The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization. - Categories - - All Articles - Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world. While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work. The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization. This 1920 work by Roger Babson is a classic with in its genre. It promotes the traditional, pre-1960s explanation for the connection between success and culture. Current events in Zimbabwe are giving us an unprecedented opportunity to measure and judge the effect of white settlement and colonization in Africa. Average US Incomes by Race, Ethnicity and Religion. Max Weber's claim that Protestantism is more conducive to success than Catholicism and that Calvinism is in particular more successful is widely repeated and rarely examined. We need to recognize that culture is the personality of a group or race and we must see culture and having seen it, make it a work of art. The moral justification for welfare is supposed to be that we are temporarily helping out our fellow man through a rough stretch of road or helping the disabled permanently. If it is to become a system for continually transferring wealth from one group to another the people behind this change owe us an explanation. The great taboo of our age is not speaking about race, but speaking about culture. Bourgeoisie is more than just a term of abuse used by the Left, it refers to a real people who led real lives. Selections from the Federal Outlook Selections from a 1960's Rhodesian newspaper. How Africa Underdeveloped Africa Africa is the poorest place in the world. Why? Will Famine Come to Zimbabwe? The end of commercial farming in Zimbabwe could plunge the country into famine. The Tragedy of the Zimbabwe Commons Communally owned property always has and always will suffer from the 'tragedy of the commons' problem. Band Aid Africa recieves $15 billion a year in aid. Is it helping? |